Tuesday, March 12, 2002

It took a long time to make headlines, but the horrific story is now known to all: fifty women have vanished from the streets of Vancouver's Downtown Eastside since 1983. Many of these women were prostitutes and drug addicts; many were aboriginal; some were mentally ill.

Troubling questions have since surfaced about why this went on for years without registering a blip on the radar screen of the police, despite repeated calls from the families of the women for a full investigation. Why did this so on for so long, and what role did the police and media play in it? What more could have been done to stop the violence on the streets? Tuesday's counterSpin will ask whether this a case of a few mistakes made on the part of the authorities, or if it is demonstrative of a systemic problem in the darker areas of Canadian cities. How can we prevent this from happening again?


GUESTS:

Libby Davies: NDP MP, Vancouver East

Calvin Barry: Crown Attorney

Maggie de Vries: sister of Sarah de Vries

Cindy Chan Piper: Concerned resident