Two convicted child killers in British Columbia were approved for 60-day unescorted temporary absences just nine days apart — although one of the releases has since been postponed.
The Parole Board of Canada approved Shane Ertmoed’s absence on Sept. 2 and Douglas Lambier’s on Sept. 11, according to parole decisions reported by the National Post.
Both men are serving sentences for sexually motivated murders of children committed in the early 2000s.
Ertmoed was convicted of first-degree murder for the 2000 abduction, sexual assault and killing of 10-year-old Heather Thomas.
His latest Parole Board decision recalled that the sentencing judge described the offence as “the most horrific crime known to our law” and noted Ertmoed had shown no remorse.
The decision also cited his history of “deviant sexual behaviour.”
Despite those findings, the two-member panel concluded his “risk to re-offend will not be undue,” citing factors including his use of “arousal-reducing medication.”
Ertmoed’s 60-day absence was scheduled to begin Sept. 28 but has since been postponed for reasons that remain unclear. The release plan would have him attend a cooking program while living at a community residential facility under 24-hour supervision.
He would also face restrictions, including no unsupervised contact with girls under 18 and monitoring of his internet and electronic devices.
Thomas’s family opposed the release, according to Global News.
Her mother, Jody Aspin, has repeatedly opposed Ertmoed receiving greater freedom, saying at a 2025 hearing: “Every time I get that phone call that there is yet another demand, I am paralyzed with fear.”
Just nine days after Ertmoed’s approval, the parole board granted a 60-day absence to Lambier.
Lambier was convicted of killing his nine-year-old step-grandson, Brandon Burchell, in 2005 after the boy resisted a sexual assault. He had already been convicted twice of sexually assaulting children.
His latest release is reportedly his tenth.
Lambier was approved for release from William Head Institution, a minimum-security federal prison outside Victoria, to spend 60 days at a Salvation Army residential facility.
Burchell’s family also opposed his release.
“I don’t think this man should be out of prison at all,” his mother, Tina Gervais, told the Windsor Star. “It’s not safe for any community. I don’t think people like this change.”
The 60-day passes do not amount to parole. Unescorted temporary absences allow eligible inmates to leave prison without an escort for approved purposes and under specified conditions.
The parole board must determine that an offender will not, by reoffending, present an “undue risk to society” during the absence.
For most offenders serving life sentences, eligibility for an unescorted temporary absence begins three years before their full-parole eligibility date. Maximum-security inmates are ineligible.
William Head has also been the site of high-profile escapes.
In 2019, inmates James Lee Busch and Zachary Armitage escaped from the minimum-security prison before killing nearby resident Martin Payne.
Another convicted murderer, Ernest Jensen, was discovered missing from William Head on June 28. Jensen, who was serving a life sentence for second-degree murder, was found dead in the ocean near the institution the following day.
Despite their life sentences, Ertmoed and Lambier can be considered for temporary absences and other forms of conditional release under Canada’s federal corrections system.
For the families of Heather Thomas and Brandon Burchell, the latest decisions mean once again confronting the prospect of the men who killed their children spending extended periods outside prison.
Who thought that releasing men who rape and murder children would be a good idea? Life in prison, instead of the death penalty, is already more compassion than their crimes deserve.