The father of a murdered Ontario girl says the news that one of her killers has been transferred from the maximum-security prison where she had been serving a life sentence to an Indigenous healing lodge in Saskatchewan has re-victimized him.
Rodney Stafford, whose 8-year-old daughter Victoria (Tori) Stafford was kidnapped, raped and murdered in 2009, told CTV London that he is “reliving everything.”
According to Stafford, Terri-Lynne McClintic, who pleaded guilty in 2010 to first-degree murder in Tori’s death, has been transferred from the Grand Valley Institution for Women near Kitchener, Ont., to the Okimaw Ochi Healing Lodge for Aboriginal Women on Nekaneet First Nations in southern Saskatchewan.
“Anybody who takes the life of a vulnerable person, there shouldn’t even be an option for juggling their sentence,” he said.
The Correctional Services Canada website says that the Okimaw Ochi Healing Lodge allows for communal living and programs where women “learn how to live independently by cooking, doing laundry, cleaning and doing outdoor maintenance chores.”
Indigenous healing lodges are often used to provide restorative justice for Indigenous offenders, according to Indigenous Services Minister Jane Philpott.
“It’s upsetting because I know for a fact that there are a lot of people out there who deserve to be in a place like this, but not a convicted child killer,” Stafford told CTV London. He and other friends and family members are planning to protest McClintic’s transfer on Parliament Hill on Nov. 2.
Organizers of the protest want to see the revival of legislation similar to Bill C-53, which would have ensured that those sentenced to life without parole for murdering children or other vulnerable people serve out life sentences without privileges such as lowered security clearances. That bill was tabled by Stephen Harper’s government, but never passed.
The controversial transfer was fiercely debated in Parliament last week as Conservative MPs discussed the graphic details of Tori’s murder and called on the Liberals to immediately reverse the transfer. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused them of exploiting the tragedy for political gain.
Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer said Trudeau’s response amounted to “a disgusting and shameful display of a prime minister trying to avoid responsibility.” He told CTV’s Question Period on Sunday that his party will introduce a motion this week calling on the government to condemn McClintic’s transfer and to implement a policy that will reverse it.
In response to mounting outrage, Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale ordered the commissioner of Correctional Services Canada to conduct a review of the case to ensure that “best practices” have been applied in McClintic’s transfer. He said that ministers do not have the legal authority to intervene in such cases even if they may want to.
Matt Dube, the NDP’s public safety critic, told CTV’s Question Period that he supports the CSC review.
“The fact of the matter is that rehabilitation, no matter how horrific the crime, has to have a place if we want to ensure public safety,” he said.
Conservative immigration critic Michelle Rempel told CTV’s Question Period that “there’s a right answer in this situation and a wrong answer” and that the government’s decision not to intervene is the latter.
“Let me be perfectly clear. The facility that this disgusting woman was in had razor wire. It was a maximum-medium security facility with bars,” Rempel said. “She is now in a facility that is a condominium suite with eating areas and kitchenettes where children can go to, where there is no fence, and it is a medium-minimum security facility.”
McClintic lured Tori away from her Woodstock, Ont., school in 2009 by promising the little girl that she would get to see a dog. Tori’s body was found buried in a farm field about 100 kilometres away from where she was abducted after a months-long search. McClintic’s then-boyfriend, Michael Rafferty, repeatedly raped the child before she was beaten to death with a hammer.
Stafford says that he will participate in Tuesday’s protest in part for his other children.
“I want them to know that I’m still willing to fight for them, even though Victoria has been gone for nine years,” he said.
