This blog has moved

This blog is now located at http://noparoleforpower.blogspot.com/.
You will be automatically redirected in 30 seconds, or you may click here.

For feed subscribers, please update your feed subscriptions to
http://noparoleforpower.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default.

Music to my ears - parole review is waived again

What a relief! Just received notification that Ralph Power - the man who murdered my sister Sheryl Gardner back in 1981 - has waived his right to the full parole review that was scheduled for April 2010. A further review for full parole has been scheduled for March 2012, but at least until then, we can all breathe a little easier. We're all safer as long as Ralph Power stays behind bars. It's that simple.

Victim support group might close if funding isn't secured

Further to the loss of funding for the Canadian Resource Centre for Victims of Crime (www.crcvc.ca), I wrote an opinion-editorial letter. While it didn't get published as a letter, I did get a call and this story was published:

Victim support group might close if funding isn't secured

An Ottawa woman whose sister was murdered wants the federal government to equalize funding for groups that support victims and criminals.

Carolyn Gardner said it’s unfair that groups serving offenders receive the bulk of a $1.8 million Public Safety Canada program, which offers grants to criminal justice organizations.

“Where’s the balance? I’m not seeing it,” said Gardner, whose sister, Sheryl, was beaten to death in her Toronto apartment in 1981.

Gardner made the comments Friday as an Ottawa-based victims group warned it will not
survive unless it gets a new injection of financing

The Canadian Resource Centre for Victims of Crime, which works primarily on behalf of the families of murder victims, has announced it will have to close unless it secures a financial lifeline.“For me and my family, the resource centre has been incredible at helping us understand the parole process,” said Gardner, who is fighting to keep her sister’s murderer, Ralph Power, in prison.

Power, impersonating a telephone repairman, entered 20-year-old Sheryl Gardner’s apartment and killed her with a hammer. Born in Gananoque, Gardner had moved to Toronto to pursue a modeling career.

The resource centre, Carolyn Gardner said, has helped her understand that she can play an active role in the parole system: “They’re just an amazing organization and I don’t know what I’m going to do if they don’t get funding; I don’t know where else I’m supposed to go for help.”

The financial crisis at the resource centre was precipitated by the Canadian Police Association’s decision to suspend its $92,000 annual contribution to the group because of its own cash crunch. The police association has had to lay off staff this year and cut costs to deal with a drop in its revenues, said president Charles Momy.

The association launched the crime victims’ resource centre in 1993 and has remained its primary sponsor.

Momy said the association still supports the centre’s work, but can’t afford it anymore. “The resource centre is about assisting the victims of crime through the justice process right through to parole hearings,” he said. “We want to see it continue.”

Heidi Illingworth, director of the crime victims’ resource centre, said it has enough money to operate until the end of the year.

The association has recently sent emergency appeals to Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan. In those letters, the centre notes that its annual operating budget — just over $100,000 — is roughly the cost of incarcerating a maximum security offender for one year.

The resource centre now receives $19,000 from the Public Safety Canada’s sustaining funding program, which sends more than $1 million to groups that assist criminal offenders. “We feel there is an imbalance,” said Illingworth. “The services we provide victims of violent crime should be deemed just as important as the services provided offenders coming back in to society".

“We know they’re doing good work, important work, but the voice we provide victims of crime is equally important.”

The centre offers assistance to about 200 crime victims a year.

The Right to Know

Had a good interview with Rob Tripp of the Kingston Whig Standard yesterday. He was interested in my take on the amendments to the Corrections and Conditional Release Act. Here's the article:

The Right to Know

The sister of a murdered Gananoque woman is encouraged by parole and prison changes announced yesterday by the federal government.

Ottawa will give victims and families of victims greater access to information about imprisoned criminals.

"I think it's a real step in the right direction," said Carolyn Gardner. "This is information that I think any family wants to know."

Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan laid out plans to amend the Corrections and Conditional Release Act.

Victims would get:
* Advance notice of the transfer of convicts to minimum-security prisons.
* Explanation for transfers and temporary absences from prison.
* Information about the participation of convicts in prison programs.
* Information about prison infractions.

