Corrections Canada, parole board to jointly investigate circumstances of sex worker's death

The federal Correctional Service agency and the Parole Board of Canada will jointly conduct an investigation "into all of the circumstances that led to the tragic death of Marylène Levesque," Public Safety Minister Bill Blair said Monday.

The 22-year-old woman was found dead in a hotel room in the Quebec City suburb of Sainte-Foy last Wednesday. Levesque had been a sex worker, according to Radio-Canada sources.

The man accused of Levesque's second-degree murder, 51-year-old Eustachio Gallese, had been on day parole since March 2019 for the 2004 killing of his former spouse.

Blair was responding to a question Monday in the House of Commons from the Conservative MP for Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, Pierre Paul-Hus, who demanded to know how the parole board could have knowingly permitted Gallese, "who they knew had a problem with women, to obtain sexual services."

"Can the minister tell the family why the board gave that permission to a man known to be violent?" Paul-Hus asked.

A joint investigation has been launched, Blair responded, "to ensure that all established protocols are followed and that lessons are learned."

Lebel 'satisfied' with Blair's response

On Friday, Quebec Justice Minister Sonia LeBel asked that Blair look into the case to find out why the parole board granted Gallese certain conditions and whether his case workers were properly trained to evaluate the risk he might have posed to public safety.

Lebel tweeted Monday that she is satisfied to learn that an investigation is underway.

The parole board denied Gallese full parole last September, however, it extended his day parole with several conditions, including the requirement that he report any relationships with women, sexual or otherwise. 

At a hearing into Gallese's request for full parole, the board heard from the offender's parole officer that while living in a halfway house, Gallese had been allowed to have his "sexual needs" met.

The board raised serious concerns about that as a "risk management strategy" but nonetheless listed Gallese's likelihood of reoffending as "low to moderate."

"The Board expects the assessment that culminated in this approach to be re-examined," it said.

The parole board turned down a request for comment Monday.

In a statement, a spokesperson for the board said the joint investigation will examine all the circumstances surrounding the incident and take whatever measures are necessary to avoid anything like it ever happening again.

Generally, a community member who works for neither the parole board nor Corrections Canada is also appointed to the investigative team, the statement said.