In the final part of a four-part investigation into the seedy underbelly of the lucrative clothing donation bin industry, CTV W5 correspondent Jon Woodward and producer Joseph Loiero look at how some cities are trying to rein in the chaos.
One Ontario city staff member faced threats and even had her tires slashed while leading a crackdown on unlicensed clothing bins that may be connected to organized criminals, a former deputy mayor told W5.
But the City of Markham didn't back down, and physically removed many of what it called "rogue" clothing donation bins that were popping up unasked for on city property and shopping plazas, said former Markham deputy mayor Jack Heath.
"You shouldn't let people who are making threats, criminal threats, to stop the kinds of initiatives that make for a better city," Heath said in an interview.
It's a call to action that Heath is hoping other cities follow amid a W5 investigation into what's behind some clothing donation bin operations.
Trackers sewn into clothing and placed into bins that promised direct charity for local needy people ended up in commercial operations and even 7,400 kilometres away in the North African country of Tunisia.
W5 placed a jacket with a concealed GPS tracker inside this bin. The jacket ended up 7,400 kilometres away in Tunisia, Africa (January 2024 / W5 Joseph Loiero)
One tracker also showed items placed in a bin that appeared to belong to a charity called the Canadian Community Support Foundation but was headed to a local thrift store to be sold.
That charity has long since had its status revoked after an audit showed it provided an "undue private benefit" worth $29,200 to a numbered company, a letter from the Canada Revenue Agency showed.
And documents obtained by W5 show Toronto-area police linked assaults, stabbings and arsons to a turf war between rival organized crime groups looking to carve out a piece of the multimillion-dollar used clothing market.
Over in Toronto, a freedom of information request filed by W5 shows that in the last four years, almost one in five city licences bear the names of people who have faced criminal charges or are family members of convicted criminals.
One of those people was Giuseppe Siggia, who has drug trafficking and conspiracy to distribute cocaine convictions from the 1980s and 1990s. He also was charged in 2013 for smashing in the car windows of a bin industry competitor and later entered into a peace bond.
His wife, Milda Romanoff, was a director of the Canadian Community Support Foundation.
Siggia himself told W5 over the phone that he believes other people are using the bins of the Canadian Community Support Foundation, and he and his wife are no longer involved.
"No, I'm not involved in the bin business for years and years," he said.
When told his family names were on City of Toronto licences, he said, "I don't know why you keep goddamn insisting I'm still in the business. 鈥 listen, I don't want to talk to you. Call the police and do what the f*** you want to. You have a good day," and hung up.
The presence of names connected to Siggia on the City of Toronto's licensed bin system is a sign that something's wrong, said Kate Bahnen of Charity Intelligence.
"I don't know how the City of Toronto has permitted this without doing its due diligence," Bahnen said.
Toronto Coun. Anthony Perruzza says he'll look into whether the city needs to do more.
"I wasn't aware that we are granting actual licences to people that are in a for-profit activity and allowing people to sort of, you know, pretend to be a charity and, you know, to be charitable in some way. And if that's what we're doing, we should review that," he said.
W5 looked into the company whose name was on the bin where we interviewed Perruzza. We found that a 2014 York Regional Police report suggests two of the company's directors were part of an "enforcement crew" hired to take over other competitor's bins.
They were present one evening in 2013 when a confrontation broke out in an Orangeville parking lot and two other men had their car windows smashed in with baseball bats.
Further research found the brother of one of the directors was charged for robbing a bank in Mississauga in 2013. One of the directors himself was also charged with possession of stolen property in Hamilton. The charges were withdrawn last year.
Meanwhile, the City of Markham has removed most of its rogue bins 鈥 about 200 in the past five years. Its licensed bins can be spotted by the city logo on them.
Heath says his city stood tall against the threats and cleaned up the industry.
"The most important [thing] is to go ahead and do it. You can do it," he said, a call he hopes other cities answer.
For tips on donation bins or any other story, please email Jon Woodward or call 416 859 8617
A clothing bin in Toronto. City of Toronto Coun. Anthony Perruzza says this bin has been placed on school property without permission (September 2024 / W5 Kirk Neff)
Scott Moe earned his second mandate as premier and his Saskatchewan Party held onto government for a fifth-straight majority, 麻豆影视 declared Monday night. But the party did not hold onto all its seats.
Henrickson was a 17-year-old girl from Squamish who went missing after a house party on Bowen Island, during the then unusually warm summer of 2009.
