Crime
Edmonton Police release suspect images connected to Tuesday homicide

The Edmonton Police Service is releasing images of a male suspect alleged to be responsible for the death of a 42-year-old male in northeast Edmonton early Tuesday morning.
Homicide Section investigators are seeking the publicās assistance in locatingĀ Matthew Leonard Dawson Campeau, 24.
CampeauĀ isĀ wanted in connection to the murder of a 42-year-old male, which occurred at approximately 12:40 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2019, at a residence near Belmont Park in northeast Edmonton.
Autopsy results released by the Edmonton Medical Examiner this morning confirm the 42-year-old male died from a gun-shot wound, and the manner of death is homicide.
Homicide investigators believeĀ CampeauĀ may still be in the Edmonton area. He is considered to be armed and dangerous and should not be approached.
CampeauĀ is described as being a Caucasian male,Ā 6ā2ā, brown eyes, short black hair and weighs approximately 186 pounds. He also has a tattoo of an arrow on his left hand.

Matthew Leonard Dawson Campeau, 24
Investigators are urging anyone with information regarding the whereabouts ofĀ CampeauĀ to contact the EPS at 780-423-4567 or #377 from a mobile phone. Anonymous information can also be submitted to Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or online atĀ www.tipsubmit.com/start.htm.
Background:
Northeast Division patrol officers responded to a 911 call in connection to shots being fired at a residence near 135 Avenue and 38 Street, at approximately 12:40 a.m., Feb. 26, 2019.
Upon arrival, EPS officers found a deceased male inside the residence. The male is known to police.
Crime
Canada Blocked DEA Request to Investigate Massive Toronto Carfentanil Seizure for Terror Links

Exclusive investigation shows U.S. drug officials were stonewalled after linking a historic Toronto opioid seizure to suspected Pakistani and Chinese threat networks
A former top U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration official has come forward with explosive allegations that Canadian authorities obstructed a high-level DEA investigation into a 42-kilogram carfentanil seizure tied to a 2018 mass shooting in Toronto and, according to senior U.S. investigators, potentially linked to Pakistani threat networks and Chinese chemical precursor suppliers.
The DEA learned, after 29-year-old Faisal Hussainās shooting rampage on Danforth Avenueāwhich left two people dead and thirteen more woundedāthat his brother and a network with Pakistani links were connected to a historic seizure of carfentanil, a synthetic opioid 100 times more potent than fentanyl, in September 2017. The drugs were discovered in a suburban Pickering home, alongside specialized equipment consistent with a transnational trafficking operation.
While ISISās claim of responsibility for Hussainās attack initially raised concerns about terrorism, Canadian officials and Toronto police advanced a narrative that the tragedy had no national security implications, attributing it instead to the hardships of a Pakistani immigrant family and a mental health crisis. But the DEAās elite Special Operations Divisionādrawing on global informant and intelligence networksādid not fully accept the conclusions of Canadaās investigation or its public disclosures.
The DEA had requested to test the seized carfentanil to determine whether its molecular structure matched opioids trafficked into Atlanta from Quebec, said Donald Im, the DEAās former Special Operations Division lead on precursor chemicals, dark web drug markets, and narco-terrorism, in an exclusive interview withĀ The Bureau.
Although mid-level RCMP officers were reportedly willing to share the seizure materials and investigative details with the DEA, Im said those efforts were blocked by senior Canadian bureaucrats.
āI coordinated with our DEA office up there in Ottawa, and he was getting the runaround as well,ā Im said. āIām saying, if you guys had some 30 or 40-odd kilograms, and you couldnāt give us a few grams to determine whether or not there were any similar seizures in the United States? And they wouldn’t give it to us.ā
Im said that before retiring in 2022, he couldnāt let the case go, and attemptedāthrough the Pentagon and U.S. intelligence agenciesāto pressure Canadian authorities to release a sample. Those efforts also failed.
The DEA viewed the Toronto seizure as a potential inbound threat to Americans on multiple levels. According to DEA estimates, as little as 20 micrograms of carfentanil can be fatal to humans. At that potency, one kilogram of carfentanil could yield well over 10 million lethal doses. The 42 kilograms of confirmed carfentanil seized from the Pickering homeālinked to Pakistani crime networksācould, in theory, be potent enough to deliver lethal doses to the entire populations of Canada and the United States.
āI could see the frustration in the RCMP guy’s face,ā Im said, referring to the Canadian official he directly asked to share samples from the Pickering seizure. āI mean, there was this one guyāhe was really good and he did everything he could to get us some stuff, but noāheadquarters would not let him release anything,ā Im recalled. āAnd I was told by RCMP officialsānot just once, but on a number of occasionsāthey are frustrated at their headquarters.ā
The BureauĀ confirmed with a current senior U.S. official, with knowledge of discussions involving Public Safety Canada and senior RCMP leaders, that American investigators have allegedly been repeatedly stonewalled on requests for information from the RCMP on fentanyl investigations, so-called āsuperlabs,ā and cross-province distribution networks in B.C., Ontario, and Quebecācases in which DEA intelligence reportedly led to Canadian investigations.
