I am Planta: On the Line here at THECOMMENTARY.CA.
Stevie Cameron joins me from here in Vancouver today to discuss her new book, The Pickton File. You can’t not encounter the Pickton case when reading newspapers in this part of the country, and I suspect elsewhere. Here are some numbers 65 is the number of women on the police’s official missing women list. 26 is the number of women Pickton is charged with killing. 600,000 is the number of exhibits seized by police. 200,000 is the number of DNA samples processed by the RCMP crime labs. There are seven on the prosecution’s team; 10 on the defence. The one person on trial is Robert William ‘Willie’ Pickton.
Retailing for $24.95, the book, which is published by Knopf, looks at the run up to the trial, the accused himself, the women who went missing from this city’s Downtown Eastside, and how Cameron has covered this case here and beyond. It is a serviceable précis of this exhaustive, and sometimes exhausting and exasperating case. Cameron has done a remarkable job getting into this case, and reading what she’s done thus far is interesting and important.
Stevie Cameron is the author of four bestselling books, a graduate of UBC, and a Cordon Bleu-trained cook who heads up a program where food, clothing, and medical services are provided to some of Toronto’s homeless. I am pleased to welcome to the Planta: On the Line program, Stevie Cameron; Good morning, Ms. Cameron.
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