Pickton farm should be memorial: supporters of missing women

Supporters of Vancouver's missing women say the Port Coquitlam, B.C., pig farm where serial killer Robert Pickton murdered his victims should become a memorial park.

Sex-trade rights activist Jamie Lee Hamilton said the land is a cemetery and should be treated with dignity.

About two dozen people gathered Saturday to discuss the park concept at the gates of the land where cows now graze, about 40 kilometres east of Vancouver.

They're calling for the property to be turned into a public cemetery with a memorial wall and garden to honour the 69 missing and murdered women from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.

The property is designated agricultural land, but the surrounding property has been rezoned for big-box stores and condominiums.

Former city councillor and Liberal MLA Art Cowie has been designing the proposed memorial.

"What we do need to do is make this a beautiful place where people can come, where there's flowers, there's trees and it's a welcoming place for memorialization not only for the women who died here, but the many people in the surrounding community and region," Cowie said.

The B.C. government put a lien on the property for $10 million for Pickton's court costs.

The current value of the pig farm is close to $6 million, according to BC Assessment.

Pickton was sentenced last December to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years after he was convicted of six counts of second-degree murder.

He still faces the possibility of trial on 20 counts of first-degree murder.