Conservative candidate wants to introduce ‘no body, no parole’ law

A would-be politician in Alberta wants Canada to adopt a “no body, no parole” law that would give killers a chance at freedom if they revealed the locations of missing victims.

Dane Lloyd is vying for the federal Conservative nomination in the riding of Sturgeon River-Parkland west of Edmonton, the seat left vacant when Rona Ambrose left politics this summer.

He’s promising to introduce a private member’s bill calling for the law if he wins the nomination and is later elected to Parliament.

“I believe that withholding (the whereabouts of ) the body of your victim is committing a second crime,” Lloyd, 26, said. “It revictimizes the family every day, having to live without the knowledge of where their loved ones are, without the closure of a funeral.”

Lloyd said several jurisdictions in Australia have enacted such a law and he was inspired to push for it in Canada after meeting the family of Lyle and Marie McCann.

The seniors vanished after setting out from St. Albert on a camping trip in 2010. Their burned-out motorhome and a vehicle they were towing were discovered in the bush.

Travis Vader was convicted last year of manslaughter in their killings and sentenced to life with no chance of parole for seven years. The bodies have not been found. Lloyd worked as a parliamentary adviser to St. Albert-Edmonton MP Michael Cooper when Cooper helped the family push for the elimination of an outdated murder law a judge initially used to convict Vader. The government moved in March to get rid of several “zombie laws” from the Criminal Code.

Ottawa’s next move should be helping families get closure, Lloyd said. He suggested that if killers revealed the location of remains, they would get a chance at parole — but not a guaranteed release.

Defence lawyer James Lockyer with Innocence Canada said the problem with such a law is people who are wrongfully convicted don’t know where the bodies are.