Growing investigation adds names to Highway of Tears list

Last weeks information session by the RCMP, has once again brought attention to the state of the investigation and the lack of success so far in identifying a suspect, or solving any of the original nine cases from the Highway of Tears file.

With the addition of nine more names and a wider area of interest identified, the call for more resources and better information has been made from a variety of interested parties in the province.

The Daily News had this account of the latest details, featured as the front page story of Monday’s newspaper.

NINE NEW NAMES ADDED TO HIGHWAY OF TEARS INQUIRY
By Kris Schumacher
The Daily News
Monday, October 15, 2007
Pages one and three

A year after files from Highway of Tears cases went under review, the police have added the names of nine more women to the list of those whose death or disappearance is being investigated, bringing the official total to 18.

On Friday, RCMP Sergeant Pierre Lemaitre of E Division Major Crime Section made an official announcement in Prince George, saying that while police have not made any arrests or laid charges, the area of investigations into the deaths and disappearances of the women has been expanded as far South as Merrit and Kamloops.

"All [of the new cases] have some kind of common bonds with the original files, like women, age group, vulnerable situations by themselves," said Lemaitre. "There are things we know that we don't want the persons or person responsible to know. I can tell you we know a lot more than we did a year ago."

At last year’s Highway of Tears symposium, police said they were going to put all of the case files into a computer system to look for similarities and commonalities that would link any of the files.

It now appears they have done that, however technology in the form of VICLAS (Violent Crime Analysis Linkage System), a police computer system for the very purpose of linking crime files, has been available for the last 13 years.

One of the drawbacks of VICALS, as outlined on the RCMP website, is that in order for crime files to be included in the system, lead investigators are required to fill out time-consuming paperwork on the case. This means that often times, the VICLAS booklet isn’t filled out and the information isn’t processed in the database, giving some sources reason to believe that none of the Highway of Tears cases were even inputted into the VICLAS system.

The investigation into the cases of missing and murdered women along the Yellowhead Highway 16 has a history of being criticized by many people across the province, particularly First Nations communities and politicians, who say that the RCMP investigations have not been given the attention or priority they deserve.

“Even as much as a year ago we were still hearing that there weren’t connections for even the nine women that they were saying were missing off Highway 16,” said NDP Leader Carole James.

“The issues were raised, police said there were no connections. I think there is some disappointment from First Nations in particular in that area that they don’t feel that issue has been taken seriously enough.”

On Thursday Skeena-Bulkley Valley MP Nathan Cullen said that while he still holds hope that at least one of the cases will still be solved, he wasn’t counting on that hope for the RCMP’s announcement.

“This has just been a tragedy from the start. I don’t think we as a community gave this enough attention. I don’t think the police as a force gave this enough attention, and the real tragedy is with the families, I feel they’ve been cast adrift,’ he said.

“The enactment a year ago to start this review off was welcome, but wasn’t resourced properly again.”

“It’s got racial undertones, it’s got economic undertones, and it’s very frustrating.”

A meeting was held by RCMP on Thursday in Smithers, which attempted to call together the families of the nine women confirmed missing. Police wanted to forewarn members of the families about the information they would be releasing to the public on Friday.

Ray Michalko is a retired RCMP officer who has been investigating the Highway of Tears cases for years. He said he feels for those families. Michalko believes they went to the RCMP meeting hoping for some good news, or at the very least for the status quo update, only to be told the number of unsolved cases has now doubled.

“How can you have nine murdered or missing women in a 15 year period, which is now double the women in double the amount of time, without the case being solved? As Michalko. “They RCMP has said they have the resources, the money and the manpower to solve these cases.

As former RCMP, I’m embarrassed. On the one hand, they’re saying they have everything they need to solve it, but on the other hand their success rate is zero. I fthis was the private sector they’d be finished. People would get hurt running for the door.”