Latest news with #VPD
CBC
9 hours ago
- CBC
Man charged with sexual assault of 14-year-old girl arrested and released twice in weeks before alleged attack
A Vancouver woman is telling a frightening story about a man who allegedly terrorized her at her East Vancouver home back in March. The woman also says the same man — a repeat sex offender who was on probation — should not have been walking the streets two months later when he is alleged to have sexually assaulted a 14-year-old girl in a public washroom. John Frederick Field, 62, was taken into custody by Vancouver police at the woman's East 1st Avenue home on March 26 and released within 24 hours. On May 28, Field was arrested and charged with sexually assaulting the 14-year-old as part of what the Vancouver Police Department (VPD) described as a "crime spree" that took place in the Oakridge neighbourhood. CBC News confirmed the identity of the East Vancouver woman through court documents and has agreed to only use her first name — Danielle — because she fears for her safety. "I can't even imagine if I didn't have a dog and I didn't wake up and he did break into my house, like, the kind of trauma I would be dealing with," she said. Danielle said she was asleep in her third-floor apartment on March 26 when her dog started barking at the back patio door around 4:30 a.m. "As soon as I got out of bed, that's when I started to hear someone tap on my window. And at first the tapping started pretty gently ... then as I came out of my bedroom and got my housecoat on, I saw him through my kitchen patio door," said the 28-year-old. "He's just standing there looking at me … so I got closer to the door and I realized, oh, this is a stranger. And then as I screamed, realizing that I didn't know this person, he started walking toward the door and started banging on the door. "I grabbed a knife that was on my kitchen counter. My dog was barking — he's freaking out. The guy's still banging on the door and he's screaming at me." Danielle said she called police just as the man started throwing her patio furniture — two chairs, a lounger and a table — off the deck. "He definitely seemed like he was intoxicated on some kind of substance. I could not understand what he was screaming. He was just very belligerent." Police arrived quickly, climbed the fire escape to the patio and put the man in handcuffs, according to Danielle. Charged June 4 VPD spokesperson Sgt. Steve Addison said Field was taken to jail but released after signing an undertaking agreeing to, among other things, stay away from Danielle and her home, and to appear in court on April 28 to potentially face a charge. "After transporting him to jail and holding him in jail for a period of time, it was the assessment that our authority to further detain him was limited by the Criminal Code," said Addison. "We believed we had compelling evidence that a crime occurred and that the person arrested committed the crime. That's why we compelled that person to return to court on April 28." Addison said VPD investigators filed a charge assessment report to Crown on March 27. He said the VPD's high-risk offender unit was also brought in, and they contacted B.C. Corrections with the information about Field's arrest. "We provided information to Corrections should they choose, at their discretion, to take further action related to the fact that he was on probation," said Addison. CBC reached out to B.C. Corrections for comment but did not hear back by deadline. Damienne Darby, communications counsel for the B.C. Prosecution Service, said the matter was returned by Crown to VPD "...as we were unable to conduct a charge assessment based on the material provided." "A request for urgent follow-up was made by the charge assessment Crown," she said. Addison said that on April 18, Crown asked VPD for more information about the incident, including transcripts of Danielle's statement to police and 911 call, photos of the home and for area CCTV video to be gathered. On June 4, VPD resubmitted its updated report to Crown and the following day Field was charged with trespassing at night. But by that time he was already in custody for the alleged crime spree of May 28, where police say Field attacked the 14-year-old girl, assaulted another woman and robbed a bank. He is facing five related charges: sexual assault with a weapon, unlawful confinement, assault, robbery and carrying a concealed weapon. Other investigations prior to alleged sex assault CBC News has learned that Field was arrested on May 6 for shoplifting from the Lululemon store at Pacific Centre. A charge of theft under $5,000 was sworn on June 11. CBC News has also learned police were looking for Field in the weeks leading up to the alleged attack on the 14-year-old in relation to two other incidents in downtown Vancouver. Danielle said the encounter at her home left her so shaken she broke her lease early to move to a different place. "I started not being able to sleep. I didn't even really like sitting on my patio anymore. I didn't like walking around my neighbourhood," she said. "Even if he didn't remember my face, I remember him and I just didn't want to ever run into him again." Field's scheduled bail hearing on June 12 was adjourned to June 26. None of the current charges against him have been tested in court. Sex assault history According to court records, Field has a long string of convictions dating back to his time as a young offender. In September of last year he was convicted of sexually assaulting a medical technician during a heart test in 2023. At sentencing, Justice Geoffrey Gomery noted Field had been assessed for a possible dangerous or long-term offender application, but Crown prosecutors elected not to pursue a designation that would have seen him locked up indefinitely. Field's sentence was 30 months, but he was given advanced credit for the year and a half he had already spent in custody awaiting trial, meaning he only had three months and a day left to serve. Gomery also noted that when Field sexually assaulted the medical technician in 2023, he was on parole from an 18-month sentence he received for a similar sexual assault of a different health-care worker in 2018. He was also convicted of sexual assault in 1989. In 2022, Field was the subject of a Canada-wide warrant when he failed to return to a halfway house after receiving statutory release from the maximum-security Kent Institution in Agassiz, B.C. At the time, VPD deemed him a "high-risk sex offender" and a significant risk to the public. He was arrested four days later by Surrey RCMP.
