Calls for justice system reform follow release of man who killed two Indigenous women

Cambria Harris, daughter of Morgan Harris, left, listens in as Melissa Robinson, cousin of Morgan Harris, speaks to family and supporters at a rally at the Manitoba Legislature in Winnipeg to protest government delays in searching landfills for missing Indigenous women on Friday, March 8, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/John Woods (JOHN WOODS)

OTTAWA — A woman whose cousin was killed says the release last week of a man who killed two women is another outrage from a justice system that victimizes Indigenous women and girls.

Shawn Lamb pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the 2012 deaths of two Indigenous women — Carolyn Sinclair and Lorna Blacksmith — and was sentenced to 20 years the following year.

Lamb received statutory release earlier this month after serving two-thirds of his sentence.

Offenders serving life or indeterminate sentences are not eligible for statutory release.

Melissa Robinson’s cousin, Morgan Harris, was killed by someone else in 2022, and Robinson says she would like to see consecutive life sentences in any case where someone is charged with multiple counts of homicide.

She says the families of victims must be at the centre of the justice system and killers like Lamb should not be able to return home while the families are left to deal with the fallout.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 17, 2025

With files from Brittany Hobson in Winnipeg

Alessia Passafiume, The Canadian Press