We were directed to make oral submissions today to the Commissioner concerning our desire to seek the addition of witnesses to the Commission’s abbreviated witness list.  Lawyers for other participants had made similar requests, but it appears that their overtures were summarily acceded to and we were the only counsel required to explain why we felt that other people probably had material evidence to offer to assist the Commission in its mandate.  We did not get very far.

As we endeavoured to explain why Bill Hiscox should be called as a witness, the morning’s hearing disintegrated.  Hiscox was repeatedly referred to in VPD Deputy Chief LePard’s internal review report and his name has been mentioned no fewer than 212 times in LePard’s oral testimony so far.  (LePard is still on the stand and is scheduled to appear for his twelfth day tomorrow).

Hiscox, as those following this matter may be aware, was the man who came forward in July of 1998, telephoning Wayne Leng and Crimestoppers to report that a pig farmer in Port Coquitlam named Willy Pickton was probably responsible for Sarah deVries’ disappearance as well as the disappearance and murders of the other missing Vancouver women, that he was a “sicko” and that he had slashed the throat of a Vancouver woman the year before.  He spent months in contact with VPD Det. Cst. Lori Shenher but was unable, despite all of his efforts, to get police to stop Pickton’s murderous spree.

Of course, after Pickton was serendipitously arrested in February of 2002, it turned out that everything that Hiscox had told police nearly four years earlier had been true.  Pickton was convicted of six murders in 2007 and, although 20 more first degree murder charges against him were stayed by the Crown, he is suspected of being responsible for as many as 49 murders.  Many of them were committed after Hiscox went to police with his information.

Here’s the Vancouver Observer’s take on today’s proceedings.

 …..

This public inquiry was established on September 27, 2010.  We have yet to hear testimony from a police officer who was involved in the investigations.

We have been advised that when the Missing Women Commission of Inquiry resumes its hearings on December 14th, the Commissioner will consider applications from those participants seeking to add witnesses to the Commission’s list.

The Commission has circulated a pared-down witness list of 31 police officers and 17 other witnesses, for a total of 48 witnesses in all.  As counsel for the families of twenty of the missing and murdered women, we will be making an application for at least 21 additional witnesses to be added to the Commission’s current list.  It is not yet clear whether other participants will be making similar applications.

The Commission’s formation was announced by then Attorney General Mike de Jong on September 27, 2010.  Evidentiary hearings began on October 11, 2011 and the Commission has heard from 15 witnesses over 26 hearing days since then.  The Commission has not yet heard from any of the police officers or other law enforcement personnel directly involved in the matters that are the subject of the inquiry.  Hearings are on hiatus at the moment, with VPD Deputy Chief LePard still on the stand under cross-examination.  We have been told that the Commission will sit for three more days this month (December 14-16) before adjourning until January 11, 2012.

Richard Rosenthal, who until recently was Denver’s Independent Monitor, has been appointed as the new civilian director of the IIO.  He was the subject of an article written by Joel Warner and published earlier this year in Denver Westworld News.  We welcome Mr. Rosenthal to our province and wish him well in his challenging new endeavour.

CKNW News is reporting that the provincial government is poised to announce the appointment of the civilian director of the Independent Investigation Office, the new body created to investigate incidents of death or serious injury involving police.  The creation of the IIO was one of the recommendations made by William Davies, Q.C., the respected former judge appointed as Commissioner of the Frank Paul Inquiry.  

Frank Paul died of hypothermia in a Vancouver alley in December of 1998 after he was dragged out of the Vancouver Jail, inert and soaking wet, by police, who dumped him in the industrial laneway where his body was spotted a few hours later by a passer by who was looking for a lost cat.  The Vancouver Police Department conducted a “neutral investigation” into his death, the Criminal Justice Branch reviewed the case five times, but no charges were ever laid against those who caused the death.

The IIO is a welcome development, but it probably comes too late for the families of Frank Paul, Ian Bush, Jeff Berg, Kevin St. Arnaud, Robert Dziekanski, Kyle Tait, Majencio Camaso, Orion Hutchinson, Benny Matson, Roman Andreichikov, Paul Boyd, Alvin Wright  and the other BC. residents who have recently died at the hands of police.  The criminal justice system failed these families, for nobody faced charges in any of these homicides.  In my opinion, the new head of the IIO, whoever he or she may be, should make it a priority to review each and every one of these cases.

The IIO will be as effective as the people who run it.  Here’s hoping that the new IIO leader is a principled, independent and strong-willed individual who has a keen sense of social justice and is committed to making a real dfference.

’cause tomorrow may never come…