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The seniors vanished after setting out from St. Albert, a city north of Edmonton, on a camping trip in 2010. Their burned-out motorhome and a vehicle they had been towing were later discovered in the bush.

Travis Vader, a drug user on the run from police, was convicted last year of manslaughter in their killings and sentenced to life with no chance of parole for seven years.

The bodies of the McCanns have never been found.

“Everyone in this community knows about the McCann case and Travis Vader,” said Lloyd. “And when I talk to them at the doors, they say, ‘This is just common sense. How is this not a law already?”’

Lloyd was working as a parliamentary adviser to St. Albert-Edmonton MP Michael Cooper when he met the McCann family last year. Cooper helped the family push for the elimination of an out-dated murder law that a judge initially used to convict Vader. The government moved in March to get rid of several so-called “zombie laws” from the Criminal Code.

Ottawa’s next move should be helping families get closure when they have no bodies to bury, said Lloyd.

He suggest that if killers revealed the location of remains, they would get a chance at parole —but not a guaranteed release.

Bret McCann said it’s a terrific idea.

“I don’t want to be wondering and I don’t want my whole family to be wondering, years and years from now: where are my parents?” McCann said.

“The whole purpose of our prison system is to rehabilitate these people, to reintegrate them back into society. And if they never acknowledge guilt and never tell the truth, then that’s a major obstacle.”