The Women, Their Lives and the Framework of Inquiry: Setting the Context for Understanding

194 Pages·2012·3.05 MB·English

forsaken
The Report of the Missing Women Commission of Inquiry
Volume I
The Honourable Waly T. Oppal, QC
Commissioner
FORSAKEN
The Report of the Missing Women Commission of Inquiry
VOLUME I
The Women, Their Lives and the Framework of Inquiry:
Setting the Context for Understanding and Change
The Honourable Wally T. Oppal, QC
Commissioner
British Columbia
November 19, 2012
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
British Columbia. Missing Women Commission of Inquiry
Forsaken [electronic resource] : the report of the Missing Women
Commission of Inquiry / Wally T. Oppal, Commissioner.
Complete contents: Vol. I. The women, their lives and the framework of inquiry,
setting the context for understanding and change - v. II. Nobodies, how and why we
failed the missing and murdered women - v. III. Gone, but not forgotten, building the
women’s legacy of safety together - v. IV. The Commission’s process. - Executive summary.
Issued also in printed form.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-0-9917299-7-5
1. Serial murder investigation--British Columbia. 2. Missing persons--Investigation
--British Columbia. 3. Murder victims--British Columbia. 4. Pickton, Robert
William. 5. British Columbia. Missing Women Commission of Inquiry.
6. Downtown-Eastside (Vancouver, B.C.). 7. Governmental investigations--British
Columbia. I. Oppal, Wallace T II. Title.
HV6762 B75 B75 2012 363.25’9523209711 C2012-980202-6
Access to Report
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CD-ROM of the report:
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PO Box 9455 STN PROV GOVT
Victoria, BC V8W 9V7
Phone: [phone]
Toll free: 1 800 282 7955
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
“Simply Gone”: Last Sightings of Loved Ones ..........................................................................1
PART 1 – INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW .........................................................................4
A. Forsaken ..........................................................................................................................4
B. Overview of the Commission Mandate and Process ........................................................6
C. Acknowledgments ...........................................................................................................8
D. Overview of the Report .................................................................................................10
PART 2 - THE CRISIS OF MISSING AND MURDERED WOMEN ............................................14
A. Introduction ..................................................................................................................14
B. International ..................................................................................................................14
United States ...............................................................................................................15
Federal Bureau of Investigation database ...................................................................16
New York State ...........................................................................................................16
Houston, Texas ..........................................................................................................16
Cleveland, Ohio ........................................................................................................16
Alaska ........................................................................................................................17
New Mexico ..............................................................................................................17
Green River, Washington ...........................................................................................17
United Kingdom ..........................................................................................................18
Yorkshire murders ......................................................................................................18
Ipswich murders ........................................................................................................18
Latin America ..............................................................................................................19
C. Canada .........................................................................................................................20
Police-reported statistics in Canada ............................................................................21
Alberta .......................................................................................................................22
Saskatchewan ............................................................................................................22
Manitoba ...................................................................................................................23
Ontario ......................................................................................................................23
Aboriginal Women ......................................................................................................23
Native Women’s Association of Canada – Sisters In Spirit database ...........................24
Walk4Justice database ...............................................................................................27
CEDAW Inquiry under the Optional Protocol .............................................................27
D. British Columbia ...........................................................................................................28
PART 3 – THE WOMEN .........................................................................................................32
A. Introduction ..................................................................................................................32
B. In Memoriam ................................................................................................................36
Marlene Abigosis .........................................................................................................36
Sereena Abotsway .......................................................................................................37
Sharon Abraham .........................................................................................................38
Elaine Allenbach .........................................................................................................38
Angela Arsenault .........................................................................................................39
Sherry Baker ................................................................................................................39
Cindy Beck ..................................................................................................................40
Yvonne Boen...............................................................................................................40
Andrea Borhaven ........................................................................................................40
Heather Bottomley ......................................................................................................41
Heather Chinnock .......................................................................................................41
Nancy Clark ................................................................................................................41
Wendy Crawford .........................................................................................................41
Marcella Creison .........................................................................................................42
Dawn Crey ..................................................................................................................42
Sarah de Vries .............................................................................................................43
“Jane Doe” ..................................................................................................................44
Sheryl Donahue ..........................................................................................................45
Tiffany Drew ...............................................................................................................45
Elaine Dumba .............................................................................................................46
Sheila Egan .................................................................................................................46
Cara Ellis .....................................................................................................................46
Gloria Fedyshyn ..........................................................................................................47
Cynthia Feliks ..............................................................................................................48
Marnie Frey .................................................................................................................48
Jennifer Furminger .......................................................................................................49
Catherine Gonzalez ....................................................................................................49
Rebecca Guno ............................................................................................................49
Michelle Gurney .........................................................................................................52
Inga Hall .....................................................................................................................53
Helen Hallmark ..........................................................................................................53
Ruby Hardy .................................................................................................................53
Janet Henry .................................................................................................................54
Tanya Holyk ................................................................................................................54
Sherry Irving ................................................................................................................56
Angela Jardine .............................................................................................................56
Andrea Joesbury ..........................................................................................................57
Patricia Johnson ...........................................................................................................57
Debra Jones.................................................................................................................58
Catherine Knight .........................................................................................................58
Kerry Koski ..................................................................................................................58
Maria Laliberte ............................................................................................................59
Stephanie Lane ............................................................................................................59
Kellie Little ..................................................................................................................60
Laura Mah ...................................................................................................................60
