Indigenous Canadians' Criminality ... All Is Forgiven

"You were set to begin your full parole on April 14. The warrant for your apprehension and suspension was issued and executed on the same day. The Parole Office received information that you had received new criminal charges relating to assault, assault by choking and uttering threats."

"Your ex-intimate partner reported to police that you had assaulted her that morning. At that point,  you reportedly pushed her before choking her. You threatened to kill her and reportedly hit her repeatedly with a closed fist. Police observed physical marks on the victim. You were still at the home of the victim when police arrived."

"You deny any physical violence occurred. You stated that your ex-partner had provided a false statement to police and that she was intending to give police information relating the same." 

Parole Board of Canada 

An armed robber who hit a jewelry shop on Halifax's Quinpool Road in March 2022 is free again on full parole even though the Correctional Service of Canada recommended against releasing him. Photo by Chris Lambie/National Post

 

Sentenced in February 2024 to more than five years in prison for two Halifax jewelry store robberies in March, the 31-year-old was released on full parole this past April. Then he attacked his ex-girlfriend, assaulting and choking her the very day he received full parole with the freedom to turn his life around.That full parole granted despite the Correctional Service of Canada recommending against his release. 

 

Daniel Christian Anthony Johnson and his girlfriend had conceived of a life together, that she and her six children would move in with him once full parole was granted. During his transition from day parole to full parole, his girlfriend "discovered text messages" with other women. They got into an argument, at a time when the children were all at school. The argument led to a heated exchange and Johnson's girlfriend broke up with him. He later in court denied assaulting her, that instead he had attempted to stop her from harming herself.

 

In response to Johnson's criminal recidivism, the Correctional Service of Canada recommended the full parole be revoked. Instead, the parole board cancelled the man's suspension: "It is the board's opinion that you will not, by reoffending before expiration of your sentence according to law, present an undue risk to society if released", the decision read. The board "does not believe" Johnson returned to his cycle of crime, the decision stated. "You were not engaged with individuals who were involved in criminal activity".

 

The original sentence of five years, one month and 14 days was in response to robbery, theft under $5,000, forcible confinement, careless use of a firearm, assault with a weapon, carrying a concealed weapon, unauthorized possession of a restricted weapon in a moving vehicle, and failing to comply with a court order. The latest decision by the Parole Board was based on the fact that Johnson is "a first-time federal offender of Indigenous and African Canadian descent". 

 

"The casual and systemic racism and intergenerational traumas which impact Indigenous and Black people in Canada" was the base assumption utilized in all such cases involving Indigenous and Blacks engaged in serious criminality, with reduced sentences and easier bail conditions, ascribing their behaviour to societal racism and original 'colonialism'.  

 

The Board was assured by Johnson that since being placed back behind bars in the spring he had undertaken a new direction for himself, careful not to socialize with other inmates, engaging in traditional Indigenous customs such as "smudging, making dream catchers, and in touch with an Elder". Enough to melt the stony heart of any arbiter of deserved justice for harms against society. 

 

On the other hand, Johnson was observed to be "diverting" his methadone; rather than swallowing the prescribed medication whose use was to treat opioid-use-disorder, he held on to it, with the intention of sharing, selling or saving it. Prison guards also discovered an unauthorized medication in his cell. He "also admitted to participating in a drone drop", informing the board that he had "participated under threat of violence and did not consume any drugs related to the drone drop". 

 

Task force targeting drones delivering contraband into prisons.

 

"The Board acknowledges that colonization, residential schooling, forced assimilation practices and racism and marginalization have impacted your upbringing and how you interact with the criminal justice system."

"The Board considers that it is clear that this history provides context for your criminality."

"Specifically, you have experienced family fragmentation, substance abuse, and have been the victim of violence."

"The Board believes that your substance abuse, poor coping mechanisms and poor emotions regulation are linked to the trauma you and your family have experienced." 

Parole Board of Canada 

Unfathomable Mother Love

"I thought she ran off. I was so afraid. I kept sending her messages on MSN back then urging her to let somebody know where you are and that you are OK."

"I think she [Penny Bourdreau] should serve what she was sentenced to. I read that her assessment to reoffend is really low and that she's not probable to commit the same crime."

"Killing Karissa was unprovoked, so who is to say it wouldn't take the right situation for her to do something again."

"If she is given parole, I don't think she should have access to children whatsoever." 

Courtney Sarty, childhood friend

 

"You can never call yourself 'mother in conjunction with Karissa's name again, and the words 'Mommy don't' from a trusted and loving Karissa are there to haunt you the rest of your natural life." 

Judge Margaret Stewart, Halifax, Nova Scotia

 

"It is their opinion [unnamed police agency] that you were issued a life sentence with no parole before 20 years served which needs to be followed." 

