The massive cuts to funding for the RCMP's Highway of Tears investigation conflict with the B.C. Liberals' claim it has the provincial government's full support, said the Opposition NDP's justice critic, Mike Farnworth.
From a high of $5 million, funding for the B.C. RCMP's Project E-Pana now sits at $800,000.
"In 2012, the B.C. Liberals said that the Highway of Tears investigation had the government's full support," Farnworth said in a statement. "But documents released by the government show the B.C. Liberals have cut the investigation by 84 per cent. This is a perfect example of Premier Clark and the B.C. Liberals saying the right things, and then doing whatever they want."
Justice Minister Suzanne Anton has portrayed the reduction as a "restructuring of temporary positions into a permanent special projects unit - positions that remained focused on serious crimes such as the missing and murdered women."
Anton said that as various tasks were completed, it was expected that any resources seconded to the unit would be returned to their permanent positions.
NDP women's issues critic Maurine Karagianis said Anton's comments don't add up.
"The B.C. Liberal justice minister excused these massive cuts by saying there is less investigative work to be done, yet not a single one of the outstanding Highway of Tears cases has been solved," Karagianis said.
"B.C. has the highest number of unsolved cases of missing and murdered aboriginal women in the country. It's shameful for the B.C. Liberals to be cutting the resources needed to solve these cases and bring closure to grieving families who have never learned what happened to their loved ones."
Project E-Pana was launched eight years ago to try to solve 18 murders or disappearances along Highways 16, 97 and 5 between 1969 and 2006. The only major development came two years ago when DNA evidence connected victim Colleen MacMillen to an American sex offender who died in prison.
From a peak of 70 investigators plus support staff, a dozen members and staff are now working on E-Pana.
