The Missing Women Inquiry has come to an end. Words cannot describe the heartbreak, anger and resentment that circus side show has revealed. We knew Wally Oppal was the wrong choice to head the inquiry. He lost his reelection because of the horrible job he did as AG.
We knew the inquiry would be a circus side show distracting the public from the real issue. Robert Pickton was convicted on the premise that he was not the only person involved. He was convicted on the premise that he was an active participant. The mandate of the inquiry should have been what happened. All the evidence should have been made public not swept under the carpet.
Wally Oppal’s arrogance is offensive. His moonlighting as an actor on a slasher movie was outrageous. Wally Oppal denied huge amounts of highly relevant evidence from being admitted to the inquiry. He denied important witnesses from testifying. He stopped the lawyer for the missing women’s families from discussing the Hells angels known presence on the Pickton Farm.
What could Dave Pickton tell us? Well he told the police where the bodies were buried so the police wouldn’t dig up his whole farm and find out what else they had buried in there. The fact that the Hells Angels had a grow op on site as well as an illegal booze can was highly relevant. The fact that various police agencies had the Hells angels on the Pickton farm under surveillance is very relevant. Refusing to make that evidence public was treason. Wally Oppal is a scoundrel who has committed treason and in so doing has become an accessory to murder.
The only good thing that came from this inquiry is the public discussion of the evidence that Wally Oppal refused to admit. The Hells Angels’ involvement with the Pickton Farm was significant and now the world finally knows it.
Missing Women Inquiry closes, families feel cheated
Pickton inquiry ends as it began, wrapped in controversy
Pickton inquiry ends with notes of resentment and regret
Pickton Inquiry 'has failed,' lawyer argues
Wally Oppal’s slasher film is an exercise in bad judgment
Justice denied
I am so sick and tired of these people whining about the lack of consideration they were shown during this inquiry.
ReplyDeleteWhat do they want? We all know the police screwed up big time. The police know it. They need to change the way they do business. They know that too.
These people have bitched about every aspect of the investigation, the trial and the inquiry but I have not seen any single effort on their part to be specific on what and how changes should be made.
Lets start at the beginning - why the hell were these women working the streets of the DTES? What put them there? The same "heartbroken" families that now want "justice" are responsible for that. Don't give me crap about how I, a tax-paying white woman am responsible for the deplorable conditions of the disadvantaged. I came from a poor background and have worked for everything I have and raised two children to be responsible tax-paying individuals too. I had parents who worked hard for the little we had instead of taking handouts. The families of these victims should be ashamed for their roles in the gruesome demise of their mothers, daughters, sisters etc. They shoulder every bit as much responsibility as the police. Many of them never even knew their "loved one" was missing until the s**t hit the fan and Mr Pickton was outed.
Perhaps if they cared more about their daughters, sisters, mothers and less about their need to show the world how they are "victims" too they can keep their women from falling into the lifestyle that rarely sees anyone die from old age.
We can blame the Picktons, we can blame the police, we can even blame the Hell's Angels if that is our scapegoat for all that is bad in life, we can blame Wally Oppal for not making it all better but marginalization starts at birth.
Wow. Although I do agree that some times it’s hard to figure out just what the families of the victims are wanting, I really don’t think it’s that difficult. They just want the truth. To imply the families are responsible for the murders is absurd and offensive. You ask why were the murdered woman on the streets. Let’s see, drug addiction perhaps? They all were struggling with a drug addiction. If you have raised two children, then you know any kid can fall to a drug addiction. Even kids from good homes not just the marginalized.
DeleteWhen someone is murdered they become a murder victim. It has nothing to do with being marginalized or wanting a hand out. We can and should blame the Picktons because they clearly were involved. We can blame the Hells Angels because not only were they intimately involved with the Picktons on their farm, but they used threats to hide that fact from the trial. We can also most certainly blame Wally Oppal for knowingly and maliciously preventing that fact from being investigated in a public inquiry mandated to find out why so many sex trade workers went missing and were murdered. A lot of women have gone missing from the DTES. Robert Pickton did not kill all of them.
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DeleteI know what compassion is and I feel compassion for the women who get caught up (or were forced) into that life; however nobody seems to give a rats ass about changing things so they don't end up on the DTES. I only hear about how useless the police are, about the big waste of time and resources the inquiry was (agreed!) and who other than rotten Willy may be responsible for these gruesome acts.
DeleteIt does not matter what Wally Oppal comes back with in his report - nothing will ever be good enough. The police could start taking seriously every report of every missing woman and the beating and killing of these women will continue. There are always predators out there.
My point is things need to change from the minute these women are born. The families need to take some responsibility for this.
I have worked with First Nation women who were physically and sexually abused from the time they were barely out of diapers. They either ran away before they were barely into puberty or were punted of the reserve and supported themselves the only way they could - hell they just thought it was normal to be beaten and raped but now at least they were making money from it and could get drugs to make life more bearable (short term). Of course that put them at risk - dealers, drug od's or predators.
This is the part that must change yet the "loved ones" of many of these victims will not recognize their role and thus things will never change.
