Suspect’s release from prison day before Edmonton Sikh temple attack was ‘required by law,’ says corrections agency
Posted August 24, 2026 2:08 pm.
Last Updated August 24, 2026 4:10 pm.
The federal agency that manages Canada’s prisons says it was legally required to release from prison a man who is accused of stabbing two worshippers at an Edmonton Sikh temple the day after his release.
BACKGROUND: Arrest made after two worshippers stabbed with screwdriver at Edmonton Sikh temple
The Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) tells CityNews in a statement the statutory release of convicts is “not a choice or discretionary decision.” Instead, the CSC says, “it is required by law after an offender serves two-thirds of a fixed-length federal sentence, with the offender being supervised in the community under conditional release.”
The suspect was released from a federal prison on Thursday — where he was serving a sentence for aggravated assault and assaulting a peace officer — and did not report to a halfway house.
Criminology professor William Schultz explains “prisons are not designed to hold people for their entire sentences.”
“What we’re dealing with here is statutory release,” said Schultz, an assistant professor of sociology and criminology at MacEwan University. “Somebody was released from prison at the two-thirds point of their sentence and the reason for that is that they’re supposed to be in the community for the last third of their sentence under supervision. In this particular case, it didn’t work.”
The morning morning after his release, a man entered the Nanaksar Sikh Temple near Manning Drive and 18 Street NW and stabbed two worshippers with a screwdriver.
The attacker was held down by worshippers at the temple until the arrival of Edmonton police officers, who took a 27-year-old suspect into custody. Police say he has a history of violence dating back more than a decade, and just before to the temple attack he was reported to be walking in traffic on a nearby highway.
The two victims, men aged 51 and 75, were treated on scene for non-life-threatening injuries and are recovering.
Schultz says this is a case of the system working as intended, but with obvious gaps.
“The rehabilitative programming is not sufficient,” he said. “We have a real problem with Correctional Service of Canada. It’s very expensive, very complex, and really the statistics suggest that it’s not working as well as we want it to.”
Last June, the Carney government passed Bill C-14 – the Bail And Sentencing Reform Act – reversing previous Liberal policies around bail and sentencing. But Jagsharan Mahal, the Conservative MP for Edmonton Southeast, says it doesn’t go far enough.
“We are making sure that that government takes all the necessary steps that they must take, and sadly they’re failing on it right now,” Mahal said. “More has to be done. Stricter laws in regard to criminal law, in regard to bail reforms.”
The CSC says it’s launched a review of the circumstances surrounding the incident.
–With files from The Canadian Press
