The Commissioner rules (sort of) on document disclosure
Monday, March 5, 2012 by David Eby
At the Missing Women Commission of Inquiry, Commissioner Oppal issued his long, long awaited order on document disclosure. Read the order here (PDF).
He decided not to order any documents.
Issued on a Friday afternoon, the order had a decidedly judicial "get lost" tone and refused to order the RCMP and VPD to hand everything over, perferring, instead, to let police hand things over slowly, and hope for surely.
What was most remarkable was that the order didn't deal with the most important document to date, lead VPD Investigator Shenher's book that she wrote on the exact topic of the Inquiry: the failures of the police investigation into Pickton.
The Commissioner was asked months ago to order the release of the book by the lawyers for the families.
The Commissioner has not hesitated to strip the survival sex worker who was stabbed by Pickton of her anonymity and to set her up for cross examination by 25 police and government lawyers. However, his lengthy consideration of whether or not to order the book disclosed appears to suggest he is concerned that the privacy rights of those named in Shenher's book (which was to be published by a major Canadian publisher) might be violated if the book were released to lawyers at the Inquiry.
While the Commissioner has not hesitated to set aside the rights of this incredibly marginalized woman to continue to recover from being almost killed by Canada's worst serial killer, he declined to order that the provincial prosecutors hand over the "missing" file that explained why Pickton wasn't charged for stabbing her.
Order a marginalized women to be cross examined; don't order a female police officer to disclose books she wrote on the topic she had a publishing deal to print.
Order a survival sex worker to disclose her tortured personal history in front of 25 lawyers who aren't there to protect her interests; don't order the Criminal Justice Branch to hand over a government file.
Privacy is not a two way street at this public Inquiry.
He decided not to order any documents.
Issued on a Friday afternoon, the order had a decidedly judicial "get lost" tone and refused to order the RCMP and VPD to hand everything over, perferring, instead, to let police hand things over slowly, and hope for surely.
What was most remarkable was that the order didn't deal with the most important document to date, lead VPD Investigator Shenher's book that she wrote on the exact topic of the Inquiry: the failures of the police investigation into Pickton.
The Commissioner was asked months ago to order the release of the book by the lawyers for the families.
The Commissioner has not hesitated to strip the survival sex worker who was stabbed by Pickton of her anonymity and to set her up for cross examination by 25 police and government lawyers. However, his lengthy consideration of whether or not to order the book disclosed appears to suggest he is concerned that the privacy rights of those named in Shenher's book (which was to be published by a major Canadian publisher) might be violated if the book were released to lawyers at the Inquiry.
While the Commissioner has not hesitated to set aside the rights of this incredibly marginalized woman to continue to recover from being almost killed by Canada's worst serial killer, he declined to order that the provincial prosecutors hand over the "missing" file that explained why Pickton wasn't charged for stabbing her.
Order a marginalized women to be cross examined; don't order a female police officer to disclose books she wrote on the topic she had a publishing deal to print.
Order a survival sex worker to disclose her tortured personal history in front of 25 lawyers who aren't there to protect her interests; don't order the Criminal Justice Branch to hand over a government file.
Privacy is not a two way street at this public Inquiry.
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