Jacquelene McDonell ..................................................................................................60
Diana Melnick ..........................................................................................................60
Leigh Miner .................................................................................................................61
Jacqueline Murdock ....................................................................................................62
Lillian O’Dare .............................................................................................................63
Georgina Papin ...........................................................................................................63
Tania Petersen .............................................................................................................64
Sherry Rail ..................................................................................................................65
Dianne Rock ...............................................................................................................65
Elsie Sebastian (Jones) .................................................................................................66
Ingrid Soet ...................................................................................................................66
Dorothy Spence ..........................................................................................................67
Teresa Triff ...................................................................................................................67
Sharon Ward ...............................................................................................................67
Kathleen Wattley .........................................................................................................68
Olivia William.............................................................................................................68
Angela Williams ..........................................................................................................68
Taressa Ann Williams ..................................................................................................69
Mona Wilson ..............................................................................................................69
Brenda Wolfe ..............................................................................................................70
Frances Young .............................................................................................................72
Julie Young ..................................................................................................................72
The Women Identifed as the Victims of “The Valley Murders” ....................................73
Tracy Olajide .............................................................................................................73
Tammy Pipe ...............................................................................................................73
Victoria Younker.........................................................................................................73
C. Inspired by the Missing and Murdered Women .............................................................74
PART 4 – THE WOMEN’S LIVES ............................................................................................78
Introduction ........................................................................................................................78
Marginalization and Vulnerability .......................................................................................78
A. The Downtown Eastside Community .............................................................................79
B. Conditions of the Women’s Lives and Their Vulnerability to Violence .............................82
Grossly inadequate housing .......................................................................................82
Food insecurity ..........................................................................................................85
Health inequalities .....................................................................................................85
Extreme poverty .........................................................................................................86
Drug dependency ......................................................................................................87
Drug withdrawal ........................................................................................................88
Withdrawal as a risk to safety .....................................................................................91
Entrenchment ............................................................................................................92
C. The Disproportionate Number of Aboriginal Women .....................................................94
D. The Survival Sex Trade ...................................................................................................98
No mandate to consider validity of prostitution laws ..................................................98
Prostitution laws and law enforcement strategies .......................................................99
Characteristics of the survival sex trade ....................................................................100
Violence in the survival sex trade .............................................................................104
Relationship between street-involved women and the police ...................................107
Safety measures .......................................................................................................111
E. Social Marginalization and Individual Vulnerability .....................................................111
The fallacy of the “high-risk lifestyle” .......................................................................111
Social condition and societal dismissal as a contextualizing factor ..........................112
PART 5 – LEGAL AND POLICY FRAMEWORK FOR THE INQUIRY: POLICING DUTIES,
STRUCTURES, PRINCIPLES AND STANDARDS ...................................................................114
Introduction and Overview ...............................................................................................114
A. Policing Within an Equality Rights Framework .............................................................114
The general duty of non-discrimination in policing ..................................................114
Specifc duties to address violence against women ..................................................121
Violence against women under international law .....................................................123
The due diligence standard under international law .................................................124
B. Structure of Policing in British Columbia .....................................................................127
Vancouver Police Department and the British Columbia Police Act .........................128
Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Act ........129
Integrated units, teams and services .........................................................................130
Policing policy and principles ..................................................................................131
C. Missing Persons Investigations .....................................................................................135
The challenge of missing persons cases ....................................................................135
Survey of missing persons policies and practices .....................................................136
Vancouver Police Department .................................................................................137
RCMP British Columbia detachments ......................................................................139
Cross-Canadian standard missing person policies and practices ...............................147
International standards .............................................................................................161
D. The Challenge of Stopping Serial Predators .................................................................164
Lessons learned from investigative reviews ..............................................................165
Major Case Management standards .........................................................................168
Missing person/homicide investigative standards .....................................................170
E. The Commission’s Defnition of Misconduct and Approach to the Issue of Jurisdiction .172
Individual and systemic misconduct ........................................................................172
Provincial inquiry’s jurisdiction vis-à-vis the RCMP ..................................................173
ENDNOTES .........................................................................................................................176
Part One ....................................................................................................................176
Part Two ....................................................................................................................176
Part Three ..................................................................................................................178
Part Four ....................................................................................................................178
Part Five ....................................................................................................................180
Editor’s Note: It was essential to everyone involved in the development of this report that the voices captured here
retain their authenticity. This report deals with complex and emotional subject matter. In some areas of this document,
the editor prioritizes the need to clearly explain or describe perspectives, situations and incidents over proper structure,
style and grammar.
Volume I 1
“Simply Gone”: Last Sightings of Loved Ones
A fresh April evening, 1996: “I’m going for a walk to pick some fowers – won’t be long,”
or a similar relaxed phrase, were the words spoken by Frances Young to her boyfriend as
she left their suite in Vancouver. She did not take her purse, only a house key.
One more look in the mirror – on November 20, 1998, 27-year-old Angela Jardine in a
party dress and high heels gets ready to go out in the afternoon, having earlier attended
a community event entitled “Out of Harm’s Way.” Friends last see her heading in the
direction of the Astoria Hotel on Hastings Street… just as 13 years before, Rebecca Guno
had last been seen on her way to meet friends at the Lone Star Hotel on Carrall Street.
“I’m coming home – I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired…” – these words ring in
the ears of Marlene Abigiosis’ sister and Taressa Williams’ mother and grandmother.
“Bye-bye, my darlings”: kissing the top of her children’s heads and waving good-bye to
their babysitter, Kathleen Wattley goes out to meet a man as previously arranged.
Storming out of her residence after angry words, Heather Chinnock takes none of her
belongings; her boyfriend expects her to return shortly. Tanya Holyk also left in tears
after a fght with her boyfriend – that was her mother’s last memory of Tanya, upset and
crying.
Looking down at the ground, Olivia William is seen leaving Vancouver General Hospital
having recently delivered her baby in December 1999.
“Go on in now,” a friend might have said to Jennifer Furminger a few days after Christmas
as he gave her the keys to their building, heading off to do a few chores and leaving her
at the corner of Cordova and Dunlevy Streets.