WUNRN
CANADA - MISSING & MURDERED
INDIGENOUS WOMEN COMMISSION OF INQUIRY FINDS FAILURES TO INVESTIGATE & BIAS
18 December 2012 - Hundreds of missing and murdered women, many
of them indigenous women, were forsaken by Canadian society and police forces.
That's part of the conclusion of Commissioner Wally Oppal in his report for the
Missing Women Commission of Inquiry, which he headed.
Oppal, a former Attorney General of the province of British Columbia (B.C.),
was appointed to head the Commission in September 2010. His 1448-page report
was released Monday, Dec. 17.
Direct
Link to 180-Page Report Executive Summary: http://www.missingwomeninquiry.ca/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Forsaken-ES-web-RGB.pdf
"The story of the missing and murdered women is a tragedy of epic
proportions," writes Oppal in the report. "It is simply unfathomable
that these women were forsaken year after year. And yet they were. While this
report focuses on police failures to investigate their disappearance, none of
us can escape responsibility for what happened to the missing and murdered
women."
Oppal had a fourfold mandate:
a) to inquire into and make findings of fact respecting the investigations
conducted between January 23, 1997 and February 5, 2002, by police forces in
British Columbia respecting women reported missing from the Downtown Eastside
of the City of Vancouver;
b) to inquire into and make findings of fact respecting the decision of the
Criminal Justice Branch on January 27, 1998, to enter a stay of proceedings on
charges against Robert William Pickton of attempted murder, assault with a
weapon, forcible confinement, and aggravated assault;
c) to recommend changes considered necessary respecting the initiation and
conduct of investigations in British Columbia of missing women and suspected
multiple homicides; and
d) to recommend changes considered necessary respecting homicide investigations
in British Columbia by more than one investigating organization, including the
co-ordination of those investigations.
More information:
FORSAKEN: The Report of the Missing Women Commission of Inquiry (Executive Summary - pdf) - here
Missing Women Commission of Inquiry (entire report) - here
Missing Women Commission of Inquiry web site - www.missingwomeninquiry.ca