Vancouver Sun
2 days ago
- Politics
- Vancouver Sun
Opinion: VPD Chief Rai, let's turn things around and make them right again
Dear Chief Steve Rai, congratulations on your appointment as the new chief constable of the Vancouver Police Department. As the first South Asian and Sikh chief of the force, you have a unique opportunity to renew the its commitment to reconciliation and to finally address systemic racism. Indigenous people have a complex and difficult relationship with the police. My nation, the Haíɫzaqv (Heiltsuk) Nation, has tried to build a better relationship with the VPD ever since Constables Canon Wong and Mitchel Tong wrongfully detained and handcuffed Heiltsuk members Maxwell Johnson and his granddaughter in Vancouver after they tried to open a bank account at the Bank of Montreal in 2019. Your predecessor, Chief Adam Palmer, refused to accept there is systemic racism in policing, going so far as to call the suggestion 'offensive' . A daily roundup of Opinion pieces from the Sun and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of Informed Opinion will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. But I take heart from Mayor Ken Sim's statement on your appointment, which described you as 'a respected bridge builder who has championed reconciliation within the VPD and fostered stronger connections with Vancouver's diverse communities.' In your new position, I urge you to champion reconciliation, implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and carry out the calls for justice of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. In a 2019 report , the VPD acknowledged the findings of the missing women's inquiry, affirming that the calls for justice 'are imperative, and not optional.' Sadly, in a five-year progress report on the implementation of the calls for justice , released last June, the Assembly of First Nations concluded that no progress has been made to support police services reform. Given former chief's denial of systemic racism, this lack of progress is unfortunately not shocking. Our nation supported Maxwell Johnson in his human rights complaint and the historic settlement that included commitments to work on anti-racist and non-discriminatory policy reform together. Unfortunately, this work has stalled since Wong and Tong failed to show up to a planned apology ceremony in Bella Bella. To date, they refuse to respect Ǧvi̓ḷás (Heiltsuk law). This is troubling given the conclusions of Brian Neal, the retired judge who presided over their discipline hearing under the Police Act, that the constables 'have not fully accepted' the discipline findings and 'there is still uncertainty in the members' minds as to why their actions were improper.' He concluded, 'There is a real risk of further misconduct until the members come to terms with the details of the discipline decision.' The root of the misconduct was a lack of cultural competency and understanding of the historic and ongoing relationship between Indigenous peoples and police. The police were Canada's blunt instrument in the Crown's cultural genocide against Indigenous peoples. Chief Palmer's attitude, and that of the constables, show there is still a very long way to go before the VPD and Indigenous peoples can have a trusting, mutually respectful relationship. Meanwhile, Maxwell's fight for justice continues. The police complaint commissioner is considering his application for reconsideration under the Police Act, so that the constables will be ordered to attend the apology ceremony they refuse to go to voluntarily. But Heiltsuk will not wait for colonial institutions like the police to take accountability for their complicity in violence against Indigenous peoples. The Heiltsuk Nation continues to re-assert our inherent sovereignty and governance rights. We enacted our own written constitution on May 30, based on our Ǧvi̓ḷás (laws), which are part of an oral legal and cultural tradition passed down from our ancestors since time immemorial. The constitution incorporates shared governance between our elected and hereditary leadership and our W̓úm̓aqs du M̓ṇúyaqs Council (women's council). We took a band council system that was imposed without our consent, and made it our own, recognizing our Yím̓ás (hereditary chiefs) and never gave up inherent jurisdiction over Haíɫzaqv w̓áxv:w̓uísax̌v (Heiltsuk Territory). In our language, Haíɫzaqvḷa, we call this Haíɫcístut, which means to turn something around and make it right again. The ratification and celebration of the Heiltsuk constitution in our Gvákva'áus Haíłzaqv (the House of the Heiltsuk, or the Big House) , is a powerful symbol of Heiltsuk resurgence and Haíɫcístut in action. Chief Rai, we ask you to acknowledge what your predecessor refused to: There is systemic racism in policing. We must start the hard work of addressing it together by heeding the calls for justice of the missing women's inquiry, and implementing UNDRIP to ensure every VPD officer is competent to interact with Indigenous peoples in a way that respects their basic human rights and autonomy, and understands the deeply problematic role the police have played, and continue to play, in Canada's relationship with Indigenous peoples. To constables Wong and Tong, we ask you to do the right thing, and experience Haíɫcístut with our people at an apology ceremony in Bella Bella, where you can expect healing and forgiveness. Together we can turn things around and make them right again. Ǧiáxsix̌a (thank you). Marilyn Slett is the elected chief councillor of the Heiltsuk Nation.
