WHITE LOBSTER

WANGO FILMS - as PROD

Documentary - Development 2025

This true crime documentary dives into the untold saga of drug smuggling along Cape Breton, Nova Scotia's rugged coast line in the late 1980’s, revealing how economic despair turned tiny fishing villages and a proud blue collar region into a covert hub for North America’s drug trade.

    • Year of production
    • 2025
    • Genres
    • Documentary, True Story, Crime
    • Countries
    • CANADA
    • Languages
    • ENGLISH
    • Duration
    • 90 mn
    • Producer(s)
    • Tim DOIRON (WANGO FILMS), James VAN DER WOERD (WANGO FILMS), Mike VOLPE (TOPSAIL PRODUCTIONS LIMITED)
    • Synopsis
    • In the picturesque seaside towns of Cape Breton, where rolling waves meet storied shores, an untold story of desperation and ingenuity unfolds. This gripping feature documentary unearths the remarkable and harrowing tale of how communities ravaged by economic collapse became unwitting players in one of the most audacious drug smuggling operations in North America.

      From the closing of coal mines to the collapse of the fishing industry, Cape Bretoners faced crippling poverty and a glaring absence of government support. As local police forces were consolidated under the RCMP and jobs disappeared, enterprising smugglers turned to the region’s secluded coves and craggy coastlines to import vast quantities of cocaine and hashish. Funeral homes became unlikely intermediaries, and once-bustling industries transformed into fronts for moving contraband through the Maritimes, into Quebec and Ontario, and as far as California.

      Through firsthand accounts, archival footage, and investigative journalism, this series explores the lives of the locals caught in this shadow economy. From out-of-work fishermen diving for sunken packages of hash to community leaders grappling with the moral dilemmas of survival, White Lobster reveals how systemic poverty and government neglect created fertile ground for good people to make unthinkable choices.

      At its heart, this is a story about resilience, survival, and the lengths people will go to feed their families. By peeling back the layers of Cape Breton’s hidden past, we shine a light on the human cost of economic abandonment and the unintended consequences of desperation, offering a poignant reflection on how easily the line between right and wrong can blur in the face of survival.