Warning signs sought on Highway 16
Saturday, 24 November 2007, 04:00 PST
LEANNE RITCHIE Prince Rupert Daily News
PRINCE RUPERT -- A Prince Rupert city councillor wants to place warning signs about the so-called Highway of Tears along the western stretch of Highway 16 across northern B.C.
Kitimat has already erected a sign on the highway that discourages hitchhiking, given the numerous disappearances of young women over the years.
Prince Rupert Coun. Joy Thorkelson says there's been little follow-through on the western end of the highway following recommendations from Prince George two years ago to set up the signs.
She also wants to see protocol established with the RCMP in cases where young women or children go missing.
In October, the RCMP announced the investigation of missing and murdered women in the Highway of Tears inquiry had grown to 18 victims from nine.
The review by the RCMP also expanded the geographic scope of the area from the 800-kilometre stretch between Prince George and Prince Rupert to include the corridor between Kamloops and Prince George, roughly another 400 km.
"When I went to the symposium in Prince George and came back, at that time we thought the RCMP would be tasked with being a liaison between the Prince George committee and what was going to go on. My guess is that has sort of fallen by the wayside," Thorkelson said.
In March 2006, the Highway of Tears Symposium held in Prince George was organized by First Nations and aboriginal organizations to address the numerous disappearance and murders that have occurred along Highway 16 - the Highway of Tears - during the past two decades.
Thorkelson suggested the city follow the direction of the Kitimat-Stikine Regional District and put up a sign on the highway to discourage hitchhiking, given the numerous disappearances of young women over the years.
"A number of those young women came from here, worked here or were murdered just out of here. There's a highway sign now in Kitsukalum. It would sure be nice to have a highway sign here," she said. "We could just probably copy somebody else's board, we don't have to be
original. The two boards I have seen are pretty similar," said Thorkelson.
She added that the city, in upcoming meetings with bands such as Kitkatla, Lax Kw'alaams and Metlakatla, should also discuss the possibility of establishing protocol with the RCMP in cases where young women or children go missing.
"Maybe we could talk to them about their feelings on this issue. I am quite concerned we try to get involved in the Highway of Tears," she said
*********************************************************************************
Aunt of vanished woman says she has a missing list longer than RCMP’s
By Margaret Speirs - Terrace Standard - November 21, 2007
WHILE THE police have added more names to their list of missing and murdered women in the province,
one woman who’s working to discover the reasons for the disappearances has her own list with far more names.
Gladys Radek, aunt of Tamara Chipman who’s been missing since Sept. 21, 2005 when she was last seen hitchhiking from Prince Rupert back to Terrace, has been researching the internet and has compiled a list of 40 names.
Radek would not release the list, saying she wants to compare it with the RCMP to find out why more names aren’t on the police list.
Radek’s list goes back to 1974 with the disappearance of 15-year-old Monica Ignas here and continues past Chipman’s disappearance in 2005 with the names of Aielah Sarah Auger, 14, of Prince George who was found murdered in early 2006 and Shirley Cletheroe, 45, who is missing from Fort. St. John.
The RCMP began with a list of nine woman along what’s been called the Highway of Tears, Hwy 16 between Prince George and Prince Rupert. Investigators have now expanded the number to 18 women from all over northern and central B.C.
Radek did say that 27 of the names on her list are women missing or murdered include a couple of missing women from Fort St. John.
Her list only has 10 of the same names as the police’s expanded 18-name list, some of whom went missing south of the Highway of Tears, in Quesnel, Williams Lake, Hudson Hope, Merritt and Kamloops.
The 10 women on her list who match the police list are the names that came out from a symposium held in Prince George last year.
Radek’s not sure how the police have linked these women together and why they’re not investigating more missing women.
Her list came from women missing who range in age from 12 to 25.
A number of the women are aboriginal.
Sixteen on her list have been murdered, two of those murders have been solved and the others are still missing except for one, says Radek.
“To me doing all that research and everything is really heart-wrenching, you see the pattern working its way across Canada throughout aboriginal communities,” she said.
“When you realize how many missing are just hitting the news now, and this has been ongoing for four decades.”
Aboriginal women are being targeted all over the province and she believes it’s racism.
“To me in my eyes, it’s a crime against humanity, it’s systemic racism and it’s genocide,” she says.
Some people may think of the missing or murdered women as just “another dead Indian,” Radek added.
“And the thing, the theory that they’re (the police) dodging the most is the fact that they’re not confirming whether there’s serial killer or not,” she said.
