CPOMC has as its founding members, Yvonne Lindfield (nee Harvey), Gary Lindfield and Susan Love. Their first meeting was held in October 2009 in Ottawa for the purpose of establishing a Board of Directors and to decide upon a mission, vision and official name for the organization.

The inspiration to create CPOMC came in the aftermath of the murder of Yvonne’s only child Chrissy Nadine Predham, aged 28 in St. John’s Newfoundland on January 21, 2007. The ability to come to terms with the reality of this horrific event was compounded by what trauma counsellors refer to as “secondary victimization”. This secondary victimization was a direct result of the unimaginable bureaucracy following Chrissy’s murder. If Yvonne had experienced this bureaucracy, and re-victimization, so, probably had others.

Yvonne had consulted with psychologists, trauma counsellors, priests and doctors. All of whom were very supportive and helpful in their own way. However, themselves, not having had this experience, could provide encouragement, but not connect on a visceral level.

It is impossible to expect anyone, who has not been directly impacted by the act of “Murder” to understand the enormous grief, the immense anger, and the depth of hopelessness that those of us feel who have experienced such a life-changing, traumatic, event.

In 2008 Yvonne discovered Parents of Murdered Children and Other Survivors of Homicide Victims (POMC) in the United States. She began attending POMC support meetings in the U.S. and immediately experienced the benefits of being able to share with others who had suffered the death of a loved one to murder. It was here, sharing with other parents and survivors of homicide victims, that she felt understood. So much so, that she decided to attend POMC’s National Conference in August 2009 in Cincinnati, Ohio. Once again she experienced that powerful energy of hope, healing and understanding. At a conference consisting of hundreds of people, it was a unique feeling of just one huge family. It was here with these people who had felt the same despair, that there was clearly the promise of hope that was what she had been searching for.

Yvonne was the only Canadian attendee at that conference. It was at this point that she decided to create a Canadian version of POMC to share this sense of hope with Canadian survivors of murdered victims.

In December 2009, CPOMC was incorporated as a Canadian not-for-profit organization. The initiative to unite all parents and survivors of homicide victims across Canada for the purpose of creating a strong unified voice and a national support organization was born. In April 2011 CPOMC was granted charitable status by the Canada Revenue Agency. Registration Number: 83190 9460 RR0001