INITIAL REPORTS from forums looking into solutions to keeping women safe so they don't end up as one of the missing and murdered women along Hwy 16 and in Vancouver's downtown east side have been released.
Four reports by The Missing Women Commission of Inquiry are available on the commission website: “Standing Together and Moving Forward: Report on the Pre-Hearing Conference in Prince George and the Northern Community Forums,” “ Policy Discussion Report: Police Protection of Vulnerable and Marginalized Women,” “Downtown Eastside Consultation Program Report,” and “Municipal Policing in the Lower Mainland District of British Columbia.”
People can send in written submissions on the reports to the commission until April 15.
The study commission reports and written submissions received from individuals and organizations will assist in the development of the commission’s policy forums to be held in early May and the Commission’s report and recommendations.
The Missing Women Commission of Inquiry was appointed by the B.C. provincial government in September 2010 with a mandate to inquire into the conduct of police investigations of women reported missing from the Downtown Eastside between January 23, 1997 and February 5, 2002, and to review the decision by the B.C. Criminal Justice Branch on January 27, 1998 to stop legal proceedings against Robert William Pickton; to recommend changes considered necessary respecting the initiation and conduct of investigations in B.C. of missing women and suspected multiple homicides; and to recommend changes considered necessary respecting homicide investigations in B.C. by more than one investigating organization.
The Commission is currently scheduled to report back to the Attorney General by the end of June, 2012.
The reports are on the commission website at www.missingwomeninquiry.ca/reports-and-publications/