Serial killer Robert Pickton in critical condition after prison attack

Convicted B.C. serial killer Robert Pickton is in critical condition and underwent surgery after he was attacked by another inmate in a Quebec prison on Sunday.

The Correctional Service Canada (CSC) confirmed in a statement Tuesday that Pickton was the victim of a "major assault" at the maximum-security Port-Cartier Institution and has been taken to hospital.

Two sources, including one police source, told Radio-Canada that 74-year-old Pickton was between life and death on Tuesday. Prison officials declined to share information about his current condition Wednesday.

The assailant is in isolation, according to Hughes Beaulieu, a spokesperson for the Quebec provincial police, the Sûreté du Québec (SQ), which is investigating.

Beaulieu said the assailant is a 51-year-old man but added that he does not know the man's identity.

He said Pickton was undergoing surgery shortly before 10:30 a.m. PT on Tuesday and it will take a few weeks before the SQ transfers the case to the Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions (DCPC) to press charges. 

The incident at the Port-Cartier Institution, located around 850 kilometres northeast of Montreal, did not involve staff and "appropriate actions have been taken" with regard to the assailant, the CSC said in an earlier statement. 

"We are not able to disclose any additional details, including medical information," the statement reads. "The safety and security of institutions is paramount and an investigation into what occurred is currently underway." 

When CBC News contacted CSC for an update on Pickton's condition on Wednesday, a spokesperson again declined to comment. The spokesperson said the CSC is required to notify the public of deaths of people in its custody.

In 2007, Pickton was convicted of six counts of second-degree murder in the deaths of women who disappeared from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.

They were Sereena Abotsway, Mona Wilson, Andrea Joesbury, Marnie Frey, Georgina Papin and Brenda Wolfe.

The remains or DNA of 33 women, many of whom were Indigenous, were found on Pickton's pig farm in Port Coquitlam, about 25 kilometres east of downtown Vancouver.

Pickton was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of full parole for 25 years.

In an interview with Radio-Canada's Tout un matin Tuesday, federal Public Security Minister Dominic LeBlanc said an internal investigation will be carried out at the Port-Cartier prison to shed light on the circumstances of the attack.

He did not confirm the identity of the inmate who was assaulted, citing reasons related to the protection of privacy and security in prisons. 

Victim's sister expresses relief

The sister of one of Pickton's victims told CBC News that she felt relieved and happy when she heard that the serial killer had been attacked in prison.

"I said, 'Good for him, he deserved it,'" Tammy Lynn Papin, sister of Georgina Papin, said on Tuesday. "I don't wish any harm on anybody but — karma, you know? I truly believe, you know, [the] Creator works in his ways.

"You can't be bad or mean to people and do stuff like that to people and think you can get away with it, you know? What he did was ... notorious and unexplainable."

Papin said she wanted Pickton to suffer and not "go just like that." 

She added that she wants a plaque installed at the site of his Port Coquitlam farm to commemorate the women who had been killed there.

Chief Marilyn Slett with the Heiltsuk Tribal Council in Bella Bella, B.C., says discussion about Pickton's assault has revived painful memories for the Indigenous community.

"His profile is still being raised and talked about," Slett told The Canadian Press.

"Yet it's the women, the victims and families who are hurting today and still seeking justice for their families and their loved ones. And I can understand how people would feel [about] what happened to him."

Slett, who is also secretary-treasurer with the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, says little has changed for Indigenous women's safety since Pickton's crimes, and many still face systemic racism from police and difficulty accessing the justice system when they are victims of crimes. 

Slett says governments can do better, noting it "hurts to see" $15 million in federal funding being allocated to a three-year program targeting auto theft, compared to $1.3 million for the pilot Red Dress Alert system for when an Indigenous woman or girl goes missing.

"So, progress is very small," said Slett. "The work will not be over until things like the Red Dress Alert is no longer needed in this country, and we're a long ways away from that."