a “no_one” that is nevertheless a thing

February 2, 2018 10:18 AM

Death in the Village - an elegy by Anthony Oliveira on Toronto's LGBT community processing disappearances, murders, a serial killer, police tensions and the comments section.
posted by yellowbinder (21 comments total)

This was devastating and completely made me rethink of Toronto as a “progressive” town.

Does Facebook turn people into ghouls or just let them express it?
posted by The Whelk at 10:25 AM on February 2, 2018 [3 favorites]

This is just horrifying. This guy was specifically targeting deeply-closeted people because they came from backgrounds where there might be less approval of their sexuality.

People have been saying for more than a year that there seemed to be a pattern to the disappearances.

Police: it doesn't matter if you have an ongoing investigation. When the community begins to say "Hey, it looks like there's a pattern here," and you are aware that there is a pattern, it's time to at least start saying things like "We have noticed a pattern that may be targeting gay men. If you seek out anonymous sex through Grindr or other channels, here's some precautions you can take. Be safe out there."

FOR GOD'S SAKE, THEY ARE PULLING BODIES OUT OF PEOPLE'S GARDEN PLANTERS!
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 10:47 AM on February 2, 2018 [1 favorite]

The media coverage on this has been distastefully salacious and sensational (see also the Star's handling of the Sherman murders). It's horrible that nobody has been listening to the gay community about these disappearances/murders, but as a commentator on Canadaland pointed out, the first three who went missing were men of colour and closeted, so of course, the police aren't going to care.
posted by Kitteh at 11:04 AM on February 2, 2018 [2 favorites]

I've wanted to post something about this for months, but worried I was too close being in this community and (barely) knowing Andrew. But this piece captured the mood of our community so well I had to share.

I remember shortly after I moved to the village, posters went up everywhere showing three Middle Eastern missing men. Whispers spread about who was closeted, who got in a car leaving Zippers with who. The implications were clear but few were willing to talk serial killer out loud. I thought of my Arabic friends out there on the apps and feared for them and wished them safety.

I remember Andrew Kinsman at my friends' parties. I didn't know him, didn't speak with him, but he was a presence. He was somehow simultaneously dark but joyful, misanthropic but loved. I remember that while his beard was compact it was thick, you couldn't see his mouth move when he talked. I remember his Growlr screen name.

I remember riding the streetcar back from a Third Eye Blind concert last summer and my friend getting a text from one of Andrew's best friends. Andrew is missing. His cat hasn't been fed. What do we do?

I remember the posters going up, the Facebook groups forming. The posters getting ripped down and put up again. The fights in the Facebook groups. The families getting involved, friends telling me how Andrew didn't get along with them, would have hated all the attention. I remember the hysteria sparking at times, with people who were known antagonizers in the community putting together posters with every person who had every disappeared in the area on them, despite many of them having been long found dead or alive. I remember my boyfriend commenting on the case every time we passed a poster, saying this dude must be dead at this point, or how could anyone overpower a dude that big? It must have been someone he was comfortable with.

I remember the tensions with the police. I remember the bath house raids, and Project Marie, and the man held down by police blocks South of the village as the cops told passerby he probably had AIDS. I remember the thrill I had at Black Lives Matter protesting during the Pride parade, calling for so many great changes that served all manner of disadvantaged queer communities. I remember the only one anyone cared about was the police marching. I remember every friend who supported the police over the community, every Facebook comment, every brigaded reddit thread as the Toronto sub took a nauseatingly racist turn.

I remember hearing about the Tess Richey case, and how police did not investigate until her mother came into town and found the body herself in a stairwell just off the busy street. I pass her memorial every day, a sad shiny heap in an alley. I remember the feeling everywhere that the police do not care about us, the police are not here for us. Even when they added four more officers recently, no one believed they were here to protect us.

I remember the wondrous relief but dawning fear as news broke McArthur was arrested. I remember trawling his Facebook along with everyone else, looking for a hint of evil in the happy family pics and gleaming Santa eyes. I remember clicking to see how many friends we had in common (2). I remember seeing the story get wider and scarier and more sensational, and the widening fear at the enormity of what we were facing.

I remember how all the victims were seen and feared for and prioritized over the years. I remember how the police relates to this community, and how much of this community is willing to ignore that in favour of "inclusiveness" plastered over the huge rifts. I remember the fear and grief and sadness and anger and this piece is the only one I've seen on the case that gets to addressing all those messy feelings rather than the salacious details. Oliveira is one of the most important voices out there, as he has voiced the anguish of the community exactly.
posted by yellowbinder at 11:10 AM on February 2, 2018 [69 favorites]

but as a commentator on Canadaland pointed out, the first three who went missing were men of colour and closeted, so of course, the police aren't going to care.

Here's the episode and it's worth listening. I just finished listening on my way to work this morning.