“I believe that there may be a couple of serial killers involving three or four of the women but I don’t believe it’s one person because there’s far too many women and this guy would have to have a lot of anger and rage to kill that many women and get away with it, that many women is unbelievable.”
“Serial killer and sex offenders are let out of jail every day,” said Radek.
She is pleased that the police have revamped their original list and added more names to it.
“I think it’s good they’re acknowledging it finally. I’ve been advocating it for two years. It’s good to know they’re paying attention,” she said.
Although Radek hasn’t heard back officially from the RCMP, she has talked to private investigator Ray Michalko, who has taken a personal interest in the unsolved cases and has been investigating them himself.
“He’s a very caring individual and he also recognizes a pattern here and he doesn’t like the odds against all these women losing their lives with no closure for the families either,” said Radek.
“We do talk periodically and I think he’s going a really awesome job.”
Radek intends to go to the leaders of the First Nation communities, the chiefs, the Prime Minister’s office and every MLA she can to ask for a public inquiry because the families deserve to find out what happened to their loved ones.
RCMP public relations officer Sgt. Pierre Lematire hasn’t indicated whether police would meet with Radek to go over her list but did have some suggestions.
“What I would suggest is that Ms. Radek first of all talk to Miss Lisa Krebs who is the coordinator for the families,” he said, adding she could put Radek in touch with the investigators.
Police put data into the Violent Crime Linkage Analysis System (ViCLAS) computer system and came up with more than 200 files in the last year before settling on the 18 names on the expanded list.
For the first time, a woman from out of the province, Albertan Shelly-ann Bascu, made the list due to similarities between her file and links to others.
Lemaitre said officers met with families of the women before a press conference at which the new list was released.
The meeting with the families was to keep them informed of events, a change from the past when police were accused of not communicating. It’s been one year since a task force dedicated to the cases began examining other files.
Investigators aren’t discounting the possibility of a serial killer even though some of the cases go back as much as 38 years, said Lemaitre.
“It has to be said there are people out there who are in possession of information and for certain or because of certain reasons they were not comfortable in coming forward and sharing that information with police,” he said.
Information could come in many forms, such as when someone feels safe enough to drop a funny comment.
“It’s that little tidbit of info, that little droplet of water, that could finally fill the pitcher and make a difference in the investigation.
“If you have been holding onto something and it doesn’t sit well with you, if you’re not comfortable identifying yourself, call Crime Stoppers,” said Lemaitre.
“It’s one system you can call that you don’t have to give your name. Do the right thing. Eighteen families out there need your help,” he said.
An active campaign has also begun to deter people from hitchhiking
**********************************************************************************
CONTINUED SUPPORT FOR HIGHWAY OF TEARS INITIATIVE URGENTLY NEEDED
Attention: Assignment Editor, News Editor, Government/Political Affairs Editor
PRINCE GEORGE, BC, PRESS RELEASE--(Marketwire - Oct. 23, 2007) - On October 12, the RCMP stated that their investigation of missing and murdered women in the Highway of Tears investigation had expanded from nine to 18 women. Their review expanded the geographic scope of the Highway of Tears from the 800 kilometers between Prince George and Prince Rupert to now include the Kamloops to Prince George corridor.
"It has been 16 months since the Highway of Tears Symposium where recommendations were brought forward to provide clear direction on how all communities must work together with government ministries and RCMP in a collective effort to prevent more tragedies along the Highway of Tears" stated Lisa Krebs, Coordinator for the Highway of Tears Initiative. "With the RCMP now expanding the number of cases and area, it is vitally crucial that we all work together to implement the report's recommendations."
The Highway of Tears Symposium held in Prince George in March 2006 was organized by First Nations and Aboriginal organizations in the Prince George area to address the numerous disappearance and murders that have occurred along Highway 16, the Highway of Tears, over the past two decades. The symposium's participants included the victims' families, provincial ministries, senior officers of the RCMP, elected officials, and concerned citizens. The Highway of Tears Recommendations Report and its 33 recommendations were released on June 21, 2006.
Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, President of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs and member of the First Nations Leadership Council observed, "We must learn from and act upon the recommendations of the report. The recommendations were written by those who cared, loved and cherished the missing and murdered women of the Highway of Tears. We cannot allow these tragedies to fall by the wayside; we must continue to fully support the great efforts to implement the recommendations. Doing so, we hope we can aid in the expanding investigations and perhaps prevent another senseless and tragic death."
