A coroner’s inquest into a mass stabbing on a Saskatchewan First Nation heard on Jan. 29 about why parole was denied for the man who would later go on to kill 11 people.
Myles Sanderson went on a deadly rampage on the James Smith Cree Nation and in the nearby community of Weldon, northeast of Saskatoon, on Sept. 4, 2022. Seventeen others were injured.
The 32-year-old died in police custody a few days later.
Monica Irfan, a deputy director in policy and legislative initiatives with the Parole Board of Canada, spoke broadly about how it played a role in Mr. Sanderson’s incarceration and eventual release. She was not involved in Mr. Sanderson’s file.
Mr. Sanderson was serving his first federal prison sentence of more than four years, when the board denied his application for full parole and day parole in 2021. It considered his criminal record, including 59 convictions as an adult, his social history and release plans, among other things.
The board found Mr. Sanderson “will present an undue risk to society,” Ms. Irfan said, reading part of that decision at the inquest.
Mr. Sanderson received statutory release in August 2021. Ms. Irfan said the board’s role in statutory release, which kicks in when an offender has served two-thirds of a prison sentence, is to impose conditions.
Four months into his freedom, Mr. Sanderson was found to have been lying about his living arrangements, as he was staying with the mother of his children, Vanessa Burns. His release was suspended.
The inquest heard Mr. Sanderson’s community parole officer had recommended that he not be allowed back out based on his attitude and deceit.
Ms. Irfan said the board must look at “all of the factors—positive and negative—to reach a final conclusion.”
In February 2022, the board cancelled the suspension and Mr. Sanderson again received statutory release with a reprimand. The board said it believed Mr. Sanderson’s risk was manageable in the community.
Three months later, the Correctional Service of Canada deemed Mr. Sanderson to be unlawfully at large and a parole officer issued a warrant for his apprehension. He was still at large at the time of the massacre.
The inquest, in its third week in Melfort, Sask., is to establish the events leading up to the killings, who died, and when and where each person was killed.
Testimony is expected to wrap up Tuesday before the six-person jury deliberates on recommendations to prevent similar deaths in the future.
A separate inquest into Mr. Sanderson’s death is scheduled for February.
Over the last two weeks, the inquest has heard how the rampage unfolded from RCMP officers at the scene, major crimes investigators and health-care officials. It has also heard about Mr. Sanderson’s life and prison history from his parole officers.
RCMP said in an overview of the massacre that Mr. Sanderson went to the First Nation to sell cocaine. In the days before the killings, he caused chaos with his brother, Damien Sanderson.
Damien Sanderson was the first to be killed. Myles Sanderson then went door-to-door on the First Nation stabbing people.
An RCMP criminal profiler has testified that some victims were targeted because Mr. Sanderson had a grievance against them, and others just got in the way of his mission to kill.
