Facts about the public inquiry into the Robert Pickton case
VANCOUVER - Some facts about the public inquiry into the Robert Pickton case:
Terms of reference: Examine the police investigations into missing women from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside and the Crown's decision in 1998 to stay an attempted murder charge against Pickton related to an attack on a sex worker a year earlier; recommend changes for investigations involving missing women and multiple homicides, particularly those that span the jurisdictions of more than one police force.
Commissioner: Wally Oppal, a former B.C. Appeal Court judge and one-time attorney general who served in the B.C. Liberal government from 2005 until 2009.
Length: The formal hearings began on Oct. 11, 2011 and ended on June 6, 2012. There were community meetings in northern B.C. in September 2011 and a series of policy forums in April of this year.
Witnesses: More than 80 people testified including current and former police officers, relatives of missing and murdered women, sex workers, advocates, former politicians and academics.
Cost: The B.C. government estimates it has spent about $10 million on the inquiry.
Controversy: Criticism was constant and wide-ranging. Opponents complained the inquiry was narrowly focused on the police, advocacy groups weren't provided funding to participate, Oppal's connections to the provincial government clouded his impartiality, and the hearings were cut short without hearing from important witnesses.