The first recommendation to be acted upon was to hire Lisa Krebs as Coordinator for the Highway of Tears Initiative. Krebs has worked extensively on education and awareness campaigns, organized community forums that address and formalize the various recommendations of the Recommendations Report, and acting as the liaison between families, communities and the RCMP
"It is due to ongoing work, which Krebs plays a major role in, that significant and tangible changes have occurred within our region. The RCMP has altered their protocol allowing officers to sop and speak to hitchhikers. It is due to the coordinated efforts of RCMP, surrounding communities and Krebs that there has been a more focused effort on resolving these disappearances and murders," said Rena Zatorski, Councillor for the Lheidli T'enneh Band.
"There is an immediate need for
provincial funding to continue
with the much needed work. John
Les, Minister of Public Safety
and Solicitor General, publicly
stated his dedication and
resolve in contributing
resources to the Highway of
Tears Initiative. Moreover,
Premier Campbell has dedicated
himself to creating a New
Relationship with First Nations.
It is very unfortunate that
there is no provincial funding
dedicated to the Highway of
Tears Initiative to bring peace
to the families of the victims,
to organize educations/awareness
campaigns and to coordinate
preventative measures,"
concluded Mary Teegee, Director
for the Carrier Sekani Family
Services.
/For further information: Grand
Chief Stewart Phillip,
President, Union of BC Indian
Chiefs - (250) 490-5314/
Friday, 19 October 2007, 04:00 PST
FRANK PEEBLES Citizen staff
Lisa Krebs will apparently have
a job on Monday after all, but
not because of new money from
the provincial government.
Carrier Sekani Family Services, the group under which the Highway of Tears co-ordinator's position is administrated, is scraping the funds together out of its own budget and monies gathered from the generosity of area communities who found cost savings for Krebs as she conducted community forums. The little surpluses amount to enough for about half a year more of Krebs' services.
This issue of renewing Krebs in the co-ordinator's position was brought up in the legislature on Thursday, the first day of the new legislative session. North Coast MLA Gary Coons asked Solicitor General John Les if his ministry would fund the position. Les replied that government provided $5 million in various ways to support the victims and provide for social advocacy in northern B.C.
Les called The Citizen immediately after to clarify.
"It is they (Carrier Sekani Family Services) who have a contract with Lisa Krebs," he said. "I don't know how much they are paying Lisa Krebs. There are several streams of funding that went to Carrier Sekani and they are probably doing that evaluation. We have no request from Carrier Sekani for additional funding; I don't know how they are working out their financing."
CSFS officials were shocked when told that Les knew of no additional requests for funds. Executive director Warner Adam said it had made several requests for ongoing funding through the ministry's victims services department. Director of child welfare Mary Teegee said, "I beg to differ. We have enough money to keep her on (for a little while more). We still haven't received enough resources to hire a second co-ordinator out in Prince Rupert as was called for in the initial plan via the key recommendations. If you look at the scope of work and our limited resources, Lisa Krebs has been incredible. We are juggling funds to keep her at least a while longer, but we have not received adequate funds to ensure the longevity of the position or to properly distribute the workload that needs to be done. We are constantly lobbying for more money and we aren't getting it."
Coons was emphatic that the position was only a start toward what is needed.
"We can't abandon the families of women, most of whom are young aboriginal women murdered and missing along the Highway of Tears," he told the legislature. "Will this government commit ongoing funding to this vital co-ordinator's position? Will the minister commit to finally establishing the Highway of Tears legacy fund that was another of the key recommendations?"
The financing of the work so far has not fallen at the feet of the solicitor general's ministry alone. The Ministry of Children and Family Development has also contributed initial funds and many see that department as being a chief stakeholder that also needs to free up money, among other ministries and departments.
Les said he thought the current activities were appropriate.
"There has been some good work ongoing," he said. "I think we have a pretty good network in place, I don't know that we need to create more agencies."
The current agencies could certainly use a lot
more tooling if that is the
case, Teegee and Adam said.
HIGHWAY OF TEARS IN FRASER VALLEY?
By Cassidy Olivier - Kamloops This Week - October 19, 2007
Police had eyed same suspect
in Merritt death and unsolved
1970s child slayings in
Abbotsford
Seven years ago, officers investigating two cold-case murders in Abbotsford confirmed to Black Press the name of a suspect they believed may also have killed Monica Jack — the 12-year-old girl who disappeared in May 1978 while riding her bike home along Nicola Lake near Merritt.
The similarities in the murders, combined with the suspect's criminal record — which included multiple rape convictions — left police thinking they had the right guy.
