'She stays alive in all of us' Victim impact I Family members overcome by emotion as they remember their loved ones Lori Culbert, Neal Hall and Jeff Lee Vancouver Sun Monday, December 10, 2007 Karin Joesbury looked up at the grey sky, tears running from her eyes, overcome by emotion upon hearing that Robert (Willie) Pickton had been convicted of the second-degree murder of her daughter Andrea. Surrounded by relatives of the other five women Pickton was convicted of killing -- and of another 20 he is accused of killing -- Joesbury wept as the mournful lyrics of the song Missing played during a candlelight ceremony in front of the New Westminster Courthouse Sunday. Andrea Joesbury's grandfather, Jack Cummer, had asked Canadian poet Susan Musgrave to write the lyrics to the song, in memory of his granddaughter and the other missing women. Listening to the song seemed too much for Karin Joesbury to bear. "I hope that her death doesn't go in vain, and it will change the way we look at those most vulnerable in our society," said Joesbury, of Victoria, who described her daughter as creative and loving. "I still have two other children who miss their sister very much .... It's more the way she died. It's hard to lose a child or loved one, but the way in which she was taken. I knew something was wrong but I didn't have the money to come over and get her again [from the Downtown Eastside]. I came and got her three times. I wanted to come back but I couldn't afford it." Relatives and friends cried, trembled and held each other for support while listening to the song, which listed the names of 65 missing women, including the six Pickton was convicted Sunday of murdering: Joesbury, Mona Wilson, Brenda Wolfe, Georgina Papin, Sereena Abotsway, and Marnie Frey. "Never forgotten. You were never, ever forgotten today," Bonnie Fournier, a longtime nurse in the Downtown Eastside, cried out during the candlelight ceremony. She later said the system failed these women, and there should have been more detox services and other resources to help them get off the street. "The government has let them down desperately," Fournier said. Fournier hugged a weeping Tory Boen, the emotional son of missing woman Yvonne Boen, telling him: "I loved your mom." Cynthia Cardinal and her two sisters have been in the courthouse for the last week. They were hoping for a first-degree conviction in the death of their other sister Georgina Papin but are "satisfied" with a second-degree verdict. "I feel a lot of weight lifted off our shoulders and we can finally try to get back to our normal lives now. This has been a long and hard ordeal for us," she said, tears welling in her eyes. "We've had an emotional roller-coaster ride ... Georgina is happy today and I can feel her here. She's all over the place here and she's smiling again -- she had the most beautiful smile. I love you, Georgina." She said they are anxious to finally get Georgina's remains so they can give her a proper burial, and give the family a place to mourn. Bonnie Fowler, Georgina's other sister, wept as she talked about the friends of Georgina she has met since coming to New Westminster to wait for the verdict. "I'd like to thank Georgia for sharing all the gifts she's giving us while we were here .... She stays alive in all of us and nobody can take that away." Patty Evans held up a medicine pouch, filled with healing stones, made by her mother Elaine and given to many of the relatives of the victims in honour of her sister, Brenda Wolfe. "I still don't have my sister, but we have justice on her behalf. She was a beautiful person, she was loved," Evans said. Ada Wilson said she hoped Pickton could hear her speaking because she had waited a long time to say how she felt about the murder of her sister Mona. "He's taken a lot away from me, he's got no idea. But now to me it doesn't seem fair because he's still alive and she's not," Wilson said. "It's really hard around Christmas time, because that was the best time for me and her and the family." Rick Frey, father of Marnie Frey, questioned why police didn't catch Pickton sooner or respond more quickly to the disappearance of women from the Downtown Eastside. "This can't go on. Go to the east end now and it's still the same thing. It's appalling ... there's still people suffering," said Frey, who added he would like to see a public inquiry into the case. Frey said he was worried the jury wouldn't return a guilty verdict on his daughter, who disappeared in 1997 and for whom police found the least amount of evidence on the farm. "We're extremely fortunate we got a guilty verdict out of that," Frey said. Sereena Abotsway's half-brother Jay Draayers was in court Sunday to hear the verdict, but declined to speak to the media. Just minutes before a verdict was announced, relativ

Found this picture while cleaning up. It is the first picture that I had published in a national newspaper, The Star Weekly, on September 4, 1971. Eel River Bar, New Brunswick, Canada Her name is Margaret LaBillois and was the newly elected chief of the Micmac Indians on Eel River Bar reserve near Dalhousie, New Brunswick. She said she was on the warpath against injustice. Margaret LaBillois, Eel River Bar (1998 recipient of the Order of Canada)(Order of New Brunswick recipients 05/08/01) In 1939, Margaret LaBillois became the first resident of Eel River Bar to graduate from high school. In 1982, she graduated from Lakehead University with an Honours Degree in Native Languages. In 1970, LaBillois was elected as Chief of Eel River Bar First nations, making her the first female chief in New Brunswick. She is a 1998 recipient of the Order of Canada in recognition of her leadership qualities and significant demonstration of traditional skills. She also served in the RCAF as a nurse during World War II. The Star Weekly, published in Toronto, fell victim to television and the newspapers' weekend supplements, and it ceased publication in 1973.