Alberta murder victim's parents, MP criticize top court's decision on parole ineligibility
CBC
The parents of a 35-year-old man who was shot dead on the University of Alberta campus in Edmonton a decade ago say they are angry about a recent Supreme Court decision that could allow their son's killer to be eligible for parole much earlier than expected.
Travis Baumgartner, an armoured car guard who pleaded guilty to fatally shooting three of his colleagues in June 2012, was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 40 years.
But thanks to a recent Supreme Court decision, he could be eligible for parole in 15 years.
Dianne and Mike Ilesic, whose son, Brian Ilesic, was one of Baumgartner's victims, criticized the decision at a news conference Tuesday.
"Both Mike and I feel deflated because of what the Supreme Court did," Dianne Ilesic said.
She said she and her husband have lost confidence in the federal government because it has not taken steps to counteract the decision.
Canadians convicted of first-degree murder receive an automatic sentence of life in prison without parole for 25 years.
Stephen Harper's Conservative federal government introduced a sentencing provision in 2011 that gave judges the ability to stack periods of parole ineligibility for multiple murders.
In a unanimous ruling last month, the Supreme Court found that provision was unconstitutional because it violated Section 12 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Section 12 protects the right to not receive cruel and unusual punishment.
"Such sentences are degrading in nature and thus incompatible with human dignity, because they deny offenders any possibility of reintegration into society," wrote Chief Justice Richard Wagner in the decision.
Baumgartner was the first person in Canada to be sentenced under the new provision.
His lawyer, Peter Royal, has not yet responded to an interview request.
The Ilesics are constituents of Conservative MP Michael Cooper, who hosted Tuesday's press conference at a hotel in northwest Edmonton.
The St. Albert-Edmonton MP, who has known the couple since 2016, called the Supreme Court decision "unjust and outrageous."
Aggressive patients and lack of security are making nurses feel unsafe in a rural Western Manitoba emergency union, says the Manitoba Nurses Union.
Saskatoon resident Delynne Bortis knew her commute to work Tuesday morning would be particularly difficult.
WARNING: This story contains details of abuse and intimate partner violence:
The amount of money it takes for people to earn a living wage has increased across the province, according to a new report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA).
The new owner of Ontario steelmaker Stelco says his company "will not disappoint the people of Hamilton and Nanticoke," where the business's major facilities are based.
A Winnipegger is warning others about an intricate scam she says she almost fell for.
Fort William First Nation is opposing a planned redevelopment of the Ontario Power Generation's (OPG) 117 year old Kakabeka Falls Generating Station, which is located in their traditional territory.
A building that sits at the corner of Sussex Street and Brunswick Avenue has had many lives over the last century — being a church, a school and offices. Now it's set to become housing, at a time when the city sorely needs it.
A Waterloo, Ont., elementary school principal will be sentenced in the new year after pleading guilty to child sexual exploitation charges following a joint investigation that involved the London, Toronto and Waterloo police services.
Students at UPEI have let their student union know what they want from the province this fiscal year, and those priorities are reflected in a 2024-2025 advocacy document brought to the legislature on Wednesday.
Larger communities in the N.W.T. will soon see a boost in their territorial funding to maintain infrastructure and deliver services — like water and waste management — but the increase still falls short of what communities need.