The reality of the Canadian criminal justice system

Opinion

If you are anything like our family and have never been involved with the criminal justice system, I think you will be as shocked as we have been to learn some of this.

It is a rude and cruel exposure to a reality that no one wants to learn during your darkest time of grief.

Jordyn Reimer, a 24-year-old vibrant and innocent victim, was acting as a designated driver on the night of May 1, 2022, when she was killed by Tyler Scott Goodman.

On Nov. 22, 2023, Judge Kael McKenzie handed down a six-year sentence to Goodman for the impaired driving causing death charge and an additional one-year consecutive sentence for failing to stop at the scene. At the time, McKenzie said that no sentence the court can impose would be enough to match the value of a life, that the taking of a life by crime is immeasurable.

Yes, a life stolen is immeasurable, but the sentence imposed by the criminal justice system is measurable and by its own definition, is to be commensurate with the gravity of the crime.

Even if we were to consider the sentence of seven years at face value, I would argue that is insulting to say this is commensurate with the gravity of the crime of killing my daughter Jordyn. But a sentence of seven years is not transparent and by no means accurately communicates the true reality of what that sentence means.

In Canada, you are eligible for full parole after serving one-third of your sentence (except for life sentences for first and second-degree murder). This means that Goodman is eligible for full parole in two years and four months.

Jordyn is gone forever, and our family has a life-sentence of grief living without her. How is 28 months of incarceration commensurate with the gravity of the crime?

Surprisingly, many of the terms associated with the Canadian criminal justice system are semantic wordplay.

Purposefully or not, the terms sentence, escorted temporary absence (ETA), day parole, and full parole are all misleading to most laypersons.

Most of us think that when a criminal is given a “sentence” that means the amount of time he will be incarcerated. This is simply not true.

So, for transparency purposes, a “sentence” equals an incarceration period of time which most often is only one-third of sentence time reported, plus various community release plans such as ETA — simultaneous to serving the incarceration portion.

Then, day parole (full time in the community at a halfway house), and then full parole (full time returning home in the community) until the full time of the sentence date is achieved.

What does this look like for the criminal who killed Jordyn and was sentenced to seven years on Nov. 22, 2023? Here is the transparent breakdown: on July 9, 2025: approved and began ETA for community work placement. This was one year, seven months and 17 days after Goodman’s first day incarcerated for killing Jordyn.

The word “temporary” in “escorted temporary absence” is a misleading word as Goodman was granted leave from prison for eight hours a day, five days a week to attend community work placements for months at a time. This hardly seems temporary, when you are consistently out of prison five consecutive weekdays and are only returning to prison for evenings and weekends.

Sept. 17, 2025, there is a pending parole board hearing for day parole — if approved, this will be one year and 10 months after Goodman’s first day incarcerated for killing Jordyn. Our family will be attending this parole board hearing in opposition. Day parole means being moved out of the prison completely and living at a halfway house full time in the community. Again, the terminology “day” erroneously sounds like you are getting out of prison for a day here and there. In reality, the criminal is no longer incarcerated at all, and is in the community mornings, days, evenings and nights. It is 24-7.

March 2026: eligibility for full parole – This will be two years and four months after Goodman’s first day incarcerated for killing Jordyn.

Full parole means you may return home 24-7.

It is true that becoming eligible for any kind of release (ETA, day or full parole) does not mean 100 per cent certainty that you will get it. And yes, there are reportedly restrictions and rules the criminal is to abide by. I suspect that approvals for these applications are more often the rule than the exception.

Sentencing reform is far overdue. There is a significant societal problem if a person is only incarcerated for 28 months after they purposely choose to drive impaired, kill someone, not check on the victim, not call 911, pick up their beer, flee the scene of the crime and hide out from the police.

It is also time for transparency in the Canadian criminal justice system when it comes to terminology.

Victims and their families do not need to be given half-truths and semantic terms that mean anything but the true reality of what is going to unfold. It is revictimizing and simply not right. There are many things within the justice system that are likely very difficult to change. Changing terminology for transparency should be one easy fix toward sentence reform and victims’ rights.

Karen Reimer is Jordan Reimer’s mother.