Senior U.S. officials with direct knowledge of precursor tracking said the chemical compounds, dyes, and containment gear found at the scene in Pickering almost certainly originated in China, where state-tolerated chemical firms supply global narco-networks.
In a lengthy interview, Imāwho has testified before Congress on Beijingās role in global narcotics trafficking and traced fentanyl networks back to Chinese Communist Party officialsāsaid the Toronto carfentanil case and its link to the Danforth shooting expose a growing national security blind spot in Canada, with direct implications for the United States.
He placed the 2017 seizure at the center of escalating U.S. concerns about Canadaās role in the fentanyl supply chain, declining enforcement standards, and Ottawaās political resistance to RCMP cooperation with American law enforcement.
To date, most Canadian media have largely portrayed the shooter and his family as victims of personal tragedy. Faisal Hussain, the 29-year-old gunman, was said to have suffered from psychosis after his brotherās drug overdose left him in a vegetative state. In September 2017āwhile Fahad Hussain was in a comaāfire crews responded to a carbon monoxide alarm at the Pickering home and alerted police to a suspicious substance in the basement. Durham Regional Police executed a search warrant, uncovering 33 illegal overcapacity firearms magazines and 53 kilograms of seized materialāincluding 42 kilograms of confirmed carfentanilāthe largest known seizure of the drug in Canadian history.
The homeās owner, Pakistani immigrant Maisum Ansari, was convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison for possession of 33 firearms and 26 kilograms of carfentanil for the purpose of trafficking. He was released on bail in September 2023 pending appeal. The ruling that freed Ansari stated: āThe Crownās theory at trial was that the appellant was not necessarily the mastermind behind the criminal enterprise, but he was a ānecessary cog in a larger operation.āā
Speaking about the Faisal Hussain shooting case, Liberal Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale publicly stated there was āno national security connection between this individual and any other national security issue.ā
ISIS claimed responsibility for the Danforth shooting through its AMAQ news agency, describing Hussain as āa soldier of the Islamic State.ā Canadian law enforcement dismissed the claim, and thenāToronto Police Chief Mark Saunders said no evidence supported it. But Im said the DEA remained concerned.
āNot only did we assume there were links to China, but then we found links back to Pakistan. And I can’t disclose exactly what, but it’s bad,ā Im said. āAnd we were thinking: is this going to be a potential terrorist act? This is where we believed the RCMP didnāt want anything like that to be disclosedāthat there was a potential ISIS sympathizer attempting to use carfentanil as a weapon of mass destruction, as opposed to just killing somebody with a pistol.ā
In wide-ranging answers that will inform a forthcoming series fromĀ The BureauĀ on Canadaās role in Chinaās global fentanyl supply networks, Im reiterated that certain details remain classified. However, he saidĀ The BureauāsĀ reporting has already touched on many of the key issues that senior U.S. officials believe the North American public must understandāespecially regarding the intersection of narcotics, national security, and foreign interference from hostile states.
Asked to elaborate on the DEAās view of the Hussain case and its links to Pakistan, Im said:
āTerror networks. It was indirect links, but we needed to follow through with it. We found links to himāand then back to Pakistan.ā
Pressing the point,Ā The BureauĀ asked: āYou’re saying what you can share is limited, but there was something that concerned you there in Pakistan?ā
āYes, indirectly, and I won’t say anything further,ā Im responded.
Despite escalating efforts through intelligence and defense channels, Im said Canada remained uncooperative.
āWe were asking: How does a Pakistani Canadian have all this amount of carfentanil? And it was a staggering amount,ā Im said.
What also went unreported, Im noted, was that the brother had overdosed after handling a large quantity of carfentanilāalongside food dyes and chemical-handling gear that suggested commercial production or distribution.
The DEA believed the setup bore the hallmarks of mass trafficking operations or, in a more alarming scenario, possible preparation for a terror-related attack.
