Parole board maintains conditions for drunk driver who killed Sask. family

The Parole Board of Canada continued most of the day parole conditions on Catherine McKay into her statutory release.

In July 2016, McKay pleaded guilty to four counts of impaired driving causing death for her role in a fatal crash at Highway 11 and Wanuskewin Road. Jordan and Chanda Van De Vorst and their two children were killed when McKay ran a stop sign and crashed into the family's vehicle. McKay had a blood-alcohol level three times the legal limit.

Jordan Van de Vorst, his wife Chanda and their children, two-year-old Miguire and five-year-old Kamryn, are seen in this image from Facebook. All were killed in the crash.

Jordan Van de Vorst, his wife Chanda and their children, two-year-old Miguire and five-year-old Kamryn. (Facebook)

McKay was handed a federal sentence of nine years and two months in prison. She was released on day parole on April 7, 2020.

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While in the community, McKay, 55, has been fully addressing her substance abuse and personal issues and has maintained full-time employment, the board noted in its May 16 decision.

"The Board believes that you have made steady progress in addressing your risk factors and need areas throughout the course of your incarceration and successive periods of day parole in the community. You have dealt with losses of family members/friends, the breakdown of your relationship and frustrations associated with your day parole status," according to the decision.

"During these times although your emotions at times became heightened, you did not resort to substance abuse and you maintained an open line of communication with supports and your (case management team)."

The board had imposed several conditions on her day parole, including:

• Not to consume, purchase or possess alcohol.
• Not to consume, purchase or possess drugs other than prescribed medication taken as prescribed and over-the-counter drugs taken as recommended by the manufacturer.
• Not to enter establishments where the primary source of income is derived from the sale or consumption of alcohol.
• Follow treatment plan/ program to be arranged by her parole supervisor in the area of substance abuse and emotions management. Interventions should include but are not limited to working with an Elder.
• Not to operate a motor vehicle.
• No direct or indirect contact with the family members of the victims unless initiated by the victims for the purpose of reconciliation and with prior written permission from her parole supervisor.
• Not to be in or near a specific city in Saskatchewan, which is redacted in the public documents released to CTV News, unless there is prior written approval by her parole supervisor.

Those conditions remain in effect for her statutory release, though she no longer has a curfew.

The law requires that federal offenders who have served two-thirds of a fixed-length sentence be released from prison under supervision at that point, according to the parole board.

Statutory release does not end an offender's sentence. Instead, offenders serve what is left of their sentence in the community. They must report to a parole officer and follow conditions.

Statutory release is meant to provide offenders some time under supervision in the community before their sentence ends to help them return to society as law-abiding citizens.

The decision did not specify when McKay's release was to begin, but said it was “upcoming.”