B.C. inquiry rocked by allegations

VANCOUVER – The head of the Missing Women inquiry announced Wednesday he has appointed an independent investigator to probe allegations of workplace harassment made by former inquiry sta .

“I am outraged by these anonymous allegations and I take them very seriously,” Wally Oppal said in a statement.

He was responding to allegations made in a National Post story, which alleged that five former inquiry sta were subjected to demeaning, sexist and disrespectful comments.

Oppal said commission counsel Art Vertlieb was shocked by the accusations and made Oppal aware of the matter after he was interviewed last Friday by a National Post reporter.

“Neither I nor senior counsel had any knowledge of this kind of behaviour at the commission,” Oppal said.

“There have been no formal complaints made and no former employees have come forward with allegations,” he said.

“Had anyone come to me or to senior counsel, we would have immediately launched an investigation and the person responsible would have been dealt with accordingly,” Oppal added.

“Upon learning of these allegations, we engaged the services of an experienced independent investigator (Delayne Sartison, QC) to look into the allegations.”

Oppal made the announcement before the inquiry began Wednesday morning.

Cameron Ward, the lawyer representing the families of serial killer Robert Pickton’s victims at the inquiry, said his clients were shocked by the allegations.

“I’m very disturbed by this, given the nature of the inquiry’s work” he told reporters during a break in the inquiry. “I hope it gets resolved quickly. … These recent allegations come out of the blue and are appalling.”

The Missing Women inquiry, which began last Oct. 11, is probing why it took so long to catch serial killer Pickton, who is believed to have killed more than four dozen women before he was arrested in 2002.