The Parole Board of Canada will review its decision made earlier this year to release a man now wanted in the Saskatchewan stabbings investigation, the public safety minister says.
Marco Mendicino told reporters in Vancouver on Tuesday evening he’s received assurances from the parole board there will be an investigation into the decision to free Myles Sanderson, the main suspect in the killings who remains the subject of a Prairie-wide manhunt.
“I’m extremely concerned with what occurred here. A community is left reeling as a result of a massive number of tragedies and killings, and that’s fundamentally wrong,” he said.
“I am assured the Parole Board of Canada will be undertaking an investigation of the decision. The process for review begins there, but it certainly does not end at that point.”
Sanderson, 32, is facing multiple charges, including first-degree murder in connection with the Sunday stabbings that left 10 dead and 18 injured. His brother, Damien Sanderson, was alleged to be involved in the killings. He was found dead in James Smith Cree Nation on Monday, one of the villages north of Saskatoon, where the killings took place.
Myles was already wanted for being unlawfully at large since May. Several months before the killings, the Parole Board of Canada said in a Feb. 1 decision that Myles would “not present an undue risk,” and freeing him would “contribute to the protection of society” by facilitating his reintegration.
That decision came despite Myles’ lengthy criminal history, which includes 59 criminal convictions since he was 18. His most recent convictions were for assault, assault with a weapon, assaulting a police officer, uttering threats, mischief and robbery.
His parole records, obtained by Global News on Monday, recount almost two decades of crime, as well as drug and alcohol abuse, and associations with gang members, pimps and drug dealers.
“As I said in my introductory remarks, there will be an appropriate time and a place to review policy and resourcing. We need to embrace that review. We need to be transparent with Canadians to make sure that this kind of thing never happens again, but right now our top priority has to be to support the families,” Mendicino said.
“We have to be focused on the families right now, and they’re in a lot of pain, as you can imagine. The trauma is indescribably difficult, and I’m also assured the RCMP are full-court press, doing everything they can mobilizing resources to be there for them.”
According to his parole records, in July 2017, Myles showed up at his ex-girlfriend’s house and “acted in a threatening manner, made comments about a gang, and damaged property.”
While the children hid in a bathtub, he punched a hole in the bathroom door before going outside and throwing a cement block through the side window of a car. He had fled before the police arrived.
In the following days, during an argument with an employee at a “First Nations band store,” he “tried to fight the victim, and then threatened to murder him and burn down his parents’ house.” Police failed to locate him.
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In November 2017, he threatened an accomplice, hitting him in the head with a firearm and stomping on his head. He then made the accomplice rob a fast food restaurant with a firearm, his parole records indicate.
The following April, while drinking at a home, he stabbed two men with a fork. He then went outside and beat a victim who lost consciousness in a ditch. Sanderson returned to the home and kicked in the door.
He was eventually arrested in June 2018, after telling police they would have to shoot him. As he was being put into a police car, he kicked an officer in the face and head repeatedly, the parole board wrote. His prison sentence totalled four years, four months and 19 days, along with 12 months of probation.
During his time in federal jail, Sanderson “participated in programming and cultural activities, and engaged with elders,” the records show. He was “reported to have made gains.” In February 2021, he was transferred to a healing lodge. He was freed in August 2021 on statutory release.
The Parole Board said in a statement that statutory release was mandatory after offenders had served two-thirds of their sentence. However, his statutory release was suspended in November 2021 when he was caught lying to his parole supervisor. Three months later, the Parole Board cancelled the suspension.
In its 10-page decision, the board wrote that while Sanderson had “a significant journey” ahead and needed to stay sober and get therapy, he had been “making an attempt” to deal with his emotional and addiction problems.
Upon his release, Sanderson was ordered not to consume any alcohol or drugs, follow a treatment plan, avoid his victims and their families, and have no contact with his children as well as an individual identified only by the initials V.B.
By May though, Sanderson was listed by Saskatchewan Crime Stoppers as “unlawfully at large,” and last seen in Saskatoon, about 200 kilometres southwest of the scene of Sunday’s mass killings.
— with files from Global News’ Stewart Bell
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