Fewer than half of Pickton inquiry recommendations ‘in progress’ or complete

VANCOUVER – The B.C. government says it has taken action on fewer than half of the recommendations from a public inquiry into the Robert Pickton case, nearly a year after the report was released.

Commissioner Wally Oppal’s report, released last December, made 65 recommendations for change and outlined a litany of police failures that allowed Pickton to kill women.

The Justice Ministry has released a progress report, identifying just 28 recommendations where action has been taken, with nearly all of them still considered in progress.

Oppal’s report highlighted two recommendations as urgent, including funding for a drop-in centre for sex workers in the Downtown Eastside and transportation along Highway 16, dubbed the Highway of Tears, in the province’s north.

The government was quick to announce funding for the WISH drop-in centre, but the progress report says the province is still studying potential transportation options for the Highway of Tears.

One of the most high-profile recommendations was Oppal’s call for a regional police force in the Vancouver area, and while a review of policing in B.C. is about to begin, the province has largely steered clear of the regional policing debate.