Notice of Standing and Funding

Wally Oppal, QC, has been appointed as Commissioner to conduct an inquiry into the police investigation conducted into women reported missing from Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside and the Ministry of the Attorney General’s criminal justice branch’s January 1998 decision to stay charges against Robert W. Pickton for the assault of a Downtown Eastside sex trade worker.  The Commissioner will convene hearings to investigate, review, and report on the issues identified in the Missing Women Commission of Inquiry’s Terms of Reference.

The commission will facilitate public input and discussion, and as its work progresses specific opportunities will be described at the website noted above.  Any person (individual, group, government agency, institution or other entity) seeking to participate formally is asked to submit an application as follows:

• Apply in writing by email, fax or regular mail before 4 p.m. on November 30, 2010.  Applications may be submitted by delivery to: Suite 1402, 808 Nelson Street, Vancouver, B.C., V6Z 2H2; by email to applications@missingwomeninquiry.ca, by fax to 604 681 4458 or 1-877-681-4470.  Email delivery, in .pdf format, is preferable.

• Where applicants have shared interests or a similar perspective in the subject matter of the inquiry, they should make a single application for standing, identifying those persons whose interests are reflected in the application.  The Commissioner may make a grant of standing conditional upon such cooperation.

• The Commission’s Practice and Procedure Directive and Guidelines for Applications for Standing and Funding are posted on the commission’s website, and govern the process for standing and funding recommendations.  The website should be reviewed for additional information.

• The Commissioner is authorized to consider funding for legal counsel for a participant.  The Commissioner does not approve funding, but may recommend to the Attorney General that funding be provided.

• Applicants seeking a recommendation for funding must, in addition to being granted standing, demonstrate that they do not have sufficient financial resources to participate in the inquiry without assistance.  This shall include providing sworn evidence (an affidavit), describing the applicant’s financial position, and addressing any other sources of funds received or to be received by them.

Applications will be determined on the basis of written applications, unless the Commissioner determines that oral hearings are necessary.