Tori Stafford was eight years old in April 2009 when, while walking home from school, she was lured into a vehicle by Terri-Lynne McClintic. McClintic drove the little girl to a field where Stafford was viciously abused, murdered, and buried by McClintic and her boyfriend.
Almost a decade later, the brutal murder of Tori Stafford continues to shock Canadians. While her murderers may have been caught and brought to justice, recent news that McClintic has been transferred to a minimum security indigenous ‘healing lodge’ has, for good reason, reignited anger around Stafford’s tragic case.
How could a self-confessed convicted child murderer, with a documented history of violence in prison, move to such a low-security facility? Does this case point to a failure in our corrections system? And what should the government be doing about this case and others like it?
A recent commentary for MLI by former Crown Prosecutor, Scott Newark, takes a hard look at all these questions. Newark argues that this case points to glaring issues that go right to the core of Canadian corrections system.
