Commissioner given extra month to finish report on Pickton inquiry

VANCOUVER – The commissioner who oversaw the public inquiry into the Robert Pickton serial murder case has been given an extra month to hand in his final report.

Wally Oppal heard several months of evidence about the failed police investigation into Pickton, who spent years killing sex workers until he was arrested in 2002.

When the inquiry was first announced in 2010, Oppal was given until the end of 2011 to finish his work, but that was extended to June 30 of this year and then again to Oct. 31.

Justice Minister Shirley Bond signed an order in council this week that gives Oppal yet another extension until Nov. 30.

The inquiry focused on why Vancouver police and the RCMP failed to catch Pickton, even though they received evidence implicating him in the disappearances of sex workers several years before his arrest.

Bond has said she will be drawing heavily on Oppal’s report when her government releases the second phase of a plan to reform the province’s justice system, due some time early next year.