The head of a public inquiry into the Robert Pickton case defended the process Tuesday against allegations it’s ignoring the voices of aboriginals, as a lawyer appointed to represent that community resigned and one of the few remaining First Nations groups left in the process pulled out.
Aboriginal activists have long dismissed the inquiry as lopsided and favouring the police, and the latest departures suggest commissioner Wally Oppal has so far been unable to convince the First Nations community he’s committed to listening to them.
The first to leave was Robyn Gervais, an independent lawyer appointed to advance the interests of the aboriginal community, who told Oppal Tuesday morning that the hearings have been too heavily focused on police and not on the poor native women who overwhelmingly accounted for Pickton’s victims.
That prompted the First Nations Summit, which represents many First Nations and tribal councils in British Columbia, to formally withdraw from the inquiry.
Oppal insisted he was committed to hearing the stories of the First Nations community and how aboriginals were treated by Vancouver police and the RCMP as they investigated Pickton and his involvement in the disappearance of Vancouver sex workers.
Still, Oppal argued it wasn’t his role to delve into the centuries of abuse, poverty and neglect faced by Canada’s aboriginals.
“The issues that you raise about poverty and colonization, those are all very valid concerns,” Oppal said after Gervais explained her departure.
Local news from metronews.ca/vancouver
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