Another delay in Missing Women Inquiry

VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – It may take longer for final answers to come out of the the Missing Women Inquiry.

Commissioner Wally Oppal has halted the inquiry for three weeks so the commission can find a lawyer to represent First Nations after their counsel quit last week. Robyn Gervais said the inquiry was too police-focused and wasn’t looking closely enough at the impact of serial murderer Robert Pickton’s crimes on aboriginal women, many of whom were his victims.

Several First Nations groups have withdrawn from the inquiry.

Wally Oppal said he’s halting the hearing until April 2 so they can find another lawyer and get that person up to speed.

“While I believe that each community is being respected and heard, it is clear that that is not an opinion that is shared by all,” Oppal said. “I hope we can find a place in this process where we can all work together, if not in perfect harmony, then at least in a manner that allows for mutual respect.”

Commission counsel Art Vertlieb said they’re talking with a lawyer whom Oppal could approve, but it’s hard to know right now if they will finish the hearing as they’re supposed to by the end of April.

“We’re on schedule in many ways. We’ve covered an awful lot of ground,” Vertlieb said. “We’ll deal with that when the times comes.  If we can’t get it done in the time frame then we’ll deal with it.”

Vertlieb said First Nations representation is an important element since so many of Robert Pickton’s victims were aboriginal women.
    
Oppal is supposed to submit his final report at the end of June, after the province granted him a six-month extension. Vertlieb said he doesn’t yet know what the three-week adjournment will do to that final deadline.

“We’ll cross that proverbial bridge when we get to it,” Vertlieb said. “We’ll just keep on with the process that we have and we’ll see where it takes us.”    

The inquiry was called to examine why police failed to catch Pickton sooner as he murdered sex workers in the late 1990s and the early 2000s.

Meanwhile, a former Downtown Eastside police officer told the inquiry several VPD officers were taking sexual advantage of vulnerable women in the neighbourhood as Pickton preyed on women, but claims at least one senior officer didn’t care.

Retired Const. Dave Dickson claims five to six officers were receiving sexual favours from sex trade workers and he found one cop who was having sex with up to four women.

Dickson had him kicked out of the neighbourhood but was then called to an internal affairs inspector who asked Dickson an odd question.

“‘What would the difference be in [someone] going across to the courthouse and having an affair, and this report?’, indicating my report,” Dickson said.

“I was a bit taken aback with that. I looked at him and I said, ‘You’re not serious, are you?’  And he said, ‘Dead serious.'”

“And I [said], ‘You’re talking about an officer that took advantage of four women with the uniform,’ And I  [said], ‘I don’t think you can compare that at all,'” Dickson continued. “And he stated he didn’t see any difference, so I believe I said, ‘I think I’ve had enough,’ and I walked out of his office.”
    
Dickson added he doesn’t think conditions for Downtown Eastside sex trade workers have improved since Pickton was caught.
    
Asked if another Pickton-like predator could more easily hunt vulnerable women now, Dickson said he doesn’t think that’s true.

“It’s probably as easy as it was back then to do that, but now the women, unfortunately, are subjected to a lot of violence from the different [drug] dealers down there,” Dickson responded.  “There are so many different groups, Mr. Commissioner, vying for the money down there that the girls are being beaten on a daily or weekly basis for $30 or $40 drug debts. Or worse, some of them are being sexually assaulted…or having their hair chopped off.”