But, unable to prove anything, the suspect, in his 50s, was left to walk free and was last reported to be living in Ontario.
Meanwhile, the murders of Kathryn Mary Herbert (11 years old when murdered in 1975), Theresa Hildebrandt (15 years old when slain in 1976) and Jack remain unsolved, although their remains have since been recovered.
However, with the recent addition of Jack's name to the probe of women suspected of having gone missing along the so-called Highway of Tears between Prince George and Prince Rupert, new questions arise regarding the scope of the trail, as well as whether police are closing in on a suspect or suspects.
In Prince George last week, Mounties announced the list of women believed to have gone missing along the infamous stretch of highway had been increased from nine to 18. Included on the list were names of missing woman from the Kamloops area.
If police still believe the man suspected of killing Herbert and Hildebrandt is also responsible for Jack's death, the Highway of Tears then potentially stretches much farther than police initially thought — down to the U.S. border in the Fraser Valley.
It also means a potential suspect may be within reach of the law.
However, the possible connection between the three deaths and the implication this would have on the investigation isn't something Sgt. Pierre Lemaitrie of the RCMP's E Division major-crime section is willing to discuss.
Due to the sensitivity of the probe, he told KTW this week that he doesn't want to go near the topic of suspects for fear it will compromise the investigation.
Lemaitrie would not elaborate on why the announcement was made last week, other than to say the task force had decided it was time to provide the public with an update on the investigation into the Highway of Tears murders and other slayings now believed to have links.
"If we have suspects, that is not something the task force is willing to talk about openly," Lemaitroe said. "There are just some things we need to protect. We don't want to give a suspect a head start."
He did, however, say police have been inundated with tips following the Prince George conference, leading him to comment that the probe looks "promising."
Lemaitrie said a further update will not likely be made for at least another month or until there is a breakthrough in the investigation.
Along with Jack, police last week added the following murders to the Highway of tears probe: Gale Weys, killed in Clearwater in 1973; Pamela Darlington, found dead in Kamloops in 1973; and Maureen Mosie, found dead in Kamloops in 1981.
PRINCE RUPERT, B.C. October 18, 2007
North Coast MLA Gary Coons has called on the B.C. solicitor general to attach a reward to the cases of missing and murdered women along the so-called Highway of Tears.
Last week, RCMP said they have officially doubled the list of women to 18, brought the timeline back to 1969 and expanded the geographical scope further south.
"I am asking that a significant reward be put in place by this government," said Coons.
"There have been no arrests or charges laid in connection with the young women who have gone missing along the Highway 16 corridor and now cases as far south as Kamloops have been added to the investigation."
While the official police number has now been raised to 18, many believe the number could be as high as 34 women who have either gone missing or been murdered along the stretch of highway between Prince George and Prince Rupert.
RCMP have recognized that a common link or links exist between these 18 case files, and at this time are neither supporting nor ruling out the possibility that the cases have been committed by the same person.
"We want to create a situation where we encourage anyone who has information around the disappearance of these young women to come forward," said Coons.
"A significant reward may entice someone to do so."
Coons said he finds it disturbing that on the Alberta portion of Highway 16, east to Edmonton, police believe a serial killer may be connected to the bodies of 12 prostitutes found around the city over the last 16 years.
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Reward would spur 'highway of tears' case, MLA says
The Canadian Press
October 18, 2007
PRINCE RUPERT, B.C. -- North Coast MLA Gary Coons has called on the Solicitor-General to attach a reward to the cases of missing and slain women along the so-called 'highway of tears.'
Last week, RCMP said they have officially doubled the list of women, brought the timeline back to 1969 and expanded the geographical scope of the investigation farther south.
"I am asking that a significant reward be put in place by this government," Mr. Coons said. "There have been no arrests or charges laid in connection with the young women who have gone missing along the Highway 16 corridor, and now cases as far south as Kamloops have been added to the investigation."
While the official police number has been raised to 18, many believe there may be as many as 34 women who have either gone missing or been slain along the stretch of highway between Prince George and Prince Rupert.
RCMP have recognized a common link or links between the 18 case files, but at this time are neither supporting nor ruling out the possibility that they involve the same perpetrator.
"We want to create a situation where we encourage anyone who has information around the disappearance of these young women to come forward," Mr. Coons said. "A significant reward may entice someone to do so."
He pointed out that police believe there may be a connection involving a serial killer between the Alberta portion of Highway 16, east to Edmonton, and the bodies of 12 prostitutes found around the city over the last 16 years.
