AARON GUNN -- The truth is, the justice system in this country all too often favours repeat violent offenders, while ignoring victims and their families
Earlier this year, I had the honour of being asked by the family of Tori Stafford to speak at a rally being held in her name, Life Means Life: A Protest for Change. Tori was an innocent young girl who, at the age of just eight, was abducted, sexually assaulted, and brutally murdered by Michael Rafferty and Terri-Lynne McClintic in Southern Ontario. Incredibly, after less than a decade behind bars, McClintic was transferred to a minimum-security ‘healing lodge’ despite the hein ous nature of her crimes (a decision that, with public pressure, was thankfully overturned). I wish I could say this was an isolated incident ... but it wasn’t. The truth is, the justice system in this country all too often favours repeat violent offenders, while ignoring victims and their families.