Home
Ian Mulgrew was born in 1957. He came to Vancouver in 1981 as West Coast Bureau Chief for the Globe and Mail, then joined The Province for two years beginning in 1986. His Unholy Terror: The Sikhs and International Terrorism (Key Porter, 1998) was followed by Final Payoff: The True Price of Convicting Clifford Robert Olson (Seal, 1990). His book Who Killed Cindy James? (Bantam-Seal, 1990) thoroughly investigates why some authorities concluded that James, a 44-year-old psychiatric patient who claimed to be stalked by tormentors, might have taken her own life. He was the ghost writer for Webster (Douglas & McIntyre, 1991), Jack Webster's autobiography, and the co-author with Colin Angus of Amazon Extreme (Stoddart 2001). Mulgrew is a widely published journalist who hosted CBC-TV's Forum. Having joined The Vancouver Sun in 1997 as a columnist, Ian Mulgrew turned to legal affairs, including investigations into the underground marijuana industry. His examination of the burgeoning trade in marijuana, cited by Forbes as "Canada's most valuable agricultural product, bigger than wheat, cattle or timber,"; is Bud Inc. (Random House, $35), with an emphasis on British Columbia. The province's annual pot crop around 2004 had an estimated value of $6 billion and constituted 5% of our economy. With venerable BC Lions builder Bob Ackles, Mulgrew has co-authored Ackles' autobiography The Water Boy: From the Sidelines to the Owner's Box: Inside the CFL, the XFL, and the NFL (Wiley 2007). ISBN: 978-0-470-15345-1
[BCBW 2007] "Law"
[BCBW 2007] "Law"
Articles: 2 Articles for this author
Final Payoff
Advertisement Copy
On August 25, 1981 the RCMP and Alan Williams, Attorney-General of British Columbia, struck a precedent setting deal with serial killer Clifford Olson. In return for revealing the locations of his victims' bodies, Olson's wife was to receive $100,000 or $10,000 per body. Williams and the Mounties tried to justify the deal, but to people across the country it seemed that Olson was being rewarded for his crimes. Final Payoff is a thought provoking and disturbing examination of the effects and implications of the Olson deal. For Williams, the Olson affair was an unhappy end to nearly 20 years of outstanding public service he retired soon after the deal was made public. For the families of the slain, filled with grief and anger by the payoff, it meant a series of fruitless and frustrating court battles as they struggled to get the money from Olson. And, for the people of Canada it means a long and frightening wait until some other killer, encouraged by Olson's example, decides to hold his victims' bodies for ransom. Final Payoff is not the story of the Olson murders, but a study of a tragically flawed decision and the terrifying legal precedent it established: a precedent which touches the life of every Canadian. IAN MULGREW is a veteran Canadian journalist who has written for many publications including Saturday Night, The Toronto Star, and The Melbourne Herald. Formerly the west coast bureau chief for The Globe and Mail, he is currently the assistant city editor of The Vancouver Province. In addition Mr. Mulgrew is the host of the CBC Television public affairs program Forum, and the author of a previous book Unholy Terror: The Sikhs and International Terrorism.
"Journalism"
[BCBW Winter 1989]
Amazon Extreme
Info
Victoria resident Colin Angus went on a five-year trip around the world after he bought a sailboat at age 19, then he set off for the Amazon River with two companions in 1999. His memoir of the second adventure with Ben Kozel of Australia and Scott Borthwick, Amazon Extreme: Three Men, A Raft, and the World's Most Dangerous River (Stoddart, 2001), co-written with Ian Mulgrew, recounts their 7,000 kilometre journey on a rubber raft from the Andes to the Atlantic Ocean.
