Family members of a woman whose children were murdered by their father in Merritt in 2008 are speaking up in support of the Not Criminally Responsible Reform Act.

The act would change the release reviews for those found not criminally responsible from annual hearings to hearings every three years, which Darcie Clarke’s family members say will correct an imbalance in the current review system.

“What is being proposed is what we – the families of victims all across Canada – have been asking for: people found not criminally responsible get better supports than are currently in place; the community as a whole receives the protections [it] deserve[s]; and the families of victims finally get more time to heal,” reads a statement released by Clarke and her cousin, Stacy Galt, on the victims’ advocacy website 4darcie.ca.

Allan Schoenborn was found not criminally responsible by reason of mental disorder for the murders of his and Clarke’s children, 10-year-old Kaitlynne, eight-year-old Max, and five-year-old Cordon.

Clarke and Galt have worked with Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Attorney General Rob Nicholson and Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore on the bill for nearly five years. They say the changes will bring victims’ rights into balance with those of people found not criminally responsible.

The bill passed its second reading in the House of Commons late last month with a vote of 242 to 34 and will now be reviewed by a committee and reported on before its third reading.

If the bill basses its third reading, it gets royal assent and becomes law.

“This is a bill that reminds the courts and provincial review boards that victims matter. In fact, it is more than a reminder that victims matter – it will hopefully soon be the law,” the statement says.

The bill also addresses imbalances in the legislation surrounding those found not criminally responsible, including that there is no legal obligation to notify members of the community if a high-risk offender leaves or escapes from a facility, and treating and classifying those with lengthy violent histories differently than those with mental disorders, the statement says.

In 2011, the B.C. Review Board granted Schoenborn escorted visits into the community from the Port Coquitlam psychiatric facility where he was being held. That permission was revoked after opposition from Clarke’s family, who said she was living nearby.

Schoenborn’s request to transfer to a psychiatric facility in Selkirk, Man. was approved by the B.C. Review Board in February, but has yet to be carried out. Clarke’s family opposes that move as well, saying she has family in the Selkirk area.