For two weeks, the authors of hundreds of videos, viewed millions of times on TikTok, have claimed that voices can be heard at night coming from containers at the port of Vancouver. - spoke to the lady behind this rumor which has gone around the world.
There are people screaming in there every night! I heard it myself! The City is trying to hide it!
shouts a woman, visibly agitated, in a video posted on TikTok on November 11.
There are people in these damn containers!
she concludes, pointing at something outside the camera’s field of view.
It was enough for TikTok to catch fire. This video, titled Resident tries to alert neighbors about containers at Vancouver port
has been viewed more than a million times.
In the following days, hundreds of videos were published about supposed voices emanating from these containers. The hashtag #Openthecontainers (Open the containers
) started circulating on this platform. People there claimed that the port was struggling with a human trafficking crisis and that authorities were trying to cover it up.
We’ve been hearing about it for a long time and someone just confirmed it
says a TikToker in a video viewed 432,000 times. What? Did you really think they shipped goods in these containers?
Some even went to film at the port at night to try to investigate. Others called for people to go down to the port and open the containers. They can’t stop us all
says an Internet user in a video watched 22,000 times.
So many videos were posted about it that TikTok’s search tool was flooded. On Thursday, when we searched with the words port of Vancouver
(Port of Vancouver) on this platform, an automated summary generated by artificial intelligence (AI) informed us that residents had reported hearing voices in containers.
The Vancouver Police Department and port authorities declined to comment and redirected us to the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA). L’ASFC is aware of the social media posts, but there is currently no information to support these claims
we were told on this side.
L’ASFC could not say how many reports it has received from concerned citizens or whether amateur investigations carried out by TikTokers have disrupted port activities.
The Agency is also unable to confirm the number of migrants found this year, or previously, in containers at the Port of Vancouver or any other port in Canada.
This statistic is not currently available. To determine this number, each file of a person who entered Canada irregularly would have to be opened individually.
Where does this rumor come from?
Open in full screen mode
Makeshift shelters in Crab Park, Vancouver.
Photo : -
Even if this rumor mainly took off on TikTok, it was on X (previously Twitter) that we were able to trace its origin.
On November 7, an X account published the lady’s video (New window). It was filmed in Crab Park, at a time when journalists were witnessing the dismantling of a homeless encampment by municipal employees.
Crab Park in downtown Vancouver, located on the waterfront with a direct view of one of the port terminals, has become a popular gathering place for the homeless in the surrounding area, hence the efforts of the City of Vancouver to clean this place up.
The video was not very successful on X, where it was viewed a little over 50,000 times. It wasn’t until it was uploaded to TikTok that the rumor exploded.
Contacted by phone, the woman said she started hearing cries for help while she was living in the park, about eight months ago.
I heard men and women screaming for help
Natasha said. Screams were reported around 4 a.m., during night shift change.
They would scream once or twice, then it would be quiet again for the rest of the night.
According to Natasha, who claimed to have notified the police, other residents of the park and the surrounding area also heard screams.
A vulnerable port
The port of Vancouver is the busiest in Canada. Nearly three million containers pass through it each year.
In a report presented last year to the Delta City Council (New window)former Deputy Commissioner of the RCMP Peter German reported serious deficiencies in the surveillance of the terminals at the Port of Vancouver. The presence of organized crime is also documented there.
In May 2024, Citizenship, Immigration and Refugees Canada reported ten asylum claims at a maritime port of entry in British Columbia.
Asked about these requests, the Canada Border Services Agency was unable to provide further details, citing privacy obligations.
