Where were the municipal councillors?
Wally Oppal remarked to the attendees at the missing women commission inquiry, and to media after, that he was surprised that no municipal politician showed up for the event.
“I think that it’s incumbent upon elected officials to be here. We’ve had four MLAs appear, and if MLAs can appear I don’t see why the mayors can’t be here or city councillors,” said Oppal. “I mean this is a tragedy that impacts upon the whole of the community. We all need to care for what’s happening here. They may have legitimate reasons for not appearing but they were invited and they weren’t here tonight.”
He continued that while he respects council’s busy schedule he “found it a little disturbing” that none showed.
Smithers Mayor Cress Farrow, who was not in town at the time of the event, and who was reached by phone in Prince George, said events sometimes get missed as a consequence of time lines.
“What happens with these inquiries and such, a week or 10 days ahead of time you get a notice ‘okay, this is what’s happening in your community and this is the day it’s going to be there,’ and it’s the same with the Northern Caucus when they came to town, we got a week’s notice and I was on holidays.”
Farrow said the inquiry has high value and importance in the community and missing events such as it do make him feel bad.