An American presidential historian is maintaining his previous prediction of a Kamala Harris presidency as the U.S. election hits the one-week mark.
A new report says when the province deregulated electricity generation in 2001, it forced Albertans to pay billions more for their power.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre thinks it would be 'not fair' for the Liberals to oust Prime Minister Justin Trudeau now, as in his view they are 'morally obligated' to keep him.
The New York Yankees and the Los Angeles Dodgers will play Game 4 of the World Series.
Bloc Leader Yves-Francois Blanchet is starting to talk to other opposition parties about bringing down Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's minority Liberal government.
The headliners for the region鈥檚 biggest outdoor country music festival are locked in, and once again, the multi-day event has garnered big names.
Nova Scotia鈥檚 Department of Labour has lifted its stop-work order at a Halifax Walmart more than a week after the body of 19-year-old Gursimran Kaur was discovered in an industrial oven in the store鈥檚 bakery.
B.C. Premier David Eby took questions from reporters Tuesday for the first time since his party secured the narrowest of majorities in the final count of provincial election results.
Hours after the premier addressed reporters, the incoming leader of the Opposition held his own news conference dialling back the rhetoric that fired up B.C. Conservative supporters on election night.
A man who was convicted in the random stabbing of a stranger at a downtown Vancouver Tim Hortons in 2022 is back in custody, according to authorities.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency says an Ontario facility producing plant-based milks was not adhering to Health Canada鈥檚 policies on listeria prevention prior to an outbreak that led to three deaths.
The Ontario government will give each taxpayer a $200 rebate. Premier Doug Ford made the announcement Tuesday and said the rebate will also extend to families with children, with an additional $200 per eligible child.
Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) have charged two suspects in connection with what they鈥檙e calling an 'extensive' fraud investigation linked to a COVID-19 vaccine database.
A woman was seriously injured after being hit by a vehicle in the community of Fairview on Tuesday afternoon.
Calgary police have released photos of a man allegedly responsible for a bear spray attack at Market Mall last month.
Calgary council has approved changes to the city's transit bylaw that will double fines for intimidation and crack down on riders who loiter.
Ontario Provincial Police confirm an arrest has been made in connection with a fatal boat crash on Bobs Lake in eastern Ontario over the Victoria Day long weekend.
Police say the homicide unit is investigating after a man was stabbed and later died Monday night. A 58-year-old woman has been arrested.
Former Ottawa-Carleton regional chair and first mayor of Nepean Andrew Haydon has died. He was 91.
The Coalition Avenir Qu茅bec鈥檚 Sylvie D鈥橝mours said she shut her office down Tuesday after its windows were shot at.
Walking from his apartment to classes and then to the University of Florida鈥檚 basketball facility, Olivier Rioux poses for dozens 鈥 sometimes hundreds 鈥 of pictures a day.
Concerned about the impact of the presidential election on Quebec exports, Premier Francois Legault will be going on a mission to Washington in early 2025.
Premier Danielle Smith says she is taking steps to keep Albertans warm this winter while keeping their utility bills low.
The world's best hockey player and star captain of the Edmonton Oilers appears to be out of action for at least one game, but it could be for longer.
Edmonton Police Service (EPS) has dismantled one of the 鈥榤ost elaborate encampments鈥 officers have ever seen.
Nova Scotia鈥檚 Department of Labour has lifted its stop-work order at a Halifax Walmart more than a week after the body of 19-year-old Gursimran Kaur was discovered in an industrial oven in the store鈥檚 bakery.
Nova Scotians 鈥 including the province鈥檚 top politicians 鈥 are continuing to express outrage after four people showed up at a Halloween dance dressed in Ku Klux Klan costumes.
Authorities believe they have solved a cyber crime spanning schools in Ontario and the United States, and the suspect at the centre of the investigation is a 14-year-old Nova Scotia boy.
A new report says the city could hire staff to inspect inner city parks and playgrounds for needles and knives, but any plans would come with a price tag.
Nearly two months after Manitoba鈥檚 school cellphone ban came into effect, the policy is receiving some mixed signals.
For the second time in as many days, a woman was carjacked in Winnipeg.
Saskatchewan's provincial election saw the upset of several long time Saskatchewan Party MLAs who lost their seats in urban ridings.
The Saskatchewan Party has maintained its hold onto power, battling its way to a fifth consecutive majority government.
The Saskatchewan Roughriders will take to the field Saturday versus the BC Lions in the CFL鈥檚 West Division Semi-final and will mark their return to the post-season for the first time since 2021.
