Celebration of life held for Fort Saskatchewan mother killed in murder-suicide

EDMONTON — Family and friends gathered to say goodbye to a Fort Saskatchewan mother who was killed in a murder-suicide last week.

A celebration of life was held Friday afternoon for Colleen Sillito. The 46-year-old mother of five was fatally shot last Friday morning by an ex-boyfriend.

“She didn’t really want a funeral,” said Jonathan Sillito, Colleen’s brother. “We did have sort of a formal piece, but this is more what she wanted which was, ‘Have a party. Talk about my life. Have a fun time together.’

“I’d like people to remember Colleen, not so much as just those final moments which were so tragic, but her wonderful life which was devoted to her children, her family, her artwork.”

READ MORE: Mom found dead outside Fort Saskatchewan home ‘seized every moment’: boyfriend

Colleen was an artist who had her hand in many forms of artwork, a lot of which was on display at the Dow Centennial Centre in Fort Saskatchewan during the celebration Friday.

“Everything she did was beautiful. She did it big, she did it beautiful,” said Jonathan.

The mother of five was shot to death by 54-year-old Paul Jacob, who then turned the gun on himself. Global News learned Jacob was Colleen’s ex-boyfriend. Their bodies were found on the driveway of the Fort Saskatchewan home early last Friday morning.

READ MORE: Murder-suicide in Fort Saskatchewan: Ex-boyfriend shot mom of 5, then himself

On Thursday, the Sillito family announced it wants the provincial government to call a public inquiry. Her family said Colleen was a victim of escalating threats and violence and had obtained a peace bond from the RCMP that was violated many times.

“We want to find out if there is something that could have been done different to help her save her life,” Jonathan said Friday.

“If we can figure that out we can close those gaps in the system and make it so that it’s less likely for that to happen to anyone else.”

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According to court documents, a year-long peace bond was issued in June, restricting Jacob from going to the Fort Saskatchewan home unless accompanied by RCMP. The bond was a result of a charge of uttering a threat to cause bodily harm. Jacob was never convicted of that charge.

In July, Jacob violated the bond and in September he pleaded guilty to breaching the bond, which was to abstain from communicating directly or indirectly with Sillito.

READ MORE: Fort Saskatchewan shooting highlights tragedy of domestic violence

Jonathan said his family has tentative plans to meet with the provincial government early next week. A spokesperson for Shannon Phillips, the minister responsible for the Status of Women, said the minister will be meeting with the family in the coming days. Justice Minister Kathleen Ganley will also be part of the meeting.

“Alberta has unacceptably high levels of violence against women and we really need to act,” said Phillips. “Alberta also has very high levels of rates of stalking and other, quite frankly, crimes that happen in this province at greater rates than they do in other places. So we need to make sure that our services are speaking to that reality and that we are taking action to ensure that it doesn’t happen again.”

Phillips also sent her condolences to the Sillito family.

“These are absolutely tragic events and my heart goes out to the family, my heart goes out to those children,” she said.

Phillips said since the NDP formed government, $15 million has been invested into programs for women who have been victims of abuse. She said a review of all government programs with respect to violence against women is underway.