Darryl Burns speaking to reporters in Melfort on April 28, 2023 after attending the RCMP's presentation of the timeline of events on Sept. 4, 2022 (Libby Giesbrecht /650 CKOM)

By Jaryn Vecchio

Coroner's Inquest

Family of mass stabbing victim not happy with Parole Board of Canada’s reason for releasing perpetrator

Jan 29, 2024 | 2:00 PM

Myles Sanderson’s risk to the public was manageable.

That’s what a member of the Parole Board of Canada said during a hearing which allowed the prison release of an inmate who went on to commit one of Canada’s worst mass killings on the James Smith Cree Nation and Village of Weldon that left 11 people dead and 17 others injured out of custody.

That written decision was discussed on Monday during Day 11 of the coroner’s inquest looking into exactly what happened on Sept. 4, 2022. The jury is not tasked with determining fault but rather looking at the circumstances and making recommendations to prevent similar incidents from happening.

Monica Irfan with the Parole Board of Canada was brought in to testify about Sanderson’s hearings and the decisions behind them. She explained she never interacted with the inmate doing his time in custody or during the hearings.

Sanderson met with the Parole Board multiple times which included a hearing to discuss whether he should be re-released after breaking one of the conditions of his statutory release. He had been living with his common-law spouse, Vanessa Burns, for about a month despite not being allowed to.

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Irfan explained the Parole Board member tasked with overseeing the hearing was given lots of information to consider. This included Sanderson’s criminal history, testimony from parole officers, letters in support of Sanderson, and the work he was doing to try and better himself such as remaining sober and taking part in different programs.

In the end, they decided to reprimand him but allow him back into the community. An additional condition was added to his release, specifically that he couldn’t interact with Burns or his children unless for programming or after receiving permission.

“The board is confident your risk is manageable,” said Irfan who was reading the written decision made by the Parole Board member.

Darryl Burns, brother of Lydia Gloria Burns who was one of the victims of the attack, told paNOW he doesn’t agree with the decision and the reason behind it. He explained Sanderson was a repeat offender and nothing has been said to prove otherwise.

“In some of the testimony, they talked about Vanessa phoning in, and he was in the background screaming and hollering. The violence tendency he had was still there,” he said.

Irfan noted the Parole Board member during this hearing was not involved in Sanderson’s other hearings. In Burns’ opinion, this was the wrong decision.

“How much of that information is passed down, how much is condensed, and how much is not included from one (member) to the next,” he added.

Burns went on to say the whole process the Parole Board of Canada follows is very confusing and too complicated.

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Jaryn.Vecchio@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @princealbertnow