VANCOUVER — The RCMP's highest ranking member in B.C. warned the provincial government last year that cutting its budget would hamper its ability to investigate missing and murdered women along the so-called Highway of Tears.
The force's E-PANA task force, launched in 2006, was assigned 18 cases involving women who vanished or were found dead along the Highway 16 corridor in the province's north.
The RCMP and the B.C. government confirmed last year that budget cuts would mean six officers would be removed from the E-PANA investigation, which had already seen previous budget reductions.
Documents released through a freedom-of-information request include a memo to the provincial government from RCMP Deputy Commissioner Craig Callens outlining the impact of the cuts.
The memo says the budget cuts would mean there would be no other investigations related to the Highway of Tears case "for the foreseeable future."
In a one version marked "draft," Callens warns negative media coverage related to the cuts could undermine public confidence in such investigations, though it's not clear whether the passage made it into the final memo.
