Nunavut man who murdered RCMP officer granted day parole
Pingoatuk Kolola convicted in 2007 killing of Const. Douglas Scott in Kimmirut
Pingoatuk Kolola, centre, leaves court in Iqaluit in March 2010 after being sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years for killing RCMP Const. Douglas Scott. Last month, the Parole Board of Canada granted Kolola day parole for a period of six months. (File photo by Chris Windeyer)
A Nunavut man convicted of murdering an RCMP officer has been granted day parole for six months.
“It is the [Parole Board of Canada’s] opinion that you will not, by reoffending, present an undue risk to society if released on day parole and that your release will contribute to the protection of society by facilitating your reintegration into society as a law-abiding citizen,” a parole board decision dated June 18 said.
Pingoatuk Kolola was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years for killing 20-year-old Const. Douglas Scott in Kimmirut in November 2007. The young Mountie was responding to a report of a drunk driver when an intoxicated Kolola shot and killed him.
Last August, a Kimmirut jury granted Kolola the chance to seek early parole through the “faint-hope” clause, which was repealed in 2011 but remains available for convictions that occurred while it was in place. Kolola was convicted in 2010.
Kolola, who was 37 at the time of the shooting, applied for full parole but the Parole Board of Canada denied his request, saying he did not “meet the legal criteria at this stage.”
On day parole, Kolola will live at a “community-based residential facility,” the name and location of which are redacted from the document. The decision didn’t specify how long Kolola would be allowed to leave the facility for each day.
The board indicated Kolola does not intend to return to his home community.
Other details in the decision are redacted, including the victim’s family members’ names as well as correctional institutions. No communities are referenced and Scott’s name is not included in the written decision.
One person connected to the victim, the board wrote, “thinks that you are a risk to the public and he fears that one lapse of judgment on your part could put another life in danger if you are in the community.”
Kolola, now 54, had a criminal history prior to 2007 involving firearms offences, a sexual assault and a spousal assault.
He had a “positive family setting during childhood, exempt from violence and substance abuse,” the decision said. However, Kolola was abused by a school teacher. He stayed in school until Grade 9, and by his mid-teens was smoking cannabis and drinking on a “regular basis.”
When Kolola began serving his prison sentence in 2010, he was considered a “maximum-security offender.” Over time, he was reassessed as a medium-security offender in 2014, then got a minimum-security rating in 2022.
He has participated in approximately 100 escorted temporary absences from prison, for “community service and personal development” activities and has been sober since 2018.
Kolola’s caseworkers have noticed a “significant and persistent improvement in the area of self-control,” the decision said.
He “does not qualify for psychopathy,” an assessment found, but he presents a “moderate risk of future family violence.”
Conditions imposed on Kolola include a prohibition from possessing or consuming alcohol and drugs except for prescribed medication, he cannot contact the victim’s family, and he must report any relationships with women to his parole supervisor.
There is so much wrong with this release.
#1, he isn’t going back to Kimmirut, doesn’t he want to see his kids? So where will he stay now, here in Iqaluit with the rest of the criminals roaming around town, GREAT!!
#2 “moderate risk of future family violence.” So you think he will commit more crimes but your letting him out anyway?
#3, He is prohibited from possessing or consuming alcohol and drugs, come on, you don’t think he will head straight to the beer and wine store?
He got life, so he should be in jail for life!
He also cost a life for should stay in jail for life
If a series of recent polls have suggested that “a majority of Canadians express support for reinstating the death penalty for murder”,..why to do we keep paying for a legal system that doesn’t listen, or punish crime, keep their jobs from poor release decisions (with zero accountability for re-offence) and just keep making work and cashing cheques from a rotating door of the restiveness….the great Canadian injustice system….shame!
What ever happened to justice????
He has been in jail since 2010 but has somewhat managed to stay “sober since 2018”. Is this supposed to be a great exploit?!?
My heart goes out to the family of constable Scott.
What a ridiculous justice system.
Hold up wait a minute. He has been incarcerated since 2007 but has been sober since 2018.
So for 11 years out of the 18 years he was incarcerated he abused drugs and alcohol.
So for 11 years he broke the rules and got away with it? I think they need to add another 11 years to prove that he can follow the rules.
I’m surprised your comment made it past the moderator, I posted basically the same but didn’t make the cut. How they can stay addicted to alcohol in prison is a mystery.
A mystery? as to how they get drugs in prison? Hooping by visitors or lugging by staff. As for drinking alcohol – they make brew. There you go, mystery solved.
The article speaks for itself.
Nunavut justice system is a joke!
Nunavut Justice department has no jurisdiction or authority over the Parole Board of Canada, But I do agree the Nunavut Justice System is a joke and a continuation of systematic racism towards Inuit, now that it is not residential schools the colonial powers are using the justice system.
Though residential schools, they wanted to eliminate our language, our culture, our heritage, parenting skills. This created a lot of anger, resentment, alcoholism addition etc. Now we are suffering the repercussions of children who were stanched away to be brain washed.
Alcoholism, drug addition, violence, lack of parenting skills etc all from residential schools and their work to wipe our language and culture off the face of the earth,
wonder why 25% of all people incarcerated in Canada are indigenous? We only represent 5% of Canada’s entire population yet we represent 25% of the population in jail today.
In most of the world you kill a cop you’re never seeing the light of day again. But here you get a slap on wrist. What gives eh?