The Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) conceded Thursday a man who killed a Moncton, N.B., teen in the 1980s remains unlawfully at large.
The CSC has been criticized for not sharing information about 67-year-old Patrice Mailloux, including demanding the sister of Mailloux's victim remove an up-to-date photo of him from her Facebook page.
Toronto-based lawyer Guy Giorno, an expert in political law and government ethics, says the CSC was wrong from the get-go about Brenda Davis sharing Mailloux's picture on Facebook.
"Unless there's a public safety reason not to release the photograph, victims have a legal statutory right to photographs and they can do with them as they please," said Giorno. "The CSC has taken the position victims can't do that, that CSC can only give them to victims if they keep it to themselves and don't use them. There’s simply nothing in the act that says that."
CTV News reached out to the CSC Tuesday and received a similar emailed response.
“Under the law, the Corrections and Conditional Release Act, CSC is allowed to share information about offenders with victims when they meet the legal definition of victim. It is important to note that this information is classified as protected and is shared for personal use only with registered victims,” said the CSC in the email.
In an email confirming Mailloux was at large, the CSC provided a link to a photo of the fugitive, but the photo did not come directly from the government agency. Rather, it was a link to Nova Scotia's Crime Stoppers’ website, showing a poor quality image of Mailloux, published on Sept. 8.
Mailloux shot and killed 16-year-old Laura Davis during a robbery as she closed her family's convenience store in Moncton on Nov. 14, 1987.
Mailloux was convicted in the teen's death in 1988 and sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 20 years. He was granted day parole in Quebec in 2016.
However, Mailloux breached the conditions of his day parole in Quebec on Sept. 1, and has been on the loose since.
Davis’ childhood friend Michelle Alcorn said she was a genuine, kind and caring person who was always smiling.
"A lot of tears, a lot of laughs, a lot of good stories," said Alcorn about Davis' funeral. "For someone who had a few short years on this earth, she sure had a lot of good things for people to say about her, and I think that's the memory I take away now."
Alcorn is appalled and angered that Mailloux is currently on the loose.
"I just wouldn't have thought that someone who murdered somebody would get any type of parole. And how it's been handled in the last weeks, where the information wasn't shared, and then people were shamed for sharing information, that never should have been," said Alcorn.
