Day 8: Parole officers, program facilitator detail Sanderson’s progress in prison

Nearly three years before his killing spree on the James Smith Cree Nation and in Weldon, Myles Sanderson was making progress in a high-intensity treatment program in prison.

On Wednesday in Melfort, Brandy Ross — an Indigenous correctional program officer with the Correctional Service of Canada — told the inquest into the mass murders that Sanderson had started the program when he was behind bars in October of 2019.

A report done by one of the program’s facilitators noted Sanderson attended nearly all of the 112 sessions, which Ross said would be considered pretty good attendance for the program.

She noted Sanderson was guarded when he started the program, but he got better after realizing the facilitators were there for him. Ross agreed he was a motivated participant and gained insights into his risk factors.

He was very helpful if things needed to be done, Ross testified, and would assist as an Elder’s helper preparing the morning smudge.

She recalled Sanderson was very open with the group when they did a talking circle to raise personal examples or situations.

The program was interrupted in the spring of 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, splitting up the class and not allowing some of the ceremonies to be held.

Sanderson completed the program in November of 2020. Ross testified that Sanderson was proud that he had completed it, and presented his self-management plan to the group. Those plans typically talk about what a person’s risks are, how they’re going to manage them, and the warning signs to look for.

Sanderson also presented one of the facilitators with a beaded lanyard he had made. Ross remembered Sanderson was emotional when he presented the lanyard, telling the recipient how much it had helped him to have someone listen to him and to give him positive guidance.

Ross testified Sanderson was rated as having improved in all of his areas, at least marginally.

The next step, Ross said, would have been for Sanderson to go into a maintenance program, which is conducted in the prison. It reviews the skills the offender has learned and examples of how they can work.

About two months after the final report of Sanderson’s performance in the program, he was transferred to the Willow Cree Healing Lodge. Ross told the inquiry she didn’t know if the maintenance program was offered at that facility, but the inquest has heard that Sanderson was enrolled in a maintenance program when he was given statutory release.

Less than two years later, in September of 2022, Sanderson went on a stabbing rampage that left 11 people dead and 17 injured.

READ MORE:

• Day 1: Jury selection, first witness at James Smith Cree Nation inquest
• Day 2: Emotions intensify as testimony continues at JSCN inquest
• Day 3: RCMP witness at JSCN inquest discusses drug trade, warrants
• Day 4: RCMP witness apologizes to veteran’s family at JSCN inquest
• Day 5: Psychologist shares assessment of Myles Sanderson at JSCN inquest
• Day 6: Inquest hears Sanderson wasn’t among Sask.’s most wanted before attacks
• Day 7: Sanderson’s release from custody scrutinized at JSCN inquiry

Earlier Wednesday, the community parole officer who worked with Sanderson before he was unlawfully at large said it was hard to say if anything could have been done differently with him in the system.

“There was nothing leading up to this that would suggest that he would be capable of what happened,” Natasha Melanson told the inquest.

Sanderson was on statutory release when he breached his conditions a third time; he was considered unlawfully at large starting in May of 2022 and wasn’t in custody again until after the attacks.

On Tuesday, testimony at the inquest in Melfort centred around Sanderson’s statutory release and the three times he breached his release conditions. His interactions with parole officers were the topic on Wednesday morning.

Melanson told the inquest she started working with Sanderson in February of 2022. She testified he was a bit bristly and standoffish at first during their meetings, but he softened after a few weeks.

She said Sanderson never swore or verbally abused her, but he could get frustrated.

The parole officer said that for about three months, Sanderson was fine – doing his programming and not breaching his conditions – and she never had a reason to get him tested for drugs or alcohol. She noted he was accessing mental health support from a community therapist and was participating in the creation of cultural items.

He breached his conditions once by meeting one of his kids, but parole officers determined that he didn’t understand the condition and that it wasn’t intentional. As a result, they decided to maintain his release.

But in late May of 2022, Vanessa Burns – Sanderson’s common-law partner — sent Melanson a message saying that a day or so before, Sanderson had forced his way into her apartment and had been throwing things around.

Melanson said that was an escalation, so a warrant was issued for Sanderson’s arrest. She talked to him a couple of times after that, and he said he wanted to turn himself in but he was scared of going back to prison.

Police didn’t catch up with him again until Sept. 7, when he died in police custody.

Asked if there were any red flags from the handling of Sanderson that could help with future offenders, Melanson said parole officers typically look for things like an increase in aggressive behaviour, substance use or spending time with criminalized associates. In Sanderson’s case, she said, there was none of that.

Later Wednesday morning, the inquest heard from Daryl Schmidt, the intake parole officer to whom Sanderson was assigned when he went to federal prison.

Schmidt did several assessments, including one that determined Sanderson had substantial issues with drugs and alcohol, so the parole officer concluded a high intensity of treatment would be needed.

He also did a family violence risk assessment and, after Sanderson was open about perpetrating domestic violence against Burns, Schmidt determined Sanderson was a high risk for domestic violence.

Schmidt said he asked for a psychological assessment, but didn’t get it for months.

In the afternoon, the regional director of health services for the prairie region with the Correctional Service of Canada, Carson Gaudet, said a delay in an inmate’s psychological risk assessment is typical.

Gaudet said there’s a backlog in the prairie region because of a lack of employees to do them.

– With files from 980 CJME’s Lisa Schick