Leave for B.C. child killer sparks call for change at political level

The planned leave of child killer Shane Ertmoed from a Vancouver Island prison has now caught the attention of some politicians.

In late September, Ertmoed, who is serving a life sentence, was granted a 60-day unescorted temporary absence from prison to take cooking classes.

That was then delayed, but the mother of his victim has now met with Frank Caputo, the Conservative MP for Kamloops-Thompson-Nicola, looking to make changes to the rules governing temporary absences.

Ertmoed, then 24, was convicted in 2002 of the sexual assault and killing of 10-year-old Heather Thomas.

Thomas disappeared on Oct. 1, 2000, while riding a bike outside her father’s townhouse complex in Cloverdale.

Her body was found three weeks later in Alouette Lake.

Thomas’ mother, Jody Aspin, said all she has wanted to do, since losing her daughter, is protect other children.

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“Heather wasn’t protected,” she told Global News, “but I want to make sure other children are.”

Ertmoed was denied day parole last year because he still posed a risk of serious harm to others.

2:28 Growing outrage over B.C. child killer’s granted unescorted leave from prison

“There needs to be a situation where the onus is reversed and he has to justify his release into society and there has to be no risk of reoffending,” the family’s lawyer, Rebecca Darnell, said.

Caputo has already raised the case in the House of Commons, questioning the government about how an offender like Ertmoed could be approved for an unescorted absence.

The government says the Parole Board is independent, but Caputo says its answers have not been satisfactory.

“Well, it’s true in that they make decisions on their own that they are independent, but what that leaves out is that the Parole Board is interpreting the laws that parliament puts before the Parole Board,” he said.

“So, if we want changes to how the Parole Board makes its decisions, we need to change the rules and we do that through legislation in parliament.”

Aspin said she is ready to fight as long as necessary.

“I am going to do whatever I can until the day I die and even then, I know my son will take over at some point,” she said.

“She has so many friends, so many family. There isn’t one person that won’t step in, even after I’m gone. I won’t stop.”