Dark Poutine - True Crime and Dark History

Episode 404: In April 2015, someone began targeting some of the city’s most vulnerable residents: men living rough, sleeping outside, and often already failed by every system meant to protect them. By the time the killing stopped, three were dead: 37‑year‑old Miles Monias, 48‑year‑old Stony Stanley Bushie, and 65‑year‑old Donald Collins. Their killer was another man on the margins, a homeless drifter with a long history of violence and untreated mental illness, John Paul Ostamas.

Sources:

Media Release - April 28, 2015 - Winnipeg Police ServiceR. v. Ostamas, 2016 MBQB 136 (CanLII)R. v. Ostamas (J.P.) (2016), 329 Man.R.(2d) 203 (QB) | vLexR v Ostamas, 2022 MBCA 68 (CanLII)John Paul Ostamas | APTN ArchivesJohn Paul Ostamas | Global News, Videos & ArticlesWinnipeg's Duck Face Serial KillerWinnipeg's historyGarden Hill First Nation | WikipediaLittle Grand Rapids First NationApr 27, 2015, page 16 - Calgary Herald at Newspapers.com™Apr 29, 2015, page A5 - Telegraph-Journal at Newspapers.com™May 2015: Death and the homelessTHE FIRST NATIONAL INDIGENOUS BROADCASTER IN THE WORLD | APTNWinnipeg police charge man in connection with 3 murders | APTNMan charged with 3 Winnipeg killings came from ‘good family’ in Eabametoong First Nation | APTNMay 2016: Guilty plea in killing spree'3 monstrous murders': Homeless killer John Paul Ostamas will get no parole for 75 years | CBC News‘Person of interest’ located by Winnipeg Police: Sources - WinnipegPolice say suspect in Winnipeg deaths known to Ontario policeMurder charges for deaths of homeless Native men in ManitobaAccused serial killer John Paul Ostamas sought help from Kenora pastorStoney Bushie's friends, family gather for Winnipeg prayer service | CBC NewsOstamas tried to burn down Winnipeg hotel, police say - WinnipegThunder Bay-area man charged with murder after 2 homeless men killed in Winnipeg | CBC NewsFamilies honour victims of alleged serial killer John OstamasMan charged with killing 3 men in Winnipeg | CBC NewsWho is John Paul Ostamas, alleged serial killer in Winnipeg deaths? | CBC NewsHomeless in Vancouver: Homeless man charged in serial killings of three Winnipeg men | Georgia Straight Vancouver’s source for arts, culture, and eventsHomelessness – Social Planning Council of WinnipegIndigenous Peoples and Homelessness | homelesshub.caHomeless in Vancouver: Serial killer may be targeting Winnipeg homeless | Georgia Straight Vancouver’s source for arts, culture, and eventsLatest Winnipeg street census suggests homelessness at highest point in past decade | CBC NewsAMC Responds to Record Homelessness in Winnipeg | manitobachiefs.comUnderstanding Indigenous Homelessness28239_here_now_plan_report_FIN_WEB | PDF
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Episode 403: Nicholas Melady Jr. was 24 years old when he stepped onto a wooden scaffold above the stone walls of Goderich Gaol in December of 1869, about to become the central figure in Canada’s last public hanging after the brutal murders of his father, Nicholas Melady Sr. and stepmother, Ellen, in a quiet Huron County farmhouse. In this episode, we return to a world of bush farms, rough taverns, and bitter family feuds over land and inheritance, tracing a path from a whispered meeting on a bridge and talk of “just a robbery” to a blood‑soaked kitchen floor, sloppy police work, and a coroner making two young men stand barefoot in dried pools of blood.

Sources:

Double Trap by John MeladySeaforth Doors Open | shopseaforth.caAudio-Tour-of-North-Street | goderich.caHuron Historic Gaol‘Morbid curiosity’: When executions were public spectacles in Ontario | TVO TodayMar 27, 1869, page 1 - The Globe and Mail at Newspapers.com™Apr 02, 1869, page 3 - Ottawa Daily Citizen at Newspapers.com™Dec 08, 1869, page 4 - The Critic and Record at Newspapers.com™Dec 09, 1869, page 4 - Buffalo Courier Express at Newspapers.com™Dec 17, 1869, page 1 - Brampton Times at Newspapers.com™Dec 07, 1869, page 3 - Boston Evening Transcript at Newspapers.com™Carling R. Marshall ~ Public History Blog: Semi-public? - The Hoag Hanging, Walkerton - 1868Carling R. Marshall - Capital punishment: Huron County opinion in 1869Nicholas Melady | Wikipedia1869: Nicholas Melady, the last public hanging in Canada | Executed TodayResearching Canada’s ‘Last Public Hanging | Huron County MuseumThe Final Days of Nicholas Melady Jr. as Witnessed by William Dickson - Champlain Society
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Episode 402: On July 31, 1987, an ordinary summer afternoon in Edmonton, Alberta, ended in catastrophe. A powerful tornado cut through the city’s southeast, killing 27 people and leaving entire neighbourhoods destroyed in minutes. In this episode, we examine the second-deadliest tornado in Canadian history through firsthand survivor accounts and direct statements from officials who faced a disaster few believed could happen in a major Canadian city. The day would later become known as “Black Friday,” a name repeated in municipal histories and anniversary coverage. On July 31 itself, it was still just another Friday afternoon.

