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Painful for key groups to quit Oppal inquiry When Wally Oppal's Missing Women inquiry opens next Monday, women's groups say they will protest outside while top police lawyers argue inside. Two more key victims' groups pulled out of the inquiry on Monday, branding "the sham inquiry" a "foregone conclusion" since the groups lack legal expertise and have been denied funding for a lawyer to vet and examine thousands of police documents. "They cannot pretend this is justice for families denied their day in court or for front-line groups who worked with women who went missing," said Alice Kendall of the Downtown Eastside Women's Centre (DEWC), which withdrew on Monday. "It was very, very painful to withdraw after we lobbied so hard for this inquiry, but without safety for witnesses, without women's and aboriginal groups, it's not an inquiry. People on the victims' side have nothing." The Women's Memorial March Committee, which stages a march each Valentine's Day to the sites of women's murders or disappearances on the Downtown Eastside, also pulled out on Monday. "It is unconscionable that [Premier] Christy Clark is demonstrating the same dismissive attitude" that police took when families and groups tried to report women missing," said march committee spokeswoman Lisa Yellow-Quill. Both DEWC and the march committee were given full standing but no funding to retain legal help at the complex inquiry. Commissioner Oppal's repeated request that all full participants get legal funding, not just the VPD and RCMP, has been ignored by Clark. Meanwhile, the families of 17 murdered women will be represented by lawyer Cameron Ward. The inquiry has asked two probono lawyers to act for all community groups. The Vancouver police, RCMP and the B.C. Criminal Justice Branch all have lawyers paid for with public funds. Oppal will start the evidentiary hearings Oct. 11 in Vancouver and has pledged to report to the B.C. government by Dec. 31, 2011. sfournier@theprovince.com © Copyright (c) The Province By Suzanne Fournier, The Province October 4, 2011
Canada’s disappeared women This fall British Columbia’s Missing Women Commission will finally begin its work. It does so in under a cloud of suspicion: an inadequate mandate, a potentially compromised commissioner, and a refusal to financially support affected native communities, families, and Vancouver Downtown Eastside community groups to participate and prepare submissions BC’s Missing Women Commission will also draw attention to the broader national shame that 582 aboriginal women have gone missing, many of whom are presumed to have been murdered, in the last generation. The Damage Control Commission In 2010 the provincial Liberal government, after years of trying to avoid accountability for inadequate police investigations and prosecutor neglect, established an inquiry to look into the failure to catch Robert Pickton, potentially Canada’s worst serial murderer. In 2002 Pickton was declared guilty of six second degree murders of women. It is alleged that Pickton, or other unknown parties, murdered over 60 women at the Pickton pig farm in Coquitlam. The majority of these victims were aboriginal women engaged in prostitution. When the Commission was struck, former well-known judge and Liberal Attorney General Wally Oppal was appointed as the Commissioner. Oppal had publically recommended against an inquiry. As well, the BC Criminal Justice Branch crafted an extremely narrow mandate: to only examine police and prosecutorial failures from 1997-2002 during the Pickton investigation. However, Oppal, in spite of his loyalty to former premier Gordon Campbell, dared to call for 1.5 million dollars to support victim participation (by families and affected groups), which has been refused by the new premier, Christy Clark. Instead, two independent lawyers have been hired to represent all victims; a government official perversely announced that funds for these lawyers had been found as a result of savings from early completion of preliminary investigations. Oppal has also broadened the Commission’s mandate by holding five unauthorized community hearings this September, from Prince Rupert to Hazelton in Northern British Columbia along Highway 16, ‘the Highway of Tears’, where at least 18 women (and possibly 43) have gone missing. For these transgressions, police and prosecutors have called for Oppal to recuse himself as biased against them. At this point, victim disgust with this insincere and inadequate inquiry has led a majority of victims’ families, community and native groups to declare a boycott. When the Commission opens on October 11 in Vancouver, it is difficult to say what credibility this effort will have to honestly examine a pattern of police and justice discrimination through neglect of impoverished aboriginal women. The bigger issue: Aboriginal Oppression BC’s Missing Women Commission is part of a larger national shame. After the federal police, the RCMP, refused to collect aboriginal identity information on missing women victims, the Native Women’s’ Association of Canada (NWAC) began the Sisters in Spirit Initiative in 2005 to document the murderous hatred some men have wrought on aboriginal women - which the Pickton trial exposed to a national audience. To this point in 2011, the Sisters in Spirit project has documented 582 missing aboriginal women. Researchers suspect the real number is much higher. NWAC has presented the federal Conservative government with a set of recommendations to address the immediate and structural roots of this terrible problem. In particular, NWAC demands: Training for police and justice officials about aboriginal women’s issues so that access to justice is possible; Collection of information – and dissemination of that information – to aboriginal families, communities, and support services for preventive purposes - which has not been done by the RCMP special investigations in Northern Alberta (Project Kane) nor in Northern BC (Project E-Pana); Stable funding to front line organizations that provide critical support services – in an appropriate cultural setting – for aboriginal women whether on reserves, in transit, or in cities like Vancouver; Investment in aboriginal child services; and addressing the root cause of aboriginal poverty that leads aboriginal women into high risk environments where violence is so possible. In response, the federal government committed 10 million dollars in 2010 for a five year period to address violence against aboriginal women. In fact the majority of this money is going to police forces to work on all missing persons cases. In the case of NWAC, the Conservatives also held back the grant for Sisters in Spirit. Behind these disturbing facts, lies the Tory cancellation of the 2005 Kelowna Accord that would have invested one billion dollars in native communities to address their poverty. State resistance, of police and prosecutors to being accountable to the public – despite the 1990s Oppal Police Commission report recommendations; an unwillingness to address the subject of prostitution; and the refusal to allow a meaningful dialogue with the victims, does not bode well in addressing an ongoing crime in Canada’s long history of aboriginal oppression.
See News Media for some other stories: BC Civil Liberties may boycott Missing Women inquiry, forum told Missing Women Inquiry begins hearing stories of abuse, unsolved crimes
An Amber Alert system should be used to notify northern communities when a woman goes missing along the Highway of Tears, a missing women inquiry forum was told Tuesday. "Reports should be taken more seriously," Michelle Angus told inquiry commissioner Wally Oppal at a community forum in Terrace. "I've known four or five people who have gone missing," she recalled, adding there needs to be some sort of Amber Alert, a system now used to notify the public of a child abduction. The commissioner heard from several speakers about the success of finding Kienan Hebert, a three-year-old boy who went missing from his home in Sparwood last week, after an Amber Alert was issued by police. Robin Austin, NDP MLA for Skeena, said he gave a ride to a young first-nations woman a couple of days ago and there was a news report on the car radio about the Sparwood boy being found. "The young woman said, 'I guess that Amber Alert worked and he's safe because he's white,'" the MLA recalled. Rightly or wrongly, that's the view of many first-nations people, Austin said. The women who have disappeared along Highway 16 were largely marginalized people, similar to those who went missing from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, he said. "Maybe if they were wealthy white women from North Vancouver, Robert Pickton would have been picked up much sooner," Austin said. Shanelle Alexander suggested having better bus service along Highway 16 so people don't have to hitchhike home after the last bus leaves at 4: 30 p.m. She also said there is information about the missing women that needs to be brought forward so it can be investigated. "Many people have information on these missing women but they are being threatened," Alexander said. One speaker suggested firstnations drug gangs are using women as "mules" to transport drugs. Chief Coun. Don Roberts of Kitsumkalum said he believes all the girls and women reported missing have been murdered. He suggested more cameras should be installed along the highway to catch the "monster," who seems to act when people drop their guard. "We're having meetings, meetings, meetings - no action," he said. Highway 16 has been dubbed the Highway of Tears because so many teen girls and young women have gone missing or were found murdered along the highway, which runs from Prince Rupert to Prince George. The public forums have heard some shocking allegations, including from one woman who complained that she was raped at gunpoint by an RCMP officer. She said the officer was never charged and it was dealt with internally. Another man, who identified himself as Carl, claimed he saw a man chop off a woman's head with a machete. He said he could help police solve 22 murders. RCMP Chief Supt. Wayne Rideout said Tuesday that an investigator had been in contact with Carl for some time. He also said police are going to look at the woman's rape allegation. "That's something we'll take a look at. We have to investigate it and investigate the validity of it," Rideout said. If the complaint deserves to be investigated, it will be assigned to an outside agency, he added. Rideout, in charge of criminal operations for contract policing in B.C., said senior Mounties attending the forums are listening to the public views about the RCMP. He said investigators are also speaking to those who raise complaints or have tips about cases. "There's a tremendous amount of work being done and a lot of work to be done," Rideout said. B.C. Civil Liberties executive director David Eby told the forum in Terrace that his agency may boycott the inquiry owing to concerns about lack of government funding for participating groups. The inquiry begins formal hearings in Vancouver on Oct. 11. nhall@vancouversun.com © Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun
B.C. forums call for Highway of Tears Amber Alert CBC See Pictures at CBC Web Inquiry hears tearful stories from relatives of missing, murdered women Posted: Sep 14, 2011 1:37 PM PT Speakers at a series of forums looking into missing and murdered women in northern B.C. are calling for a special kind of Amber Alert to be used when aboriginal women disappear along the so-called Highway of Tears. At a forum in Terrace, B.C., on Tuesday, several speakers called for swifter action when a woman goes missing along Highway 16, also known as the Highway of Tears. "When an aboriginal woman goes missing, the RCMP never stop vehicles along Highway 16 looking for that woman," Karen Whonnock, a member of the Moricetown band, told those gathered at the forum. Community forums: Sept. 14, 1 to 4 p.m., Moricetown Multiplex, Smithers. Sept. 14, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., 3955 3rd Ave., Smithers. Sept. 15, 9 a.m. to 12 p.m., Gitanmaax Hall, Hazelton. She said officials often conduct traffic stops looking for illegal fishing or to check seatbelts but never when women go missing. "It really states … illegal fish is a higher priority [for traffic stops] than a native life." Whonnock was one of many at the forum who called for the creation of a new kind of Amber Alert when women disappear along the Highway of Tears. Kitsumkalum chief councillor Don Roberts said it's a good idea. "Send an alert out immediately," he said. 'Horrific tragedy' At least 18 young women have been murdered or gone missing on a 700-kilometre stretch of Highway 16 between Prince George and Prince Rupert. None of the cases have been solved. The forums are an informal part of the B.C. Missing Women Commission of Inquiry, and are being held in seven communities along the Highway of Tears. The forums are aimed at getting a broader view of how police conduct investigations into missing women. "A horrific tragedy has taken place in these communities," said inquiry commissioner Wally Oppal. "Any time a woman goes missing, a murder takes place, that strikes at the very heart and soul of these communities." The inquiry has heard from dozens of grieving relatives at public meetings in band halls and local schools. For many like Ann Derrick, whose daughter disappeared, the grief is still raw. "My late husband and I went on the search — looked and looked and looked," she said. "It's hard when there's no answers. It just goes on and on." Lives at risk The inquiry also heard this week from speakers who say aboriginal women's lives are being put at risk because their only option of travel is hitchhiking on the remote stretch of highway. Community members are calling for the creation of a public shuttle between communities and the addition of an emergency phone system along the highway in areas where there is no cellular service. But Skeena MLA Robin Austin said many in the community still feel saving the lives of young aboriginal women simply isn't a priority. "I was in the car driving a young aboriginal woman [and] the radio had the news the young boy abducted from his home in Sparwood was delivered home safely," Austin said. "And this young woman who was with me who was First Nations said, 'Wow, I guess the reason the Amber Alert worked and he's back home safe is because he's white.'" Future forums will be held in Smithers and Hazelton. More formal proceedings that begin next month will examine why serial killer Robert Pickton wasn't stopped sooner from murdering women in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. With files from the CBC's Betsy Trumpener, The Canadian Press
Sobbing women demand justice by The Canadian Press - Story: 64573 Sep 12, 2011 / 8:38 pm Vicki Hill never celebrates Mother's Day. The 34-year-old's mom won't be there when her daughter gets married, or when her grandchildren graduate. When the Prince Rupert woman was just six months old, Mary Jane Hill was found dead along the side of Highway 16 in northern British Columbia. To this day, Hill has no answers about what exactly happened. But on Monday she told the provincial inquiry into missing and murdered women she'll do whatever she can to help the commission get some. "I just want you guys to know this has been going on for a long time, and I want justice," Hill told a forum in Prince Rupert while choking back tears. "Not only for my mom, but for the rest of the women that are out there and their families." The aboriginal woman was one of several who tearfully and candidly described her story of loss to the commission as it launched a series of seven forums Monday in northern B.C. Some groups say 32 women have gone missing or been murdered along the 800 or so kilometres between Prince George and Prince Rupert since the late 1960s. Aboriginal groups often peg that number at 43. The public forums, which take place over the next week or so, are part of the less formal "study" component of the inquiry, and Monday's session was streamed online in real time. They are aimed at getting a broader view of how police conduct investigations into missing women, said Commissioner Wally Oppal. "We needed to come here in order to connect with the community ... to find out how this community has been hurt, how your hearts have ached, (how) your hearts have broken," he said. "How can we stop this from taking place? How can the police use your wisdom and your experience?" Oppal has contended with vocal frustration from various non-profit advocacy groups in recent months as they learned the province wouldn't extend them legal funding to participate in the more formal proceedings. Without resources, several have withdrawn entirely. But Oppal told those gathered their perspective is vital, and asked people to put their cynicism towards the efforts on hold. Poverty and a lack of public transportation leads to risky behaviour such as hitchhiking and that plays a major role in making women in the north vulnerable, said participant MLA Gary Coons. Coons told the inquiry the majority of victims were between the ages of 14 and 25 and most were young aboriginal women who had asked strangers for a ride. He acknowledged little has been done in the way of fulfilling a series of recommendations made at a 2006 symposium into the tragedies. High-ranking government officials, top members of the RCMP, community leaders and victims' families participated in that exercise. By Tamsyn Burgmann in Vancouver
Experts decry lack of funding for groups at Missing Women inquiry By NEAL HALL, Vancouver Sun September 8, 2011 11:24 AM VANCOUVER -- As the Missing Women inquiry prepares to start community forums Monday in northern B.C., a prominent group of experts has sent a letter to B.C.'s attorney general expressing shock and concern about the government's refusal to fund all participants. "We can identify no other case in Canada where a government, having appointed a Commission of Inquiry, then, in effect, overturned a Commissioner's decision on standing by refusing funding for participation. It is illogical, and it damages irreparably the ability of the Commissioner to do the very work that was assigned to him," said the letter signed by University of Toronto law professor Kent Roach, and endorsed by almost a dozen other prominent lawyers and academics. The authors have been commission counsel or advisors at a number of public inquiries, including the inquiry into the Bombing of Air India Flight 182, the Maher Arar Inquiry, the Ipperwash Inquiry into the killing of Dudley George, the Walkerton Inquiry, the Inquiry on the Blood System in Canada, the Inquiry into Allegations of Conflict of Interest Concerning the Honourable Sinclair M. Stevens, and the Inquiry concerning the Kingston Prison for Women. "The refusal of funding in this case is also especially egregious because the groups granted standing represent some of the most disadvantaged women in Canada, including aboriginal women, women living in poverty, women with drug addictions, and women engaged in prostitution," the letter said. "These are women whose voices are rarely heard in legal fora. They are women who are regularly, and in the facts at issue in the Inquiry, repeatedly, preyed upon, violated and murdered. To render them voiceless when it is their lives and safety which are the subject of the Inquiry, is unprincipled, as well as legally unsound." The letter concludes: "If the Inquiry cannot be a credible and fair one because of former Attorney General [Barry] Penner's damaging decision not to provide funding, this will be a further tragedy for women in B.C. and a shame to the country as a whole. "Your government should be willing in 2011 to permit a full, public examination of whether, and if so, in what ways, there have been police and Crown failures to protect women and prevent violence against them, and one in which the most marginalized women, and the organizations that represent them, can participate effectively and enjoy the respect and support that they are owed." When the B.C. government refused to provide funding to more than a dozen groups, some dropped out and other decided to boycott the inquiry. In response, Missing Women Inquiry Commissioner Wally Oppal appointed two independent counsel to represent aboriginal women and women in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. Another two senior Vancouver lawyers offered to represent unfunded groups without charge. The letter sent Wednesday to Attorney General Shirley Bond says the makeshift measure does not address the imbalance between well-funded groups such as police and the Crown and those without their own counsel. "Rather, it is a reflection of existing inequities," the letter added. "The refusal of the attorney general to fund parties to the inquiry will result in an unfair and discriminatory hearing process." The Missing Women inquiry's mandate is to probe why it took so long to catch serial killer Robert Pickton, who was arrested and charged with murder on Feb.5, 2002, and why the Crown decided to drop attempted murder charges against Pickton in 1998. Pickton was charged with attempted murder in 1997 after he slashed a woman with a knife and she fled naked into the street from his farm in Port Coquitlam, where he often butchered pigs. The commission's terms of reference also allow it to gather information and make recommendations on the conduct of investigations of missing women and suspected multiple murders throughout B.C.. The inquiry will begin seven community forums starting Monday, Sept. 12, in Prince Rupert to hear from those living along Highway 16, which runs to Prince George. It is believed dozens of teenage girls and young women have disappeared over the years along the so-called Highway of Tears. The inquiry will begin formal hearings in Vancouver on Oct. 11. nhall@vancouversun.com © Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun By NEAL HALL, Vancouver Sun September 8, 2011 11:24 AM
