Petition honouring former Dawson Creek woman presented in House of Commons

DAWSON CREEK, B.C. — A petition in honour of former Dawson Creek resident Kiara Agnew has been presented in the House of Commons. 

“Kiara’s Law” was initiated by Tanya Agnew on January 14th, 2026, and presented in the House of Commons on April 17th, 2026 by Ziad Aboultaif, the Member of Parliament representing Edmonton Manning. 

The petition was started after Kiara Agnew, a resident of Dawson Creek, was killed while vacationing Mexico with her boyfriend in March 2023. 

Agnew’s partner, Ryan Friesen, who was initially found not guilty of murder in Mexico, later had his “not guilty” sentence overturned. 

The petition is requesting the House of Commons introduce legislation requiring mandatory Canadian forensic, autopsies in cases of suspicious deaths abroad. 

It is asking for consular advocacy standards for victims’ families and for the Criminal Code of Canada to be amended to guarantee Canadian jurisdiction in cases that involve harm or death of a Canadian by another Canadian outside of Canada. 

The petition has received 1,634 signatures in total. 

Tanya Agnew, Kiara’s aunt, said: “We’re very proud of it. There’s been a lot of hard work that has gone into this over the months.” 

“I think it’s a great first step in protecting the 40 million Canadians who travel internationally every year in the event that the worst happens to them.” 

Through this petition, Tanya hopes that the tragedy that happened to Kiara can prevent the “nightmare that occurs after the nightmare.” 

“It has been so frustrating maneuvering through foreign countries’ criminal justice systems basically blindfolded,” she explained. 

Naomi Agnew, Kiara’s stepmother, said the family is thrilled that the petition has been presented. 

She added: “We’re very excited to hopefully have it voted in and help other families in the future, if anything terrible happens.” 

Naomi said Friesen has filed an amparo, which is a mechanism that allows a person to challenge the judge’s decision. 

“It’s another appeal of the guilty verdict…so we are working with the lawyers in Mexico to deal with it,” she said. 

Tanya, who has reviewed Friesen’s appeal, said she is glad it’s finally coming closer to an end and a conclusion.

“We’re hoping after the document deadline occurs on [April] 29th, it will be reviewed by the magistrates sooner rather than later,” she said. 

Tanya said protests are being planned across the country, including in Dawson Creek, Edmonton Ontario and possibly Vancouver, Fredericton and New Brunswick on May 2nd. 

“We are trying to do it at noon at all locations,” she added.