Commission Counsel has advised us that Commissioner Oppal will render his decision respecting our application seeking disclosure of Det. Cst. Lori Shenher’s book manuscript on Wednesday, March 7, 2012. 

We applied for a copy of the manuscript after Shenher, a former journalist, confirmed under cross-examination that she had written a book about her experience with the missing women investigations and submitted it for anticipated publication by McClelland & Stewart in 2003.  The application was opposed by her counsel, David Crossin Q.C., on grounds that the book was irrelevant and/or private.  Commissioner Oppal accepted Mr. Crossin’s invitation to review the book himself to determine whether it should be disclosed to the participants.

According to the Commission’s website, the upcoming schedule is as follows:

Wednesday March 7, 2012
Staff Sg. Don Adam (Retired)

Thursday March 8, 2012
Cst. Dave Dickson
Insp. Gary Greer
Staff Sgt. Doug MacKay Dunn
Insp. Chris Beach

Monday March 12 to Wednesday March 14, 2012
Insp. Fred Biddlecomb
Insp. Dan Dureau
Sgt. Geramy Field
DCC Brian McGuinness

Hearings will not be in session March 19 – 23, 2012*

…..

*We do not know why the Commission is not in session during the week of March 19th.

The Province newspaper reporter Suzanne Fournier has followed the missing women case for over a decade.  She has written a story for tomorrow’s edition that includes the following excerpts:

Today’s evidentiary hearings started after 11:00 a.m. (following the hearing of a lengthy application by Darrell Roberts, Q.C.) with four Vancouver Police Department witnesses taking the stand at once.  Our objections to the process were summarily dismissed and Messrs. Beach, Greer, Dickson and Mackay-Dunn were led through their evidence by Commission Counsel for the rest of the day.  The appearance of former Inspector Chris Beach as one of the witnesses was a complete surprise, as Commission Counsel had failed to notify us that he would be appearing on the panel.

Independent Commission Counsel Robyn Gervais, originally appointed to represent aboriginal interests, announced her withdrawal from the hearings.  She is reportedly disillusioned with the process.

If so, she is certainly not alone.  The Commission’s main concern seems to be to hurry along to a self-imposed April 30, 2012 completion date.  To this end, it is now calling witnesses in groups.  We are finding that it is impossible to prepare and conduct effective cross-examinations in such circumstances.

The Commission has posted its ruling on our document production application.

We are awaiting decisions on two other applications; our written application for further witnesses (submitted December 24, 2011) and our oral application for disclosure of Det. Cst. Lori Shenher’s book manuscript (first made January 31, 2012).