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Lori-Ann Ellis (R), mother of Cara Ellis who was murdered by Robert Pickton, is given a memorial blanket in her daghter's memory during a peaceful protest in Vancouver October 16, 2011 in Vancouver.Jeff Vinnick

Editor's note: On Oct. 19, 2011, The Globe and Mail reported testimony by Dr. Kate Shannon at the inquiry into the police investigation into serial killer Robert Pickton, in which Dr. Shannon was asked about a study from 2005 to 2008 involving 255 street-based prostitutes. Lawyer Cameron Ward asked Dr. Shannon about the timing of disclosures by 23 of those women that they had been to Mr. Pickton's farm, and by another 183 women that they knew women had been to the farm. In the Oct. 19 story, the Globe reported that those disclosures were made while Mr. Pickton was still on trial, and that Dr. Shannon had not informed police or prosecutors of potential witnesses.



On Nov. 2, the Pickton inquiry revisited Dr. Shannon's testimony, with her lawyer submitting a letter stating that those disclosures were not made until 2008, after Mr. Pickton's trial had concluded. Commission inquiry head Wally Oppal said during that day's proceedings that Mr. Ward's cross-examination created "an incorrect impression that somehow Dr. Shannon was remiss in not asking those women about what they observed on the Pickton farm, when in fact all of that took place after the conviction."



While Robert Pickton was on trial for killing drug-addicted prostitutes from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, researchers at the University of British Columbia found two dozen women who had been taken to Mr. Pickton's pig farm and returned later to their neighbourhood.

But the researchers didn't tell police or prosecutors about those potential witnesses, a government-appointed inquiry into the police investigation of Mr. Pickton heard Tuesday.

In an apparent case of ivory-tower single-mindedness, they did not even ask the women for any details about activities at the Pickton farm.

"That was not our interest," Kate Shannon, the principal investigator of the study, told the inquiry. "The women did not discuss or disclose details of attending the Pickton farm."

Lawyer Cameron Ward said later no one is legally required to go to the police.

"It's a moral obligation in some cases, if you knew someone has material evidence," Mr. Ward said in an interview outside the Missing Women Inquiry hearing.

The women spoke to the UBC researchers on a confidential basis, which may have precluded the researchers from going to the police with the information, he added. Also, the women may not have been interested in testifying at the Pickton trial.

However, if they were "material witnesses," Mr. Ward said, they could be compelled to testify.

The UBC study, which was carried out from 2005 to 2008, involved 255 street-based prostitutes. The three-year study, funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health research, was on violence involving street prostitutes and factors associated with increased risks of violence and rape, including the impact of policing.

In response to a questionnaire, 23 women said they had been to Mr. Pickton's farm, and 183 reported knowing women who had been to the farm.

Mr. Pickton was charged with killing 27 women. He was convicted in December, 2007, of second-degree murder of six women after most of the charges had been set aside. During the trial, the jury heard testimony from a woman who was identified as one of the few who were taken to the farm and escaped.

Neil MacKenzie, a spokesman for the criminal justice branch, said Crown prosecutors "obviously" could not have information about the potential witnesses if the researchers did not tell them about them. "It's hard to say what information they [the women]may have had without knowing who they are," he said.

The Vancouver Police Department declined a request for an interview. "Out of respect for the ongoing inquiry, we wouldn't comment at this time," Constable Jana McGuinness, a VPD spokeswoman, said in an e-mail.

At the inquiry, Mr. Ward, a lawyer for victims' families, questioned what the researchers learned from the women who had been there.

After the women revealed that they had been to the farm, the researchers must have learned the circumstances in which the women were picked up, how they were transported to the Pickton farm, what they did there and "presumably how they got home, because all of them lived to tell about it, right?" he said.

No, Dr. Shannon replied. "We focused on the context of how violence impacted negotiations of health and safety," she said. "There is absolutely no data where we ask any questions whatsoever about the Pickton farm."

Later she told the inquiry the "vast majority" of the women who responded to the survey did not identify themselves. She said she had no concern that the use of aliases undermined the integrity of the information.

Mr. Ward told the inquiry that relatives of the missing and murdered women want to know what happened to them, why the investigation took so long and whether Mr. Pickton acted alone.

The women had been to the Pickton farm "in the years he was apparently murdering my clients' relatives," Mr. Ward said. "They would have engaged in some activities that shed light on some very key questions the inquiry is asking."

He asked to see the "source material" to review the comments made by the women. Commission head Wally Oppal asked Dr. Shannon to review the documents and report back to the inquiry.

The inquiry was appointed to look into why Mr. Pickton was not arrested sooner. He was arrested in 2002, years after information surfaced of a serial killer preying on women in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.



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