"Why Are They Trying to Erase the Evidence?": Families Oppose Disposal of Pickton Evidence, CBC Vancouver, 2023

Name: "Why Are They Trying to Erase the Evidence?": Families Oppose Disposal of Pickton Evidence, CBC Vancouver, 2023
Uploaded: 2023-12-12T00:00:00Z
Duration: 2 min 47 s
Description: In December 2023, relatives of women found on Robert Pickton's farm, with more than 40 groups, asked the RCMP to stop applying to dispose of trial exhibits. CBC Vancouver's report hears the families and former attorney general Wally Oppal. Pickton is not heard.

In December 2023, relatives of women found on Robert Pickton's farm, with more than 40 groups, asked the RCMP to stop applying to dispose of trial exhibits. CBC Vancouver's report hears the families and former attorney general Wally Oppal. Pickton is not heard.

Subject: Robert William Pickton
Recorded: December 11, 2023
Runtime: 2:47

Content warning: Concerns the murders of women whose remains were found on Pickton's farm; mentions exhibits including "sexual aids"; no graphic detail.

The Report

This is a 2-minute-47-second CBC News report from Vancouver by Lien Yeung, posted on CBC British Columbia's channel on December 12, 2023. It covers a news conference held on December 11, 2023, at which relatives of women whose remains or DNA were found on Robert Pickton's farm, with advocates for missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, opposed the RCMP's plan to dispose of exhibits from the case. Lorelei Williams, Sarah Jean de Vries, Sue Brown of Justice For Girls and former British Columbia attorney general Wally Oppal are heard. Pickton is not heard.

Historical Context

Robert Pickton was arrested in February 2002. In December 2007 a jury convicted him of six counts of second-degree murder, and he received a life sentence with no parole eligibility for 25 years. On August 4, 2010, the Crown stayed 20 further first-degree murder counts, because he was already serving the maximum sentence. Among them were the counts for Tanya Holyk, reported missing in November 1996, and Sarah de Vries, last seen in April 1998. Wally Oppal, British Columbia's attorney general from 2005 to 2009, later chaired the Missing Women Commission of Inquiry, whose report was released in December 2012.

Circumstances

Since 2020 the RCMP had filed applications in British Columbia Supreme Court for authority to dispose of exhibits from the 2007 trial, about 14,000 items. On December 11, 2023, families, lawyers and advocates released a letter, "A Call To Preserve Evidence In The Pickton Case," to the federal public safety minister, the RCMP commissioner, and British Columbia's attorney general and solicitor general, asking for a moratorium on disposal.

What the Report Covers

Lorelei Williams, whose cousin Tanya Holyk went missing when Williams was 16, says there is "already no justice in Tanya's case, because it's a stayed case," and that the news has been "so traumatizing." The reporter says the families learned only days earlier that the evidence might be destroyed, and that the exhibits include shoes, a pillowcase and sexual aids. Sarah Jean de Vries, whose mother of the same name was among the women found on the farm, asks, "Why in this case are they trying to erase the evidence?" Sue Brown, staff lawyer at Justice For Girls, says the step "sends the message that the missing and murdered women's cases are closed, despite the majority of them being unsolved." Wally Oppal says that "at some stage, you have to rely on the RCMP," that no evidence has pointed to another offender, and that he understands what the RCMP is trying to do. De Vries says everyone who brought a woman to the farm or worked there "should be held accountable." The reporter reads the RCMP's statement that all possible evidence has been captured and retained and that disposal would not affect any future prosecution.

What Makes the Recording Significant

The report records, in the families' own words, the campaign to preserve the physical evidence of the Pickton case, more than two decades after the farm was searched and with most of the related cases never tried.

Archival Importance

A CBC News report on the broadcaster's own channel.

Important Caveats

Pickton is not heard. **The reporter says the stay of the 20 charges "was announced by the attorney general at the time, Wally Oppal." The sources read do not support this: the Crown stayed the charges in August 2010, after Oppal had left office (he was attorney general until 2009). Page copy should say the Crown stayed the remaining charges in 2010.** The speaker at 01:12 is not named aloud; she is identified by CBC's on-screen strap (frame at 01:15) as "Sue Brown, staff lawyer at Justice For Girls." The families' belief that Pickton did not act alone is their view; no one else has been charged. The number of groups is given as "more than 40" in the report (CBC's web story says almost three dozen organizations endorsed the letter).

Lorelei Williams: There's already no justice in Tanya's case, because it's a stayed case.

Lien Yeung: Lorelei Williams was only 16 years old when her cousin, Tanya Holyk, went missing from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.

Lorelei Williams: This has been so traumatizing for me. I never attended the trial for a reason, because I didn't want this trauma.

Lien Yeung: Her cousin, along with the remains of 32 other women, were found on Robert Pickton's pig farm. That grief dredged up again when Williams says she and other families found out from local advocates only days ago that the evidence might be destroyed. RCMP have been applying to the courts since at least 2020 to dispose of exhibits from the Pickton trial: evidence like shoes, a pillowcase, sexual aids.

Sarah Jean De Vries: Why in this case are they trying to erase the evidence?

Lien Yeung: Sarah Jean de Vries's mother, who bears the same name, was among those whose remains were found on the farm. She, along with other victims' families and more than 40 groups advocating for missing, murdered Indigenous women and girls, want it stopped. They fear the loss of physical evidence could jeopardize future cases.

Sue Brown: This latest step by the RCMP to seek disposal of all exhibits, a mere 20 years after the investigation on the farm began, sends the message that the missing and murdered women's cases are closed, despite the majority of them being unsolved.

Lien Yeung: Pickton was found guilty in 2007 of six counts of second-degree murder in the deaths of six women. Twenty additional first-degree murder charges against him were stayed because he was already serving the maximum sentence. That controversial decision was announced by the attorney general at the time, Wally Oppal. He later led the inquiry into the Pickton case, which found egregious police errors.

Wally Oppal: At some stage, you have to rely on the RCMP. All these years have gone by, and there hasn't been any other evidence pointing to any other offender, so I, uh, I understand what they're trying to do here.

Lien Yeung: Oppal says it's common for evidence to be eventually destroyed, especially when it seems unlikely to be used any time soon in court. But still, victims' families, like de Vries, believe Pickton didn't act alone.

Sarah Jean De Vries: Every single person who brought a woman to that farm, anyone who was working on that farm, should be held accountable.

Lien Yeung: RCMP declined an interview, only sending a statement, saying in part: "All possible evidence has been captured and retained. The disposal of property would not affect any future prosecution." For these families, though, it's little reassurance after decades of broken trust. Lien Yeung, CBC News, Vancouver. [02:44: speech ends; clip runs to 02:47.] ---