After the Guelph Police Service announced a plan to ramp up enforcement on drug use in downtown Guelph, business owners are sharing their thoughts on the plan.
The Waterloo Region District School Board (WRDSB) announced, and then abruptly reversed, a plan to remove garbage bins from classrooms.
Councillors with the City of Kitchener voted in favour of hitting the brakes on a plan that would see more speed cameras installed in front of schools.
A Saskatoon woman is calling for improvements to safety on public transit following a string of bear spray attacks on city buses.
Considering they鈥檙e only a couple years removed from trick-or-treating, the Saskatoon Blades had some fun at practise today.
Six students were seriously injured and one student was airlifted to hospital in Saskatoon following a school bus crash near Tisdale, Sask. on Monday afternoon.
Three suspects arrested in West Nipissing earlier this year were part of a group of five who robbed banks across the province, Ontario Provincial Police said Tuesday.
The owner of a convenience store and gas bar in North Bay鈥檚 northwest end says a road construction project has hurt his business so severely, he might have to close.
In Sudbury on Monday, Ontario Premier Doug Ford was asked when the four-laning of Highway 69 would be completed, a project that has been decades in the making.
Chief Thai Truong of the London Police Service (LPS) was part of a panel discussion following the screening of Dark Highway at FCFF. Truong said trafficking is a 鈥渂ig problem鈥 because 鈥渢here is a lot of money to be made.鈥
On Oct. 22 around 1:20 a.m. police responded to a home in the area of Talbot Street and Huron Street where the homeowner said they received a notification from the doorbell camera.
A forensic pathologist who examined the body of shooting victim Josue Silva concluded that the Western University student died after being shot in the abdomen and losing an excessive amount of blood despite paramedics efforts to save him.
The headliners for the region鈥檚 biggest outdoor country music festival are locked in, and once again, the multi-day event has garnered big names.
Emergency crews in Clearview Township battled flames and heavy smoke Tuesday morning as a fire raged through a large home.
Casino Rama Resort is looking to fill nearly 30 positions as it begins a major refurbishment project.
The Windsor Pickleball Club wants to see new padding installed along walls at the Windsor Family Credit Union (WFCU) after a member fatally hit their head while playing the sport.
Cineplex Entertainment has said inspections found no sign of pests at their Devonshire Mall movie theatre, despite a video circulating on social media suggesting otherwise.
Windsor Police are renewing their call for help from the public to solve a city homicide.
Hours after the premier addressed reporters, the incoming leader of the Opposition held his own news conference dialling back the rhetoric that fired up B.C. Conservative supporters on election night.
Vanita Lindsay has been paid $8,816.20 for a job she has never worked.
When Leah arrived at work directing traffic around a construction site, she never expected to see a van painted in all sorts of bright colours, and covered in eclectic decorations, including a stuffed moose attached to its roof.
More than two years after Alannah Brown and Douglas Barker were found dead north of Penticton, police are asking for help identifying a vehicle they believe was associated with the crime.
Dave Lindsey began growing giant pumpkins to bring a bit of magic to his grandkids' Halloween.
A U.S. District Court judge in Montana has sentenced a 27-year-old man from Kelowna, B.C., to 18 months in prison for using fake names to buy guns with the aim of selling them in Canada.
Food Banks Canada's annual Hunger Count report shows more Canadians than ever are resorting to food banks.
RCMP say a Medicine Hat man was killed in a collision between an SUV and a motorcycle in southeast Alberta on Sunday evening.
A tentative agreement has been reached between the City of Lethbridge and more than 900 employees belonging to CUPE Local 70.
Just two days ahead of Halloween, the City of Sault Ste. Marie has awarded several local homes and one business for having the best decorations for the season.
The Sault Ste. Marie Region Conservation Authority is issuing a flood outlook statement to residents regarding current watershed conditions.
An early morning complaint of a man slumped over the steering wheel of a minivan with its engine running in Elliot Lake last week led to impaired driving charges and drug seizures.
Police in Newfoundland and Labrador have charged an off-duty RCMP officer for allegedly driving while impaired, following a crash on Sunday.
The human remains recovered off Placentia Bay, N.L., earlier this month have been identified as the coast guard employee who went missing at sea in September.
Teams are facing off in a new eastern Newfoundland hockey league aiming to bring competitive play 鈥 and a few extra years on the ice 鈥 for young women in the province.
Epcor says it has removed more than 20,000 goldfish from an Edmonton stormwater pond.
