By Charles Lefebvre

Conservatives to introduce motion calling for reversal of McClintic transfer

Sep 28, 2018 | 3:53 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB — Medicine Hat-Cardston-Warner MP Glen Motz says the federal Conservatives are planning to introduce a motion next week in an attempt to reverse a controversial prison transfer.

The motion, which is expected to be introduced on Wednesday, will call on the federal government to condemn the decision to transfer convicted killer Terri-Lynn McClintic from a prison in Ontario to an Aboriginal healing lodge in Saskatchewan. The motion will also demand the government use its moral, legal and political authority to reverse the decision.

Motz says he was “surprised and disappointed” when he learned of the transfer.

“The Canadian public were certainly outraged about it,” he said. “You have a convicted child killer who received a sentence of no chance of parole for 25 years. It’s an appropriate sentence for this horrific crime, and yet in less than 10 years, she’s already been transferred to a healing lodge.”

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McClintic, along with her then-boyfriend Michael Rafferty, were arrested in connection with the kidnapping, rape and murder of eight-year-old Tori Stafford in 2008. McClintic pleaded guilty to first-degree murder, while Rafferty was found guilty of the charge following a trial. Both are serving life sentences.

This week, reports surfaced that McClintic, classified as a medium security inmate by Correctional Service Canada, had been transferred from Grand Valley Institution in Kitchener to the Okimaw Ohci Healing Lodge near Maple Creek.

The lodge, available for minimum and medium security inmates, is run by Corrections Service Canada, and the goal is to allow inmates to heal and reconnect with Indigenous culture while serving their sentences.

The decision has caused anger across the country, with the Conservative Party calling for Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale to reverse the decision.

Motz says the decision to transfer McClintic erodes faith Canadians have in the justice system.

“Prison is designed for rehabilitation,” he said. “It also is a way to demonstrate that freedoms are taken away when you don’t follow the rules and laws of this land. I am disappointed in the decision, and I would think leadership needs to be demonstrated and the decision reversed.”