Investigative journalist Sam Cooper unpacks how foreign interference unravelled the “true north strong and free”.

By Probe International

Powerhouse Canadian investigative journalist, Sam Cooper, reveals in this conversation with Northern Perspective media how China’s foreign interference in Canada operates. Intertwining organized crime, political influence, and a sophisticated money-laundering network dubbed the “Vancouver Model,” Cooper unpacks the ways Chinese influence has permeated Canada for decades, and all of it right “under the nose of the Canadian public”.

Cooper’s epic account of foreign interference is an obsession decades in the making, beginning with his days as a reporter in Vancouver digging into how foreign money, particularly massive inflows from China and Hong Kong, had distorted the city’s real estate prices. Despite China’s stringent capital controls, the surge of funds flowing into Vancouver raised red flags. As Cooper followed the money, he uncovered massive sums flowing in through networks of shadowy figures—ostensibly legitimate businessmen but with deep ties to organized crime. These individuals operated within a sprawling web of Canadian-based casino transactions and underground banking systems, funneling illicit funds into the country. Cooper’s investigations reveal how this money laundering apparatus, later termed the “Vancouver Model” by an Australian academic, was intrinsically linked to global drug trafficking, particularly synthetic opioids such as fentanyl.

The puzzle deepened when former Canadian intelligence official Richard Fadden warned in 2010 that some politicians in British Columbia had become alarmingly close to Chinese interests. As Cooper traced these financial flows from 2010 to 2012, it became clear that Vancouver’s skyrocketing property prices were not just market forces at play, but symptoms of a systemic criminal enterprise. By 2021, Cooper’s book Willful Blindness sought to synthesize these threads—illicit finance, narcotics networks, and political compromise—exposing how foreign interference and corruption had infiltrated Canada’s institutions.

The work drew attention from intelligence communities globally, with Canadian security insiders privately corroborating its findings. The term “Vancouver Model” now serves as a grim shorthand for how authoritarian regimes exploit Western financial systems, laundering criminal proceeds while co-opting political elites to silence dissent and secure influence.

Even today, Canadians remain largely blind to the security crisis that has destabilized the country, aided by an astonishing refusal on the part of successive governments to expose it. Cooper serves as one of Canada’s brightest beacons of light to that end with his non-stop news coverage through The Bureau.

Tune in to the bombshell-packed discussion between Sam Cooper and Northern Perspective host, Ryan Davies, here on YouTube as they walk through the unravelling of the “true north strong and free”.

This conversation first aired on February 17, 2025.