The children of Donald Wayne Campbell are embracing the introduction of a bill to stop yearly parole applications from convicted murderers, after their initial application is denied.
Campbell was found guilty of first degree murder in the January 1998 death of his wife, 45-year-old Fenny Campbell, and sentenced to life in prison with eligibility for full parole after 25 years.
Speaking on behalf of he and his siblings, Joel Campbell said they think Private Members' Bill C-243 is a step in the right direction.
"If a Parole Board has deemed that an offender is not ready for parole, due to one or more factors, that is not going to change within a year," Campbell said.
The bill, introduced by Kerry Diotte -- the Conservative Member of Parliament for Edmonton Griesbach -- is hoped to "put an end to convicted murderers re-victimizing the loved ones of their victims at parole hearings."
"Having gone through multiple hearings in a very tight period before with our family, you really did not see change between the hearings. [Donald Wayne Campbell] was rejected for his applications multiple times, for unescorted temporary absences or day parole," Joel Campbell said.
The bill would amend the Corrections and Conditional Release Act so that, once the Parole Board denies their initial parole application, criminals convicted of first or second-degree murder cannot re-apply yearly for day or full parole after serving their minimum sentence.
Instead, they will only be able to apply for parole once every five years.
Campbell, whose father was granted unescorted temporary absences in a paper review earlier this year, welcomes the idea.
"By extending this for five years, I think it does two things. Number one, it puts significant weight on a parole hearing. It is a process where you're going to have to demonstrate real change. Secondly, it gives time for that change to actually occur. Whereas with just a year in between you don't see that," said Campbell.
He said victims generally want to be involved in parole hearings, and have their voices heard, but it takes a toll.
"When you prepare for it, whether it's a revision in updating your statement, whether it's practicing it just to make sure you're staying within an appropriate time window... all of this is an emotional process. The hearing itself is also a very, very emotional few hours," Campbell said.
"I think [the five year restriction is] better for everybody involved. It gives the offender more time to actually have meaningful change, but also you are not draining the victims that are involved in this and exposing them to that very, very, emotionally difficult process so close together year, after year," he added.
Campbell said he and his siblings are hopeful the bill will pass through the next stages and become law.
"Because of the good that this bill can do for the proceeding as a whole, and for the impacted victims, we're hopeful that this is not going to be a partisan issue. That this is going to be a proposal that other parties, such as the Liberal and NDP, can get onside of and there is a hope this will pass and change will come," he said.
This Bill was introduced in honour of the late Brian Ilesic.
He and two of his colleagues, Edgardo Rejano and Michelle Shegelski, were murdered by their co-worker Travis Baumgartner on the University of Alberta campus in Edmonton in 2012.
Baumgartner pleaded guilty to all three counts of murder, and was sentenced to life in prison without the chance of parole for 40 years, until 2052.
At the time, the sentencing was said to be the harshest imposed on anyone in modern Canadian history.
In 2022, the CBC reported that Baumgartner could be eligible for parole in 15 years after the Supreme Court found a provision (introduced in 2011) to stack periods of parole ineligibility for multiple murders was unconstitutional.
