Ottawa, ON – Yesterday, Conservative Shadow Minister for Defence Procurement Jeff Kibble’s Private Member’s Bill C-235 passed the House of Commons and will now proceed to the Senate.
“I am honoured to see the Respecting Families of Murdered and Brutalized Persons Act pass at its third reading in the House of Commons,” Kibble said. “I look forward to passing the torch on this bill to the Senate, where I am confident it will be treated with the same compassion and dignity it received in the House of Commons.”
This legislation would amend the Criminal Code to empower judges, following jury input, to extend the parole ineligibility period for a person convicted of the abduction, sexual assault and murder of the same victim in the same event or series of events, requiring that the offender serve between 25 and 40 years of a life sentence before becoming eligible for parole.
That means long after a crime, families will not be forced back into a hearing room to face the person who took their loved one and relive the trauma.
“This bill is the result of the hard work, dedication and advocacy of many people,” Kibble continued. “From Jo-Anne Landolt, whose niece, Kimberly Proctor, was brutally tortured and murdered, to James Bezan, Conservative Shadow Minister for National Defence, who first introduced this legislation more than a decade ago, this has truly been a team effort. I want to sincerely thank everyone who supported this Bill and helped bring it to this important stage.”
“There is still more to be done,” Kibble concluded. “I will work with Senate colleagues to bring this legislation across the finish line and protect families from the pain of revictimization in the parole process.”