WINNIPEG — As the retrial of her daughter’s accused killer continues, Wilma Derksen hopes her words help bring comfort to others.
Derksen launched her new book, The Way of Letting Go: One Woman’s Walk Toward Forgiveness, Tuesday night at McNally Robinson.
There was standing room only at the book launch hosted by 680 CJOB’s Richard Clutier. The book focuses on misconceptions about grief and how to find hope and “let go” of heartbreak.
Derksen’s daughter, Candace, was kidnapped and killed in 1984 when she was 13. Mark Edward Grant was convicted in 2011 for killing the young teen. However, the Manitoba Court of Appeal overturned the conviction in 2013 and that ruling was later upheld by the Supreme Court of Canada in 2015. The retrial got underway on Jan. 16.
“I am not waiting on that verdict,” Derksen said Tuesday. “I am heavily immersed in my next book and I’m going to make good whatever that verdict is.”
“Whether he’s guilty or not, I think it will take down some walls because right now, we have these walls that we can’t cross. And once it’s out of the trial, there are going to be some benefits so I’m going to look at those.”