Mr. Speaker, I rise today on behalf of the Government of Canada to pay our respects to the late Gary Rosenfeldt and express our deepest sympathy to his wife, Sharon.
On Sunday, Gary lost his battle with cancer. However, Gary and Sharon have not lost the battle to have victims' voices heard in this country. This heroic couple turned a family nightmare, the murder of their son Daryn at the hands of one of Canada's most notorious killers, Clifford Olson, into a tireless crusade for tougher penalties, stronger parole provisions, and most important, a heightened awareness of victims' rights in a justice system that all too often had ignored them.
The Rosenfeldts founded the advocacy organization Victims of Violence, and as a result of this organization and other similar ones, today we now have the first federal ombudsman for victims of crime.
In remembering him, the justice minister said that Gary Rosenfeldt was one of the great champions for Canadians whose lives have been shattered by violence, and that his death is a great loss to those who take victims' rights seriously.