Marcella Bernardo | Email news tips to Marcella
5/16/2012
The former Mayor of Vancouver, who once said he wasn't interested in financing a "location service" for hookers, is now testifying at the Missing Women Inquiry.
In April of 1999, Philip Owen said he was not in favour of offering a reward to find 20 sex trade workers missing from the Downtown Eastside, because there was no proof any had been murdered.
"I did care and I did care a lot, but the police department had a view of it and I was chair of the police board working closely with the chief. I had to get permission from the city management and city council, so I couldn't snap my fingers and make quick decisions. I had a process to go through. it would normally take quite a while and it took perhaps two or three weeks which was fairly quick."
Owen is testifying in a panel consisting of former police board members.
Serial killer Robert Pickton was arrested in 2002, and later convicted of murdering six women, but he confessed to killing 49.
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