Inmate escapes from healing centre in Edmonton; 4th of year

A man serving time for manslaughter is at large after escaping from a healing centre in Edmonton, the fourth to do so since the start of the year.  

Kalum Auger, 31, escaped the Stan Daniels Healing Centre around noon on Thursday.

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The centre is operated by Native Counselling Services of Alberta (NCSA), a minimum-security facility located at a prison in the city's downtown called the Grierson Institution. 

According to a spokesperson for the Correctional Service Canada (CSC), NCSA immediately contacted Edmonton Police Service, which issued a warrant for Auger.

He was sentenced to six years and nine months for manslaughter and has previously served sentences for break-and-enter with intent, pointing a firearm, and failure to comply with undertaking.

"He's at a minimum-security facility, so people can bear that in mind: that as far as classifications go, he's got a lower-rated risk to public safety. But again, he has been convicted of manslaughter," CSC's prairie communications manager Jeff Campbell told CTV News Edmonton. 

He said the NCSA and CSC were investigating Auger's escape and working with criminal justice partners to bring him back in as quickly as possible. 

Anyone with information about Auger's location is asked to contact police.

He is described as having a fair complexion, blue eyes and brown hair, as well as tattoos on his chest, forearms and calves.

4th escapee 

Stan Daniels Healing Centre inmates escaped in January, February and April also. 

A picture of the Grierson Institution, a minimum-security prison run by the Correctional Service of Canada in Edmonton, on May 31, 2024. (Darcy Seaton / CTV News Edmonton)

In the 2021-22 fiscal year, the most recent data available, federal institutions across Canada counted four escape incidents involving four offenders, three of which were recaptured. 

Since 2012-13, the number of escapees from federal institutions has fallen by 83 per cent, according CSC data. 

Stan Daniels Healing Centre is the only urban men's healing lodge in Canada.