It's disgusting that this was brushed aside for so long and these lives were lost.
posted by Fizz at 11:19 AM on February 2, 2018

One of my beer friends was a friend of Kinsman's so she's gone to ground because she doesn't want to rehash anything people are prone to ask her now that McArthur has been arrested.
posted by Kitteh at 11:46 AM on February 2, 2018

Thanks for sharing this.
posted by Evstar at 11:46 AM on February 2, 2018

Damn, damn, damn. This is devastating. Those Facebook comments are disgusting.

I've always believed Canada and in particular Toronto was much less horrifically homophobic than the US. But this is like reading about a small, backwards, bigoted US town in the 1970's. An entire community was living in fear because the police, who are ostensibly there to protect them and keep them safe, didn't. For eight fucking years. They downplayed what was going on until a white man was among the missing. But it's worse than just police negligence, because the greater Toronto community's hatreds clearly leeched into everything. :(
posted by zarq at 12:09 PM on February 2, 2018

It has been pointed out to met that Canada is a bit.... Smug... In that they are less racist*, less homophobic, and have better healthcare than the United States.

The problem is that these are all relatively low bars, and while Canada might be better than the US in these areas, that doesn't mean that all is good in these areas.

In mind the only area that really warrants a bit of smugness is in regards to gun violence... All the areas above are things that need a lot of work, even if we might be doing a bit better than our neighbors to the south.

*Although most will mumble in agreement that indigenous relations in Canada are awful, and Canadians probably aren't that much less racist when it comes to indigenous people.
posted by el io at 12:31 PM on February 2, 2018 [9 favorites]

I've always believed Canada and in particular Toronto was much less horrifically homophobic than the US. But this is like reading about a small, backwards, bigoted US town in the 1970's

Having come back from Western Canada after 20-years away, living in South Western Ontario, not one single day goes by where I am not shocked by the open bigotry, homophobia/transphobia, xenophobia, racism, class-ism, corruption and ignorance.
posted by jkaczor at 12:45 PM on February 2, 2018 [1 favorite]

I've always believed Canada and in particular Toronto was much less horrifically homophobic than the US.

Yes and no. But oh boy, when you see the bigotry and homophobia and racism on display, it wears the maple leaf, not the Confederate flag. It gets real nasty.

I love Canada. I love it so much I became a dual citizen, but when you live here long enough, you start to realize that all of the shitty things about the US are just as evident here. It's easy not to see at first.
posted by Kitteh at 1:09 PM on February 2, 2018 [1 favorite]

"I read the Facebook comments.

Del Core Domenico says: “You don’t like cops, now you pay the ultimate prize.” Laughing emojis.

Sandra Wieland says: “Why does the media say gay men were murdered. Do they say straight man shot last night. Stop the labels. We are the human race.”

Wayne Kennedy says: “Leave the police alone they are doing a good gob there [are] other cases to solve.”

Andrew Brown says: “So 2 makes u a serial killer?”

Tom Pearson says: “A bit much to say police won’t do a thing. Division is not helping.”

Chris Kolmel says: “They could have just not bothered looking for the killer. Just coming off as looking stupid”

Dre Khaloo says: “Let’s not forget LGBT ppl u were the 1’s who told the cops not to show up at pride wearing their uniforms catering to the demands of blm so shut ur holes An deal with it”

Richie Zina says: “Confused gays. What about aids? Why are they still so quiet in that? I’m sure aids kills thousands more than this guy did….”

I close Facebook."

Rage. So much rage. People acting as if these murders are just punishment for the LGBT* community not trusting or being nice enough to the Police. As if the way these cases were handled isn't just one more piece of evidence for why the community often doesn't trust the Police.

I watched friends in Toronto grow increasingly scared as the count of murdered and missing grew, and I watched the police announce to the media that there was no serial killer (there was), and no connection between Project Prism and Project Houston (there was). And now the papers are telling us that McArthur's arrest happened when it did because a young man entered McArthur's apartment and they believed his life was in danger. This feels like just another variation on Jane Doe and the Balcony Rapist.
posted by Secret Sparrow at 1:09 PM on February 2, 2018 [11 favorites]

I've been out for 30 years and change and I keep thinking I won't be surprised the next time I'm reminded that so many people hate me and mine, and yet.
posted by rtha at 1:22 PM on February 2, 2018 [9 favorites]

Olivera does a really good job of distilling for me a bunch of seemingly disparate thoughts that have been swirling around in my head about this and have had me wall-punchingly angry.

But this was striking:

I have yet to find an article that quoted what [Shelley] Kinsman said next: "We found homeless men living in tents. We met a transgender person afraid of living in a shelter as she had been assaulted and robbed. She lived under a bridge. We bought her lunch. We saw a young man sleeping under a bridge surrounded by bottles. In the forest we found needles and more. We never found Andrew.

