ManitobaA group of Winnipeg business owners who have bandied together after their businesses were allegedly targeted by arson and extortion say police need to act before someone gets hurt. Group says fires a punishment for not paying protection moneyArturo Chang · CBC News · Posted: Oct 31, 2025 9:33 PM EDT | Last Updated: 1 hour agoListen to this articleEstimated 3 minutesThe fire at Logan Convenience in Winnipeg as captured by a security camera in the early hours of Tuesday. Some Winnipeg business owners say the footage shows how criminals who have tried to extort them operate. (Submitted)A group of Winnipeg business owners who have banded together after their businesses were allegedly targeted by arson and extortion say police need to act before someone gets hurt. The owners have formed an online group chat to share information with each other about the criminals they say have been aiming at them for months. Group members say they believe they know who’s extorting them, and want police to act before the violence escalates.”What is it going to take? Like, at some point maybe someone gets killed, maybe someone gets stuck in one of these businesses when it’s burning,” one of them told CBC News. “If [police] know that these individuals are involved, if you already got them on camera doing certain jobs, if you put the pressure to them, there’s a good chance they’ll say … who they’re working for.”The owner said he was told he had to pay protection money or else his business would be targeted. CBC News is not naming anyone in the group because they fear retaliation for speaking up.WATCH | Footage shows masked men setting convenience store on fire:Masked men torch Winnipeg convenience storeSecurity video shows a pair of masked men enter Logan Convenience in Winnipeg. While one points a gun at a employee, the other empties a gas can onto the floor before setting it ablaze. It’s the latest in a string of fires plaguing convenience stores and restaurants across the city.Members say their businesses are set on fire when they refuse to pay protection money to people who threaten them and try to extort them.They say a recent arson in Winnipeg’s Weston neighbourhood shows how the criminals operate.Footage sent by one of them shows two masked men walking into Logan Convenience early on Tuesday.One of them douses the floor with what appears to be gasoline as the other forces an employee out of the store. They then light it on fire.CBC News has verified the video is from the store.”When I’m watching the video, I’m like, OK, they’re going to take the money,” the group member said. Firefighters around the Logan Convenience building on Logan Avenue early Tuesday. (Travis Golby/CBC)”They didn’t care less about the cash register. You can see that they clearly were sent in there for one reason and one reason only, and that was to burn that place down.”Some of the owners say they don’t want to reopen because they’re afraid the extortion efforts will continue. Others have even moved out of the province out of concern for their safety.Several businesses in the city have been targeted by arsonists in recent months. City officials urged the public to help tackle the problem Friday, after four vacant properties caught on fire that same morning.Incidents not all linked: Winnipeg policeWinnipeg Police Service Insp. Jennifer McKinnon said Friday that while arsonists may have targeted some businesses around the same time, the cases are not all linked. WATCH | Businesses who say they’ve been targeted call for action:Winnipeg businesses say they’re victims of arson and extortionA string of recent alleged arsons has some business owners in Winnipeg fearing for their safety. The owners say they’re being asked to pay protection money, and when they refuse, their businesses are torched in retaliation.McKinnon declined to comment on whether any of them had been extortion attempts.”It’s human nature to want to lump them all together. What I can say to you is that it’s not necessarily the case,” she said. “There’s different motivations. There’s different methodology to how these actual fires are set that tell us there’s differences between who’s doing them.”Winnipeg police’s major crimes unit has conducted 177 arson investigations as of September, with 23 arrests.With files from Mike Arsenault
‘What is it going to take?’: Business owner says police must do more to crack down on arson, extortion
