An advocate who works with women who have faced violence says the Canadian correctional system needs to be reevaluated, citing the recent release of a violent, high-risk offender in Vancouver.
Angela Marie MacDougall, the executive director of the Battered Women’s Support Services (BWSS), believes the correctional system “has consistently delivered a message to victims that the system is prepared to gamble with their lives.”
MacDougall’s comments come after the Vancouver Police Department shared on Tuesday that 36-year-old Tyler Gordon Strathdee, who is serving an 11-year sentence for violent crimes including sexual assault and manslaughter in Alberta, is moving into a halfway house in Vancouver.
Strathdee is out on statutory release, and police say they believe he poses a high risk of committing more physical and sexual violence.
“The reality is, he has a high degree, or a very high risk of reoffending violently or otherwise,” MacDougall explained. “So, that is the bigger question for Canada, in the sense of, to what extent is Canada going to continue to gamble with the lives of girls and women?”
MacDougall says perpetrators like Strathdee are routinely re-released into the public and says Canada needs to have a conversation about high-risk offenders.
“I have to think about the victims, his victims — Tyler’s victims. I have to think about those individuals who have been victims,” MacDougall said.
“At what point will the criminal legal system, or Canada in general, care about victims?”
Strathdee is prohibited from using drugs and alcohol and contacting sex workers. He’s also required to report any relationships with women.
“Investigators from VPD’s High Risk Offender Unit will work with Correctional Service Canada to monitor Strathdee, and ask anyone who observes him breaching his release conditions to contact police immediately,” police said Tuesday.
–With files from Raynaldo Suarez.