An Edmonton lawyer says his client, a convicted sexual predator currently undergoing a dangerous offender hearing, has suffered severe weight loss and mistreatment while incarcerated at the Edmonton Remand Centre.
Lance Blanchard, 60, has a lengthy criminal past and was found guilty in 2016 of aggravated assault, aggravated sexual assault, kidnapping, forcible confinement, possession of a weapon and making a death threat in relation to the 2014 attack on an Indigenous woman, who CBC refers to using the pseudonym Angela Cardinal.
In a letter addressed to health minister Sarah Hoffman and Deputy Justice and Solicitor General Philip Bryden, lawyer Tom Engel says since 2014, Blanchard has been deprived of continuous medical and dental care, lacked physical recreation and stimulation and faced verbal abuse at the Edmonton Remand Centre.
He also has not received enough food, Engel says. Blanchard was six feet seven inches and around 260 pounds in 2014. He has since lost almost 60 pounds.
“Blanchard made complaints that he was provided with inadequate nutrition causing him to lose a lot of weight … which also caused him to suffer mentally and physically to the point where it was compromising his ability to fully participate in defending the prosecution against him,” Engel’s letter says.
Images of Blanchard provided to the media in 2013 show the inmate with a beard and fuller face. Images from January 2018 show him looking gaunt with hooded eyes and hollow cheeks. His stomach appears sunken.
Lance Blanchard, 60, in an image taken at the Edmonton Law Courts in January 2018. (Supplied/Engel Law)
In the letter, Engel says Blanchard’s treatment at the remand centre has violated his Charter rights. In June, a judge found Blanchard was not being fed enough. Since January, Blanchard has been receiving more food and is feeling better, Engel said, but has not yet regained the weight he has lost.
CBC News has reached out to Alberta Justice for comment, but did not immediately hear back.
‘Why is it such a struggle?’
Engel says it shouldn’t have gone this far, and that Blanchard’s treatment is indicative of a problem that extends beyond his client. He says he wants the health minister and the solicitor general to investigate how healthcare and food is provided at the Edmonton Remand Centre.
“That’s the million dollar question. Why is it such a struggle?” Engel told CBC News.
“I think that there’s an attitude within the Edmonton Remand Centre and within certain elements of Alberta Health Services in the Edmonton Remand Centre that is plainly hostile toward prisoners. It’s just terrible the way prisoners are being treated and it’s going on now for decades, and nothing seems to be done about it to address it.
“Mr. Blanchard is by no means the only person who’s complaining about this. It’s a very common complaint, food and healthcare.”
Blanchard’s dangerous offender hearing is expected to run into March. For Blanchard to be declared a dangerous offender — a designation reserved for Canada’s worst criminals and sexual offenders — the Crown must show there is a high risk that he will commit violent or sexual offences in the future.
On Wednesday, the Crown called upon Det. Christopher Hayduk as a witness. Hayduk has been with the Edmonton Police Service for 19 years, and worked in the behavioural assessment unit.
He first encountered Blanchard in 2013, when he was living in the Edmonton area and being monitored. Hayduk said he had indicated at the time that Blanchard was at a high risk to reoffend.
He described Blanchard as talkative during weekly meetings at police headquarters, but that he could be hostile and was unhappy with his required curfew checks, which were done to ensure he abided by his conditions.
If declared a dangerous offender, Blanchard would be given an indeterminate sentence with no chance of parole for seven years. He could spend the rest of his life in prison.