OTTAWA — Federal public safety minister Ralph Goodale announced Wednesday the federal government will review the decision to transfer Terri-Lynne McClintic, who pleaded guilty to the first-degree murder of eight-year-old Tori Stafford in 2010, to an Aboriginal healing lodge for women offenders.

“I have earlier today asked the Commissioner of the Correctional Service of Canada to undertake a complete review of the facts of this case to ensure that the law and all of the longstanding policies of the Correctional Service of Canada have been properly applied,” Goodale said, adding that he cannot reverse the decision.

Since being reported by the London Free Press earlier this week, the news has sparked outrage. Rodney Stafford, Tori’s father, told CBC News it amounted to a “free pass” for his daughter’s killer.

It’s not the first time a victim’s family has raised concerns about an inmate being sent to a healing lodge. Here’s what you need to know about why the lodges exist and how effective they are.

Healing lodges are intended to address the high rate of Indigenous incarceration in Canada

In 1992, Canada passed new legislation to allow Aboriginal communities to provide correctional services, part of an attempt to improve the over-representation of Indigenous people in Canada’s correctional system. In 2017, more than 25 per cent of men and 36 per cent of women behind bars were Indigenous. About five per cent of Canadians are Indigenous.

Okimaw Ohci, the Saskatchewan healing lodge where McClintic has been transferred, was the first such healing lodge to open, in 1995. It has 30 beds for minimum and medium security women offenders and, according to the Correctional Service Canada (CSC) website, offers programs that “address vocational training, family and children, Aboriginal language, and nature. The women learn how to live independently by cooking, doing laundry, cleaning, and doing outdoor maintenance chores.”

Today, there are nine such healing lodges across Canada — most in the three prairie provinces — with a total of 367 beds.

However, non-Indigenous offenders can also go to the lodges

It’s unclear whether McClintic is Indigenous — but even if she isn’t, that doesn’t make her ineligible to live at a healing lodge. According to a CSC statement, non-Indigenous offenders can live at the lodges if they “choose to follow Aboriginal programming and spirituality.” The agency told the Post that it assesses an offender’s risk to public safety before deciding to move him or her to a healing lodge. “The inmate must also require a low degree of supervision and control within the institution,” the statement says. “A transfer to lower security allows the inmate to experience responsibilities to prepare for reintegration into the community.”

Some inmates have escaped from them

In 2016, the National Post reported that 18 inmates had escaped from healing lodges over the previous five years, and that Pe Sakastew, a lodge for male offenders in Alberta, had recorded 34 escapes since 1999, though many escapees were recaptured peacefully or returned on their own.

Of Canada’s nine Aboriginal healing lodges, all are minimum-security facilities except for the two lodges for women offenders, which also accept medium-security inmates. On Wednesday, Goodale said McClintic was classified as a medium-security prisoner in 2014.

It’s not clear how effective they are

Aboriginal healing lodges are a response to the disproportionate number of Indigenous people behind bars and an attempt to address concerns that “mainstream prison programs do not work for Aboriginal offenders,” according to information from CSC’s website. They use a “holistic and spiritual” approach, including “guidance and support from Elders and Aboriginal communities.”

But research into their effectiveness has shown mixed results. A 2013 government backgrounder claims that the recidivism rate for offenders who’d completed programs at three Aboriginal healing lodges was six per cent, less than the national rate of 11 per cent. But a 2001 government analysis reported a 19 per cent rate of recidivism for healing lodge residents, compared to 13 per cent for Indigenous offenders released from minimum-security facilities.

The local First Nation says it was ‘surprised’ by the decision

The Nekaneet First Nation in Saskatchewan, which houses the Okimaw Ohci healing lodge, released a statement Wednesday saying it was surprised by the decision to move McClintic to the lodge. Chief Alvin Francis said First Nation elders used to weigh in on which inmates were chosen, but their funding was cut about six years ago.

“We have no say on inmate selection, but I believe if our elders were still a part of the process maybe Ms. McClintic wouldn’t be at the healing lodge,” Francis said in the statement.

A 2012 review from the Office of the Correctional Investigator identified community acceptance as one factor preventing the expansion of healing lodges in Canada. Like the Okimaw Ohci lodge, many of the existing healing lodges are located on First Nations land. “Just as in many non-Aboriginal communities, not every Aboriginal community is willing to have offenders housed in their midst or take on the responsibility for their management,” the report found.

This isn’t the first time concerns have been raised about a serious offender getting off easy

Shortly after being sentenced in 2016 to 10 years in prison for a drunk driving accident that killed a family of four in Saskatoon, Catherine McKay was transferred to Okimaw Ohci, the same lodge where McClintic now resides. The victims’ family was outraged, telling Global News that the “consequences aren’t there” for offenders sent to healing lodges.

At the time, Sen. Kim Pate, former executive director of the Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies, said healing lodges are still considered prisons. “It’s supposed to look at particular issues faced by Indigenous prisoners and allow an opportunity for them to deal with issues that have led to them being criminalized,” she told the CBC in February 2017.

• Email: mforrest@postmedia.com | Twitter: MauraForrest