Vancouver Sun
2 days ago
- Automotive
- Vancouver Sun
Crazy 'bout a Mercury: Vancouver police look to restore 1947 cop car
The Vancouver Police Department owns one of the coolest old cars in the city — a 1947 Mercury two-door sedan they trot out for public events. It's known as 'The Antique.' It cuts a striking figure at parades, with a black body and white doors that read 'Vancouver Police.' Naturally, there's a red light on top, and a siren mounted on the right front fender. It's what they call a 'slant back' sedan, and features a small, curving back window. Two lines of chrome on the sides add to its sleek, streamlined look, and the front has a very funky split window. Unfortunately, it's off the road, in need of repair. So the police department has put out a 'request for quotation' to restore it. Start your day with a roundup of B.C.-focused news and opinion. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of Sunrise will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. 'The 'Antique' is an important piece of the VPD's history,' says the department's request. 'Its restoration is crucial to create a visible connection with the past, allowing the VPD to remember, respect and learn from the shared story, as well as to ensure the Antique's rich history and legacy are maintained for years to come.' The police department declined further comment while the bidding process is on — bid submissions are due June 23. It also declined to let the car be photographed. Vern Bethel of False Creek Motors has worked on the car in the past. He said the cost of any restoration will vary, depending on what needs to be done. Rebuilding the engine might cost $10,000, but if a full restoration is required, it would be much more expensive. 'That car's been out in the weather a lot,' said Bethel. 'Who knows, from a rust point of view, what would have to be done? There are some places that would do it, but it would be a pretty costly thing to do these days.' 'It could cost $100,000,' said classic car expert Alyn Edwards, who writes a column for 'And a '47 Mercury two-door sedan isn't worth 100 grand. It's worth $30,000, restored.' But it is a stylish car, the type of vehicle that hot-rodders loved to customize in the 1950s and '60s. (They preferred the coupe to the sedan, though.) There's a 1948 song, Mercury Blues, which includes the lines, 'If I had money, I'd tell you what I'd do, I'd go downtown and buy a Mercury or two, 'cause I'm crazy 'bout a Mercury.' 'When I was a teenager, everybody wanted a Ford or Mercury, because you could customize them really easily,' said Edwards. 'You could put dual exhaust on them, lower them, flame paint job, that kind of stuff. Fender skirts.' Edwards said the Vancouver Police Department's Mercury comes from what he calls the 'fat fender era,' as opposed to the sleek gangster-mobiles of the 1930s. 'What they have is a '47 Mercury 114 sedan, and that's a Canadian Mercury,' he said. 'It's a Mercury, but it's really (the same as) a Ford, with a Mercury face on it and some Mercury trim.' The difference with American Mercurys or Fords is they have a longer wheelbase (118 inches compared to 114). The Los Angeles police department used 1947 Fords that look similar to the Vancouver police Mercury. Edwards knows vintage Mercury cars and trucks well: He used to own a rare '47 Mercury convertible, but sold it. On Tuesday, he was at a movie shoot with his 1949 Mercury half-ton, which he had rented to the film. He is not sure the VPD's '47 Mercury was an actual police car. He thinks it might have just been an old car they fixed up. A few years ago, Edwards did a story about a 1947 Vancouver police car that was being restored, but it was a Dodge. jmackie@
Global News
3 days ago
- Global News
Downtown Eastside restaurateur says he could make more dealing drugs on the street
The owner of a Downtown Eastside restaurant on a block with one of the highest crime rates in Vancouver says the irony of all the drug use, dealing and street disorder happening outside his doors is something he tries not to think about as he struggles to run a legal business. At the same time, stakeholders are urging the provincial and federal governments to step up and play a bigger role in tackling the root cause of the area's illegal activity, which continues to thrive. Before the Vancouver Police Department's (VPD) Task Force Barrage brought an increased police presence and foot patrols to Carrall Street near Hastings earlier this year, Calabash Bistro said co-existing with drug dealers has helped them survive for the past 15 years. 