Pickton lawsuit steps down from advisory board on inquiry recommendations

VANCOUVER – The former lieutenant governor appointed to oversee the B.C. government’s response to the Robert Pickton inquiry has resigned over concerns about a lawsuit filed by children of the serial killer’s victims.

Steven Point wrote the province’s attorney general, saying he cannot continue as chair of the advisory committee while a lawsuit is before the courts.

Justice Minister Shirley Bond says the concern is that any comments Point makes in his position could become evidence in the civil case.

Bond says the lawsuit will also affect the government’s ability to implement the recommendations from the public inquiry, released last December.

The children of four women whose remains or DNA were found on Pickton’s farm filed a lawsuit earlier this month, seeking damages from the provincial government and the City of Vancouver for the police failures that prevented Pickton from being caught.

The families’ lawyer says they were forced to file the lawsuit because the province and the city had let the issue of financial compensation languish.