Gardner wants to know more about Ralph Ernest Power, the man who murdered her sister. In 1981, Power beat Sheryl Gardner to death with a hammer in her Toronto apartment. He schemed his way in by masquerading as a telephone repairman.

More inside:Reforms to benefit victims of crime.Page 10 The vivacious 20-year-old woman had moved to Toronto from Gananoque to pursue a promising career as a model.

Power was convicted in 1982 of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison, with no chance of parole for 25 years. He has been in prison since his conviction.

Gardner was notified within the past year that Power was transferred to medium-security Warkworth Institution in Campbellford.

"I don't know why he got moved," she noted, a situation that would be remedied under the changes announced yesterday.

Gardner has dedicated herself to keeping Power locked up and to changing what she believes are Canada's lax parole laws.

"In our case, Ralph Power has been transferred numerous times across the country and we never understand why," she said. "You want to know the status of these people, you want to to keep tabs on them."

The family was offended once, when they learned, after the fact, that Power has been shipped to medium-security Bath Institution.

"That was just so close to Gananoque where Sheryl is buried and I just felt it was really insensitive and I wondered why there -- 'Why have you moved him there?' -- there's places all across the country," she recalled.

Gardner said getting more information will help families provide more meaningful impact statements at parole hearings.

"I don't know what he's been up to for the last 28 years, I don't have a clue," she said.
"At least if I knew, I (wouldn't) stand there with my victim-impact statement and say things that might not be true."

She thinks it's in the best interest of offenders that families know more.

"It may help people feel better, that this person is actually taking some proactive programs that might help him or her become a better citizen," she said.

The Tories also plan to stiffen prison discipline and provide police with power to arrest released offenders, without warrants, if they are in breach of conditions.

"This government is taking a new approach to corrections by putting a greater focus on public safety," Van Loan said in a release.

"We are also putting the rights of victims first, by proposing changes to help keep them better informed."

Van Loan was not available for an interview.

The changes were panned by Craig Jones, executive director of the John Howard Society of Canada, a national organization that works with offenders and lobbies government.
He said the changes are designed to mollify hard-core former Reform party members of the Conservative party.

"In order to go back to the electorate and say, 'Look, we've paid off our promises' ... they've got to go through and make what I think are changes largely for the sake of appearance but I don't think they're substantive in nature," Jones said.

The measures seem to tilt toward what is known as the penal harm movement, the notion that prisoners should be punished, in addition to being locked up, he said.

"By and large, I think Canada has held off the worst elements of it, but I think this is a nod in that direction," Jones said.

The government also pledged to create a national advisory committee on victims issues. It will give victims the opportunity to provide input into policies and procedures that impact them.

Copyright © 2009 The Whig Standard

CCRA amendments show improved support for victims of crime

Very happy to hear about the government's announcement to amend the Corrections and Conditional Release Act. It was just announced today and it involves amendments to the Corrections and Conditional Release Act (CCRA). The proposed legislation includes the following key reforms in four main areas: enhancing sharing of information with victims, enhancing offender responsibility and accountability; strengthening the management of offenders and their reintegration; and, modernizing disciplinary actions. What it all boils down to is better support for victims of crime...and these changes are a big step in the right direction.

Background: Although the CCRA clearly recognizes the interests of victims of crime and the role they play in the correctional and conditional release process, victims and victims’ advocates have voiced dissatisfaction with the current provisions and have called for enhancements. Therefore, a victim’s right to attend and make statements at National Parole Board hearings will be enshrined in law.

Additionally, the CCRA will be amended to expand the information that may be disclosed to victims by CSC and the National Parole Board (NPB). This includes:

• providing information on the reason(s) for offender transfers with, whenever possible, advance notice of transfers to minimum security institutions;
• disclosing information on offender program participation and any convictions for serious disciplinary offences;
• sharing the reasons for a temporary absence from a correctional facility; and,
• providing guardians/caregivers of dependents of victims who are deceased, ill or
  otherwise incapacitated with the same information that victims themselves can receive.