"RCMP in that province have offered a $100,000 reward and released a profile on the killer or killers; I believe we must do the same," he said. "We must continue to voice concerns and bring justice to First Nations and aboriginal women who are victims of violence throughout the province. We need significant, immediate action by the Solicitor-General in this investigation."
Highway of Tears co-ordinator’s contract up
Thursday, 18 October 2007, 04:00 PST
FRANK PEEBLES Citizen staff
Only one recommendation out of 34 in the Highway of Tears report has been completed after one year of work, according to the co-ordinator.
Lisa Krebs' contract expires on Saturday and there is still no word from the provincial government as to whether she will have a job on Sunday, despite the fact she still has lots of work to do.
"The governing body is one full check mark, you can actually see it and touch it," Krebs said about the only completed recommendation. "They are all works in progress. Some of the check marks are partial, the process has been started, but how you sustain it is a whole other thing."
From the start, advocates worried that the 34 recommendations were tantamount to curing poverty and racism in northern B.C. and therefore far beyond the scope of a single person based in Prince George. There is an underlying call for a counterpart for Krebs to be stationed at the western end of the Highway of Tears, somewhere like Smithers, Terrace or Prince Rupert. When the RCMP announced on Friday in Prince George that their official Highway of Tears case studies was growing from nine missing and murdered women between Prince Rupert and Prince George to 18 women in cases as far away as Alberta, Kamloops and Merritt, going as far back as 1969, the instant reaction among advocates was how that necessitated a whole Highway of Tears task force to implement the recommendations.
These recommendations were all made in a report that followed the massive Highway of Tears Symposium held at CN Centre in spring 2006.
Krebs said there is no one recommendation's progress she is particularly disappointed about, and she feels much progress has been made in the past year, on top of the governing body being established.
"I think the community forums were very important," she said, referring to the series of conferences held in Highway 16 West communities to raise public awareness about hitchhiking dangers, racism, violence against women, etc. and also used to gather more data for future actions. "Initiating the process and also getting the opportunity to go out and meet with the communities along the highway, connecting, that was the biggest thing. The partnerships we've created, as well. This is perhaps a best practices model for how you connect to multiple branches of provincial government, local municipal governments, First Nations, community organizations - in that way what we're doing is kind of groundbreaking."
Her only major disappointment was a choice made by a planner for the Regional District of Bulkley Nechako to exclude Krebs' recommendation that missing persons be included in the emergency response model they were building earlier this year, after initially indicating it would happen.
Krebs is not worried about the future of her job, in spite of the silence around contract renewal.
"I take those things in stride. I try to remain positive, regardless of what is going on," she said. And on what will she be doing on Sunday? "I'm sure I'll be still working away. I have faith."
Missing, murdered women’s list expands
October 17, 2007
Terrace Standard News
THE RCMP have expanded their review of missing and murdered women beyond the Prince Rupert to Prince George Hwy16 corridor.
A list released last week now numbers 18, including a case in Hinton, Alta, and extends south to Kamloops and north to Hudson Hope.
The previous list included Terrace resident Tamara Chipman, who was 22 when she went missing in September 2005 after she was last seen hitchhiking outside of Prince Rupert.
And while the women on the first list tended to be younger with the majority being aboriginal, that’s not the case with those added to the now-expanded list.
Speaking at an Oct. 12 press conference in Prince George, RCMP Sergeant Pierre Lemaitre did not go into detail about what draws the cases together.
But he did say there were some commonalities, including hitchhiking, which featured in a number of the Hwy16 cases.
Hitchhiking has also been tagged as an “at-risk behaviour” leading to various efforts to convince people not to thumb for rides.
“Some were in situations that may have been more vulnerable – on their own [or] involved in high-risk lifestyles. Some may have been hitchhiking, some were not – one was riding a bicycle,” Lemaitre added. “The question has been asked, ‘Is this a serial killer?’ We don’t know. We’re open to any possibility.”
“To get these 18 names we have now, the task force examined over 200 files,” Lemaitre added.
In terms of the investigation itself, 16 cases have been placed under review status by a specialized squad of RCMP officers based in the Lower Mainland.
The two newest cases – Tamara Chipman from Terrace and teen Aielah Saric Auger, who was found murdered just off of Hwy16 east of Prince George in February 2006 – remain in the hands of local investigators.
The oldest case used to be 1974 homicide victim Monica Ignas of Terrace but the oldest one under review now is Gloria Moody who was murdered in Williams Lake in 1969.
Thirteen of the cases are classified as homicides and five as missing persons.