Wally Oppal denies prejudging whether Pickton serial killer probe was botched By NEAL HALL, VANCOUVER SUN August 30, 2011 Missing Women inquiry commissioner Wally Oppal Photograph by: Bill Keay, Vancouver Sun VANCOUVER -- The head of the Missing Women inquiry issued a statement today saying he has not prejudged whether police botched the investigation into serial killer Robert Pickton. Commissioner Wally Oppal said he issued the statement to clarify two earlier remarks after concerns were raised last month by the deputy attorney general. He also revealed the contents of his phone message to the attorney general of B.C. to try to clear the air. The first comment was made in Oppal's letter of June 30, which has been posted on the commission's website since early July. Oppal said then about the failed 1998 prosecution of Pickton for attempted murder: "In neither instance [referring to the 1997 charges as well as a prior investigation] were the cases proceeded with. If they had been, it is clear that the murder of a number of missing women would have been avoided." Pickton had been charged in 1997 with the attempted murder of a woman who fled naked and bleeding from Pickton's pig farm in Port Coquitlam. The Crown decided in 1998 to drop the charges and Pickton went on to kill other women from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. The purpose of the letter, Oppal said Monday, was to get his renewed recommendation for funding to the government as soon as possible after the pre-hearing conference of June 27, 2011. "I did not mean to suggest that I had concluded that the decision to stay the 1997 charges was wrong, nor did I mean to imply that if the charges had not been stayed that Pickton would have been convicted," Oppal said today in his statement. "My intention was to suggest that if there had been sufficient evidence to support a conviction at that time, Pickton's criminal activities might have ended in 1998. "Why there was not sufficient evidence or, for that matter, why Pickton was not caught earlier, is a question that I will be investigating. However, I want to stress that I have absolutely not reached any conclusion on this point." The second comment was made on July 5th, when Oppal left a voicemail message for then Attorney General Barry Penner. Oppal's statement revealed the message said: "These are the women who complained to the police about women being missing and were given the back of their hands . . . the police gave them the back of their hands to these women and disregarded what they had to say. So they can't cross-examine the police, who are of course well-armed with publicly funded lawyers . . . "So anyway, I just wanted you to know that, it's how important this all is. And the government is now being seen as funding the people who allegedly done everything wrong and ignored the women, ignored the victims but not funding . . . will not go and fund the victims, and not fund the women, the poor aboriginal women. That's what the government is seen as. I just want you to know that." Oppal's statement pointed out that it is not uncommon for a public inquiry commissioner to have contact with the attorney general on administrative matters after the Commission has been established. "In fact, this happened on a number of occasions during my term as attorney general," Oppal said in his statement. "Obviously this was a private phone message to a former colleague that was not worded with the thought in mind that it might be transcribed and analyzed, but nevertheless I should explain what I said. "I assumed that the attorney general, as a lawyer, would understand that these were just mere allegations. I have always been careful to emphasize that I recognize the questions that I am inquiring into, including the alleged inadequacy of the police investigation, are at this point based on assertions and allegations that have been made over the years. "So, for instance, I use the term 'allegedly' in the second paragraph above, and perhaps I should have used it in the first as well. In this instance there are allegations by some individuals and groups that they had attempted to alert the authorities to missing women and that they have been turned away, sometimes brusquely. "Those accounts find support in the VPD's LePard report which said essentially the same thing. In my phone message, I simply wanted to emphasize that these allegations deserve to be explored, and that I believe funded counsel for those making the allegations, not just for those refuting them, would assist the process. "Of course, I recognize that I will have to assess the substance of these matters on the basis of the evidence and testimony that will come out in the course of the hearings. I have not reached even preliminary conclusions on the facts. "I hope that my judicial record, including 23 years on the County, Supreme and Appeal Court bench, demonstrates that I understand the need not to come to any conclusion before all of the evidence and submissions have been heard. "I am bringing these matters to public light to give any participant the fair opportunity, in light of the comments and my explanation today, to make any submissions they deem appropriate to the commission. "Should any participant wish to do so they can contact Mr. Vertlieb. I am determined that this Commission continue to carry out its important mandate and to ensure that there is no uncertainty hanging over the process as we move toward the initiation of the hearings on October 11, 2011." The inquiry will begin seven community forums in northern B.C. on Sept. 12 to probe the issue teens and young women who have been found murdered or have gone missing along Highway 16, the so-called Highway of Tears, which runs from Prince Rupert to Prince George. Details of the forums are available online at: http://www.missingwomeninquiry.ca/ nhall@vancouversun.com Statement by Missing Women Commission of Inquiry Commissioner Wally Oppal On June 30th 2011 I wrote to the Attorney General on the subject of funding for participants. On July 15th of this year, the Deputy Attorney General brought to the attention of my counsel, Mr. Art Vertlieb, QC, two comments I made that have given rise to a concern that I may have prejudged certain questions I am investigating. I believe that it is very important that this Commission proceed in a way that is completely transparent and fair to everyone. Consequently I have decided to share those comments and to provide some clarification to all participants. The first comment was made in my letter of June 30 which has been published on the Commission's website since early July. In the first part of my letter, I wrote the following with respect to the 1998 prosecution of Robert Pickton for attempted murder: In neither instance [referring to the 1997 charges as well as a prior investigation] were the cases proceeded with. If they had been it is clear that the murder of a number of missing women would have been avoided. The purpose of this letter was to get my renewed recommendation for funding to the government as soon as possible after the pre‐hearing conference of June 27, 2011. The letter and this passage in particular could have been more precisely worded. I did not mean to suggest that I had concluded that the decision to stay the 1997 charges was wrong, nor did I mean to imply that if the charges had not been stayed that Pickton would have been convicted. My intention was to suggest that if there had been sufficient evidence to support a conviction at that time, Pickton's criminal activities might have ended in 1998. Why there was not sufficient evidence or, for that matter, why Pickton was not caught earlier, is a question that I will be investigating. However, I want to stress that I have absolutely not reached any conclusion on this point. The second comment was made on Tuesday, July 5th, 2011. At that time, I left a voicemail message forthen Attorney General Barry Penner. The message said, in relevant part: . . . These are the women who complained to the police about women being missing and were given the back of their hands . . . the police gave them the back of their hands to these women and disregarded what they had to say. So they can't cross‐examine the police, who are of course well‐armed with publicly funded lawyers . . . So anyway, I just wanted you to know that, it's how important this all is. And the government is now being seen as funding the people who allegedly done everything wrong and ignored the women, ignored the victims but not funding . . . will not go and fund the victims, and not fund the women, the poor aboriginal women. That's what the government is seen as. I just want you to know that. I should point out that it is not uncommon for a Commissioner to have contact with the Attorney General on administrative matters after the Commission has been established; in fact this happened on a number of occasions during my term as Attorney General. Obviously this was a private phone message to a former colleague that was not worded with the thought in mind that it might be transcribed and analyzed, but nevertheless I should explain what I said. I assumed that the Attorney General, as a lawyer, would understand that these were just mere allegations. I have always been careful to emphasize that I recognize the questions that I am inquiring into, including the alleged inadequacy of the police investigation, are at this point based on assertions and allegations that have been made over the years. So, for instance, I use the term "allegedly" in the second paragraph above, and perhaps I should have used it in the first as well. In this instance there are allegations by some individuals and groups that they had attempted to alert the authorities to missing women and that they have been turned away, sometimes brusquely. Those accounts find support in the VPD's LePard report which said essentially the same thing. In my phone message, I simply wanted to emphasize that these allegations deserve to be explored, and that I believe funded counsel for those making the allegations, not just for those refuting them, would assist the process. Of course, I recognize that I will have to assess the substance of these matters on the basis of the evidence and testimony that will come out in the course of the hearings. I have not reached even preliminary conclusions on the facts. I hope that my judicial record, including 23 years on the County, Supreme and Appeal Court bench, demonstrates that I understand the need not to come to any conclusion before all of the evidence and submissions have been heard. I am bringing these matters to public light to give any participant the fair opportunity, in light of the comments and my explanation today, to make any submissions they deem appropriate to the Commission. Should any participant wish to do so they can contact Mr. Vertlieb. I am determined that this Commission continue to carry out its important mandate and to ensure that there is no uncertainty hanging over the process as we move toward the initiation of the hearings on October 11, 2011. © Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

