For several years, the VPD has been meeting with women who organize the annual Women’s Memorial March.
Our committee is called SisterWatch and we work together to reduce violence against women, especially those who are marginalized.
At our December 2013 SisterWatch meeting, I agreed to write a letter to officially support compensation for the children, as recommended by the Missing Women Commission of Inquiry.
We are pleased that Vancouver City Council offered to contribute to this fund. And I’d like to also thank the federal and provincial governments for their contributions.
Today’s announcement hopefully provides some solace to those who have lost a family member to a horrific killer, and to the children of the other missing women that are eligible for this fund.
I will always regret that police didn’t catch this killer sooner. I regret every life that was lost and those murders we failed to prevent.
Once again, I would like to take this opportunity to offer our sincere apologies and condolences to the families of his victims.
I know that today’s announcement concerns a compensation fund.
I also know that there is no real compensation when you have lost a loved one so tragically.
But perhaps it may serve as a reminder, on the record at least, that mistakes were made, and that we have made a commitment to do everything we can to prevent this from happening again.