'The reality is, is that we've had to create a mutual respect between our business and all the business that happens out there,' Cullin David told Global News in an interview. Story continues below advertisement 3:11 Downtown Eastside business struggles to stay open amid rampant public disorder 'Sometimes they're the only person on the block who can deal with an addict who's literally just done their drugs but is now passed out in front of my restaurant.' The one block radius of Carrall Street and Hastings was known as a hot spot for loitering, street vending, drug trafficking and disorder, according to Insp. Gary Hiar, the commanding officer of Task Force Barrage. Area crime, Hiar said, has decreased since the dedicated police task force began targeting violent offenders and organized criminals on Feb. 13. Statistics provided by the VPD show violent incidents on the block are down 30 per cent from 137 in the period between Feb. 13 and June 15 in 2024 to 96 over the same four months this year. Common assaults have decreased by 40 per cent from 62 in 2024 to 37 this year, serious assaults are down 21 per cent from 34 to 27, robberies have been reduced 62 per cent from 13 to five this year and commercial break and enters are down 75 per cent from eight in 2024 to two in the same four months this year. Story continues below advertisement 'Looking at numbers is one thing, but if the perception is still that it's not safe, then we need to do more,' said Hiar, the commanding officer of Task Force Barrage. While he appreciates the extra police presence, David said it has also introduced new crews to the block, who are trying to take over as existing criminal networks are disrupted. Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy 'We're always prepared, that you know, that squeeze on the core of the Downtown Eastside could lead to some disruption or some displacement, I should say,' Hiar responded. 1:54 New security cameras for Vancouver's Downtown Eastside In terms of shifting crime elsewhere, Hiar believes police are keeping a handle on it with additional resources on the outskirts of the area. Early Sunday morning, David said his cooks had a close call when dealers from the 'night shift,' who he said are often armed, drunk or high and much more dangerous than their counterparts on the day shift, attempted to stash something in Calabash's commissary after spotting police on patrol. Story continues below advertisement The tense confrontation that ensued between his staff and approximately 10 aggressive individuals was only defused, said David, when a dealer they know intervened. 'First and foremost, if those types of tensions exist, we need to be called, we need to know because we have the patrols in and around the area, and we're going to respond,' Hiar told Global News on Tuesday. Terry Yung, B.C.'s Minister of State for Community Safety and a former VPD officer who walked the beat in the Downtown Eastside for more than four years, said targeted enforcement of the area's criminal activity will continue, as well as addressing street conditions in the Carrall Street laneway between Hastings and Pender Streets. 'I understand the challenges and sometimes the fear of coming down here,' Yung told Global News in an interview. 'That's the reason I go to work in the morning and do this, because I do believe we can make a difference. Maybe not overnight to solve all the issues that we face, but we can make incremental progress.' The Hastings Crossing Business Improvement Association said it is supporting David and other businesses as much as it can with safety and security. 'No business owner should have to risk their life to keep their business open,' executive director Landon Hoyt said in an interview. 'What (David is) facing and what his staff are facing is extreme and something we've never seen before.' Story continues below advertisement 0:39 Task Force Barrage sees dip in DTES crime, Vancouver police say Hoyt said the province promised investment and change in the years preceding the 2010 Olympic Winter Games, noting Carrall Street was celebrated as one of the city of Vancouver's first separated bike paths, but said the community has since been neglected. 'This neighbourhood has not gotten what it deserves,' Hoyt told Global News. 'It's just resulted in abandonment, really, and a crumbling neighbourhood.' Hoyt said his local BIA can only do so much but has advocated relentlessly for the government to address the service gaps in the Downtown Eastside, including through a new Vancouver Agreement. 'Something that actually lays out and defines clear levels of responsibility for all different levels of government. That's something that would lead to change in this community,' said Hoyt. Signed in March 2000, the initial Vancouver Agreement was a five-year collaboration involving the federal, provincial and municipal governments. It focused on three main areas: community health and safety, economic and social development, and community capacity building. Story continues below advertisement According to a B.C. government press release, Vancouver Agreement partners announced more than $2.8 million on Jan. 21, 2003, for new programs aimed at revitalizing the Downtown Eastside economically and socially. 