Families of Pickton victims to receive settlement

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VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Families of the victims of serial killer Robert Pickton will each receive $50,000 to settle their legal action over a botched criminal investigation.

Lawyer Jason Gratl says the settlement involves 13 plaintiffs who filed civil action against the provincial and federal governments, the City of Vancouver and several RCMP officers.

Gratl says 11 family members have accepted the proposal, one person is expected to respond shortly and BC’s public guardian must approve a settlement accepted by a boy who has not yet turned 18.

He tells us the $50,000 payment, plus legal fees, is the best settlement under BC law. “If that seems parsimonious to you, you should consider that the state of the law in British Columbia restricts recovery for wrongful death of a parent to financial loss and loss of affection.”

“There’s no recovery for a loss of life or wrongful death,” he says.

Gratl tells us generally, his clients are pleased.

“A settlement at this stage allows the plaintiffs and the defendant to forego uncomfortable examination into the specifics of the relationship they had with their mothers.”

Although the deal is final with the government defendants, Gratl says the families are still pursuing wrongful death lawsuits against Pickton and his brother David.

Not all of Robert Pickton’s victims families are satisfied with the $50,000 dollar settlement awarded to them in the wrongful deaths of their loved ones.

The sister of Janet Henry, whose DNA was found on a Port Coquitlam farm is reacting with frustration.

Sandra Gagnon says no amount of money will bring back her sister. She says people still have to remember that many of these women had children.

“They are suffering and they have gone through trauma. It has been one living nightmare.”

Gagnon says her niece grew up in the midst of the trial. She says it prompted her to graduate high school and pursue a criminology diploma

“She is married, she is doing really well. I’m happy because her mom would have been very proud of her.”

She says the rest of her family is still trying to pick up the pieces.
A report from a 2012 public inquiry included a recommendation for financial compensation to the children of 33 women whose remains were found on Pickton’s Port Coquitlam.
Pickton was convicted of six counts of second-degree murder.

 

 

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