"[There is still a] deep sense of lost and grief, be it family members, friends or the community at large."

"The grief and opposition to your release continues to this day."

Parole Board of Canada 

"My whole world changed the day Karissa was taken away from me."

"Now, she’s only memories, pictures and a name etched on a stone."

"Am I a failure as a father? Should I have seen this coming?"

"[Karissa’s murder had] long effects on her family, friends [and] schoolmates that knew and loved her."

"Hearing the horrific tale has changed them in many ways forever. Life will never be the same for any of us."

Paul Boudreau, Karissa’s father

Karissa Paige Boudreau. Photo by Courtesy Bridgewater Police Department

 

Penny Boudreau, serving a life sentence for murdering her twelve year-old daughter Karissa, has been a model prisoner at the Nova Institution for Women, located in Truro, Nova Scotia. At the prison she works as a cleaner and is entrusted with ordering groceries for her unit in the prison. She was sentenced seventeen years ago to 20 years' incarceration after confessing to having killed her only child. Under that sentence which did not allow for parole until two decades had been served in prison, she would be eligible for release on June 13, 2028. But she has been given the opportunity to convince a parole board she represents no threat to society and should be given early release. 

 

Under the Corrections and Conditional Release Act she is eligible to apply for unescorted passes and day parole three years before completion of her life sentence. Day parole for rehabilitative purposes allows an offender to participate in community-based activities preparatory to full parole or statutory release. A backlash has resulted by the woman's decision to apply for unescorted release. The reality of her daughter's death is that her mother with sinister motivation aforethought, had placed packing twine in her vehicle with the intention of its use in disposing of an impediment to her relationship with a lover.

 

Penny Boudreau is led from court in Bridgewater, N.S., in June 2008, after her appearance in the murder of her 12-year-old daughter, Karissa Boudreau. Photo by Eric Wynne

 

Seventeen years ago, Penny Boudreau at age 33 was living with her boyfriend. Both were workers at a grocery store in the town of Bridgewater on the South Shore of Nova Scotia. Living together in a small two-bedroom apartment, they were destined to share that apartment with a third person: Karissa Boudreau had arrived to live with the couple, after having been in her father's care. The girl, it would seem, was a source of friction in the apartment between the three residents. Karissa resented her mother's boyfriend living with her and her mother.

 

On Saturday, January 27, 2008, mother and daughter took a drive to be alone together, to discuss house rules and the conflict that existed between the girl and her mother. Penny Boudreau stopped briefly at a grocery store in the midst of a snowstorm, while her daughter waited in the car. When the mother returned to the parked vehicle Karissa, she claimed, was nowhere to be seen. Two hours on, the mother dialled 911 to report her grade six child missing, out in a snowstorm wearing a hoodie, vest, jeans and pink Crocs.

 

A search involving helicopters, police dogs and concerned people ensued, while for 13 fruitless days the girl remained missing. Penny Boudreau appeared on television, appealing for help to find her daughter: "Karissa, we love  you. We are all looking for you, just come home or call or something", the mother urged her absent daughter. During their search, police contacted friends of the girl, including Courtney Sarty, to alert them to the possibility that their friend might be  hiding somewhere on their property. 

 

It took two weeks, but Karissa's frozen body was discovered less than five minutes from Boudreau's apartment, on the LeHave riverbank. An undercover operation was then launched by the RCMP, initially focusing on Penny's boyfriend, briefed and alerted by reports of shouting and fighting at the apartment.  A plan was hatched to target Boudreau's boyfriend, investigators attempting to determine whether the couple was responsible for Karissa's death. 

 

The memorial site along the river bank in 2009 where Karissa’s body was found still exists today.

 

Eventually, the boyfriend was cleared of suspicious involvement, leaving police to organize a Mr. Big fake crime scenario in hopes of eliciting a confession from Boudreau. And it was a successful gambit; feeling she was speaking to someone involved in crime, and not to a police investigator, the mother re-enacted the scene that unfolded as she strangled her daughter on a deserted road. Boudreau was charged with first-degree murder, later pleading guilty to second-degree murder, to bypass a trial.

 

Now parole board members are set to hold a 18 June hearing to determine whether Boudreau represents a risk to society, reviewing her psychological risk assessments that described Boudreau in a dysfunctional relationship, fearing abandonment by her boyfriend at the time of the murder. In reflection of her model jail behaviour, she has been granted regular escorted temporary absences to leave prison for several hours under supervision to attend  church services, Bible study meetings and visiting a friend from the congregation. 

Since murdering her child, Boudreau has been estranged from her family. A pastor at a church she attends has confirmed Boudreau will receive continued support, working her way toward proving she is able to integrate back into society. She was given the opportunity to tour a community residential facility -- a halfway house -- and met with the director. 

