SAANICH — A man has pleaded guilty in a voyeurism investigation involving 652 women and girls, which police in Saanich, B.C., say is believed to be the most “prolific” case prosecuted in Canada.
The department’s special investigation unit started the probe along with the B.C. Integrated Child Exploitation Unit in January 2024, after a detective learned that photos and videos were being uploaded to a popular social media site from somewhere in Saanich.
Police say in a statement that they arrested 39-year-old Yin Yeung Derek Chan at his home in April 2024, and seized devices containing thousands of images and more than 28 hours of video depicting the victims without their consent.
They say the images and videos were recorded between April 2017 and November 2023, and show the unsuspecting victims at beaches, inside businesses and through the windows of private homes.
Chan pleaded guilty to multiple charges relate to voyeurism last October, including surreptitiously recording people in a place where they reasonably expect privacy, making child pornography and publishing a recording that was obtained in the commission of a crime.
He was sentenced by a judge in Victoria to 4 1/2 years in prison on Thursday, but with time served, that will be reduced to about 2 1/2 years and he’ll have to submit a DNA sample to the national sex offender registry.
Police are asking anyone who might believe they are among the victims to contact them.
“Of the 652 women and girls, detectives were able to formally identify and contact 40 victims, some of whom delivered victim impact statements for sentencing,” the police statement says.
Police say Chan also pleaded guilty to breaching three separate conditions, including two that were related to a previous voyeurism conviction where he was caught filming a woman in a mall changing room.
Chan was released with conditions following his arrest in April 2024, but was rearrested in January 2025 and has been in custody since then.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 21, 2026.
— With files from CTV Vancouver Island
The Canadian Press
