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Compensation flows to kids of missing women

Province issues final report in response to Oppal inquiry into investigation of serial killer Robert Pickton
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Missing Women Commissioner Wally Oppal handed down his recommendations two years ago.

So far 77 children of women murdered or presumed killed by serial killer Robert Pickton have stepped forward to receive compensation of $50,000 each.

That's one of the outcomes of the Missing Women Inquiry, according to a final report issued by the provincial government on its responses to the recommendations.

A total of $4.9 million from the province, federal government and City of Vancouver has been set aside for compensation to 98 surviving, biological children of Pickton's victims.

"We hope this compensation will be used to enhance their lives in the

present and future," Justice Minister Suzanne Anton said in the report.

The provincial report argues new integrated policing initiatives have improved the police response since the failures that allowed the Port Coquitlam pig farmer to evade investigators from different jurisdictions.

Commissioner Wally Oppal two years ago recommended some form of regional police service.

The province has struck an expert committee to explore possible reforms to police service delivery, which could involve further integration while retaining local, community-focused policing.

Other initiatives underway include the new Real Time Intelligence Centre launched by RCMP and municipal police, and a new national DNA missing persons index promised earlier this year by the federal government.

Groups seeking a national inquiry for missing women said key recommendations, including improved transportation along Highway 16, have gone nowhere.

Pickton is serving a life sentence for six counts of second degree murder but is believed responsible for the deaths of dozens of other women who disappeared from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.