|
|
Is the Missing Women Inquiry falling apart?
Is the Missing Women Inquiry falling apart?
Jesse Johnston Aug 09, 2011 18:42:13 PM
0 Related Stories
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) - They're not saying scrap it just yet, but it's getting close.
Two more groups have withdrawn from the Missing Women's Inquiry: the Ending Violence Association and the Women's Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF).
LEAF Executive Director Kasari Govender questions what the inquiry can accomplish if groups representing sex trade workers, First Nations women and people living on the Downtown Eastside don't participate.
"I'm deeply concerned that there is very little that can be wrought from this inquiry," Govender said.
"There has to be a systemic look at what went wrong and really what we know is the failures in the justice system were directly connected to how marginalized the victims were."
Six of the 13 groups that were given standing have pulled out of the proceedings because the BC government won't pay for lawyers to represent them at the hearings.
The province is only covering legal costs for family members of women Robert Pickton was convicted of killing.
NDP Justice Critic Leondard Krog says if the rest of the groups withdraw, they should abandon the inquiry.
"You've got to question whether we're going to get anything from this inquiry into what I believe every British Columbian agrees is a very, very serious matter," Krog said. "It's almost inconceivable to have that many groups given standing and not appear at the hearings."
The inquiry is looking into the actions of the Crown, RCMP and Vancouver Police during the time Pickton spent abducting and murdering women from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside |
|
發表於 2011-8-9 18:04
| 