Could Janice Shore’s death have been prevented?

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SURREY (NEWS1130) – There will be a review to make sure the City of Surrey did everything it could for the woman who was viciously beaten and left to die in Whalley.

Janice Shore was unconscious when she was found near 104th Avenue and 135A Street in December.

Shore died from her injuries in the hospital last week after spending much of the last two months in a coma. Police won’t say if she sexually assaulted and deny reports that she had been handcuffed.

“When you have a situation where there has been a tragic death, a violent death, we have to ask ourselves how [we can] prevent that happening from again,” City Councillor Barinder Rasode tells News1130.

“As a city, we just want to make sure the resources that are available to vulnerable residents was made available and was done so in an appropriate fashion.”

Jonquil Hallgate is the Executive Director of the Surrey Urban Mission, where Shore used to turn up from time to time. She wants to see the RCMP continue to build trust with people who live in the community.

“A couple of women came in and reported that a similar thing had happened to them, not to the same extent that Janice was injured obviously, but they chose not to report it,” says Hallgate. “They felt that because of their lifestyle, [they would have been treated differently than] someone who was living in a middle class neighbourhood.”

She tells us people who frequent the Surrey Urban Mission are outraged and anxious for Shore’s killer to be brought to justice.

“There is a lot of conversation in the community about the fact that someone somewhere has some information of something that happened or who was involved.” says Hallgate. “People should come forward because if we’re not going to stand up for ourselves, it’s really hard to expect other people on the outside looking in to do that.”

Hallgate remembers Shore as quiet, sweet, and peaceful.

“There are some people who have behaviours or attitudes and you might understand why they have a conflict,” she explains. “Then there is someone like Janice who is just living her life one day to the next, and it’s hard to contemplate how anybody could have been so vicious.”

Rasode brought it up at council meeting so the review can be added to the Police Committee agenda on March 8th.

“We just want to make sure that we honour her story and make sure she had available what she should have had available to her,” says Rasode.

Shore’s family issued a statement through the RCMP last week:

We, the family of Janice Shore would like to issue a public statement in relation to her tragic death.

We remember Janice’s childhood as normal as any of our childhoods.

We never thought she would die under such horrible circumstances.

Janice battled with mental health issues most of her life. However, she did not deserve to die in such a way.

Although distanced from most of her family for many years and living a life which may have ultimately led to her tragic death, Janice was still a member of our family whose death we are grieving.

We believe that due to her unfortunate life circumstances, Janice did not have much of a voice while she was alive. After her death she no longer has any voice period.

We would appeal to anyone who may have information about Janice’s death to please contact the police. If you are able to provide any information which may assist the police in investigating the murder of Janice we would we would be grateful for any help you can offer.

We are making this appeal particularly to those who knew Janice and may have valuable information which can help the police solve her murder.

Janice leaves three grown children, two brothers and one sister behind.

At the present time we are grieving Janice’s loss and respectfully ask for our privacy to be honoured.

Thank you.

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