A convict who became Canada ‘s youngest designated dangerous offender after sexually assaulting a three-month-old baby is seeking escorted leave from prison to attend Indigenous cultural ceremonies in Vancouver.
Tara Desousa, now 43, has applied to Federal Court to overturn a decision by B.C.’s Fraser Valley Institution to deny her “escorted temporary absences” from the federal women’s prison.
Desousa, then named Adam Laboucan, was 15 years old in 1997 when she sexually assaulted an infant she was babysitting in Quesnel, B.C. The baby required surgery to repair the injuries.
Desousa, who underwent gender-affirming operations while serving an indefinite sentence, also admitted to drowning a three-year-old boy when she was 11 years old, which the judge in the sexual assault case said was below the age of criminal responsibility.
B.C. Supreme Court Judge Victor Curtis imposed an indefinite sentence and a dangerous-offender designation in 1999 because there was no foreseeable “time span in which Adam Laboucan may be cured.”
“In doing so, I do not intend that Mr. Laboucan be kept in prison for many years with no hope for release,” the judge wrote of the then-17-year-old.
“What is intended, and what must happen is that Mr. Laboucan be kept only so long as it is necessitated by the risk he poses.”
The B.C. Court of Appeal upheld the dangerous offender designation in 2002.
Desousa’s application filed in Federal Court in Vancouver in October says she first applied for escorted leave to attend ceremonies at the Anderson Lodge “healing centre for women” in August 2023.
The lodge is run by the Circle of Eagles Lodge Society, an Indigenous-led organization headed by CEO Merv Thomas.
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Thomas said in an interview that he couldn’t comment on individual offenders, but a lot of people “coming into our facilities are dealing with a lot of historical trauma.”
He said the society takes a “holistic” approach to helping people heal through ceremonies held at the lodge, and “those that are involved in culture and ceremony have a greater chance at reintegrating positively into the community.”
“We leave the final judgments to the creator,” he said. “We don’t judge anybody that comes to us.”
He said there are “strict” conditions and protocols for offenders that come to the society’s facilities, and “community safety” is paramount.
In his decades working with the organization, Thomas said even he has trouble reading the files of the “brothers and sisters” who seek help from the society, reading about some of the “horrific things” they’ve done.
“But I also started reading and started to understand where they came from and some of the atrocities and the damage that was done to them,” he said.
“I understand and I see both sides and it’s very difficult a lot of times to put our judgments aside. But at the same time, we work with them and we believe that everybody has an opportunity for change.”
Desousa’s Vancouver-based lawyer Caroline North declined to comment on the Federal Court application.
Desousa has had several attempts for parole denied, most recently in June 2024.
The Parole Board of Canada decision said the assault victim and their “family have suffered pain, anxiety and anguish and long-term emotional impacts resulting from your offending.”
“Each time you come up for parole, they are haunted by your offending and the damage you inflicted on their defenceless son/grandson,” the decision said.
The board decision said Desousa was the victim of “extreme” abuse as a child, bullied at school, diagnosed with “several disorders,” and exhibited “violent and sexual behaviour” around other children.
It said Desousa’s case management team believed that escorted temporary absences were “the next logical step in reintegration and gradual release.”
However, the board ruled that Desousa presented “an undue risk to society,” if she was paroled.
A profile in Desousa’s name is listed on Canadian Inmates Connect, which connects convicts with potential pen pals.
“I’ve been incarcerated since I was 15 years old. I was abused extensively as a child and did not know that this was not normal behaviour,” says the profile, which includes photos. “I know now and I am remorseful. I have never been given a chance to have proper interaction with the world growing up.”
Thomas said inmates approved for escorted absences to attend the lodge have to go through a “rigorous” process, but those who participate in ceremonies and access other supports from elders and counsellors see the greatest chance of reform and rehabilitation.
“When people embrace their culture, that’s where we have seen the most change in people,” he said. “They have to do the work themselves because if they don’t do the work, then we can’t change them.”
© 2024 The Canadian Press