I wonder if the homeless woman they met was Alloura Wells, whose body was found in August in a ravine by a hiker, discovered during a coroner's exam to be trans, and then neglected, not further identified, in a police morgue for months, until the noise from the family about organizing their own searches (as Alloura's father put it, struggling with her pronouns: "It's like [she's] a nobody") led them at last to identify her remains.

Prediction:

1. Months or years hence, in typical Canadian fashion, an inquiry into the way in which the Toronto Police Service handled this matter will be called.

2. If and when such an inquiry occurs, in typical Canadian fashion the report will be duly noted and then shelved, and things will go on as ever, ad nauseam, ad infinitum.

We know that this is how it will unfold because this has happened before to People Who Do Not Matter. And it's happened again.

The following appears in Part IIA (pdf: Nobodies: How and Why We Failed the Missing and Murdered Women) of Forsaken: The Report of the Missing Women Commission of Inquiry (i.e., the women - that we know of - who were murdered by Robert Pickton and whose disappearance was dismissed by the authorities for a staggeringly long period of time).

I read it when I was putting together this post on Lori Shenher's book on the investigation (when the Vancouver Police Department finally began looking at a growing list of missing women, she was the only member of the force assigned to the case for a very, very long time, even after she started the alarm bells ringing from inside the VPD) and I think it's relevant here and now in Toronto, because we've learned nothing from these cautionary tales about People Who Do Not Matter:

Angela Jardine is reported missing to the VPD on December 6, 1998.

Andrea Borhaven is reported missing to RCMP in Vernon on December 14.

Michelle Gurney is reported missing to the VPD on December 21.

Marcella Creison is reported missing to the VPD on January 11, 1999.

On January 19, 1999 Det. Cst. Shenher learns from ViCLAS that Pickton and another person of interest are suspects in a 1985 homicide and there may be linkages to the missing women cases. ViCLAS requests a list of possible missing women who are engaged in the sex trade and are drug users.

A joint meeting is held between representatives of the VPD, RCMP and PUHU in early February 1999. The focus is on Pickton as a suspect and a number of strategies are agreed upon, including checking with the VPD Vice Unit for more information on him and doing a blitz photo canvass of him with women working on several of the strolls.

[...]

The Vancouver Police Board (Board) addresses community concerns about the women’s disappearances at its meeting in late April 1999. The focus is on the issue of the reward. In the lead up to the meeting, a report is prepared by the VPD for the Board. It is noted that media interest is getting intense and that interviews should be limited. The VPD writes and sends a report to the Board stating that the VPD does not support the reward and downplays the risk that a serial killer is responsible for the women’s disappearances. The issuance of the reward generates some controversy: on the one hand police oppose the reward, on the other hand the community and the Attorney General support the reward.

Initially, Mayor Owen is dismissive of the idea, and is quoted in the Vancouver Sun on April 6, 1999 as saying: “There’s no evidence that a serial killer is at work… I don’t think it is appropriate for a big award for a location service.”

So, to recap:

A "location service."

Of course. Why would you even want to try to locate People Who Do Not Matter?

"There’s no evidence that a serial killer is at work."

Of course. You certainly don't want to warn People Who Do Not Matter.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 2:15 PM on February 2, 2018 [13 favorites]

Loimer Sherher has weighed in, always incisive and with a bit of insider baseball about TPS police Chief.
posted by saucysault at 3:46 PM on February 2, 2018 [1 favorite]

Worth quoting at length what Shenher just said in the piece saucysault linked above:

Breaking the script down, we begin with missing marginalized people. One of the most maddening aspects of my investigation was the notion that marginalized people often wish to disappear. While I don't dispute that the human desire to run away – from violence, from a bad relationship, from debt, from responsibility – exists, I can tell you as a former missing-persons detective, it was very difficult, even back in the late 1990s, to disappear without leaving a trace or hint, and exponentially more difficult in this digital age, where all people leave technological footprints, often without realizing it.

A cursory investigation – and I'm not suggesting this is what the Toronto Police Service members have done in this case, I have no information as to the quality of their work – in which investigators have come to the swift conclusion that the person must not want to be found, should not form the default police assumption. Even while respecting privacy concerns, a creative police officer with decent people skills can work within the law and examine the movements – or lack thereof – of a missing person. Using contacts in banking, social services and the coroner's service, information can be obtained to track them. In the Pickton investigation, I discovered no activity on the part of the missing women through these means. These women living in poverty had not picked up assistance cheques, had not called loved ones, had not accessed medical care. What I perceived as an ominous indication they had been met with harm, either in the form of foul play or suicide, was not received with the same concern by my Vancouver Police superiors or those in the RCMP. Every day, I was asked, "Are they really missing?" – meaning, "Maybe they just don't want to be found."

