Plan to raise memorial pole in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside will move ahead

A plan to raise a memorial pole in Crab Park in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside will move ahead. The monument, first proposed in 1997, will honor the victims of serial killer Robert Pickton. The vote for the pole project was unanimous at a Park board meeting in June. The public consultation process began after the Klahoose First Nation applied to donate a red cedar, which will be harvested from their lands and carved over the coming year. Kelly White of the Snuneymuxw First Nation said she hopes the monument provides a place of healing for the 33 families who are still mourning, reads Metro News. “We’re doing this out of the utmost respect, and unconditional love of the families’ loss,” she told the paper. “It’s the most horrific [case of violence] in the international community of women, and so we need to address that as a community.” White is a co-founder of the annual Women’s Memorial March.