Former British Columbia attorney general and B.C. Court of Appeal justice Wally Oppal stops briefly to speak to reporters after being named to head the Pickton inquiry in Vancouver, B.C., on Tuesday September 28, 2010.DARRYL DYCK/The Canadian Press
The newly appointed Pickton commission has appealed to aboriginal leaders and families of Vancouver's missing women to co-operate with former attorney-general Wally Oppal after widespread criticism of his appointment and the commission's terms of reference.
"Our objective is to dig as deeply as we can to get to the bottom of the issues related to the missing women," commission lawyer Art Vertlieb stated in a news release distributed Sunday. "We are confident that we can address the concerns of all interested parties in the province and we hope that we can rely on their co-operation to do so," Mr. Vertlieb said.
The commission was created to look into the investigation of serial killer Robert Pickton, who has been convicted of six murders and suspected of killing up to 49 women. Aboriginal and women's groups and members of victims' families have criticized the appointment of Mr. Oppal as head of the commission, questioning if the defeated Liberal MLA could be impartial and objective in his work.
They have also said the terms of reference were too narrow by restricting the commission's work mostly to the police investigation and by not including a review into conditions that led to the women being on the street, addicted and working as prostitutes.
Responding directly to some of the areas of contention, Mr. Vertlieb said the commission will examine why so many aboriginal women are placed in vulnerable situations and will look at investigations into missing women throughout B.C.
"The commission wants to find answers to the many outstanding questions about the missing women so that it can make recommendations to prevent tragedies like the Pickton case happening again," he said.
"We want to make sure [Mr.]Oppal has a chance to hear from people who have views about this so he can decide how he wants to proceed,' Mr. Vertlieb said in an interview. "It's a matter of trying to let people know they will have an opportunity to make their views known."
Earlier yesterday, the family of Dianne Rock called for Mr. Oppal to "take a hike." Ms. Rock disappeared on Oct. 17, 2001 and Mr. Pickton was charged with her murder in April, 2002. However the prosecution decided not to proceed with the murder charge -as well as 19 additional charges -after Mr. Pickton was convicted of six murders.
Lilliane and Rene Beaudoin stated in an e-mail they were disturbed that Mr. Oppal was appointed as commissioner because he was attorney-general when the decision was made not to proceed with the murder charge. "We said that this decision was wrong and borders on an infringement of our rights to have our day in court," they stated.