A rally is planned this morning outside the Toronto youth and family court to protest against the judge who granted custody of Katelynn Sampson to the woman accused in her murder.
Police have charged Donna Irving and her boyfriend Warren Johnson with the second-degree murder of the seven-year-old girl.
Katelynn was found dead in Irving's house after a woman called 911 on August 3, claiming the girl had stopped breathing after choking on food, police say.
Donna Irving was named Katelynn's legal guardian earlier this year with a handwritten custody agreement, but critics are upset because they say the court did not look into the 29-year-old's past, which included charges for violent crimes.
Both of Katelynn's biological parents had problems with drugs. Her mother Bernice Sampson had been friends with Irving for 10 years, and put her daughter in Irving's care since January while she sorted out her personal problems, the CBC reports.
Custody can be awarded to people with criminal records, according to the Ontario Association of Children's Aid Societies.
A memorial was held for Katelynn yesterday in a play area next to the Parkdale Community Centre.