The police rarely ask that question when they receive reports of non-marginalized missing people. I say that because I've investigated many of those in my time and no one ever asked me that unless we found a clue that the person was still active in some capacity. And bank activity alone does not prove someone isn't in danger or under the control of a predator.

To deny to the public that there is any evidence indicating the operation of a serial killer is wrong. The evidence is that you have an increase in missing people of a similar demographic, unexplained and statistically anomalous. You might be wrong, ultimately, but better to err on the side of overreaction than under. And if your rationale is that you don't want to spook a killer or tip them off that you're onto them, you need to rethink your strategy. The safety of the community always comes first, ahead of any quest for additional charges or more evidence.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 4:04 PM on February 2, 2018 [9 favorites]

This Vice article by Justin Ling from summer 2017, at the time of a couple recent disappearances, including Andrew Kinsman, goes back to the disappearances of three men in 2010-2012, including one who has now been specifically named as a victim of McArthur and the previous unsuccessful police Operation Houston.

By the way, I suggest reading the FB posts by Kerolos Saleib, who was a friend of Kinsman and also organizes the Arabian Knights dances in Toronto.
posted by larrybob at 5:41 PM on February 2, 2018 [2 favorites]

This type of institutional failure always scares the shit out of me. For example, how many Transgender people are murdered each year? No one really knows, because law enforcement misgenders victims at an alarming rate.
posted by Brocktoon at 3:11 AM on February 3, 2018 [2 favorites]

1. Months or years hence, in typical Canadian fashion, an inquiry into the way in which the Toronto Police Service handled this matter will be called.

2. If and when such an inquiry occurs, in typical Canadian fashion the report will be duly noted and then shelved, and things will go on as ever, ad nauseam, ad infinitum.

Exactly. 'We need to do better.' [Turns around and wipes ass with peoples' lives]
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 8:50 AM on February 3, 2018

This was devastating and completely made me rethink of Toronto as a “progressive” town.

I lived in Toronto around the turn of the century, attending the same university as the author but approximately 10 years earlier. In many ways, I "escaped" to Toronto from a place that made Toronto's gay village a vital refuge.

The most disheartening lesson in this story is that Toronto is, indeed, a progressive place in many ways, and yet this sort of thing can happen.

Queer survival is a constant process of coming to terms with how low we must set the bar for "progressive" or "friendly" or "safe."
posted by LMGM at 12:51 PM on February 4, 2018 [2 favorites]

Well, here we are. Today, Toronto's police chief, Mark Saunders, decided to blame the community for his own force's failure to act:

It certainly sounds like he’s placing the blame for this alleged killer’s horrifying crimes, and the Toronto Police Service’s failure to catch him earlier, at least partly on the very community McArthur is accused of victimizing.

What the hell is he thinking? I don’t know if he has some specific people (“people who knew him very well”) in mind when he talks about a failure to co-operate. Accomplices, or friends who should have been more suspicious, or something. Who knows what he’s referring to?

It’s pretty clear, however, what he can’t possibly be referring to. He can’t be referring to how, for years, people in the gay community feared there might be a serial killer preying on their community, and circulated information about that fear, while the police insisted they could find no connection between the missing persons cases involved.

How members of that community wrote and talked about their suspicions for years in the queer and alternative press.

Chief Saunders can’t have been referring to how Sasha Reid, a U of T researcher who studies serial killers, reached out to the police force in the summer of 2017 to tell them she thought data analysis of missing persons cases showed there was a serial killer operating. Back then, Reid offered to share a profile of the person they should be looking for (one that seems to match McArthur in many particulars, though not all of them) and share data analysis, she told the Star’s Vjosa Isai. At the time, police basically said thanks, we’ll call you if we need you. And then never did call her.

The chief can’t have been referring to how in December 2017, as the Star reported, when members of the LGBT community expressed their great fear that a serial killer was preying on their community and organized safe-walk programs and community meetings to talk about it, Saunders took the time to hold a press conference in which he and his detectives “dispelled rumours of a serial killer in the village.” There was no evidence, Saunders’ spokesman stressed, that any of the cases were linked. “There is no evidence that a serial killer is responsible for the disappearance of any of the missing males,” one detective said then, and no evidence many of the missing people had even been victims of foul play at all.

I mean all this time, you had citizens, members of the community, telling the police directly that they should be looking for a serial killer — and according to the police, offering hundreds of tips and leads and pieces of information. And you had the police, including Chief Saunders personally, telling the community that their fears seemed unfounded.

And now that it turns out that there was, it seems, a serial killer operating all those years, and the police have arrested a suspect, you have the chief saying his force “knew something was up,” but that “nobody was coming to us with anything.”

This guy. I don’t know, people.

And here's Anthony Oliviera, reacting on CTV today.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 5:14 PM on February 27, 2018 [2 favorites]