Pickton Inquiry in Danger of Becoming Useless

(Aired on October 4, 2010)

I believe that the inquiry into the murders committed by and alleged against Robert Pickton is in danger of becoming totally useless. There is a suggestion that the inquiry, headed by former Attorney-General Wally Oppal, is going to focus on more than just the police investigation of the murders. Several people representing the victims' families, and various social agencies, suggest that focusing only on the police investigation will ignore the critical issue of why many of the victims are on the street, selling themselves in the sex trade, and getting wrapped up in the drug scene.

I'm against expanding the inquiry. And I'll tell you why. It has nothing to do with being unconcerned about the marginalization of people's lives and how to deal with some serious social issues. It's about taking a concern that has been expressed, the way the police investigation was handled, and turning it into some sort of gong show that will be so all-encompassing that it will provide very few real results. There were serious problems in the way enforcement agencies dealt with the investigation, lack of coordination between municipal forces and the RCMP, and even poor communication within various departments of the same force. That in itself is a major inquiry topic. Surely that will keep Mr. Oppal busy for a long time.

Certainly some believe that because these were largely sex trade workers who went missing, that they were blown off by police. That certainly is a topic for Oppal's inquiry. But to expand the inquiry into a full-fledged investigation of why these women are on the streets will be far too big an issue. We'll wind up with a million general recommendations, and few will really get the attention they deserve.

I'm not saying these issues shouldn't be investigated. But maybe by a separate inquiry, with a proper mandate to look at the reasons why these people get forced out on the streets and how we can deal with them. To wrap them up with an inquiry of how the police investigation went in the Pickton case is the wrong choice, and won't result in the justice these women so deserve.