It doesn't bother me that people feel overwhelmed by the particulars of these cases. Anyone would be. Absolutely. It's not necessarily that people aren't paying attention NOW, you know? I mean, how can they not after a two-year trial (one year for voire dire and another for actual trial) and a media circus? And it's inevitable that some will say "It's sad, but I can't take it." I totally understand that.
What angers me, what frustrates me and infuriates me, is that women disappeared from downtown Vancouver for YEARS before police did anything. Repeated suggestions by certain investigators that a serial killer was on the loose went unheeded and requests from friends and family of the victims for an investigation were ignored.
And in that case, I don't think it was necessarily a choice to ignore it because it was overwhelming, but rather because if you are a poor, female prostitute who does drugs and is very likely homeless and in many of the cases, aboriginal, you don't count in the eyes of the law. For years, the message the police sent to the public by not investigating was: The lives of these women do not matter to society. Nobody cares. They're just junkie whores.
There is currently an investigation ongoing in Alberta that is similar in breadth and scope involving missing sex trade workers in and around Edmonton. It has been going on for years, but the women involved are, again, mostly prostitutes and/or drug addicts. The only good things that have come out of the Pickton mess is that he'll never see the light of day and that maybe people think twice before dismissing the lives of sex trade workers because "hey, they're just unreliable, irresponsible addicts who sell themselves for drug money." I don't think anybody ever sets out to live a hard, destitute life on the streets. I don't think if you find yourself in that position, you should feel like you don't deserve the attention of police should something happen to you. It's nobody in particular I'm angry at, just a society that lets that happen, I guess. I'm sorry. I don't mean for this to come off like a rant in response to a comment. I certainly agree with you. Just... clarifying my own ideas about it all, I guess.
No, no, I'm glad you did, because you mention particulars about the situation that I didn't know. (For example, that the police were doing nothing for so long, that the fact that the women were poor, homeless, or sex workers factored into things.) I agree that it is outrageous to value the life of someone who may be considered "on the fringes" as lesser than those of "upright" citizens with conventional lives. I have a close friend who works for the homeless coalition here, and the attitudes most people have toward the homeless are ignorant at best and hateful/heartless often. For someone to be preyed upon simply because they are already struggling is almost unfathomable; to purposely turn a blind eye reprehensible.
What angers me, what frustrates me and infuriates me, is that women disappeared from downtown Vancouver for YEARS before police did anything. Repeated suggestions by certain investigators that a serial killer was on the loose went unheeded and requests from friends and family of the victims for an investigation were ignored.
And in that case, I don't think it was necessarily a choice to ignore it because it was overwhelming, but rather because if you are a poor, female prostitute who does drugs and is very likely homeless and in many of the cases, aboriginal, you don't count in the eyes of the law. For years, the message the police sent to the public by not investigating was: The lives of these women do not matter to society. Nobody cares. They're just junkie whores.
There is currently an investigation ongoing in Alberta that is similar in breadth and scope involving missing sex trade workers in and around Edmonton. It has been going on for years, but the women involved are, again, mostly prostitutes and/or drug addicts. The only good things that have come out of the Pickton mess is that he'll never see the light of day and that maybe people think twice before dismissing the lives of sex trade workers because "hey, they're just unreliable, irresponsible addicts who sell themselves for drug money." I don't think anybody ever sets out to live a hard, destitute life on the streets. I don't think if you find yourself in that position, you should feel like you don't deserve the attention of police should something happen to you. It's nobody in particular I'm angry at, just a society that lets that happen, I guess. I'm sorry. I don't mean for this to come off like a rant in response to a comment. I certainly agree with you. Just... clarifying my own ideas about it all, I guess.
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