“While the number of files have increased, at this time, police are not discounting or supporting the theory that these cases have been committed by one individual,” a RCMP press release stated.
Although Lemaitre would not provide many details, he said the amount of resources being devoted to the review makes it one of the larger ongoing RCMP investigations in the province.
“We don’t want to impede our investigation. There are things the investigators know that we don’t want the perpetrators to know we know,” he said.
“We have sufficient resources right now and sufficient funding. We’re making good progress. They know a lot more than they did when they set out,” he said.
“Whoever is responsible for this isn’t a loner. We know there are people out there with information,” he added.
Investigators are talking to experts who profile suspects by geography and behaviour in addition to using a computer program called ViCLAS (violent crime linkage analysis system).
For his part, private investigator Ray Michalko, a former RCMP officer, said he was disgusted at the expanded list.
“I’m embarrassed for the RCMP. On the one hand, they say they have all the resources and funding that they need and on the other hand, they have a zero success rate,” he said.
Michalko added that he was sorry for the families of the missing or murdered women who travelled to a special meeting with the RCMP in Smithers that was also held last week “only to be told it’s now 18 instead of nine.”
Meanwhile, Mattie Wilson, mother of Ramona Wilson, one of the murder victims, welcomed the information provided by the RCMP.
“I’m happy. [The RCMP] are working really hard.”
Here is the expanded list as provided by the RCMP. The towns with the names indicate where the victims were either found or where they were last seen.
1. Gloria MOODY - Homicide
Williams Lake - 1969
2. Micheline PARE - Homicide
Hudson Hope - 1970
3. Gale WEYS - Homicide
Clearwater - 1973
4. Pamela DARLINGTON - Homicide
Kamloops - 1973
5. Monica IGNAS - Homicide
Terrace - 1974
6. Colleen MacMILLEN - Homicide
One Hundred Mile House - 1974
7. Monica JACK - Homicide
Merritt - 1978
8. Maureen MOSIE - Homicide
Kamloops - 1981
9. Shelly-ann BASCU - Missing
Hinton Alberta - 1983
10. Alberta WILLIAMS - Homicide
Prince Rupert - 1989
11. Delphine NIKAL - Missing
Smithers - 1990
12. Ramona WILSON - Homicide
Smithers - 1994
13. Roxanne THIARA - Homicide
Burns Lake - 1994
14. Alishia GERMAINE - Homicide
Prince George - 1994
15. Lana DERRICK - Missing
Terrace - 1995
16. Nicole HOAR - Missing
Prince George - 2002
While the investigations into the disappearance of Chipman and the murder of Auger are being conducted separately from the review of the older cases, investigators on those files have been and continue to be in contact with those officers on the review, police say.
For some of the original cases between Prince George and Prince Rupert, this will be their third formal review although no missing persons or homicide file is ever considered closed.
The announcement that specialized investigators were being assigned to the cases was made in March 2006 at a symposium in Prince George held to highlight the need for action to catch whoever is responsible for the crimes.
The symposium report included as its final recommendation that the official RCMP investigation “should determine the number of missing women and verify their identities.”
*********************************************************************************
Wednesday, October 17, 2007 04:01 AM
No Reward in Highway of Tears Probe...Yet
Solicitor General John Les says he surprised the NDP have called on the government to post a reward in the so called "Highway of Tears" investigation.
Les told Opinion250 that when the Highway of Tears symposium was held in Prince George last year , the RCMP said at the time it could be contrary to their investigation.
The NDP went back to Victoria, Les said, “They then asked for a reward to be posted contrary to what the police have suggested. They have done that again".
Les says posting a reward at this time may not be productive "I take my advice from the Police in this matter, this is a very serious investigation."
NDP MLAs Mike Farnworth, Robin Austin and Gary Coons are calling on the Solicitor General to offer a reward in the deaths and disappearances of 18 women in B.C.
“We are asking that a significant reward be put in place by this government,” said Farnworth Critic for Public Safety and Solicitor General. “There have been no arrests or charges laid in connection with the young women who have gone missing along the Highway 16 corridor and cases as far south as Kamloops have recently been added to the investigation.”
Recently, "E" Division Sergeant Pierre Lemaitre was in Prince George to provide an update on the investigation, and said the list of cases has doubled from 9 to 18. The additions include cases in Merritt, Kamloops, 100 Mile House, Williams Lake, Hinton Alberta as well as the cases already noted along the Highway 16 corridor.
Police are not discounting or supporting the theory that these cases have been committed by one individual.
By Thom Barker and Arthur Williams
Oct 17 2007