Another big change relates to when offenders withdraw their participation in a parole hearing 14 days or less before the scheduled date. Now, with the new amendments, the Board may proceed with a review and decisions of their case. This ensures that victims will no longer travel long distances to attend a parole hearing which is then cancelled at the last minute. Victims will also be able to request information on the reasons for a waiver of a parole hearing. I know from experience that this information we all want. Power has waived two hearings and we can only speculate why. To be accurately informed will be huge.

In addition to the proposed reforms to maximize the knowledge and access to services offered to victims of crime, a National Advisory Committee on Victims Issues co-chaired by the Departments of Justice and Public Safety will be created. This committee will give victims the opportunity to provide input into policies and procedures that impact victims and victims’ services.

There's more info at http://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/media/nr/2009/nr20090616-1-eng.aspx

Reporters are on this already - spoke with Rob Tripp at the Kingston Whig and have a 4:30 interview with CTV News.

Convicted Killer Brian MacLeod Seeking Full Parole

The Canadian Resource Centre for Victims of crime (www.crcvc.ca) is an outstanding organization. In addition to their ongoing support in my family's fight to keep Ralph Power locked up for life, they've also introduced me to some wonderful people. One such person is Leila Koral. Leila lost her sister Eva Koral because of a violent murderer by the name of Brian MacLeod. But this killer didn't get a life sentence because he wasn't charged with 1st degree murder. Instead he was convicted of 2nd degree murder and as of this Thursday, he could be released on full parole. But Parole Board of Canada, please say that won't happen...

Parole Board of Canada, please listen to what Leila is saying. Just because this was a case of extreme domestic violence doesn't excuse Brian MacLeod or his actions. And just because it was domestic violence making a 1st degree murder charge almost unheard of, there is no justice if he is a free man after only 14 years behind bars.

Just to get a sense of why I'm so outraged and saddened all at once, here's an excerpt of what Brian MacLeod did to Eva Koral - copied from a recent Toronto Sun column by Mark Bonokoski. Read it and ask yourself if this is the kind of person you want roaming the streets of your neighbourhood. Leila also voiced her concerns re the potential full release of MacLeod in a recent TV interview on CityNews....

"MacLeod -- a massive man at 6-foot-4 and 250 pounds -- had returned to an Etobicoke bar on the West Mall called Papa Bear's where Eva Koral had remained following an argument.

He slammed her head into the bar, grabbed her by the hair, punched her four times in the head, hauled her out to his awaiting tow truck, smashed her head into the driver's side, and then tossed her inside -- with no one in the tavern raising a finger to stop the assault, and no one even having the guts to make a simple 911 call.

For Brian MacLeod, it was nothing more than being true to form, his history of violent behaviour toward women making up a good chunk of his criminal record.

Eva Koral, a pretty Bell Canada switchboard operator, was found the next day. A clump of her hair had been ripped from her scalp as she was dragged across the roadway, her left thumb had been severed, and her skull had been fragmented from blunt-force trauma.

She had been beaten to death with a J-hook and tow-truck chains."

Leila, I'll be thinking of you and your family as you face your sister's killer this Thursday. My heart goes out to you all...and I pray that the parole board thinks long and hard on this case.

National Victims of Crime Awareness Week 2009

National Victims of Crime Awareness Week 2009 is happening in Ottawa from April 26-May 2. This year's theme is "Supporting, Connecting, Evolving". I just registered for the federal Symposium April 27, 2009 which is taking place at The Crowne Plaza Hotel, Ottawa. This one-day federal symposium on current and upcoming issues for victims of crime will be the official launch of National Victims of Crime Awareness Week.

Registration for the federal Symposium is free and includes access to all plenary sessions and workshops. You'll even get a complimentary continental breakfast, coffee breaks and lunch! They're saying space is limited so you need to register as soon as possible. For more information on the federal Symposium and to register, go to http://www.victimsweek.gc.ca/. The deadline for registration is April 17, 2009.

Help spread the word on this important event by passing this info along to friends and colleagues. If you're going to go, let me know and perhaps we can meet?