RCMP attitude blamed for lapse in Pickton case
Posted November 21, 2011 11:28 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – A Mountie who has accused her bosses of sexual harassment says the same sexism and indifference she experienced also slowed the Robert Pickton serial-murder investigation. Catherine Galliford makes the claims in the latest edition of Macleans Magazine.
“She feels the RCMP investigators, part of the Missing Women Task Force and others had enough information as far back as 1999, when they could have [obtained] a search warrant,” says Macleans Reporter Ken MacQueen. “As you well know the arrest didn’t come until February of 2002. In that intervening period there were 14 women who went missing [from Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside].”
“[Galliford] finds that appalling. She believes that in part it was due to sexist attitudes or indifference toward the women who were going missing. And she projects some of that feeling is based on the way she was treated and the way some of her fellow members were treated.”
She claims she had a good, long look at evidence in the Pickton case in 2001 as she prepared for her role as spokeswoman for Missing Women Task Force. The file had been prepared by investigators with Coquitlam RCMP.
“And as she told me, she had what she called an ‘oh no’ moment,” MacQueen explains. “And this ‘oh no’ moment came when, as she said, ‘I saw what was already on the file.’ There was enough evidence there for another ITO, and that means Information to Obtain a search warrant.”
Galliford told MacQueen she was quite upset by the information she read in the file, and to this day hasn’t received an explanation as to why they didn’t act on the information they had.
The officer’s accusations have not been proven in court.
Galliford has been on sick leave since 2007 because of stress, blaming rampant sexual harassment against her during a 16-year career. She wants to testify at the Missing Women Inquiry in Vancouver, which is examining the circumstances of the Pickton case.
“She said she will testify at the Missing Women Inquiry on behalf of the women, not on behalf of the RCMP,” adds MacQueen. “That could be very explosive and troubling testimony if she does get a chance to testify.”