āThe local police gave us photos and we found food dye coloring. And we were like, what is he doing with this? We think he was trying to market the product to youth with different color variants, but he wasn’t able to do it.ā
āSo thatās why we were trying to, one, trace the source of the carfentanil and the chemicals, the food dye coloring. And then, was he communicating with anyone in the name of ISIS?ā
āBut who actually supplied it to him, and how did he get it? Itās got to come from China. But the RCMP wouldn’t give us anything. We couldn’t even get samples to analyze. This was one of my key priorities in 2018 and 2019. They wouldn’t give it to our lab. We just needed a small amount to determine the molecular structureāwhether we could trace it or link it to seizures in the States.ā
Im also tied the DEAās blocked Danforth probe to broader concerns about carfentanil exports from Canada. āDEA Georgia, Atlanta had been investigating carfentanil overdoses, and guess who the supplier was? A Canadian named Arden McCann. He had been selling carfentanil through the dark web, and we were wonderingāthe Mexicans aren’t selling carfentanil, but weāre seeing it coming out of Canada,ā Im said.
A current senior U.S. official with direct knowledge of bilateral tensions confirmed that many of Imās concerns reflect long-standing frustrations. The official said American authorities believe Canada has consistently downplayed cartel infiltrationāan issue that escalated after the Trudeau government lifted visa requirements for Mexican nationals.
The official also pointed to Canadaās expanding role in the poly-drug tradeādominated by Chinese organized crimeāincluding fentanyl, methamphetamine, and illicit cannabis. Since the 2018 legalization of recreational marijuana, Canadian supply chains that appear ālegalā on paper have increasingly fueled the U.S. black market, the official said.
Once across the border, those shipments merge with synthetic drug flows fueled by Chinese precursors. The resulting profits are laundered through vast trade-based networks controlled by Chinese organized crime groups. These networks operate in tandem with underground banking systems in the Middle East and move money for Latin American cartels, Italian mafias, and other transnational syndicates.
Tensions between the RCMP and U.S. agencies have deepened in recent years. One emblematic episode, according to a U.S. source, came when the Canada Border Services Agency publicly acknowledged that Canada was a fentanyl exporter. The RCMP contradicted the statement, and the admission was quietly withdrawn. āWeāre just saying, give us something honest to work with,ā a U.S. official said.
As of 2025, the mistrust remains unresolved. The official pointed to recent RCMP claims that none of the fentanyl seized in a series of Vancouver-area lab busts was destined for the United States. āWe asked how they knew that,ā the official said. āThey wonāt share the evidence.ā
Itās the same pattern Washington has grown increasingly frustrated withāmirroring what Don Im described facing during the carfentanil investigation. In fact, intelligence on fentanyl labs has largely flowed in one direction: from the DEA to Canadian authorities.
Im emphasized that frontline RCMP officers are not to blame. āTheyāre more than capable,ā he said. āBut they are politically hamstrung in their ability to share and coordinate. Thatās coming from headquarters.ā
Looking ahead, Im warned that Canadaās continued resistance to serious fentanyl cooperation could carry long-term economic consequences. āIf Mark Carney wants to stay in power, this is where Trump can come in and say: start coordinating with us on the Chineseāor the tariffs stay,ā he said.
Im, who has testified before Congress on Chinaās role in the fentanyl crisis and helped write the groundbreaking 2024 Congressional report on the CCPās involvement in supporting and subsidizing precursor chemicals, said endemic corruption in Chinaās provinces has allowed chemical producers to flood North America with precursors. The report found fentanyl being produced in some Chinese prisons, and some CCP officials holding so-called āgolden sharesā in precursor companies. He identified Canada as a critical conduit in that global systemāserving both as a staging ground for drug production and a platform for laundering the proceeds.
āThere is insufficient cooperation from Canada on fentanyl, Chinese organized crime, and money laundering with the United States,ā Im said.
Im said he is speaking boldly now because lives are being lost across North America, and the political and judicial response so far has been woefully inadequateāin the United States, but especially so in Canada.
āI see it on the global scale here, including the United States, and it’s frustrating because now we’re slowly seeing U.S. government officials discussing Canada. And I’ve been saying all along that there’s an extensive amount of fentanyl and carfentanil that have been coming from Canada for years. And just because there’s only been a few seized does not mean that there’s not a significant amount,ā he said.
āAnd I’ve worked with the RCMP for years, and they’re great until they’re influenced by the Chinese. It was just overwhelming. And we just couldn’t get anything out of RCMP anymore because their headquarters were restricted in providing what we needed. So I mean, they’d give us low-hanging fruit information, but when it came to money and Chinese and fentanyl and chemicals, they were like, āNo.ā We tried but couldnāt get that information.ā
Coming Up: Subscribe toĀ The BureauĀ for exclusive, paywalled investigations that delve into the intelligence and evidence shaping U.S.āCanada relations. Our upcoming reports expose the rise of Canadian super-labs, Beijingās United Front Work Department, the covert use of cross-border properties, and growing threats to national securityāand livesāacross North America. These stories are poised to influence high-level tariff negotiations between Washington and Ottawa.