DATES AND VENUES ANNOUNCED FOR MISSING WOMEN COMMISSION OF INQUIRY COMMUNITY FORUMS IN NORTHERN B.C. August 25, 2011 The Missing Women Commission of Inquiry today provided details of seven community forums it will host in northern British Columbia in the week of September 12 and again invited members of the communities and interested organizations to participate. Additional forums may be held in the week of September 19. The purpose of the northern B.C. forums is to give members of the communities an opportunity to provide input to the Commission on issues within its mandate. This will help inform the Commission’s report and recommendations for the effective initiation and conduct of investigations of missing and murdered women. It will also allow the Commission to take into account the situation in specific communities. The Commission believes it is important to hear directly from family members who have been most affected by the tragedy of murdered and missing women. Details of the community forums are as follows: · Prince Rupert Community Forum Monday September 12 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm Northwest Community College – Multipurpose Room 353 – 5^th Street, Prince Rupert · Terrace – Kitsumkalum Community Forum Tuesday September 13, 2011 8:30 am – 12:30 pm Kitsumkalum Hall 3514 West Kalum Road, Terrace · Gitanyow Community Forum Tuesday September 13, 2011 3:00pm to 5:00 pm Gitanyow Independent School 3389 Third Avenue, Kitwanga · Terrace – Nisga’a Community Forum Tuesday September 13, 2011 7:30 pm to 9:00 pm Nisga’a Community Room 101 – 4441 Lakeside Avenue, Terrace · Moricetown Community Forum Wednesday September 14, 2011 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm Moricetown Multiplex 205 Beaver Road, Smithers · Smithers Community Forum Wednesday September 14, 2011 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm 3955 ‑ 3^rd Avenue, Smithers · Hazelton Community Forum Thursday September 15, 2011 9:00 am to 12:00 pm Gitanmaax Hall 1965 Hwy 62, Hazelton The forums are open to members of the public and the media. The forums are part of the study commission portion of the inquiry. The Commission’s mandate includes a hearing commission and a study commission. The hearing commission portion will begin in Vancouver on October 11. A study commission employs less formal means than a hearing commission, such as research, individual consultations and public forums, to gather the information required to fulfill the mandate to develop recommendations for policy change. The community forums will not be adversarial, individuals will make their presentations directly to the commissioner and although questions may be posed to participants by the commission counsel and the commissioner, there will be no cross examination. Under its terms of reference, the Commission must hold its formal hearings into various aspects of the Robert Pickton case in or near Vancouver. It cannot inquire into ongoing investigations of missing or murdered women, such as the Highway of Tears cases. However, the Commission has been asked to recommend changes considered necessary with respect to the initiation and conduct of investigations in B.C. of missing women and suspected multiple homicides, and to homicide investigations by more than one investigating organization, including the co-ordination of those investigations. Study commission activities will be designed with this responsibility in mind. If they have not already done so, individuals or organizations interested in participating in one of the forums should register with the Commission by e-mail, telephone or in writing by September 8, 2011. Written submissions must be received by the Commission by November 30, 2011. Contact information is as follows: Email: info@missingwomeninquiry.ca Phone: Toll free 1-877-681-4470 Fax: 604-681-4458 Mail: #1402 – 808 Nelson Street, Vancouver, BC V6Z 2H2 Presenters should provide their name and contact information and a brief description of what issues they plan to address. Please visit the Commission’s website – www.missingwomeninquiry.ca – and go to the page “Ways to Participate” for more information, including a list of frequently asked questions regarding the northern B.C. community forums. The Missing Women Commission of Inquiry was appointed by the British Columbia provincial government last year to inquire into the conduct of police investigations of women reported missing from Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside between January 23, 1997 and February 5, 2002. The Commission’s terms of reference also allow it to gather information and make recommendations on the conduct of investigations of missing women and suspected multiple murders throughout the province. In addition, the Commission will examine the decision by the B.C. Criminal Justice Branch on January 27, 1998 to stop legal proceedings against Robert William Pickton on charges of attempted murder, assault with a weapon, forcible confinement and aggravated assault. For more information, please call: Chris Freimond 604-990-1378 (office) 778-840-2428 (cell)
Missing women inquiry forums for northern B.C. By Contributed - Caledonia Courier Published: August 14, 2011 12:00 PM The Missing Women Commission of Inquiry has announced they will hold forums in northern B.C. in September. The forums will be scheduled between Sept. 12 and 22 and members of the community are invited to participate. The exact schedule for the forums has not been announced but the inquiry says that the time and locations will be announced shortly. They will be held during afternoons and evenings. The purpose of the forums is to “give members of the communities an opportunity to provide input to the commission on issues within its mandate,” they explained in a media release. The information they receive will help inform the commission’s report and recommendations for “the effective initiation and conduct of investigations of missing and murdered women.” The commission will also be able to take into account community-specific situations based on these forums. “The commission believes it is important to hear directly from family members who have been most affected by the tragedy of murdered and missing women,” the commission said in their release. Any person or organization interested in participating have to register by Sept. 8. Written submissions have to be received by the commission by Nov. 30. To contact the commission to get involved you can e-mail them at info@missingwomeninquiry.ca, phone them at 1-877-681-4470, or fax them at 604-681-4458. Their mailing address is #1402 - 808 Nelson Street, Vancouver, BC, V6Z 2H2. Presenters need to provide their name and contact information, along with a brief description of issues they plan to address. Under the terms of reference, the commission cannot inquire into ongoing missing women investigations, including the Highway of Tears, but rather focuses on the Robert Pickton case. That being the case, the commission has been asked to recommend changes to how missing and murdered women investigations are handled. Pickton inquiry’s problems underscore the truth about poverty and powerlessness By DAPHNE BRAMHAM, Vancouver Sun August 15-11 Poverty. Prostitution. Addiction. That trinity made Willie Pickton’s murderous spree possible. Yet it’s unlikely that trio and the desperation it engenders will be aired at a judicial inquiry set to begin Oct. 11. It seems there’s no money for delving into the darkest heart of the problem behind not only Vancouver’s missing women, but Canada’s. The Pickton inquiry is narrowly and intentionally focused only on determining two things. Why, over a five-year period, did 33 women go missing from Vancouver’s infamous Downtown Eastside without police looking for a serial killer? And why, in 1998, did the attorney-general’s ministry stay attempted-murder charges against Pickton? With regret, I suggest that maybe it’s time to scrap the whole thing. Maybe everyone should just walk away, like the more than half a dozen groups who initially asked to participate. Maybe we should all just admit defeat and quit pretending that this is anything more than a $5-million charade, despite the good intentions of the inquiry’s commissioner, Wally Oppal. Pickton preyed on women who had nothing left but a desire for their next fix. He operated in a legal and social environment where the women he killed were regarded as unworthy of time, energy and resources to help them when they were alive, find them when they were missing or go after their killers once their bodies were found. Convicted of killing six, Pickton claimed to have killed 49 women. If no more women had gone missing after he was arrested, then maybe a focused inquiry might be appropriate. But as the Vancouver police department’s own 2010 review determined, at least two other serial-murder cases in the province remain unresolved. Hundreds of Canadian women and girls – disproportionately from first-nations communities — are unaccounted for, with more added to the list each year. They disappear not only from the Downtown Eastside (DTES) and the equally notorious Highway of Tears, but from small Prairie towns, Atlantic villages, from reserves and from almost every urban centre. By granting standing to a broad group of participants, Oppal seemed inclined to widen the focus beyond police, Pickton’s victims and even Vancouver. With proper legal representation, they might have cross-examined witnesses and challenged evidence and assumptions. But the cost is prohibitive for most groups whose constituents are the poor and vulnerable prey of men like Pickton. And Attorney-General Barry Penner and Premier Christy Clark have refused to pay for their legal fees. In a June 30 letter to Penner, Oppal described it as “the height of unfairness.” “From the perspective of the appearance of justice, the police and the Crown are all funded from the government while those apparently victimized are left to fend for themselves,” he wrote. But Penner and Clark say the money would be better spent on the living than the dead, apparently believing there are no lessons to be learned from history. So Oppal rejigged his budget, adding four commission lawyers — two paid and two volunteering their time — to represent the interests of DTES residents and aboriginal women. Though well-intentioned, the appointments are based on three faulty premises. One is that only a single neighbourhood was affected. The second is that Pickton’s only victims were aboriginal. They weren’t. But they were disproportionately so, just as first-nations women are disproportionately represented among the missing and as victims of violence. The third faulty premise is that there is a consensus among aboriginal women, sex-trade workers and DTES residents about what could have been done or should be done to keep women safe. Several DTES groups representing sex-trade workers, for example, are lobbying for further decriminalizing of prostitution, while other residents, sex-trade workers and the Native Women’s Association of Canada (the largest group of aboriginal women in Canada) support its abolition. With its narrow scope and limited participants, the inquiry will likely hear little beyond the mistakes that the Vancouver Police itemized and apologized for last summer – or the RCMP’s objections to some of VPD’s characterizations of what happened. As for the failure of the attorney-general’s ministry to lay early charges against Pickton, it’s unlikely that lawyered-up lawyers will be very forthcoming. More useful might be Penner getting some independent advice on whether British Columbia’s unique process of prosecutors (not police) laying charges is appropriate. Beyond that, denying vulnerable, addicted and prostituted women a voice at the Pickton inquiry has only reinforced what’s been evident all along. When politicians and citizens don’t care about powerless, voiceless, invisible women, police and prosecutors don’t either. dbramham@vancouversun.com © Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun *Missing Women Commission in Rupert* August 15, 2011 2:42 PM The Missing Women Commission of Inquiry will hold a hearing in Prince Rupert on Sept. 12, and MLA Gary Coons wants to make sure the public knows about it. "For years we've been requesting government to investigate the dozens of missing and murdered young women on Highway 16 and finally this may be an opportunity to have your voice heard," Mr. Coons said. "I believe the Highway of Tears has been on the 'back-burner' for too long and resources must be allocated to examine the many cases of girls and women who have met violence on this stretch of highway." Mr. Coons said the inquiry is in jeopardy because the Liberal government is not providing legal funding for groups to participate. But he said there is still an opportunity for northerners to get involved and voice their concerns during the inquiry's visits to northern communities in September. The commission will be holding hearings in nine communities along Highway 16 from Sept. 12 to 22, in order to probe the issue of the rising number of missing and murdered women in the area. The commission wants to hear from family members and others who have been affected, and also encourages submissions from local organizations and individuals. Anyone interested in participating should contact the Missing Women Commission of Inquiry office by Sept. 8 by email (info@missingwomeninquiry.ca) or by calling 1-877-681-4470 The commission will be in Prince Rupert on Monday, Sept. 12 from 1-4 pm at the Northwest Community College. Mother of woman missing from Downtown Eastside gets full standing at inquiry By Tracy Sherlock, Vancouver Sun August 19, 2011 VANCOUVER - The missing women inquiry announced Thursday that it is granting full standing to Marion Bryce, mother of Patricia Johnson, who was last seen in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside in 2001. Robert Pickton was charged with Johnson’s murder, but the charges were later stayed . “I believe Ms. Bryce will contribute to a meaningful examination of the conduct of the missing women investigation, particularly the instigation of the investigations,” Inquiry commissioner Wally Oppal wrote in his decision. He said Bryce would contribute to the fairness of the inquiry by giving evidence about Johnson’s disappearance, Bryce’s initial search and report to police, the information Bryce provided to police and the conduct of the investigation. Bryce will be represented by Vancouver lawyer, Irwin Nathanson. Lawyer Cameron Ward is representing 13 families of missing women, including five that were recently added: the families of Jacqueline Murdoch, Angela Williams, Brenda Wolfe, Andrea Joesbury and Elsie Sabastion. The commission was appointed by the B.C. government last year to probe the Vancouver police and RCMP investigations of women reported missing from Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside between Jan. 23, 1997 and Feb. 5, 2002, when Pickton was arrested. Community forums in the inquiry are slated to begin Sept. 12 and hearings are scheduled to start Oct. 11. The government decided not to provide legal funding to all 13 community groups granted standing by Oppal, and only gave funding to the families of Pickton. Eight groups have withdrawn their participation over the lack of legal funding. tsherlock@vancouversun.com © Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun Robert Pickton had been charged in the deaths of 20 other women. Top row, from left, Andrea Borhaven, Angela Jardine, Cindy Feliks, Debra Jones, Diana Melnick. Second row: Diane Rock, Cara Ellis, Heather Chinnock, Heather Bottomley, Helen Hallmark. Third row: Inga Hall, Jacqueline McDonell, Jennifer Furminger, Kerry Koski, Patricia Johnson. Fourth row: Sarah de Vries, Sherry Irving, Tanya Holyk, Tiffany Drew, Wendy Crawford. Photograph by: Reuters, Postmedia News
NADLEH WHUT'EN INDIAN BAND Chief Larry Nooski Nadleh Whut'en First Nation PO Box 36 Fort Fraser BC VOJ 1NO Fax: (250) 690-8010 Commissioner Wally Oppal Missing Women Commission of Inquiry #1402 - 808 Nelson Street Vancouver, BC V6Z 2H2