Episode Sources:

Tornado, a report : Edmonton and Strathcona County, July 31st, 1987 : Alberta Public Safety ServicesEdmonton Tornado (1987) | The Candian EncyclopediaBELLWEATHER KENNELS CANADA - EDMONTON TORNADO 1987 by Tom TaylorEdmonton Tornado | WikipediaThe Edmonton Tornado | Environment CanadaBlack Friday changed city, survivors | CBC NewsThis Was the Worst Tornado in Canada’s History | Reader’s DigestJul 30, 1988, page 92 - Edmonton Journal at Newspapers.com™From the Edmonton community on RedditEdmonton Journal front page story of the Edmonton tornado July 31, 1987 (Black Friday)Regina Cyclone | Wikipedia
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Episode 401: At the start of the twentieth century, Vancouver, B.C., was a fast-growing Pacific port. Most residents were white settlers of British or European descent, but Chinese and Japanese communities were already well established and growing. They lived, worked, and built businesses in neighbourhoods like Chinatown and Powell Street, playing a central role in the city’s economy while being denied political rights and social acceptance.

By 1907, economic anxiety and racial resentment had hardened into open hostility. Asian workers were blamed for falling wages and job insecurity, a message repeated by newspapers, politicians, and organized exclusionary groups. The riots that followed on September 7 were not sudden outbursts, but the result of years of public rhetoric that treated entire communities as threats. This episode examines how those ideas gave rise to violence on Vancouver’s streets.

Sources:The 1907 Racist Riots – Union Zindabad!The Asiatic Exclusion League Riot, 1907 — Published by BC Labour Heritage CentreThe Vancouver Anti-Asian RiotsCauses of the 1907 anti-Asian riots :The Lessons of the Anti-Asiatic Riot"Images" and "Issues" : the portrayal of Asians in the Vancouver Daily Province and the Vancouver Daily World, 1907 to 1908Anti-Asian Riots of 1907 - British Columbia - An Untold HistoryMayor Ken SimDavid LamChinese Immigration ActChinese Head Tax in Canada1907 Vancouver anti-Asian riotsAsian Labour History in British ColumbiaA White Man's Province by Patricia Roy | Internet ArchiveW.L. Mackenzie King’s 1907 Report on Japanese Losses in Vancouver RiotsW.L. Mackenzie King’s 1907 Report on Chinese Losses in Vancouver RiotsThe History of Canada Series: Trouble on Main Street: Mackenzie King Reason Race And The 1907 Vancouver Riots
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Episode 400: In October 1894, 18-year-old Frank Westwood was shot on the doorstep of his Parkdale home. The killing shocked Toronto and sparked a frantic search for a suspect. Weeks later, a mixed-race tailor named Clara Ford walked into a Toronto police station and was quickly accused of the murder. With no weapon, no motive, and a disputed confession, her trial exposed deep racial bias and divided the city. This episode looks at Clara’s life, the investigation that targeted her, and the aftermath of the trial that captivated Canada’s largest city.

Episode Sources:Clara at the Door with a Revolver — Carolyn Whitzman (UBC Press, 2023)Toronto Public Library – Digitized Toronto newspapersNewspapers.com – Historical Toronto press coverageCity of Toronto ArchivesArchives of Ontario – Mercer Reformatory & judicial recordsRace on Trial: Black Defendants in Ontario’s Criminal Courts, 1858–1958 — Barrington WalkerAfua Cooper – Black Canadian history resourcesDEWART, HERBERT HARTLEY – Dictionary of Canadian BiographyJOHNSTON, EBENEZER FORSYTH BLACKIE – Dictionary of Canadian BiographyDeath in the Queen City: Clara Ford on Trial, 1895 By Parick BrodeA blood-drinking monster? When this Toronto woman was accused of murder, the newspapers of 1894 went wildA sensational Toronto murder from 1894 – Bill Gladstone GenealogyTranscript: The Story of a Black Woman Accused of Murder in 1894 | Feb 15, 2023 | TVO TodayInterview: Carolyn Whitzman on the archival story behind novel Clara at the Door  – MOBA
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