Convicted pedophile Ryan Chamberlin denied parole

Convicted pedophile Ryan Chamberlin has been denied both day and full parole.

He was convicted in 2015 of sexually assaulting multiple children dating back to 1994.

The National Parole Board (NPB) report stated that Chamberlin has made progress and participates in available programming, but there is still work to do in ensuring he doesn’t relapse.

The report goes on to say that Chamberlin admitted to having “inappropriate thoughts about an underage male approximately a year ago when watching underage males on television.”

That is little comfort to the mother of one of Chamberlin’s teenage victims. She cannot be named due to a publication ban.

“It is so sickening to even think that he is going to be back out and I can’t do a thing about it,” the mother stated in a telephone interview.

This is not the first time Chamberlin has committed such crimes. He was given a four-month provincial sentence after being convicted in 1998 of the sex assault of a five-year-old.

“This man is like a Graham James,” the mother added. “And he is in the minimum security facility in Bowden and he was denied even day parole. Why is he in minimum prison? It is disgusting.”

Chamberlin claimed his crimes were caused by childhood abuse and knowing now that he is gay. Before the parole board he said he had support from the LGBTQ community and his stepmother who will provide financial and emotional support on his eventual release. His stepmother lives in Swift Current, near one of the victim’s family.

The mother wished the federal government would do more to address what she sees as such small sentences for such life-altering, impactful crimes against children.

She pointed to the US where even having child pornography can net an offender 14 years in prison at the minimum.

She wondered whether it would take a crime against a politician’s child to really see action.

“Famous hockey players have come forward,” the mother maintained. “And if Sheldon Kennedy and Theo Fleury can’t change our laws in Canada, who will?”

She also wants more supports, like the Sheldon Kennedy Centre in Calgary, offered in Saskatchewan, She admitted her son and family could have done with the help in the aftermath of the abuse.

Now though she has to focus on the future.

Chamberlin will be out in Sept. 2018 regardless of the NPB, having completed his sentence by then.

The victim’s mother is grateful at least for now that her son and Chamberlin’s other victim get at least some reprieve from this ongoing nightmare.

“I need your support to allow my son and the victims to stay children a little bit longer, to stay secure, please choose the victims over Chamberlin, it is hard knowing he is here, in minimum security,” the mother wrote in a statement to the NPB. “Give my son, a minor, time to heal without knowing that his perpetrator is on the streets. You can let us sleep at night a while longer. We need that safety to move forward.”