Families Gather At Day Two Of Deliberations

Today time was dragging on while waiting for the jury to come to a verdict on the six counts of murder.

For the first time in my life I was sitting in a law court on a Saturday. I told my husband that I felt as though I needed to be there. To hear the verdict would mean saying goodbye to a part of my past that I walked away from seven years ago. I walked away and didn’t want to look back let alone go back.

I think the fear of the unknown and the fear that Robert Pickton will be found ‘not guilty’ has me pacing back and forth waiting anxiously for a verdict. With all the snow falling and me in a wheelchair now, I’m not sure if I’ll make it there for tomorrow to give my support and hope by chance a verdict will be given.

I sat inside the front doors with the sisters of Georgina Papin. Through our discussions I learned that they too had knowledge of the street. I don’t think it came as a surprise to me since most First Nations I’ve met seem to have some street knowledge.

They lived in Edmonton, Alberta and were Métis. My ex-husband, who I call my ex-pimp. is from Edmonton too, so we talked about how it is on Reserve out there. I know my ex got kicked off Reserve and we chuckled about that because they knew a few people who got kicked off Reserve too.

Everyone was playing either scrabble, yatzee, snakes and ladders or doing puzzles to pass the time. We joked around to take some of the stress off. Coffee and bowls of noodles kept us warm and victim services passed out blanket it was so cold.