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The public inquiry into the Robert Pickton investigation has entered a new phase. Family members of the serial killer's victims testified on Monday in Vancouver, B.C.

Victim Marnie Frey's mother Lynn claimed social status was the reason a proper investigation was never launched by Vancouver police or former mayor Philip Owen.

"If Marnie would've been a woman from UBC, SFU or Langara School, somebody in the community who was higher up, or not a low-life prostitute, Philip Owen would've definitely have looked for her," she said. "But because she was an addicted prostitute, he didn't give a damn. And that's the truth of the whole matter. They just didn't give a damn."

Frey said the police patronized her when asked about Marnie, saying her welfare-dependent daughter was probably on a cruise. She was told not "act like a cop," but Frey embarked regardless on a search for Marnie.She made several trips to Vancouver's East Side to find her daughter, who went by the name 'Kit Kat.'

Frey once tried to enter Pickton's pig farm once by hopping a fence, but she was chased away by dogs.

The woman was also told a grisly rumour by one prostitute that a wood chipper may have played a role in her daughter’s disappearance.

Pickton murdered six women from Vancouver's downtown East Side in the late '90s, and the investigation is examining why it took so long for the police to capture him. Vancouver police have apologized several times for failing to catch Pickton, but the RCMP has not apologized or admitted their officers made mistakes in the investigation. 

Story by Brandon Judd and Sarah Deshaies

A Quebec woman has been charged with first-degree murder in the death of her seven year old daughter.

Kathrine Dufresne appeared in court despite sustaining injuries sometime Saturday. She was ordered by the court to undergo a thirty-day psychiatric evaluation.

Quebec provincial police stated that the father arrived at his home Saturday to find his daughter unconscious. Dufresne was also injured and both were rushed to hospital where the daughter was pronounced dead. An autopsy is underway to find the exact cause of death. The father has been cleared of any involvement in his daughter’s death.

The girl, named Sophie, was adopted from China five years ago.

Dufresne’s next court appearance is set for November twenty fourth.

A sign which invited everyone to come see an artist present her work was posted up in front of the York amphitheatre in the EV building of Concordia University. Inside it was jam packed with cheery excited people who could barely stay put as they waited for the artist to speak, and present her work on the big screen through powerpoint slides.

This specific event was titled the Show and Tell Art Lecture where Marina Polosa, the public programs coordinator of the Leonard and Bina Ellen Art Gallery introduced the audience to Julie Ault who is not only an artist, but is a writer and a curator as well. She is best known for being the co-founder of Group Material, an artists collective which was put together in lower east Manhatten in 1979, consisting of four members and lasted until 1996.

Julie Ault projected images of her book Show and Tell to the audience. Show and Tell documents art exhibitions that Group Material organized throughout their years together. These exhibitions would take place in city squares, subway stations, and museums. Group Material`s exhibitions reflected issues such as reproductive rights, the US intervention in South America, Aids awareness, and crisis in democracy.

She also informed the audience of other people who she set up art exhibitions with such as the artist Martin Beck. Together her and Martin Beck set up the exhibition called Social Landscape which reflected the increasing gap between the rich and the poor in the US.

This lecture which was set up through the collaberation of Felicity Taylor and Centre des Arts, invited people from the audience to speak with Julie Ault in person after she finished presenting her work. Julie informed me that her hopes and dreams havn`t changed at all since her early days in Group Material.

``When we started out we believed that our work can have an impact and effect social change. We wanted to create our own platforms, and to have a voice in culture. Group Material worked with what was effecting society, the urgency of the moment, and issues of social justice.``

Julie Ault is now working on a book project with James Benning which will be titled Social Isolation and the Politics of Autonomy and Solitude.

When the lecture ended, several people from the audience lined up to speak with Julie Ault in person because they were anxious to hear about what she will do next.

Concordia University is now offering a bursary for international students who register for a French as a second language course.

The bursary is called Oui Can Help! and will help students access French language resources not only within Concordia, but also through out the city of Montreal.

Without French as a second or first language it is difficult to secure a job in Quebec.  By setting up this bursary, Concordia is encouraging out of province students to stay within Quebec after University.

This bursary was made possible by the Quebec’s provincial government Secrétariat à la politique linguistique, Quebec’s ministry of Education, and the Canada-Quebec agreement for Minority-Language Education and Second-language Instruction.

Only those who are not fluent in French and are also enrolled in a French as a second language course can apply.