For Della Wilkinson, work was never about recognition. “For me, when I was at work, I was working for the victims,” she said. Now, after a 25-year career advancing forensic science in Canada and abroad, Wilkinson has been appointed to the Order of Canada, one of the country’s highest civilian honours. Wilkinson immigrated to Canada 35 years ago and went on to work as a scientist with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Her research focused on one of forensic science’s toughest challenges: how to recover reliable evidence, like fingerprints, from difficult surfaces, including human skin. “The materials in the fingerprints are the same as what exist on the surface of the skin, and that’s what makes it really challenging,” Wilkinson explained. Those challenges would come to define her career. Wilkinson became a world leader in evidence recovery from contaminated environments, working with laboratories in the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom. Her research examined how chemical and biological contamination affects physical evidence, and how that evidence can be safely recovered without being destroyed. That expertise became critical following the 2001 anthrax letter attacks in the United States. “As a result of that work, those countries now have protocols to deal with those types of exhibits,” Wilkinson said. Her research would later be drawn on in major criminal investigations, including the case of one of Canada’s most notorious serial killers, Robert Pickton. Pickton was convicted of six counts of murder but later confessed to killing 49 women, many of them Indigenous. He was killed in prison in 2024. Wilkinson described working collaboratively with forensic identification officers to recover evidence that had been frozen and stored in buckets inside a freezer. “There were buckets in a freezer that had evidence, and it was difficult because it was frozen,” she said. “So, we developed a strategy with our forensic identification officers, which was very collaborative.” Later in her career, Wilkinson was also called on to defend fingerprint evidence at the Supreme Court of Canada, helping explain the science behind fingerprint examination and its reliability. She also helped develop new techniques for recovering fingerprints when Canada transitioned from paper to polymer banknotes. “One of the important legacies that I left was being able to make science understandable to police officers in a way that felt comfortable and then they could use it because they could explain it in their words.” Wilkinson said. In a statement, the president of the RCMP Veterans’ Association, Robert Byers said RCMP Veterans were grateful for Wilkinson’s work helping to protect Canadians. “Her research in the field has been shared and has benefitted law enforcement agencies internationally including the FBI,” Byers wrote. “RCMP Veterans are very proud that Ms. Wilkinson’s outstanding work has been recognized with her appointment as a Member of the Order of Canada. She devoted her considerable talents and professional life to protecting Canadians and we’re grateful for her abundant contributions.” Wilkinson remains quick to credit the teams she worked with along the way. “I think it’s about partnerships,” she said. “It’s recognizing the number of partnerships that we built to get this done. I’m so humbled to receive this award.”
