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Over the last decade, many of us have been unknowing extras in a high-stakes drama that has played out across the province. Skyrocketing housing costs, a decline in B.C.’s average life expectancy, and untold billions of dollars worth of $20 bills stuffed in duffel bags — it’s a plot line that would be dismissed in Hollywood as too far-fetched.

But in B.C., it is reality. Just how deep it goes is anyone’s guess, with police investigations pegging the amount of suspicious cash flowing into criminal coffers at over $2 billion each year. All this has left public trust in the rule of law in this province badly shaken.

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So far, the provincial government’s approach has been positive, but the investigations to date have been piecemeal and have resulted in more questions and no real answers: Who knew and looked the other way? Who got rich while so many were pushed out of the housing and rental markets, or lost loved ones to the overdose crisis? Who tried to do something and paid a professional or personal price for their integrity?