 

A memorial for Karissa remains on the LeHave riverbank where her remains were found. Her friend Courtney Sarty visits that memorial, still struggling to understand how a woman could forsake her unconditional love for her daughter. "I have my own son and my love is deep. He could curse me and put me down to the lowest, and I'm still going to look at him and say, 'I love you'", she said. 

 

Penny Boudreau, who strangled her twelve year old daughter, in 2009. Photo by Darren Pittman /

 

"The residents of the South Shore, Halifax and communities across Canada deserve to feel safe in their own neighbourhoods."

"Like many Nova Scotians, I am appalled to learn that Penny Boudreau ... has been on day passes from prison and could soon be granted unescorted leave from prison."

Rick Perkins, former Conservative Member of Parliament for South Shore-St.Margarets 

"Undue Risk to Society"

Momin Khawaja 2004 Photo: Jason Ransom/Ottawa Sun

"Your current convictions are very serious as they are related to planned and widespread violence. The nature of these offences suggests you have the potential to cause serious harm to many people should you return to your offence cycle, and reoffend."

"Previously, and as recently as your last board hearing, you denied this was its intended function. You also acknowledged that you were aware that you were contributing to terrorism or violence, which you previously denied."

"Tying these two things together, you indicated you were aware that the people you were associating with were likely to use the device for violent purposes, even if you were not specifically aware of any plans. This increased accountability marks an important turning point that will enable further progress."

Parole Board of Canada

Momin Khawaja of Ottawa was the first person ever to be convicted under Canada's Anti-Terrorism Act. The Parole Board of Canada has now denied Khawaja's latest application for parole, on the basis that in their considered opinion, given all the evidence against the man, he represents still -- even after over 19 years behind bars -- presents as an an "undue risk to society".

Now 44 years of age, Khawaja has been in custody since March of 2004, at a time when he worked on contract as a software developer at Canada's Department of Foreign Affairs, where he was arrested and charged with seven offences related to terrorism. He was convicted at trial on five counts and given a life sentence, connected to his role in an al-Qaeda-inspired plot to bomb United Kingdom targets.

He was allied with five British men who, for their part in the terrorist strategy were given life sentences in Britain, in connection with the same plot to build and detonate fertilizer bombs. According to federal prosecutors, Khawaja had been part of the plot, his role was to build a radio-frequency device for the purpose of detonating the bombs remotely.

A November 2021 psychological risk assessment concluded that Khawaja remains at moderate-to-high-risk for the potential to commit another terrorism-inspired offence, while for any other type of criminal activity he falls into a low-risk category. Khawaja completed a sociology degree while in prison and under the direction of an imam studied Arabic and religion. 

There were six security incidents he was involved in during his time in prison; refusing to comply with direct orders, and aggressive behaviour exhibited toward staff. "Some incidents required physical intervention and the use of chemical agents", noted the board. In March 2015 he was transferred to a new federal facility and since then moved to a medium-security prison, living in a "responsibility-based unit".

These units typically are comprised as a pod of ten inmates sharing a common area, washroom and kitchen for the preparation of their own meals. Khawaja's mental health is a concern; while alone in his cell he is occasionally given to fits of shouting and swearing, and alleging he was tortured by an outside agency, but he has refused mental health services "so these difficulties could not be properly assessed".

The board admitted it is difficult to assess whether Khawaja's belief system has been altered in his time behind bars. "This is in partly due to the fact that, during your [parole] hearing, you yourself had a hard time articulating changes in your religious convictions and tended to intellectualize, distance and to speak in vagaries about your beliefs, past and present", stated the board during Khawaja's hearing.

During the original investigation, prosecutors were reliant on Khawaja's voluminous emails as proof he was a committed Islamic jihadist, idolizing Osama bin Laden, mastermind of the 9/11 attacks. Khawaja praised the September 11 plane hijackers as "effective and honourable" economic jihadists. Khawaja was convicted by Justice Douglas Rutherford on five terrorism counts in the absence of enough evidence to prove he was aware his detonator would be used against civilian targets.

Originally sentenced to ten-and-a-half years in prison, the Court of Appeal for Ontario ruled that penalty inadequate, replacing it with a 24-year sentence. Born in Canada, Khawaja lived in Libya, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, then returned to Ottawa. He travelled to Pakistan in 2002 for weapons training and "provided financial support and technical training and transported supplies for the group" according to the Ontario Court of Appeal. In his emails at the time he wrote that Osama bin Laden was "the most beloved person to me", that he wanted to "contribute as best as possible to the destruction of the enemies of Allah."

Momin Khawaja