Missing women forums begin
Posted January 19, 2011 8:45 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – The Missing Women Commission holds its first forum today. Commission head Wally Oppal has said he is especially interested in hearing from family members of the murdered and missing women.
Ernie Crey’s sister Dawn is one of the missing. Her DNA was found on Robert Pickton’s Port Coquitlam farm, but charges have never been laid. He thinks today will be a relief. “Many of us have been waiting a long time… to find out if there would be an inquiry. I was happy when the provincial government called the inquiry. It was long-awaited for, and I’m glad it’s finally getting underway.”
But Crey tells us whatever the forums and inquiry find, it will never erase that dark chapter from his life. “It’ll always, in the case of my family, have memories of our sister, how much we loved her. [There are] dark moments when we think about how her life came to such a tragic end.”
The forum is from 4 – 7 p.m. tonight at the Vancouver Japanese Language School, followed by a another in Prince George on Friday. The public forum is ahead of the more formal hearings for the Commission that will begin later this year.
The inquiry will examine police investigations between 1997 and 2002, regarding women reported missing from the downtown eastside and Crown’s decision to stay charges of attempted murder against Robert Pickton in 1998.
It can also make recommendations about the conduct of investigations into missing and murdered women. Pickton has been convicted in the deaths of six women. Another 20 murder charges against him were stayed.