VIA FAX: (604) 681-4458

Dear Commissioner Oppal:

RE: Study Commission hearings in Northern British Columbia

I am the elected Chief of the Nadleh Whut'en First Nation, located on the banks of the Nadleh Bun (Fraser Lake) near Fort Fraser. Our band has approximately 500 members. I am writing to you about our concerns with decisions made by you and your staff in conducting the Murdered and Missing Women Inquiry. I have read and reviewed Chief Jackie Thomas' letter on behalf of the Saik'uz First Nation, and agree entirely with her sentiments.

Holding race-based meetings undermines years of our anti-racism partnerships with local Mayors

I was completely caught off guard to hear that Commission staff have been meeting with local Mayors without First Nations representatives present. Aboriginal leaders and non-aboriginal leaders in the North have spent years attempting to close the "race gap" by working together. I have personally met and worked with local Mayors for years to achieve the goal of ending the divisive "Cowboys and Indians" approach. I do not believe a race-based future is going to build unity or reduce racism in the North. Only collaboration can give us assurance of success in our efforts.

Unfortunately, your Commission's approach is undermining my efforts, the efforts of many of our Chiefs in the North, as well as the efforts of many non-aboriginal leaders in the North. These mistakes are so easy to avoid – a simple phone call to the elected Chiefs in the area asking "How should we best organize these meetings?" would have avoided this outcome. For some reason, this simple solution has not been implemented by your Commission.

The already problematic "study commission" into the Highway of Tears is made worse by race-based consultations

As a First Nation leader I have always supported the need for a Highway of Tears Inquiry. Your terms of reference did not include such an Inquiry; you have stated that you cannot take submissions on an

active police investigation into the Highway of Tears; and yet you are holding "study commission" hearings in the North, apparently on this issue, although exactly how and to what end is not clear.

Whatever your intentions, you should be aware that on June 16, 2006, several First Nations and First Nations organizations in the North completed a report with very clear recommendations to improve safety for aboriginal women. It recommended Highway signs erected for missing and murdered women. It recommended a shuttle bus system to replace hitchhiking as a main mode of transportation on the Highway. However, whatever the reason, so far there are no signs on the Highway of Tears except for those signs on Indian reserves. No shuttle bus service has started.

Do municipal governments support such signs? Do they support shuttle busses? Do they not? Are they even aware of the recommendations? I do not know if the Mayors along the Highway of Tears even supported an Inquiry into the Highway of Tears. How can I know where these essential partners stand in their knowledge, and their actions, if we are all at separate meetings? Must I rely on your interpretation of their comments to know where they stand? Can I not hear these comments myself, at a shared meeting of all stakeholders?

Race-based meetings are contrary to Canadian equality laws

Holding separate meetings for Mayors and separate meetings for elected Chiefs opens the distinct possibility of different messages to different groups of people based on race, or based on onreserve/off-reserve status, or all of the above. B.C.'s Human Rights Code (section 8) and Section 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms prohibits delivering any service, including the services delivered by your Inquiry, from discriminating based on race. The Supreme Court of Canada was clear in the Corbiere decision that distinctions between "on reserve" and "off reserve" aboriginal peoples is baseless and discriminatory.' No matter your intent, it is clear that holding separate meetings draws artificial distinctions based on race that undermine the purpose of both the Charter and the Human Rights Code equality provisions. Such an approach is unconscionable and must immediately be halted.

