How a royal gift exposed sexual abuse at an elite Canadian school

“In May 2008, Prince Andrew paid a visit to his Canadian alma mater: the prestigious Lakefield College School, just north of Peterborough, Ont. It was not the first homecoming for His Royal Highness. A teenage exchange student back in 1977, the Queen’s second son retains strong ties to his old campus and has reminisced often about how deeply he treasures those ‘life-changing’ six months. But that particular trip was especially sentimental. The Duke of York had a gift to present: a hand-carved baptismal font for the school chapel.”

Michael Friscolanti – Maclean’s – October 2017

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The Russian spies who raised us

“Ed was standing in that same bedroom on June 29, 2010, getting dressed for a treadmill run at the gym downstairs. Pauline was in the kitchen, eating breakfast with her morning newspaper. The top story on the front page that Tuesday was the stuff of Hollywood scripts: the FBI had busted a group of deep-cover Russian spies operating on U.S. soil—including some who had stolen the identities of dead Canadian children. Pauline froze as she read one of the names: Tracey Lee Ann Foley.”

Michael Friscolanti – Maclean’s – August 2017

The other side of Barry Sherman

“The question to be answered is not only why was Sherman murdered alongside his wife, but why now, at 75? It’s no secret the drug executive had amassed a long list of enemies in his 50-year career. A renowned risk-taker, disruptor and pitbull professionally, Sherman was a polarizing figure—regarded as a softie with a heart of gold by those in his proximity and loathed by those who claim they were outfoxed or betrayed by him.”

Anne Kingston, Michael Friscolanti – Maclean’s – April 2018

The Shafia Honour Killing Trial

“It was June 30, 2009, the morning before Canada Day. Det.-Const. Geoff Dempster was supposed to work the afternoon shift, two ‘til midnight, but his cellphone rang a few hours early. A colleague in the major crimes unit briefed him about the car full of corpses at the Kingston Mills locks, and asked him to come in as soon as possible. A few minutes after he arrived at police headquarters, three people showed up at the front counter to file a missing persons report: Mohammad Shafia, the girls’ father, Tooba Mohammad Yahya, their mother, and Hamed Shafia, their 18-year-old brother. Dempster, a veteran cop with short blond hair and a rookie’s face, spent most of that Tuesday shift interviewing mom, dad and son, assuming, at first, that they were grieving relatives devastated to learn that their loved ones were gone.”

Michael Friscolanti – Maclean’s – March 2016