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News Release

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CSC/NPB announce Board of Investigation into the release and supervision of Eli Ulayuk charged with the murder of community parole officer Louise Pargeter in Yellowknife, NWT

Ottawa, November 12, 2004 – The Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) and the National Parole Board (NPB) announced today the membership and terms of reference for a Board of Investigation into the release and supervision of Eli Ulayuk, an offender on full parole, who has been charged with the murder of community parole officer Louise Pargeter in Yellowknife, NWT.

All national boards of investigations have at least one community member as a full member of the board to ensure the objectivity of the investigation. Joint CSC/NPB national investigations are chaired by the community member. In this case, a second community member has also been added to the investigation team.

The four-member Board of Investigation will be chaired by Mr. Andrejs Berzins, a community representative who is currently a part-time Assistant Crown Attorney with the Ministry of the Attorney General of the Province of Ontario, as well as an Agent of the Attorney General of Canada. Mr. Berzins was the Crown Attorney for the region of Ottawa-Carleton from 1984 to 2000 and has extensive experience in the criminal justice system.

A second community representative on the Board of Investigation is Mr. Titus Allooloo, whose past work experience includes being a member of the Nunavut Electoral Boundaries Commission, a member of the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories for Amittuq, and a Cabinet Minister for various portfolios, including Culture and Communications, Transportation, Education, Renewable Resources, Municipal and Community Affairs, and Associate Minister of Aboriginal Rights and Constitutional Development. Mr. Allooloo has worked as an advisor on Aboriginal issues to the Salvation Army and the CSC.

The other members of the Board will include Ms. Simonne Ferguson, the Regional Director of the National Parole Board for the Ontario Region and Ms. Janice Russell, a permanent investigator with the Incident Investigations Branch of the Correctional Service of Canada in Ottawa. Both of these women have extensive experience in corrections and parole.

The Board of Investigation is charged with thoroughly and rigorously examining all aspects of this tragic incident. It will review the circumstances into the release of the offender, determine if there were any pre-indicators, assess the programming and case preparation leading up to parole decisions, examine all parole decisions and the reasons behind the decisions, the quality of information on which the decisions were based, the appropriateness of the staff safety practices, the quality of supervision while the offender was in the community, as well as other issues as set out in the convening order and terms of reference. The Board is required to submit a final report by January 31, 2005.

The final report of the investigation will be released publicly once it has been vetted under the Access to Information and Privacy Acts and the Crown Attorney's office, in the event trial proceedings are underway.

This news release and a complete copy of the convening order and terms of reference may be found on CSC's web-site www.csc-scc.gc.ca under “Media Room” or “What's New”.

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FOR INFORMATION

CONVENING ORDER AND TERMS OF REFERENCE

BOARD OF INVESTIGATION INTO THE RELEASE AND SUPERVISION OF AN OFFENDER ON FULL PAROLE CHARGED WITH FIRST-DEGREE MURDER OF A PAROLE OFFICER ON OCTOBER 7, 2004 IN YELLOWKNIFE, NORTHWEST TERRITORIES

WHEREAS it is provided by Section 20 of the Corrections and Conditional Release Act, S.C. 1992, c. 20 that the Commissioner of the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) may appoint a person or persons to investigate and report upon any matter relating to the operations of the Service;

and

WHEREAS it is provided by Subsection 152(4) of the Corrections and Conditional Release Act, S.C. 1992, c. 20 that the Chairperson of the National Parole Board (NPB) may appoint a person or persons to investigate and report on any matter relating to the operations of the Board;

and

WHEREAS at approximately 0930 hours on October 6, 2004, Parole Officer Louise Pargeter signed out of the Northwest Territories Area Parole Office for a scheduled home visit with Eli  ULAYUK. She failed to report back at the Parole Office at 1130 hours as expected. Efforts to contact and locate her were unsuccessful. At approximately 1500 hours, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) found Ms. Pargeter's body at ULAYUK's residence. ULAYUK was arrested by the Yellowknife RCMP at approximately 0215 hours on October 7, 2004 and was later charged with First-Degree Murder.

NOW THEREFORE I, Don HEAD, Acting Commissioner of Corrections, and I, Ian GLEN, Chairperson, National Parole Board, do hereby appoint, by virtue of Section 20 and Subsection 152(4) of the Corrections and Conditional Release Act, Andrejs BERZINS as Chairperson and Community Member of this investigation, with Janice RUSSELL (Permanent Investigator, Incident Investigations Branch, National Headquarters, Correctional Service Canada), Simone  FERGUSON (Regional Director, Ontario Region, National Parole Board) and Titus  ALLOOLOO (Community Member) as members of the Board of Investigation.

