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Chapter 3
Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women in the Case of
Canadian Serial Killer Robert Pickton
Leigh-Anne Cui
But no one knew who she was. No one was reported missing who might be this victim […] The woman remained ‘Jane Doe’ and her skull would rest in a box in a police evidence locker for seven more years. (Stevie Cameron, 2011) Indigenous women belong to one of the most marginalized communities in Canadian society, and the number of missing and murdered Indigenous women in Canada is also disproportionately high compared to non-Indigenous women (Oppal, 2013). Indigenous women struggle with social and economic disadvantages, such as poverty, substance addiction, mental health issues, and racism. These factors make them more vulnerable to victimization (Ursel, 2001). A discussion of missing and murdered Indigenous women, using the case of Robert Pickton’s serial murders in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, will serve to examine how racism and sexism led to the extreme apathy of the Vancouver Police Department (VPD). Subsequently, the proposal of an alternate universe in which a compassionate police force works without bias for every person may reveal how earlier acknowledged missing person reports may have prevented the deaths of numerous innocent women from the hands of a serial killer. Robert Pickton, “The Pig Farmer Killer” Robert William Pickton was a Canadian serial killer who was convicted of the second-degree murders of six women, although he was originally charged with 27
The Forensic Science Alternate Universe counts of first-degree murder ( R v Pickton , 2010). He owned a pig farm in Port Coquitlam, east of Vancouver, British Columbia. Throughout the 1970s to 1980s, most of British Columbia’s sex workers and people suffering from homelessness and drug addiction were concentrated in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, as it was the only place where they were welcome and could afford to live (Cameron, 2011). This is where Pickton regularly visited in the early 1980s, to dump discarded animal parts at a rendering plant nearby. He was fascinated by the biker bars, clubhouses, and women, and began picking up sex workers and bringing them back to his pig farm. It was also during this time that women, many of whom were Indigenous, began to go missing. The first was Linda Grant, in 1984, followed by many more as the years went on (Cameron, 2011). By 1989, a group of the victims’ friends and families and advocates for sex workers had come together to lobby the police for investigation on the missing women, but without any effect. Vancouver police failed to initiate an investigation of any kind for the reports of the missing women. Police knew that an unusual number of women were going missing, but were uninterested in their disappearances because they were sex workers. Police do not prioritize searches for missing sex workers, especially if they are Indigenous, simply because their lives are not viewed to be as valuable as those of middle-class white women or men (Lee & Reid, 2018). Therefore police apathy, along with high victimization rates of Indigenous women and sex workers, contributed to the high body count on the Pickton farm. It was not until 2002 that police obtained a warrant to search Pickton’s property for firearm violations, where they found human remains and personal belongings of the missing women (Cameron, 2011). High Rates of Victimization among Indigenous Women and Sex Workers Vulnerability of Indigenous Women in Canada Victimization among Indigenous communities is extremely high in Canada, as Indigenous people, particularly women, are much more likely to suffer from domestic abuse, violence, and drug addiction. According to Brzozowski and colleagues (2006), simply being an Indigenous person significantly increases one’s likelihood of being vulnerable to violent crimes (3.5 times more likely than non-
The Forensic Science Alternate Universe the survey until 1997 (Statistics Canada, 2017). Before the implementation of this question, Aboriginal identity was largely indicated as ‘unknown’ for about half of all victims of homicide, meaning that the actual number of victims of Aboriginal identity is likely underreported by police services (Statistics Canada, 2017). Therefore, there exists a significant lack of awareness about Indigenous victimization, which may lead to discrimination from authority, institutional bias, and public indifference. Vulnerability of Sex Workers Sex workers have always been easy targets of serial killers due to their movement between police jurisdictions and unregulated areas, as well as the stigma associated with sex work (Lee & Reid, 2018). In the missing persons of BC comparison study by Cohen and colleagues (2009), more than three-quarters of missing Indigenous women in the sample were sex workers. FBI research has shown that the murders of sex workers can be hard to solve, based on the covert nature of their activities and daily interaction with numerous strangers. These factors, along with negative biases about their ‘risky lifestyle’, make it difficult to obtain any critical information related to their disappearance (Cohen et al., 2009). What Failed the Missing and Murdered Women: Institutional Bias and Police Apathy Pickton targeted those known as the “less dead”, referring to victims of murder whose cases are not investigated by the police and not covered by the media (Cameron, 2011). This is often because of their marginalized backgrounds. For example, individuals of racial and ethnic minorities, sex workers, and individuals suffering from mental health issues, poverty, and/or addiction (Oppal, 2013). The Vancouver Police Department (VPD) had a long history of apathy against murder cases involving prostitutes due to the stigma associated with sex work. As a result, missing sex workers were often seen as “throwaways” and police made no efforts to investigate (Cameron, 2011). Even when pressured by families of the missing women, Vancouver police often tried to come up with reasons not to investigate, such as a changed identity to run away and start a new life, a possible marriage, or even suicide (Cameron, 2011).
Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women: The Case of Robert Pickton The Report of Missing Women Commission of Inquiry of 2013 lists multiple critical failures of the police. The failures identified in the report include poor report-taking and follow-up on reports of missing women, failure to adhere to Major Case Management guidelines and policies, and failure to consider and pursue investigative strategies (Oppal, 2013). An example of the above-listed failures was shown in the case of one of Pickton’s victims, Sandra Gail, in 1997. Gail fought for her life after Pickton handcuffed and stabbed her multiple times, and she was able to run away and get to a nearby emergency room, with the handcuff still attached to her wrist (Cameron, 2011). She informed investigators that Pickton had attacked her back at his pig farm in Coquitlam, BC, and Pickton, who was also being treated for stab wounds inflicted during the fight, was found with keys to the handcuffs by doctors at the hospital. After learning that Gail was a sex worker with a history of drug use, police declined to follow up on the case and chose not to pursue any criminal charges against Pickton (Lee & Reid, 2018). This example is just one of the many times the Vancouver Police Department failed to do anything about the missing women in the Downtown Eastside, simply because of their identity and occupation. Another example of police apathy in the Pickton case was the VPD’s reluctance to acknowledge the possibility of a serial killer in BC and subsequent failure to stop a series of murders. In fact, the Police Inspector, Fred Biddlecombe, insisted that it was a waste of time to consider and expend resources on a serial killer investigation (Cameron, 2011). The Report of Missing Women Commission of Inquiry refers to a review that identifies various challenges in police investigations of serial predators, including the police’s inability to manage large amounts of information and unwillingness to admit the presence of a serial killer in their jurisdiction (Oppal, 2013). Although these challenges were indeed present in the Pickton case, the Vancouver Police had plenty of resources and opportunities to begin an investigation. For instance, in 1991, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) created Project Eclipse , in which a team of profiling experts collaborated and brainstormed potential serial killer profiles for the missing women of the Downtown Eastside (Cameron, 2011). They analyzed and sorted prostitute disappearances into groups, based on the various linkages between them, and indicated to the VPD that there was at least one potential serial killer responsible for the numerous disappearances of these women. The VPD chose not to start an investigation, because of time and resource costs, sheer laziness, and most of all,
Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women: The Case of Robert Pickton friends, and associates, and followed up on tips about potential suspects or persons of interest. They also distributed missing person posters throughout the community to generate possible leads and information (Oppal, 2013). In addition to conducting follow-ups for the purpose of investigation, police kept regular and frequent contact with the family members of the missing to provide them with adequate support and guidance through the trauma of having a loved one go missing. Although they were unable to locate a suspect initially, when two more women went missing in the following year, 1985, police were able to identify linkages between the cases due to effective report-taking and follow-ups, and they deemed Robert Pickton as a person of interest. Initial Effect By acting with compassion and treating every missing person equally, regardless of their race, ethnicity, gender, etc., Vancouver Police were able to conduct thorough investigations for the missing persons and locate the suspect. They promptly arrested Pickton and charged him, keeping his body count at three. The family members of the victims were able to receive closure for the death of their loved ones and did not have to deal with the trauma that comes with ambiguous loss. The families also kept their faith in the criminal justice system and police force. Future Effects Bringing a serial killer to justice restored the Downtown Eastside community’s sense of safety. It also gave Indigenous communities more faith in authority and the criminal justice system. The Pickton case brought to light the increased risk of harm to Indigenous women and sex workers, as well as the issue of overrepresentation of Indigenous women in Canada’s missing persons. As a result, police forces became more educated in the struggles of marginalized groups. They learned to tailor their response and resource-designation appropriately in missing person investigations, depending on each individual’s profile. The VPD’s handling of the Pickton case also prompted the province of British Columbia to make the procedures the VPD took into a set of general guidelines for future missing person cases. The guidelines were known as the British Columbia Missing Provincial
The Forensic Science Alternate Universe Policing Standards for missing person investigations. In reality, these guidelines were not established in BC until 2016, but in the alternate timeline, a compassionate police force would deem it appropriate and necessary to create these general guidelines so that missing person investigations could proceed more quickly and efficiently. Conclusion Police have a duty to enforce and maintain law and order and to prevent crime. Within an equality rights framework, they must remain impartial and provide service to everyone, regardless of their race, ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation (Oppal, 2013). The Vancouver police failed to protect the lives of dozens of innocent women in the Robert Pickton serial murders, as a result of the racism and sexism embedded in Canadian culture and police forces. It is up to the police force and Canadian society to understand that Indigenous women are at an increased risk of harm and that they are significantly overrepresented in the number of missing and murdered women throughout Canada. In an alternate timeline, if a compassionate police force had been educated about the struggles of Indigenous women and sex workers as marginalized individuals and understood how their disadvantages contribute to their vulnerability to victimization, they may have been able to prevent the high body count on the Pickton farm. References Brzozowski, J., Taylor-Butts, A., & Johnson, S. (2006). Victimization and offending among the Aboriginal population in Canada. Juristat , 26 (3), 1 – 31. Government of British Columbia (2016). BCPPS 5.1 Missing Person Investigations. British Columbia. Retrieved [July 20, 2021] from https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/law-crime- and-justice/criminal-justice/police/standards/5- 1 - missing-persons-principles.pdf Cameron, S. (2011). On the farm: Robert William Pickton and the tragic story of Vancouver's missing women. Vintage Canada. Cohen, I.M., Plecas D., & McCormick, A.V. Comparison of Aboriginal and Non-Aboriginal Missing Persons in British Columbia Where Foul Play Has Not Been Ruled Out. (2009). Centre for Criminal Justice Research, University of the Fraser Valley. Lee, J., & Reid, S. (2018). serial killers & their easy prey. Contexts (Berkeley, Calif.) , 17 (2),
