A Calgary dayhome operator who pleaded guilty in connection with the death of an 18-month-old girl she left alone in a closet for five hours has been granted day parole.
The girl’s father is upset with the decision to allow Elmarie Simons parole and has started a petition calling on the Parole Board of Canada to reverse its decision.
“[We] feel a grave injustice has been done,” Ryan McGrath told CTV Calgary.
McGrath’s daughter Ceira died in 2015 when she was strapped into a car seat and left in a closet for several hours by Simons, who ran a home daycare. Simons then left the house for several hours, during which time the car seat strap became tangled around the toddler, causing her to die of asphyxiation.
“She was a perfectly healthy little girl. Perfectly healthy girls don’t just die,” Ryan McGrath said.
Simons pleaded guilty last year to criminal negligence causing death and was sentenced to more than three years in prison. She was recently granted day parole on the conditions that she follow a treatment plan, stay away from the McGrath family and only care for children under the age of 12 under direct supervision and with the approval of her parole supervisor. If she sticks to those conditions for six months, she could receive full parole this summer.
Parole was granted following a January hearing despite concerns that Simons has not provided significant insight into the actions that led to Ceira McGrath’s death.
“You are reported to have shown remorse for your actions … but fall short in accepting full responsibility,” one parole document reads.
Ryan McGrath says he will keep pushing to have Simons’ parole revoked. His petition had more than 4,200 signatures as of Wednesday morning.
“This is too important for Ceira, it’s too important for our family,” he said.
“I am not going to give up.”
McGrath is getting support for his position from Calgary-South East MLA Rick Fraser, who released a statement Tuesday calling for a review of Canada’s parole system.
“We have a dead child and we have decisions made in our court that are clearly wrong,” Fraser told CTV Calgary.
Also concerning to McGrath is that he was never notified of the parole board hearing and has learned of developments in Simons’ situation through media reports. The Parole Board of Canada says it requires victims to register to receive updates because some victims do not wish to know anything further about offenders. McGrath says he should not have been expected to retain that information at the end of an emotional court proceeding.
