Re your Northern Securities story, here's what a little more Googling shows

http://www.nfc.ca/press/NFC%20PR%20May%2030-08.pdf

Vic Alboini, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer stated: “A commitment to compliance best practices has always been one of Northern Securities’ core values. We are pleased that the settlement agreement recognizes both the significant effort Northern Securities has made in developing its compliance department since 2003, as well as the fact that there were no investor losses and no financial benefit to Northern Securities as a result of certain technical supervision and compliance matters.”