WE, Don HEAD and Ian GLEN, DIRECT AND CHARGE the persons so appointed to faithfully execute the duties entrusted to them in the conduct of this investigation and to provide us with:

1. The background into the incident;
2. The profile of the offender;
3. The chronology of key events during the offender's current sentence; and

NOW I, Don HEAD, FURTHER DIRECT that the Board of Investigation specifically analyze the following issues including any issues of compliance to the law, policies and procedures:

1. The possible existence of precipitating factors to the incident under investigation and, if so, the attention provided or action taken;
2. All case preparation related to release considerations during the offender's current sentence;
3. The supervision of the offender following release on Day Parole in 2000 including the suspension of his release in 2001 as well as the supervision in 2003 and on Full Parole in 2004, including adherence to any special conditions of release imposed and the extent of any contact that took place while the offender was under supervision;
4. The communications and sharing of information among relevant individuals and agencies leading up to the release of the offender on Day Parole in 2000 and 2003 as well as on Full Parole in 2004 and during the course of these periods of supervision;
5. The appropriateness of the process of assigning and re-assigning cases to the parole officers at the Northwest Territories Area Parole Office;
6. The appropriateness of the staff safety practices at the Northwest Territories Area Parole Office surrounding community supervision including, but not limited to, visits;
7. The services related to the Critical Incident Stress Management offered to staff, family members, offenders and other individuals affected by this incident; and
8. Any other matters affecting the operations of the Correctional Service of Canada which the Board of Investigation considers relevant to the understanding of the incident.

AND I, Ian GLEN, FURTHER DIRECT that the Board of Investigation inquire into the following issues including any issues of compliance to policy:

1. The rationale for the National Parole Board’s decisions taken prior to the first grant of Day Parole in June 2000;
2. The rationale for the National Parole Board’s decisions to grant Day Parole in June 2000 and continuing the Day Parole in January 2001;
3. The rationale for the National Parole Board’s decisions to revoke Day Parole in July 2001
4. The rationale for the National Parole Board’s decisions, in determining that the offender had changed sufficiently since his revocation, to grant Day Parole in April 2003 and to continue the Day Parole until they granted Full Parole in June 2004;
5. The rationale provided by the National Parole Board for imposing special conditions on Day Parole and Full Parole;
6. Any actions taken by the National Parole Board on any reports received on the offender while he was under supervision in the community;
7. Any issues related to the dynamics of the panel hearings that had a bearing on the National Parole Board’s risk assessment;
8. Any issues related to the quality of the information made available to the National Parole Board that had a bearing on its risk assessment;
9. Any issues related to compliance with legislation and the policies of the National Parole Board having a bearing on its decisions;
10. Any other matters affecting the operations of the National Parole Board which the Board of Investigation considers relevant to the understanding of the incident, including its approach to risk assessment for offenders serving life sentences as opposed to those serving determinate sentences.

AND WE FURTHER DIRECT the Board of Investigation to provide us with its findings on the above matters and any recommendations it considers may contribute to the prevention of similar situations or occurrences in the future.

AND FURTHER, to ensure the success of this investigation, the Board of Investigation is authorized:

1. To adopt such procedures and methods as may be deemed necessary for the proper conduct of this investigation;
2. To be provided with adequate and secure working accommodation and administrative assistance as required;
3. To search any building, receptacle or thing being on the property of and in the possession of the Correctional Service of Canada or the National Parole Board, and to seize and retain such books, documents or things as the Board may deem, on reasonable grounds, necessary for the successful execution of its mandate;
4. To have complete access to personnel under the employ of, or under contract with, the Correctional Service of Canada or the National Parole Board and to members appointed to the National Parole Board;
5. To communicate, at the discretion of the Chairperson of the Board of Investigation, with any outside person, agency, office or organization which may assist in the successful completion of this investigation; and
6. To disclose any personal information it deems necessary to enable the recipient of a Section 13 Notice to fully understand and respond to the allegations of misconduct.

The annex to this convening order outlines the further powers and responsibilities bestowed on this Board of Investigation under Sections 7 to 13 of the Inquiries Act pursuant to Section 21 of the Corrections and Conditional Release Act. In applying the Section 13 process, the Board of Investigation shall apply the same considerations and follow the same procedures with Section 13 whether the person is a member of the public, a staff member, a Parole Board member, an offender or a contractor.

AND WE FURTHER DIRECT the Board of Investigation to submit to us, through the Acting Director General, Incident Investigations Branch, CSC, and the Manager, Audits and Investigations, NPB, a written report marked “Protected B,” no later than January 31, 2005.

Given under our hand in the City of Ottawa, in the Province of Ontario, this 4th of November 2004.

1410-2-04-23 (CSC)
3447-2-ULAYUK (NPB)

ANNEX TO CONVENING ORDER

This investigation is convened under Section 20 of the Corrections and Conditional Release Act which reads: “The Commissioner may appoint a person or persons to investigate and report on any matter pertaining to the operations of the Service.” Section 21 of the Act stipulates that, for investigations convened under Section 20, Sections 7 to 13 of the Inquiries Act apply.

By virtue of Sections 7 to 13 of the Inquiries Act, for the purpose of their investigation, members of national Boards of Investigation have all the powers of “commissioners” under the Inquiries Act, and those special powers and responsibilities are as follows:

INQUIRIES ACT. R.S., c. I-13, s.1

PARTS II AND III