98 children of B.C.’s missing or murdered women will be eligible to split a $4.9 million fund.
The federal and provincial governments, along with the City of Vancouver, announced the money would amount to $50,000-per-child, created in response to a recommendation of the Missing Women Commission of Inquiry 15 months ago.
READ: Missing Women Inquiry makes 65 recommendations
The money is intended to provide the children of the women identified in the MWCI report with an opportunity to enhance their education, housing or livelihood.
The news comes a day after the lawyer representing 13 families who filed civil lawsuits over the Robert Pickton investigation said their cases had been settled separately for $50,000 each. However, the government says they are “continuing negotiations with the 13 litigants”.
The government made the announcement 15 months after the The Missing Women Commission of Inquiry made 65 recommendations to avoid another serial killer like Pickton preying on vulnerable women.
“Commissioner Oppal detailed our shared responsibility for the exceptional and troubling circumstances that contributed to the disappearance and death of dozens of B.C. women,” said Attorney General and Minister of Justice Suzanne Anton. “In turn, he called on us to compensate their children – and we are doing so.”
WATCH (above): The federal and provincial governments and the City of Vancouver announced the children of Robert Pickton’s victims will be eligible to split $4.9 million dollars. Grace Ke reports.
“I hope their families will find some solace in our broader, ongoing response to the MWCI recommendations, which is advancing the safety of vulnerable women and will ensure that ‘missing’ never again means ‘forsaken’ in British Columbia.”
Pickton was convicted of second-degree murder for the deaths of six women, but the DNA or remains of 33 women were found on his Port Coquitlam, B.C., pig farm.
– With files from Canadian Press
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