3:18 Retiring VPD chief reflects on policing the Downtown Eastside In April 2005, all three levels of government announced that the Vancouver Agreement would be renewed for a second five-year term lasting until March 2010. 'The Agreement's first focus is the revitalization of the city's Downtown Eastside, particularly encouraging local business attraction and retention, secure and safe housing, and support for residents with addiction and mental health issues,' stated an April 4, 2005, news release on its renewal. The Vancouver Agreement was not renewed after it expired in 2010, and the city of Vancouver confirmed there is currently no similar framework in place. Green Party Coun. Pete Fry said we are not meeting the root causes of problems in the area, and agreed the Vancouver Agreement approach needs to be revisited so all levels of government are brought in to look for proactive solutions. Story continues below advertisement 'How do we knit together federal policy, provincial policy, civic bylaws, policing, all those pieces?' Fry told Global News in an interview. 'We need to get everybody at the same table and figure out what are some of the tangible solutions because what's happening right now isn't working.' 'It makes me wonder what the heck I'm doing down here,' said David. The bistro owner told Global News it would probably be safer selling drugs on Carrall Street than trying to run a restaurant, adding he and his staff have turned down offers of $500 a day to work the block. 'To know that's the amount of money that can be made for standing on a corner while my business is failing, is so incredibly heartbreaking,' said David.
CBC
13-06-2025
- CBC
Bullet holes and police raids: Former real estate agent investigated for allegedly subletting to criminals
A former Lower Mainland real estate agent is under investigation by B.C.'s real estate regulator after his name allegedly turned up last year as the 'tenant' for multiple properties linked to a major Vancouver Police Department (VPD) gang investigation. According to documents obtained by CBC News, VPD investigators contacted the B.C. Financial Services Authority (BCFSA) when Qun (Michael) Li's name surfaced during raids on Vancouver and Burnaby suites linked to a Quebec-based criminal group trying to establish a foothold in Vancouver. A search warrant claims the Burnaby resident — who also works as a driving coach — was also listed as the tenant on record in a separate RCMP investigation related to a suite where the actual occupant allegedly fired a stray bullet fired through a neighbour's wall. And at least five homeowners have turned to the courts to evict Li from their properties in the past year — including two landlords who complained their suites were rented without their knowledge to sex workers. "I feel stressed every time I think about his issues," says Richard Zhou, an apartment owner who got a B.C. Supreme Court order to remove Li's possessions from his Burnaby condo last year after taking him to the Residential Tenancy Branch (RTB). "I'm helpless. The police cannot help me. The strata manager cannot help me. I think the landlord in Canada is on the weak side. We don't have too much power to kick the tenants out," said Zhou. 'A possible co-opted realtor' Li told CBC News in a brief phone call he was "not interested" in commenting on the allegations spelled out in a warrant to search his phone obtained in March. The document says the 45-year-old — who was first licensed in July 2015 — is suspected of breaching B.C.'s Real Estate Services Act by bringing the real estate industry into disrepute and failing to report his rental management property services. He has not been charged with any criminal offences or any offences under the Real Estate Services Act. The BCFSA's investigation began with an email from the VPD's organized crime section last August. "I have been made aware of a possible co-opted realtor whose name has popped up in a large drug trafficking investigation involving an organized gang originating out of Quebec but has quickly established themselves here in the Lower Mainland," the email said. The court documents say police provided two further emails "which identified six specific properties related to either VPD or Burnaby Royal Canadian Mounted Police related drug investigations." "Qun Li was listed as the tenant on record at each of the six properties at the time of the police search warrant executions for the investigations." Vancouver police publicized raids last year on the rental properties in Burnaby and Vancouver as part of an investigation into Zone 43 — a Quebec-based gang accused of drug trafficking in the Downtown Eastside. Five men were arrested after a 14-month investigation and seizures yielding $150,000 cash, two handguns and 24 kilograms of fentanyl, cocaine and methamphetamine. The BCFSA search warrant claims "a well known organized crime figure and drug trafficker was living" in one of the suites. Another was