Witches and warlocks have been flocking to New Brunswick waterways this month, as a new Halloween tradition ripples across the province.
New Brunswicker Jillea Godin鈥檚 elaborate cosplay pieces attract thousands to her online accounts, as well as requests from celebrities for their own pieces.
A new resident at a Manitoba animal rescue has waddled her way into people's hearts.
Hundreds of people ran to the music of German composer and pianist Beethoven Wednesday night in a unique race in Halifax.
He is a familiar face to residents of a neighbourhood just west of Roncesvalles Avenue.
A meteor lit up our region's sky last night 鈥 with a large fireball shooting across the horizon over Lake Erie at around 7:00 p.m.
Residents of Ottawa's Rideauview neighbourhood say an aggressive wild turkey has become a problem.
A man who lost his life while trying to rescue people from floodwaters, and a 13-year-old boy who saved his family from a dog attack, are among the Nova Scotians who received a medal for bravery Tuesday.
Bloc Leader Yves-Francois Blanchet is starting to talk to other opposition parties about bringing down Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's minority Liberal government.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre thinks it would be 'not fair' for the Liberals to oust Prime Minister Justin Trudeau now, as in his view they are 'morally obligated' to keep him.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister David Morrison has confirmed a report that Canada is alleging an Indian cabinet minister and close adviser to Prime Minister Narendra Modi ordered intelligence-gathering operations of Canadians.
Long COVID can have wide-ranging impacts, but is most commonly associated with brain fog, breathing difficulties and debilitating fatigue.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency says an Ontario facility producing plant-based milks was not adhering to Health Canada鈥檚 policies on listeria prevention prior to an outbreak that led to three deaths.
A 15-year-old high school freshman is hospitalized with severe complications of food poisoning after eating McDonald鈥檚 Quarter Pounder hamburgers three times in the weeks before a deadly E. coli outbreak was detected.
A recently discovered comet that some stargazers had hoped to see during Halloween week has disintegrated before the day of ghosts and ghouls.
A vital glacier in western Antarctica appears to be smoking in a rare view captured by a NASA satellite earlier this month.
A first-of-its kind facility for Atlantic Canada dedicated to marine animal autopsies and sampling is opening in Seaforth, N.S.
The headliners for the region鈥檚 biggest outdoor country music festival are locked in, and once again, the multi-day event has garnered big names.
Teri Garr, the quirky comedy actor who rose from background dancer in Elvis Presley movies to co-star of such favourites as 'Young Frankenstein' and 'Tootsie,' has died. She was 79.
A curator at a museum in New York City has discovered a previously unknown waltz written by Frederic Chopin, the first time that a new piece of work by the Polish composer has been found in nearly 100 years.
A U.S. bankruptcy judge approved a sale of Tupperware Brands on Tuesday, paving the way for the iconic food-shortage company to soon exit Chapter 11 protection and continue offering its products while undergoing a hoped-for revitalization.
A longtime family business in Windsor, Ont. is looking ahead to the future of furniture and appliances, by branching outside of the family tree for the first time in almost 100 years.
Statistics Canada's latest financial security survey shows a stark disparity between the wealth of homeowners and renters, even as it fails to capture the true scale what's owned by Canada's richest families.
With Halloween around the corner, you might be surprised to learn that Canada is home to some very scary places, with towns having names that mention coffins, death and blood.
A young Toronto Maple Leafs fan's Auston Matthews Halloween costume is going viral and, if he plays his cards right, he could meet the newly-minted captain face-to-face.
Jaywalking -- that time-honored practice of crossing the street outside of the crosswalk or against the traffic light -- is now legal in New York City.
The New York Yankees and the Los Angeles Dodgers will play Game 4 of the World Series.
A young Toronto Maple Leafs fan's Auston Matthews Halloween costume is going viral and, if he plays his cards right, he could meet the newly-minted captain face-to-face.
Walking from his apartment to classes and then to the University of Florida鈥檚 basketball facility, Olivier Rioux poses for dozens 鈥 sometimes hundreds 鈥 of pictures a day.
Volkswagen has informed employee representatives that it wants to close at least three plants in Germany, the head of the company's works council said Monday.
A 17-year-old Ottawa driver was caught speeding nearly 90 km/h over the speed limit on Highway 417.
Based on initial appearances, there are signs indicating the automobile industry is in healthy shape 鈥 for now.
The Shopping Trends team is independent of the journalists at 麻豆影视. We may earn a commission when you use our links to shop.聽Read about us.
