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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
Patience is a virtue, except when it isn't
B.C. attorney general Shirley Bond is getting impatient. For more than five months, the Missing Women Inquiry has been looking into why police didn't do more to interfere in Robert Pickton's killing spree.
And although Commissioner Wally Oppal has expressed doubts the job could be done properly in the time allotted, Bond said she won't budge on a June 30 deadline in response to an extension request made by victims' family members and the NDP.
So the commission is expected to finish hearing from 31 remaining witnesses in the next 15 days and file its report June 30.
Bond pointed to a need to get to the bottom of possible shoddy police work so recommendations can be implemented, and of course money also plays into it in a big way.
A review of comments posted on various news sites in response to the story express a somewhat insensitive "let's get on with it."
On the other hand, there's the notion that the court should enable healing -- something that, sadly, may never happen.
The answer, as always, may lie somewhere in the middle.
It's ironic the justice system is impatient with people who had been asking for an investigation into missing women for a decade.
Victims' loved ones could make a good argument that with Bond's decision, they're being dismissed all over again.
Although a finish line is needed to ensure the process doesn't extend to the end of time, is the deadline somewhat arbitrary? Could it not be flexible in consideration of those who wish to address the inquiry?
On the other hand there is Air India Flight 182.
That bombing trial spanned 20 years and cost $130 million and led to a conviction and 15-year sentence for one man.
The following inquiry lasted four years and concluded that catastrophic failures of intelligence, policing and air security led to the bombing and the prosecutorial lapses that followed.
No one wants to revisit that level of spending or time.
But if cut too short, the time and money spent on the Missing Women Inquiry so far could also be wasted.
Thankfully, it has already achieved some clarity in just what went wrong with the Pickton investigation, and that acknowledgment is a good first step.
Let's hope the inquiry's remaining 10 weeks (excluding a scheduled three-week hiatus) provide the commission with everything they need to help prevent future neglect.
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition April 4, 2012 A11
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