allegedly being used to stash drugs. The court documents claim the actual owners of the suites either believed Li would be living in their units or that he would act as a real estate agent to rent them out. The owner of a property in Burnaby where VPD allegedly found firearms, currency and evidence of drug trafficking claimed Li "lied to him about living with his cousin" after responding to an advertisement on a Chinese website. The search warrant says five men ended up living in the unit instead. A silver bullet fragment 'underneath his bed' The subject of a Burnaby RCMP file linked to another of Li's rentals was in provincial court in Vancouver this week, making an appearance from his new home: North Fraser Pretrial Centre. Jordy Engelo faces charges — including careless use or storage of a firearm — in connection with an RCMP investigation into a report of suspicious circumstances, made by the tenant of a neighbouring suite who noticed bullet holes in his unit's walls. CBC News has obtained a copy of a separate search warrant connected with that investigation, which claims the neighbour "woke up, went to the living room and located a hole in the wall." "Upon further investigation [the neighbour] discovered that the keyboard of his computer had some impact damage (4 keys), and the bedroom wall had been penetrated through," the search warrant says. "[He] inspected the bedroom and later located a silver bullet fragment, on the floor, underneath his bed." Police detained Engelo, who was allegedly found in the company of a 17-year-old female, who was released into the custody of her legal guardian. Engelo's bail hearing is scheduled for next week. Real estate agent Weny Wu told CBC News she rented the suite after seeing Li's business card. "He signed an agreement and he said he wanted to move in with his nephew, who's coming to Vancouver," Wu said. "Later, when something happened — the police incident happened to this unit — we finally realized that he did not actually live there by himself. He let it to other people." 'I decided to sell' Apart from the files involving police activity, five separate homeowners have taken Li to the RTB in the past year — resulting in decisions against him that landlords have enforced through B.C. Supreme Court orders. Like many of the people who rented to Li, Zhou claimed he advertised his suite on a Chinese language social media site. He said he did not give Li permission to rent the unit to someone else. The BCFSA's search warrant says Zhou told investigators Li "immediately sublet the suite to a prostitute for the first month." Another of the homeowners who went to the courts, Pedro Chie, told CBC News a sex worker also appeared to be entertaining clients out of the Whalley condo Li rented from him in Surrey, B.C. Chie said he suspected as much after being called multiple times to fix a washing machine that wasn't actually broken and finding evidence a female smoker was living in his suite — not the former real estate agent. According to an RTB decision, Li fought Chie, arguing that he "told the Landlord at the start of the agreement that they would have friends staying in the rental unit." But the RTB sided with Chie after Li admitted he was "living elsewhere on a periodic basis" — leading to the conclusion the unit was being sublet contrary to the rental agreement. "I decided to sell the apartment," Chie says. "All is messy. I have to pay money to clean up everything." Zhou says the whole experience has also cost him dearly both emotionally and financially — leaving him with $2,400 worth of fines levied by the strata after a constant string of complaints. He says he now prefers to rent to non-Canadians, because "they want to behave better." 'I am sorry' An internet search of Li's phone number turns up old advertisements for apartment rentals on Chinese websites and a posting on a John Howard Society affordable housing list from 2016 for a shared space. According to the BCFSA search warrant, Li surrendered his real estate licence within days of being contacted by the regulator in early March. "I am sorry I did not [report] my rental apartments to my manager, as the apartment is under my personal name," Li allegedly wrote in an email to the BCFSA's investigator. "I am willing to return and suspend my realtor licence to BCFSA from today. I suffered lots of stress recently and in the last few years, because some people I subleased did not pay rent or caused damages or other problem." The BCFSA confirmed in an email that its investigation into Li's activities is still ongoing. The regulator says that under the terms of B.C.'s Real Estate Services Act, former licensees can still be sanctioned for activities that took place while they were in good standing. The search warrant also includes a copy of Li's apology to his managing broker, who wrote a statement explaining that the company's real estate agents work on "an independent contractor basis."
