No extension for Missing Women Inquiry: Attorney General
Posted March 28, 2012 7:20 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – BC’s attorney general says the Missing Women Inquiry will not receive an extension.
The families of several of Robert Pickton‘s victims are set to hold a news conference tomorrow asking that the inquiry be given more time to examine why the serial killer wasn’t caught sooner.
Shirley Bond says she’s not prepared to give Commissioner Wally Oppal an extension beyond the current deadline of June 30th. She adds the government called the inquiry a year and a half ago, and she’s confident Oppal will be able to fulfill his mandate with the current deadline.
The Inquiry has been plagued by delays, including a three-week stoppage that began earlier this month after a lawyer representing aboriginal witnesses quit.
Robyn Gervais said the inquiry was too police-focused and wasn’t looking closely enough at the impact of Pickton’s crimes on aboriginal women, many of whom were his victims. Several First Nations groups have withdrawn from the inquiry.
The inquiry still must hear from a list of witnesses that includes police officers, aboriginal witnesses and Crown prosecutors involved in a decision in 1997 to stay charges against Pickton.