This Commission is structured to protect a justice system that has failed First Nations people

I would like your assurance that elite lawyers have not been retained both inside and outside your Commission to protect the white justice system that has so totally failed us for over a hundred years; however, with respect, I cannot see that you would be able to give me that assurance. In fact, you yourself wrote a letter dated June 30, 2011 in which you recognized that your Inquiry staff could not represent the interests of our People. You said unequivocally:

Even counsel for the VPD [Vancouver Police Department] recognizes the need in this Inquiry for counsel for those people and organizations that are unrepresented... It would

be the height of unfairness to require unrepresented individuals to cross examine police who are represented by highly qualified counsel

Corbiere v. Canada (Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs), [1999] 2 S.C.R. 203, 173 DLR (4th) 1.

While you apparently recognize the inherent unfairness — the height of unfairness — of your own Inquiry, you refuse to go to court to compel the government to fund legal resources for the Carrier Sekan i Tribal Counsel and the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs to coordinate hearings in the North and protect the interests of our People during this adversarial process. You have refused to resign to protect your own integrity, even though your Inquiry has been interfered with directly by Government, stacking the deck in favour of the police who have teams of lawyers with unlimited resources lined up against unrepresented aboriginal people.

You have chosen to preside over an Inquiry that you believe to be the height of unfairness. You have done so knowing your own history in refusing to approve charges against Robert Pickton for the remaining women whose remains were found on his farm, many of them aboriginal women. You have done so knowing that you were in the media saying there would be little to learn from this very Inquiry. Given this Commission's track record to date, you were, unfortunately, quite right when you said that.

You have hired the police to investigate the police

We have learned that you have asked a team of "volunteer" police officers whose time is "donated" from the Peel Regional Police Force to review documents for this inquiry and narrow down which documents are important and which are not. While the Peel Police officers investigate the RCMP for your Inquiry in British Columbia, across the country the RCMP are investigating the Peel Police for drug dealing and corruption in Ontario.

I understand that you have been alerted to this direct conflict of interest and have refused to act by removing police from the document review process. Instead, you are relying to a great extent on the Peel Police's "findings" to direct your work. Two public inquiries in B.C. have now said that the police cannot be trusted to investigate themselves, and yet you have asked police to vet documents for you. How many aboriginal leaders have you asked to review documents for you, to tell you what is important and what is not?

We cannot participate in an inquiry whose outcome is pre-determined

If the Nadleh Whut'en were the police, we would have fully paid lawyers, with no limits on their compensation. We would be reviewing documents right now and would be telling you what is, and what is not, important. We would be consulted at every stage, and schedules would be altered to accommodate our needs and the needs of our lawyers. But we are not the police.

Because we are not the police, we have no documents. We have no lawyers. We have no notice; we are told that you are coming to our communities with four weeks' notice in the middle of hunting and fishing season. We are told that we should gather our communities together to cooperate and give you evidence. And yet, even if we could perform the impossible and call everyone back from hunting and fishing for their food for the year in order to testify in front of you without lawyers or documents, we still cannot cooperate, because you won't or can't tell us the specific dates or locations for your visit.

It is obvious that your Inquiry is not an impartial Inquiry, but rather a police court where police officers are judge, prosecutor and witness and the only defendants are the very people the Inquiry was intended to assist. And the defendants are denied the right to a lawyer. The results are in, even before the Inquiry has yet to begin.

While the police read and review your secret documents in the back room, and in the front room their teams of lawyers with unlimited resources wait to cross examine our People, the Nadleh Whut'en will not participate. While your Commission refuses to take basic steps like picking up the phone and asking for advice, and instead treads over years of work by our leaders with local mayors to lessen and eliminate racism, the Nadleh Whut'en will not participate. While your Commission treats the Highway of Tears as a side-show to the Robert Pickton Inquiry in Vancouver, the Nadleh Whut'en will not participate. While your Commission may wish to come to our territory to interview our People, while our People have no legal representation and the Police lawyers line the room, the Nadleh Whut'en will not participate.

We demand the following, before we will invite this Commission to our community:

1. An immediate end to race-based meetings;

2. Your resignation, and the appointment of an independent Commissioner with some understanding of aboriginal issues, or at least a willingness to call First Nations to consult on best practices;

3. The removal of police working inside the Commission;

4. Revision of the terms of reference to hold a full public inquiry into the Highway of Tears; and,

5. Legal support for First Nations people who wish to participate to protect them both mentally and legally from harassment and legal attacks by police lawyers.

Yours very truly,

Chief Larry Nooski

Nadleh Whut'en First Nation

Peel police officers' role in Pickton probe criticized

Groups worry inquiry's independence undermined

By Neal Hall, Vancouver Sun August 12, 2011

Three Peel regional police officers who are advising the Missing Women Commission of Inquiry should be removed because their presence undermines the inquiry's independence, two watchdog groups said Thursday.

The B.C. Civil Liberties Association and the Pivot Legal Society are calling for the removal of the Peel regional police officers, including the force's deputy chief, Jennifer Evans, who was asked to provide expert advice to the inquiry. Robert Holmes, president of the BCCLA, said Thursday that his group and others are deeply concerned that having the Peel officers working closely with the Missing Women inquiry seriously undermines its independence.

Using active-duty police in the Missing Women inquiry creates the appearance of police investigating police, which two previous public inquiries in B.C., which probed the deaths of Robert Dziekanski and Frank Paul, found to be unacceptable, he said.

Holmes said having "backroom" police advisers adds to the perception that there's an imbalance between the pittance in resources provided for families and interested groups and the unlimited public funding of the police and government agencies who will appear before the inquiry to be questioned about their handling of missing women reports and previous dealings with serial killer Robert Pickton.

"How families of the missing and murdered women, marginalized women living on the Downtown Eastside, aboriginal groups, poverty groups and the public generally can be expected to have confidence in this inquiry is increasingly hard to see," Holmes said.

Holmes also pointed out the RCMP recently investigated Peel regional police officer Sheldon Cook, who was convicted last year of drug trafficking offences in Ontario, and the RCMP is also investigating two other Peel regional police officers who testified at Cook's trial as Crown witnesses.

The Missing Women inquiry said earlier that Peel's deputy chief offered, for free, to provide expert advice about the police procedures of the Vancouver police and the RCMP, and to provide recommendations to inquiry staff.

The inquiry has faced a growing backlash in recent weeks after the government decided not to provide legal funding to all 13 community groups granted standing by inquiry commissioner Wally Oppal. The attorney-general only gave funding to the families of the victims of serial killer Robert Pickton, who preyed on women living in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.

Eight groups have withdrawn their participation over the lack of legal funding.

nhall@vancouversun.com

Missing Women inquiry announces four lawyers to represent first nations women and Downtown Eastside community

By Neal Hall, Vancouver Sun August 10, 2011 3:02 PM

Missing Women inquiry announces four lawyers to represent first nations women and Downtown Eastside community

By NEAL HALL

VANCOUVER SUN

VANCOUVER -- The Missing Women inquiry announced today the four independent lawyers who will represent the interests of first nations women and the Downtown Eastside community.

Jason Gratl, a past president of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, and Robyn Gervais, who previously represented the Carrier Sekani Tribal Council at the inquiry before the group decided to withdraw because of lack of funding, will work independently of the commission with a mandate to serve the public interest at the hearings.

They will not represent specific clients at the inquiry but will be expected to take guidance from unfunded participant groups and affected organizations and individuals.

The commission also announced that two prominent Vancouver lawyers, Bryan Baynham Q.C. and Darrell Roberts Q.C., who will participate pro bono at the inquiry in support of Gervais.

Pro bono is a Latin term meaning "for the public good." The lawyers will be working without payment as a public service.

Inquiry spokesman Chris Freimond said Commissioner Wally Oppal and his staff are confident that the participation of the four lawyers will significantly boost the Commission’s ability to conduct a relevant inquiry leading to findings and recommendations that will make a real difference to the people of B.C. and Canada.

“The Commission has worked hard to prepare for the hearings and believes that when they begin on October 11, it will become clear that the resources and structure are in place to deal thoroughly with the important issues in a way that satisfies British Columbians,” Freimond said in a statement issued Wednesday.

The knowledge and understanding of the Downtown Eastside community and aboriginal women’s issues that Gratl and Gervais bring to the inquiry will help ensure that the perspectives of these communities are presented at the hearings, he said.

They will also be able to test evidence at the inquiry in an adversarial role, if so required, as will Mr. Baynham and Mr. Roberts, two of Vancouver most senior and respected lawyers, Freimond added.

The cost of hiring the two new lawyers is not known but the inquiry says it has the funds to do so because of cost savings in its investigations, which did not take as much time as previously anticipated.

