Warning: This story contains details about a brutal murder.
SASKATOON — A man who brutally murdered a young Indigenous woman in Saskatoon in 2000 has received day parole on Vancouver Island against the advice of the Correctional Service of Canada.
The Jan. 13 parole board decision does not identify the community residential facility on the Island where Kenneth David MacKay, 49, is serving day parole.
MacKay was found guilty of first-degree murder for the killing of 21-year-old Crystal Paskemin in 2000. He received a life sentence with no chance of parole for 25 years.
“As a family, we bear the burden of having to remember her beauty for longer than we got to enjoy her beauty,” Paskemin’s family said in a statement.
“We bear the burden of retraumatization every time the Parole Board of Canada sends letters of his activities, for the past 23 years.”
The Parole Board of Canada decision said MacKay has been granted day parole for six months. He must return to the facility every night, cannot consume alcohol or go to bars, and must report all sexual and non-sexual relationships with women.
He cannot go to Saskatchewan without permission or contact the victim’s family.
The board’s decision noted that MacKay’s case-management team in prison was not supportive of day parole because he is a high risk for violent reoffending and required a more gradual release plan. The document said “there continue to be concerns regarding power and control issues and possible issues with women.”
Paskemin’s family said they worry MacKay poses a risk to other women. “We bear the burden of perpetual fear that another daughter or granddaughter will meet the same fate as our dear Crystal,” said Paskemin’s younger sister Tanya.
“We pray no family must go through the hell on earth that we have had to navigate, through the darkest of evil, at the hands of this murderer.”
During his trial, court heard that MacKay met Paskemin at a country bar in Saskatoon.
After watching her from a distance, he approached the young Indigenous woman and offered her a ride home, but instead took her to an isolated road on the outskirts of the city.
Parole documents said he sexually assaulted Paskemin violently in his truck. When she managed to escape, he hit her on the jaw with such force that the bone broke and a tooth was knocked out.
He drove his truck over her head before using a chain to drag her naked remains into a ditch. Her body was lit on fire.
MacKay was arrested less than a week later after a driver reported blood on the road. Paskemin’s DNA was found throughout MacKay’s vehicle, on his belt buckle and on the chain.
It took weeks for her body to be discovered by motorists driving by the area.
MacKay said at trial that the killing was an accident and denied any sexual component to killing Paskemin.
Parole documents showed that MacKay only recently admitted culpability.
The board said MacKay had a “flat affect” throughout the hearing and “appeared to show no emotion” while talking about the killing and harms he caused.
“There remain concerns that you have minimized your actions against the victim,” the parole board’s decision said.
The board noted MacKay has received three institutional charges while incarcerated, twice for possession of unauthorized items and once for delaying a prisoner count.
It also noted that MacKay sent a letter to a staff member that appeared to cross boundaries. He also asked a family member to contact that staff member so he could keep in touch.
However, the parole board ultimately found MacKay “will not present an undue risk to society if released on day parole” and the move would help him reintegrate into society.
MacKay said he is open to employment options and plans to receive training to become a cabinet maker or carpenter, the board said.
He also said that he has family and professional supports in the community.
Heather Bear, vice-chief of the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations, said there should be measures to ensure Indigenous voices are heard by the parole system, especially when violence is directed at women and girls.
“Sentences don’t seem to be a deterrent,” Bear said in a statement from the federation, which represents 74 First Nations in Saskatchewan.
“The lack of compassion and rehabilitation in this crime shows the perpetrator deserves the maximum time behind bars.”
The release also noted that no current photo of MacKay was released to warn those living in the area where he will be staying.
Paskemin was from Sweetgrass First Nation and her family said she had a contagious smile and magnetic character. They started Crystal’s Gift, a non-profit that provides gently used furniture to single mothers fleeing violence.
She had four younger sisters, all under 19, when she was killed.
Tanya said each had to bear the burden of chronic pain, night terrors, depression, anxiety disorders, auto-immune disease, and post-traumatic stress disorders.
“We each received our own life sentence when our Crystal was stolen.”
— with files from the Times Colonist and sasktoday.ca
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