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2025 Federal Election
Nine Dead After SUV Plows Into Vancouver Festival Crowd, Raising Election-Eve Concerns Over Public Safety

Sam Cooper
In Vancouver, concern about public safety ā particularly assaults and violent incidents involving suspects previously known to police ā has been a longstanding civic and political flashpoint
In an evolving mass-death investigation that could have profound psychological and emotional impacts on Canadaās federal election, Vancouver police confirmed Sunday that nine people were killed Saturday night when a young man plowed a luxury SUV through a festival block party in South Vancouver, leaving a trail of instant deaths and horrific injuries, with witnesses describing convulsing bodies and wounded toddlers in the aftermath.
The driver, a 30-year-old Vancouver resident known to police, appeared to be shaken and apologetic, according to eyewitness accounts and video from the scene. Authorities stated the case is not being treated as terrorism.
Late Saturday night, Vancouver police confirmed at a news conference that the man, who was known to police āin certain circumstances,ā had been arrested.
The incident occurred around 8:14 p.m. during the annual Lapu Lapu Festival, a celebration of Filipino Canadian culture held near East 41st Avenue and Fraser Street. Thousands of attendees had packed the area for cultural performances, food stalls, and community events when the luxury SUV entered the closed-off area and accelerated into the crowd. Photos of the vehicle, with its doors ajar and a crumpled front end, indicate it was an Audi Q7 with black tinted windows.
In Vancouver, concern about public safety ā particularly assaults and violent incidents involving suspects previously known to police ā has been a longstanding civic and political flashpoint. Saturdayās tragedy sharpened those anxieties, potentially influencing the attitudes of undecided voters in a federal election that has focused on social disorder and crime framed by the Conservative side, with the Liberal frontrunners countering that firmer sentencing laws would undermine Canadaās Charter of Rights.
Witnesses to Saturdayās tragedy described scenes of chaos and terror as the SUV slammed into festival-goers, accelerating through the crowd.
āI thought it was fireworks at first ā the sounds, the screams ā then I saw people flying,ā one witness told reporters on the scene.
Authorities have launched a full criminal investigation into the suspectās background, including previous interactions with law enforcement.
The tragedy unfolded during the final, high-stakes weekend of Canada’s federal election campaign, throwing public safety and political leadership into sharp relief.
On Saturday night, before news of the Vancouver incident broke, Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre posted a message on X at about 10 p.m., declaring, “This election comes down to one word. Change. Our Conservative plan will bring home an affordable life and safe streets ā For a Change.”
Meanwhile, Liberal leader Mark Carney, campaigning in the Greater Toronto Area, posted at roughly the same time, “Dropped in on dim sum today in Markham. The best part of this campaign has been meeting Canadians in their communities ā and hearing how excited they are about our future.”
As the scale of the tragedy became clear, both leaders shifted sharply in tone.
Poilievre posted again around 1 a.m. Sunday, writing, “I am shocked by the horrific news emerging from Vancouver’s Lapu Lapu Day Festival tonight. My thoughts are with the Filipino community and all the victims targeted by this senseless attack. Thank you to the first responders who are at the scene as we wait to hear more.”
Carney, who had posted shortly before midnight that, “We don’t need anger. We need to build,” followed with a direct statement on the Vancouver attack around 2 a.m. Sunday morning, writing, “I am devastated to hear about the horrific events at the Lapu Lapu festival in Vancouver earlier this evening. I offer my deepest condolences to the loved ones of those killed and injured, to the Filipino Canadian community, and to everyone in Vancouver. We are all mourning with you.”
Online, the tragedy quickly reignited concerns about violent crime, bail, and the rights of offenders ā issues that have increasingly polarized Canadian political debate.
In response to Carneyās statement, a comment from an account named Willy Balters reflected the growing anger: “Heāll be out on bail by morning right?”
Another commenter, referencing past political controversies over judicial reform, posted to Carney, “You stood behind a podium and declared murderers’ Charter Rights canāt be violated.”
The raw public sentiment mirrored broader criticisms that Canada’s criminal justice system ā and its perceived leniency toward repeat offenders ā has failed to keep Canadians safe.
Just days prior, a different incident tapped into similar public anger. B.C. Conservative MLA Elenore Sturko posted, “A visitor to Vancouver was brutally attacked by a man only hours after he was released on bail for assaulting police and uttering threats. @Dave_Eby ā is this the kind of welcome visitors to FIFA will have to look forward to? BTW, this violent man is out on bail AGAIN!”
That incident continued to draw heated social media on Sunday, with David Jacobs, a well-known conservative-leaning commenter, posting, “A man, while out on bail for assaulting a peace officer, violently assaulted a woman. He’s out on bail again. The Liberals put criminal rights far ahead of victim rights and community safety. Stop the insanity. Vote for change!”
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