The inquiry will begin formal hearings in Vancouver on Oct. 11, 2011.

The Missing Women Commission of Inquiry was appointed by the B.C. government last year to inquire into the conduct of the Vancouver police and RCMP investigations of women reported missing from Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside between Jan. 23, 1997 and Feb. 5, 2002, when serial killer Robert Pickton was arrested.

The commission’s terms of reference were expanded to include probing and making recommendations on the conduct of investigations of missing women and suspected multiple murders throughout the province.

Starting Sept. 12, the inquiry will hold community forums in nine communities between Prince George and Prince Rupert, the so-called Highway of Tears because so many girls and young women have either disappeared or have been found murdered.

A high proportion of both the Highway of Tears and Pickton's victims were first nations women.

Pickton preyed on women living in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, offering them drugs if they came to his farm in Port Coquitlam, where he often butchered pigs.

The inquiry will also investigate the decision by the Criminal Justice Branch in 1998 to stay charges against Pickton. Pickton had been charged in 1997 with attempted murder of a woman who fled naked and bleeding from Pickton's farm.

After his arrest in 2002, Pickton was initially charged with the murder of 27 women, with the charges being divided into two trials.

He was convicted at the first trial in 2009 on six murders. After exhausting all his appeals, the Crown elected not to proceed on another 20 charges at a second trial.

He is considered Canada's worst serial killer, admitting to an undercover officer that he killed 49 women.

nhall@vancouversun.com

Civil liberties groups calls for removal of police from B.C. missing women inquiry

"It is not often I make comments on my own website that regard to the issues of the Missing Women Inquiry or other subjects pertaning the Highway of Tears. But I must say I Totally disagree with the Civil Liberties arguments.

I am also very tired of all the Police bashing, try to walk just ONE NIGHT in their shoes and you will get a small picture of the danger to their lives. I know for a fact as I worked in the Prince George Detachment as a Victim Services Volunteer for 17 years, that their families often worry about their physical and mental wellbeing. I say this because I know it took a toll on my metal health dealing in conjunction with the Police helping families in crisis."

By Neal Hall, Postmedia News August 11, 2011

VANCOUVER — Three Ontario police officers who are advising the missing women inquiry should be removed because it puts into question the inquiry's independence, two watchdog groups said Thursday.

The B.C. Civil Liberties Association and the Pivot Legal Society are calling for the removal of the Peel Regional Police officers, including the force's deputy chief, Jennifer Evans, who has been asked to provide expert advice to the inquiry.

Robert Holmes, president of the BCCLA, said Thursday that his group and others are deeply concerned that having the Peel officers working closely with the missing women inquiry seriously undermines the perceived independence of the inquiry.

The commission said earlier that Evans' presence is appropriate because of her experience as a homicide investigator and because she had been seconded to the inquiry in Ontario that probed the Paul Bernardo case. Once she began reviewing the missing women documents, Evans later brought in two Peel homicide detectives to assist her.

But Holmes maintained that using active-duty police in the missing women inquiry creates the appearance of police investigating police, which two previous public inquiries in B.C., into the deaths of Robert Dziekanski and Frank Paul, found to be unacceptable.

Holmes also noted the RCMP recently investigated Peel officer Sheldon Cook, who was convicted last year of drug trafficking offences in Ontario, and the RCMP is also investigating two other Peel regional police officers who testified at Cook's trial as Crown witnesses.

"This commission has repeatedly shown it has a tin ear for how its moves will play before the public," Holmes said. "Steps like this fail to show sensitivity to the families and interested groups and fail to build confidence in whatever the inquiry reports and recommends."

Holmes said it's bad enough that there's an imbalance between unlimited public funding of police and government agencies who will appear before the inquiry and the pittance in resources provided for families and interested groups, but what makes matters worse is having "backroom" police advisers.

The missing women inquiry said earlier that Peel's deputy chief was brought in to review all the documents and police procedures submitted to the inquiry by the Vancouver police and the RCMP, and provide recommendations to inquiry staff.

Deputy Chief Evans will testify in open court about what "business is usual and what is unusual business," so there will be nothing secret about her work, inquiry executive director John Boddie said in a letter last month to the BCCLA, Pivot and Amnesty International Canada, which had jointly asked for expertise to be sought outside the active policing community.

No aboriginal leaders or representatives of families of missing women or social advocacy groups have been brought in by the inquiry staff for the same purpose, Holmes pointed out.

The missing women inquiry has faced a growing backlash in recent weeks over the B.C. government's decision not to provide legal funding to all 13 community groups granted standing by inquiry commissioner Wally Oppal. The attorney general only granted funding to the families of victims of serial killer Robert Pickton, who preyed on women living in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.

Eight groups have withdrawn their participation over the lack of government funding.

In a letter sent Thursday to B.C. Premier Christy Clark, provincial NDP leader Adrian Dix called upon the government to reconsider its failure to provide funding to all groups granted standing at the missing women inquiry.

"It's clear urgent action is needed when group after group is withdrawing from the inquiry due to the lack of support from your government," the letter said. "I strongly urge you reconsider your decision and immediately grant funding to support the meaningful participation of the 13 groups granted standing by the commissioner."

In order to address the dropout problem, the inquiry announced Wednesday that is hiring two new independent lawyers, and two senior lawyers have offered their services for free, to represent the interests of First Nations women and the Downtown Eastside community at the inquiry.

The lawyers will work independently of the inquiry and will be able to cross-examine police witnesses.

nhall@vancouversun.com

MISSING WOMEN COMMISSION APPOINTS TWO INDEPENDENT LAWYERS;
TWO OTHERS TO PARTICIPATE PRO BONO

August 10, 2011

The Missing Women Commission of Inquiry announced today that it has hired two independent lawyers on contract to help ensure that the perspectives of Vancouver’s Downtown East Side community and Aboriginal women are presented at the inquiry, which is scheduled to start on October 11.

The two Vancouver-based lawyers, Mr. Jason Gratl, a past president of the BC Civil Liberties Association, and Ms. Robyn Gervais, who previously represented the Carrier Sekani Tribal Council at the Commission, will not represent specific clients. They will work independently of the Commission with a mandate to serve the public interest at the hearings. They are expected to take guidance from unfunded participant groups and affected organizations and individuals.

The Commission also announced that two prominent Vancouver lawyers, Mr. Bryan Baynham Q.C. and Mr. Darrell Roberts Q.C., will participate pro bono in the inquiry in support of Ms. Gervais.

Commission spokesperson, Chris Freimond, said Commissioner Wally Oppal and his staff are confident that the participation of the four lawyers will contribute significantly to the Commission’s ability to conduct a relevant inquiry leading to findings and recommendations that will make a real difference to the people of British Columbia and Canada.

He added that the knowledge and understanding of the Downtown East Side community and Aboriginal women’s issues that Mr. Gratl and Ms. Gervais bring to the inquiry will help ensure that the perspectives of these communities are presented at the hearings. They will also be able to test evidence at the inquiry in an adversarial role, if so required, as will Mr. Baynham and Mr. Roberts, two of Vancouver most senior and respected lawyers.

While it is not known at this stage what the cost of hiring Mr. Gratl and Ms. Gervais will be, the Commission has the budget to fund their services because it has reallocated resources and benefitted from cost savings in its investigations, which did not take as much time as previously anticipated.

The Commission’s hearings will begin in Vancouver on October 11, 2011. They will be divided into four broad categories. The order has yet to be confirmed, but the categories are:

1. The Downtown East Side (DTES) community, families of the murdered and missing women and the actions of the city and provincial government with respect to the Pickton investigation;

2. The conduct of Vancouver Police Department between January 23, 1997 and February 5, 2002 with respect to the murdered and missing women from the DTES;

3. The Conduct of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police between January 23, 1997 and February 5, 2002 with respect to the murdered and missing women from the DTES; and

4. Decision by the Criminal Justice Branch to stay the 1997 charges against Robert Pickton;

The Missing Women Commission of Inquiry was appointed by the British Columbia provincial government last year to inquire into the conduct of police investigations of women reported missing from Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside between January 23, 1997 and February 5, 2002. The Commission’s terms of reference also allow it to gather information and make recommendations on the conduct of investigations of missing women and suspected multiple murders throughout the province.

In addition, the Commission will examine the decision by the B.C. Criminal Justice Branch on January 27, 1998 to stop legal proceedings against Robert William Pickton on charges of attempted murder, assault with a weapon, forcible confinement and aggravated assault.

