The survivor of a brutal and violent attack on an Abbotsford street in 1995 has received a scholarship from the Canadian Crime Victim Foundation.

Misty Cockerill, 27, has been awarded a $3,000 scholarship every year for five years to attend the University College of the Fraser Valley. The college kicked in a one-time $2,000 tuition award.

Cockerill survived the attack by Terry Driver, a man dubbed the Abbotsford killer. Her best friend Tanya Smith, 16, was murdered in the attack and Cockerill managed to escape.

Armed with a baseball bat, Driver beat Smith, sexually assaulted her and threw her unconscious body into the Vedder River, where she drowned.

Cockerill was beaten and left for dead but staggered into a nearby hospital emergency room about five hours later.
Driver was convicted of Smith's first-degree murder and the attempted murder of Cockerill at his 1997 trial. He was declared a dangerous offender in 2000 after being convicted of the sexual assaults of two women in 1994 and 1995.

A news release issued by Abbotsford-based University College of the Fraser Valley said the Canadian Crime Victim Foundation -- founded by Joe Wamback in 2002 after his son was beaten in a violent crime -- acknowledges Cockerill's determination to recover and make a difference in the lives of others.

Corrections Canada is under attack for sending Abbotsford killer Terry Driver to a prison in Abbotsford, the same community where his victims' families still live.

"This is absolutely deplorable," Joe Wamback, founder of the Canadian Crime Victim Foundation, said yesterday.

"It exemplifies the indifference and insensitivity of Corrections Canada. This is not the first time something like this has happened, and it has to stop."

Making matters worse, Corrections Canada yesterday admitted it failed to notify the families of Driver's victims about the move, as it is legally required to do.

Driver snatched Tanya Smith, 16, and Misty Cockerill, 15, in Abbotsford in October 1995. He beat them with a baseball bat and sexually assaulted Smith before dumping her unconscious into the Vedder River, where she drowned. Cockerill, left for dead, survived but required brain surgery.

Driver then taunted Abbotsford police via phone calls and notes, promising to kill again, and he vandalized Smith's tombstone.

Cockerill, now 27, this month received a Canadian Crime Victim Foundation scholarship from federal Justice Minister Vic Toews to attend a multi-year course at Abbotsford's University College of the Fraser Valley.

Wamback said he will contact Toews today to update him on the transfer of Driver from the maximum-security Kent prison in Agassiz to the Pacific Institution regional treatment centre in Abbotsford.

"We've had enough of this. Where are the victims' rights here?" Wamback said.

Smith's mother, Gail, told the Abbotsford News she wants Driver out of Abbotsford.

"I do not believe that someone who abducted and murdered a young girl, taunted the police and community that he would murder someone else, stole the victim's headstone from her grave and defaced it with vile gestures, and committed all these crimes within Abbotsford should ever be allowed within its boundaries again," she said.

Corrections Canada has apologized to the Smith and Cockerill families for not advising them of the transfer, spokesman Dennis Finlay said yesterday.

"That wasn't done at the time it should've been done, but we corrected that situation," Finlay said. "We've contacted them and let them know what happened, and we also sent an apology."

Finlay said that under Canadian law, Corrections Canada must keep prisoners as close to their home community and family as possible. Driver had a wife and two children who lived in Abbotsford when he was convicted.

Under the law, Corrections Canada must also consider possible concerns from victims' families when deciding where to place an inmate.

Finlay said there must be "good legal reasons," including security concerns, to move Driver.

Ed Fast, MP for Abbotsford, said Driver must be moved.

"We're talking about a man who terrorized the city of Abbotsford," Fast said. "This is a guy who desecrated Tanya's tombstone. That's not the sort of individual that you want to have return to your community.

"It's unfortunate that 10 years after the fact this whole horror is being revisited on these two families."

Driver, who had previously been convicted of sexually assaulting women, was sentenced to life in prison for murdering Smith and the attempted murder of Cockerill. He was designated a dangerous offender in 2000. He is eligible to apply for parole in 2018.

Abbotsford is not a suitable location for a supervised injection site, despite suggestions that the service for drug users be expanded into other areas of the Fraser Valley.

That's according to Abbotsford Conservative Party MP Ed Fast, who said more focus should be put on drug treatment rather than allowing addicts to shoot up in a monitored environment.

Fast's comments follow the results of a report by University College of the Fraser Valley criminologist Dr. Irwin Cohen.

In that report, Cohen said that instead of closing the safe injection site in Vancouver's downtown east side, it may make more sense to expand the program into other communities.

That is a stance supported by B.C.'s chief medical health officer and the City of Victoria, which has sought permission from Ottawa to set up its own supervised injection area.

According to Fast, such a facility in Abbotsford would not be "appropriate."

"For me the message is this: let's address the issue of detox and treatment first and do it properly before we jump to other harm reduction strategies," he said.

In June last year, Abbotsford Council - which at the time included Fast - voted unanimously in favour of a bylaw to make it more difficult to establish harm reduction services in Abbotsford.

While stopping short of an outright ban, council agreed that anyone hoping to set up a harm reduction facility - which could include a safe injection site - would have to go through a rezoning process.

At the time, city councillors said they preferred to focus on enforcement, education and treatment.

"Here in Abbotsford, city council has resisted safe injection sites, and one of the reasons is I think they are concerned about the band aid solution of a safe injection site," said Fast.

"What really needs do be done is improve the availability of treatment.

"I am not sure a facility of that sort is appropriate for Abbotsford at this time."

The supervised injection site in Vancouver, called Insite, will close on Sept. 18 unless Health Canada extends its three-year exemption from federal drug laws.

Advocates of the site say it saves lives, pointing to figures showing that none of the 200 addicts a year who overdose while injecting at Insite have died because they are closer medical treatment. Approximately 600 drug users are said to visit the site every day.

Fast said he did not know what would happen to Insite. However, he stressed that any Conservative government decision regarding the issue would use scientific research rather than any possible moral objections.

"At this point in time I would like to wait until we do a thorough review," Fast said, adding that it will be the government cabinet that makes the final decision.