I do know how hard it is to raise kids and keep them on the straight and narrow; I did it as a single working mom and it was tough. But it was also my responsibility and I took it seriously. They had friends who were into drugs, stealing cars etc, but they made the right choices. That was not luck.
I think the cops know they have to change how they deal with missing women and how they as agencies deal with one another and hopefully this does in fact change. But the reasons these women are on the DTES will not change because nobody will admit there is a problem back at the ranch and predators will continue to troll for victims. Women will continue to die.
Agent K - You say the families just want the truth.
DeleteI don't think the truth is that difficult to see.
But they need to start at the beginning.
Truth - their daughters/sisters/mothers were hooked on drugs and working as a prostitutes to support themelves and their habits - why were they there?
Lack of love, structure, guidance, family support, respect since birth
Truth - women who work the streets are vulnerable; dealers, bad johns, Willy Picktons. These predators also had parents who did a shitty job.
Truth - the police f**ked up really BADLY. That has been relayed over and over.
Truth - the inqury may actually have fulfilled its mandate - hard to say yet. It was a useless waste of money no matter what, especially if people were actually hoping that others would be named/charged in the killings. That is not what it set out to do.
So you say we can "blame the HA's because not only were they intimately involved with the Picktons on their farm, but they used threats to hide that fact from the trial." I just don't see any proof that any HA specifically killed any of these women and it is pretty hard to get charges laid without proof. They may well be repugnant human beings (?) in every sense of the word and they may be responsible for killing and inflicting misery on many people but without proof they will not be charged with the death of these particular women.
You can blame Wally Oppal for being a useless tit if you want but you cannot blame him for the deaths of these women.
Truth- woman will still go missing from the DTES or the gateways to hell in Surrey and even if the police start work on trying to locate them as soon as they are reported missing some will end up dead. Women who are not drug addicted sex trade workers generally live longer. That is another truth.
Keeping them from entering into this lifestyle would go a whole lot further in keeping them safe and alive than anything Wally Oppal or the police can do.
That is really offensive and completely out of touch with reality. If someone was addicted to drugs and became a prostitute that does not mean they deserved to be murdered and mutilated by the people who sold them the drugs. Solving the murders and finding Picktons accomplices is a matter of public safety.
DeleteWTF Agent K - I don't see anywhere where I said these women deserved to be mutilated and murdered. Where did you get that from?
DeleteThe gist of all my comments is that things need to change so these women do not become drug addicted street workers to begin with. SOMEBODY needs to take resposibility for that. That needs to start at their birth. Then if they still choose a hard life (and I know that sometimes the best of homes cannot deter some kids from running away) they need to have more options to get out of the street life; more options for staying alive. Apparently nobody other than Doreen Binder and the pitiful number of people who actually showed up at the policy forums cares enough to be proactive. If these women are not on the streets to begin with there is less chance they will end up victims of Willy Pickton, Gary Ridgeway, the Hell's Angels etc.
The mandate of the Inquiry was not to find or name or charge further indivduals who might have been or be involved with the missing women; the mandate was to review how the investigation was done (or not done) and recommend changes for the future.
My problem with the outcry of disatisfaction over the Inquiry is that the Inquiry was never meant to find more suspects to blame for the killings or quarantee there will be no more missing women.
Solving murders is always a priority but as "out of touch with reality" as I am I believe preventing the murders in the first place is just somehow more beneficial to society. Obviously if police had not screwed up and had caught Pickton sooner many murders would have been prevented, but sorry to say there are many more sickos out there and as long as they have access to vulnerable women these investgations will keep happening.
Sorry that seems offensive to you.
I will stop posting about this.
What appears offensive is "blaming" addicts or their families for a serial killer. By all means we should work to help prevent drug addiction which enslaves so many people. That's why we need to confront the Hells Angels for their involvement in that underworld. Wally Oppal censoring the truth from the "public" inquiry was disgusting.
DeleteAnd now you know why they picked Wally to run they inquiry. There had to be one to satisfy public pressure, but at the same time it couldn't dig up ;) or prove any inconvenient truths. For a guy like that, Wally is your man. Or more correctly, theirs. They paid him well to deliver nothing, and he did.
ReplyDeleteExactly.
DeleteG&M.
ReplyDelete"The two police forces that together failed to stop serial killer Robert Pickton have ended a public inquiry pointing their fingers at each other, leaving it to the inquiry’s commissioner to sort out who to believe and who, if anyone, to blame."
"Both (forces) have offered apologies for not doing more, but neither will accept blame. The Vancouver police insist that the fault lies at the feet of the RCMP, while the Mounties argue the opposite."
“The real failure of the Pickton investigation is that chronicle of inaction,” Mr. Dickson said."
http://tinyurl.com/d42l39q
It's all so outrageous & pathetic; that one doesn't even know what emotions one has re. this, anymore...hatred for the Police, who acted like the-scum-of-the-earth on this file...?
You guys live in never never land
ReplyDeleteBut then again so do we ie.911
ReplyDelete