For more information, please call:

Chris Freimond MBA, ABC

604-990-1378

778-840-2428 (cell)

CHRIS FREIMOND PUBLIC RELATIONS INC.

WWW.CFPR.CA

Two more women's groups withdraw from Pickton inquiry

By Neal Hall, Postmedia News August 9, 2011 2:02 PM

Robert Pickton is seen in his Port Coquitlam, B.C., home in this undated file video grab. Pickton, a pig farmer, was convicted on Dec. 9, 2007 of the serial killings of six women whose bodies were butchered in his slaughterhouse.

Photograph by: File, Reuters

VANCOUVER — Two more women's groups who had been granted standing to participate in the Missing Women inquiry have decided to withdraw, citing the failure of the provincial government to provide legal funding.

The Ending Violence Association of BC (EVA BC) and West Coast LEAF (the Coalition) have withdrawn after being "deeply disappointed" by the government decision not to fund lawyers to represent the groups at the inquiry, which is scheduled to begin in the fall.

"The failure to fund counsel for aboriginal, sex worker and front line women's organizations essentially shuts these groups out of the inquiry," EVA BC executive director Tracy Porteous said in a statement issued Tuesday.

"We will not participate in an Inquiry that will not listen to the voices of those who were closest to the missing and murdered women and their communities."

Kasari Govender of West Coast LEAF added: "Contrary to Premier (Christy) Clark's recent statements on the importance of aboriginal women's safety, the government's decision on funding indicates that they don't take seriously the safety of aboriginal women, sex workers and women living in poverty.

"The failure to provide adequate resources at this early stage does not bode well for the government's commitment to implementing the commissioner's final recommendations."

Missing Women inquiry commissioner Wally Oppal had granted 13 community groups standing to participate in the inquiry into the police failures during the investigations of serial killer Robert Pickton, who preyed on women living in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.

The Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, the Carrier Sekani Tribal Council and the Native Courtworker and Counselling Association of B.C. earlier announced they would not participate in the inquiry without government funding for lawyers.

The attorney general has only provided legal funding for the families of Pickton's victims and has repeatedly refused to fund the community groups, saying that the inquiry lawyers can represent the interests of the remaining groups.

Last Friday, the inquiry announced it was going to hire four new lawyers to represent the interests of First Nations women and Vancouver's Downtown Eastside community, with Monday set as the deadline for applications.

That plan was opposed by the Downtown Eastside Women's Centre and Feb 14th Women's Memorial March Committee, which called the plan a "fundamentally flawed process by having a few lawyers who purportedly serve all our interests."

The inquiry will begin formal hearings in Vancouver on Oct. 11. It will probe the conduct of the RCMP and Vancouver Police Department between Jan. 23, 1997 and Feb. 5, 2002, when Pickton was arrested and charged with murder.

The inquiry will also investigate the decision by the Criminal Justice Branch to stay the 1997 charges against Pickton. Pickton had been charged with the attempted murder of a woman who fled naked and bleeding from Pickton's farm.

Pickton was initially charged with the murder of 27 women, with the charges divided into two trials. He was convicted at the first trial in 2009 on six murders. After exhausting all his appeals, the Crown elected not to proceed on another 20 charges at a second trial.

nhall@vancouversun.com

Missing women forums heading to northwest B.C.

By Cameron Orr - Houston Today

Published: August 09, 2011 9:00 AM

The Missing Women Commission of Inquiry has announced they will hold forums in Northern B.C. in September.

The forums will be scheduled between Sept. 12 and 22 and members of the community are invited to participate.

The exact schedule for the forums has not been announced but the Inquiry says that the time and locations will be announced shortly. They will be held during afternoons and evenings

The purpose of the forums is to "give members of the communities an opportunity to provide input to the Commission on issues within its mandate," they explained in a media release.

The information they receive will help inform the Commission's report and recommendations for "the effective initiation and conduct of investigations of missing and murdered women."

The Commission will also be able to take into account community-specific situations based on these forums.

"The Commission believes it is important to hear directly from family members who have been most affected by the tragedy of murdered and missing women," the Commission said in their release.

Any person or organization interested in participating have to register by Sept. 8. Written submissions have to be received by the Commission by Nov. 30.

To contact the Commission to get involved you can e-mail them at info@missingwomeninquiry.ca, phone them at 1-877-681-4470, or fax them at 604-681-4458.

Their mailing address is #1402 - 808 Nelson Street, Vancouver, BC, V6Z 2H2.

Presenters need to provide their name and contact information, along with a brief description of issues they plan to address.

Under the Terms of Reference, the Commission cannot inquire into ongoing missing women investigations, including the Highway of Tears, but rather focuses on the Robert Pickton case.

That being the case, the Commission has been asked to recommend changes to how missing and murdered women investigations are handled.

Missing women inquiry ‘unravelling’: Crey

Chilliwack Progress - News

Families fear further delays of inquiry into Pickton investigation

Best for the job should win the election

March honouring missing and murdered women brought to Abbotsford

Preliminary inquiry set for Abbotsford man accused of killing sister

By Robert Freeman - Chilliwack Progress
Published: August 09, 2011 12:00 PM

Ernie Crey fears the public inquiry into the police handling of missing women from Vancouver’s Downtown East Side is “unravelling” as the B.C. government refuses to pay legal fees for sex trade workers and others who want to take part in the hearings.

Crey said his fear is based on the funding refusal - despite the urging of inquiry head Wally Oppal - and comments by B.C. Premier Christy Clark at a recent First Nations Summit.

“Her comments about how money shouldn’t be spent on lawyers (to combat violence against aboriginal women) is really an oblique reference to the inquiry,” Crey told The Progress.

“I think we’re witnessing the unravelling of this inquiry,” he said. “I’m really angry because I was one of the people who fought really hard for the inquiry.”

Two aboriginal groups and the native courtworkers’ association have already pulled out of the inquiry.

At the June 9 summit, Clark said it is her responsibility as premier to address the issue of violence against aboriginal women, but she believes money is “not necessarily best spent on lawyers.”

“I think the solution will be (delivering) real services to real people, people who are living with violence every day.”

In May, Attorney-General Barry Penner, Chilliwack-Hope MLA, announced the government would pay legal fees for family members of the murdered and missing women, but other groups, like sex trade workers and aboriginal people who were the targets of serial killer Robert Pickton, would have to pay their own costs.

Critics of the decision pointed to the millions government spent on the HST referendum.

Crey’s sister Dawn is one of the missing women, although her case was not one of the six Crown counsel pursued in court against Pickton, who was eventually convicted on all six counts of second-degree murder.

Despite the fact that Dawn’s DNA was found on Pickton’s farm, Crey must now tell the National Parole Board how he was “harmed” by Pickton before he is eligible for information on the convicted killer’s movements.

Crey said he was called by a NPB official a few months ago and asked if he would like to be notified each time Pickton is moved within the corrections system.

Crey replied that he would, but then came a July 29 letter from the parole board.

“Because this offender was not convicted of the offence against your family member, (the parole board) will require from you a short statement indicating how you were harmed by the offender,” a parole board official said in the letter.

Crey said it is “these types of screw-ups, born of either insensitivity or incompetence or both, that frustrate and cause heartache to the families of the murdered and missing women.”

“I will contact both the NPB and the responsible federal minister to register my complaints,” he said, but added he doesn’t expect “much, if any, simpatico from the minister as the missing and murdered women, especially those from the Downtown East Side, are not a priority for them.”

Crey was also cautioned in the letter that Pickton will receive a copy of his request, although identifying information will be removed.

Pickton is serving a life sentence, but may apply for escorted temporary absences at any time, and becomes eligible for unescorted temporary absences on Feb. 22, 2024. He becomes eligible for full parole on Feb. 22, 2027.

rfreeman@theprogress.com

Painful for key groups to quit Oppal inquiry

B.C. forums call for Highway of Tears Amber Alert CBCSee Pictures at CBC Web

Inquiry hears tearful stories from relatives of missing, murdered women

Posted: Sep 14, 2011 1:37 PM PT

Experts decry lack of funding for groups at Missing Women inquiry

Pickton inquiry’s problems underscore the truth about poverty and powerlessness

Mother of woman missing from Downtown Eastside gets full standing at inquiry

Photograph by: Reuters, Postmedia News

Robert Pickton is seen in his Port Coquitlam, B.C., home in this undated file video grab. Pickton, a pig farmer, was convicted on Dec. 9, 2007 of the serial killings of six women whose bodies were butchered in his slaughterhouse.

Photograph by: File, Reuters

B.C. forums call for Highway of Tears Amber Alert
CBC
See Pictures at CBC Web