CTV.ca
Mon. Jan. 30 2006
TORONTO — An investigation into the suspicious deaths of five women living “high-risk lifestyles” in the Niagara region is taking too long because of police indifference towards those who work in the sex industry, an advocacy group says.
The Sex Professionals of Canada (SPOC), which carries a so-called “bad client list” on its website, said Monday it will post a warning about the women – three of whom police have said were involved in drugs and prostitution, while two others worked as exotic dancers.
“We’ve known about this for a while,” said Valerie Scott, SPOC’s executive director. “There will definitely be a warning, although everyone down there’s already aware of it.”
The Niagara Regional Police have established a team of 12 officers to probe any possible links between the death of Cassey Cichocki and the unsolved cases of four other women dating back to 1995 whose bodies were found in the Niagara region.
The body of Cichocki, 22, was discovered last week in a wooded area in Niagara Falls, Ont. She was last seen in the early hours of Dec. 4. Police have said she died as a result of physical trauma to her body.
Scott said police are only acting now because of media interest generated in the case of B.C. pig farmer Robert Pickton, who pleaded not guilty Monday to 27 counts of first-degree murder in the disappearance of sex-trade workers from Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.
“I think if Vancouver had not have happened, then Niagara police would just let this continue,” Scott said.
“I don’t think it’s because they’re incapable. I think they’re just not interested.”
Similar accusations have been levelled against police in Vancouver and also in Edmonton, where 12 women who worked in the sex trade have been found dead in rural areas around the city over the past 16 years.
Niagara police Const. Sal Basilone dismissed suggestions that the deaths in the region have been treated any differently than any other homicide investigation.
“I don’t believe that is the case in any way, shape or form,” Basilone said. “We have an obligation to investigate these matters as thoroughly as possible.”
Investigators have not yet adopted a theory that a serial killer is operating in the Niagara region and targeting those involved in the sex industry, Basilone said.
Police have not released the causes of death of the other victims: Dawn Stewart, 32; Nadine Gurczenski, 27; Diane Dimitri, 28; and Margaret Jugaru, 26.
Stewart was 32 and pregnant when she vanished from her home in September 1995. Her skeletal remains, and those of a fetus, were discovered 10 years ago in a wooded area in Pelham, Ont., 25 kilometres west of Niagara Falls.
Gurczenski’s body was discovered in May 1999 in a ditch in the nearby town of Vineland; Dimitri’s remains were found in a ditch in rural Welland, just south of Pelham, in August 2003.
Jugaru’s body was found in school parking lot in July 2004.
Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty, asked about the case Monday, said he didn’t have details about the concerns raised by SPOC.
“I would urge the police and investigators to do whatever they can to help us better understand what has happened,” McGuinty said.
Scott said a serious discussion about legitimizing the practice of prostitution needs to take place in Canada. Prostitution itself is not illegal, although soliciting or communicating for the purposes of prostitution is against the law.
“That sends a powerful message to society that we’re a nuisance and disposable and you can do what you want with us,” Scott said.
Since communicating for the purposes of prostitution became illegal 20 years ago, more than 600 sex workers have gone missing or been murdered across Canada, she added.