In part one of our Vancouver Stock Exchange blog, we covered the history of the exchange as it evolved to become a haven for scam artists and fraudulent ventures. If you haven’t already, you can read part one here. On the Vancouver Stock Exchange trading floor (1979). Photo credit: The Vancouver Sun Written by Matteo Miceli This past year, the term “money-laundering” has dominated the local news cycle. The problem has permeated many different corners of the BC economy: the re

This blog is the first in a two part series about a particularly corrupt and crime-laden time in the Vancouver Stock Exchange’s history. “Generally speaking, the most respected fiction writers in Canada are Margaret Atwood and Robertson Davies, but no one churns out a body of fiction as consistently high quality as the companies listed on the [Vancouver Stock Exchange].” – Joe Queenan, Scam Capital of the World The trading floor of the Vancouver Stock Exchange (1983). Photo c

Female VPD police officers in the late 1940s-early 1950s. Prior to the late 1940s, female officers were not allowed to carry firearms, unlike their male counterparts. Photo Credit: Vancouver Police Museum & Archives, N00247. “While doing research for this renovation, I started thinking about why people own guns. This led me down a rabbit hole of popular culture and firearms history. In this research, I learned about the concept of ‘gun culture’ which focuses on societies’ att

VPM Archival Photo P00832 Accidents happen. Accidents involving motor vehicles happen all the time. By all accounts, vehicle collisions have been around as long as vehicles have, and they can be a constant source of mystery to police and the public alike. Were they caused by driver error? Weather conditions? Mechanical failures? All of the above? Luckily for all of us,  the VPD has a high-octane team of forensic thoroughbreds under the hood of their Collision Investigation Un

A newspaper headline about the infamous Milkshake Murder in Vancouver. * This is a repost of a popular blog about the Milkshake Murder presentation by Robert Noon for our 2015 Speaker Series. Eve Lazarus has just released her highly anticipated book “Murder by Milkshake” and we are thrilled to be featured in her thrilling narrative. Learn more about her book here. Written by Sheena Koo On a clear, unseasonably cold day in June 1965, Esther Castellani, a middle-aged Italian ho