Key findings
Commissioner Wally Oppal’s final report into the failed investigations into Robert Pickton included 63 recommendations. Here are some of the key ones:
Regional policing: The provincial government should commit to establishing a Greater Vancouver police force and an independent committee should develop a proposed model and implementation plan for such a force.
Support services: The province should provide the extra money needed to allow centres that provide emergency services for women in the sex trade to remain open 24 hours a day. — The province should develop and implement an enhanced public transit system to provide safe travel between Northern communities, particularly along Highway 16.
Apologies: While the Vancouver Police Department has been proactive in apologizing for its shortcomings in the investigation and the RCMP “has followed suit in a less fulsome manner.” The commissioner said the provincial government should appoint two advisers, including one aboriginal elder, to advise on the form and content of public acknowledgment of the mistakes made.
Compensation: The provincial government should establish a compensation fund for the children of the missing and murdered women .
Policing changes: Equality audits should be conducted on police forces throughout the province with the aim of protecting marginalized and aboriginal women from violence. — The province should fund more full-time, sex-trade liaison officer positions in the Vancouver area and consider re-establishing the Vancouver Police Native Liaison Society.
Court changes: The province should develop a Crown Vulnerable Women Assault policy to provide guidance on the prosecution of crimes of violence against vulnerable women, including women engaged in the sex trade. — The Crown should be required to evaluate the strength of a case based on an assumption that the judge will act impartially and according to the law. — The provincial government should fund law reform research projects on the effects of drug and alcohol abuse on memory and potential changes to evidence laws to better help vulnerable witnesses take part in the court process.