A man wanted on a Canada-wide warrant after walking away from a halfway house in B.C. is a long-term offender serving a sentence for violent offences committed almost 20 years ago in Saskatchewan.
Mitchell William Moise, 48, left a facility in downtown Victoria on Oct. 8 without permission and is still at large, the Victoria Police Department confirmed on Tuesday. He is also known by the names “Mitch,” “Mitchel” and “Moise,” the police said.
One month before Moise walked away, the Parole Board of Canada informed him that it was recommending he should be criminally charged for breaching his long-term supervision order after he failed to report new relationships and possibly fathered a child.
Police were also investigating him for allegedly threatening his prior roommates, according to the parole board decision, dated Sept. 5.
His permission to live in a private home was rescinded and he was ordered to live in a community residential facility, or halfway house, for a year.
A news release from Victoria police on Oct. 9 said that anyone who sees Moise should not approach him, and call 911.
“Moise has several identifiable tattoos, including a tribal design on his left upper arm, a lion’s head on his left forearm and an inscription on his right forearm that reads, ‘To know the true beauty in this gift of life, is to be able to walk through the darkest night and to be still able to find your way back to the light,'” the police news release said.
Mitchell Moise has tattoos that include a tribal design on his left upper arm, a lion’s head on his left forearm and an inscription on his right forearm that reads, ‘To know the true beauty in this gift of life, is to be able to walk through the darkest night and to be still able to find your way back to the light.’ (Victoria Police Department)
Moise is subject to a 10-year long-term supervision order that started in 2021, after he finished serving a 14-year sentence for crimes committed in 2007 near Lestock, Sask., about 100 kilometres northeast of Regina.
Then 27 years old, Moise broke into a home and violently assaulted his 17-year-old girlfriend. Moise was unlawfully at large at that time, while on statutory release for a prior prison sentence for attempted murder for shooting a person in the leg during a gang war in 1999.
That 1999 crime also happened while he was unlawfully at large while on statutory release from his first federal prison sentence, for offences that included a drive-by shooting and another shooting in 1995. He was a youth at the time, but his charges were transferred to adult court after he escaped a youth facility, according to his parole documents.
After Moise pleaded guilty to the offences that happened in 2007, the Crown applied to have him designated as a dangerous offender.
In a 2012 ruling, a Wynyard Court of Queen’s Bench judge found “there is not a reasonable possibility of eventual control of his risk to reoffend violently in the community,” and declared Moise a dangerous offender.
A composite image distributed by the Victoria Police Department shows two photos taken on Oct. 8, 2026, showing Mitchell Moise walking away from a halfway house in downtown Victoria. (Victoria Police Department)
Moise received an indeterminate sentence, which has no end date, although offenders are eligible to apply for parole after seven years.
He successfully appealed that ruling, resulting in a second dangerous offender hearing that was held in Regina Court of Queen’s Bench.
In a 2017 ruling, the judge declined to declare Moise a dangerous offender, but found him to be a long-term offender, as “there is a reasonable possibility of eventual control of Mr. Moise’s risk in the community.”
He was sentenced to 14 years, but after credit for his time on remand, he had just over three years left to serve. The judge also imposed a 10-year long-term supervision order that would begin after Moise completed his sentence. That order began in 2021 and expires on Jan. 13, 2031.
For the first year of his long-term supervision order, Moise lived in a halfway house, but then he was allowed to move out with his then-girlfriend in January 2022, parole documents show. They ended up finding stable housing in a home with two other roommates.
However, this July, two people went to Moise’s parole officer and reported an incident they said had happened on June 30, 2026, when Moise allegedly threatened someone. They also said one of Moise’s roommates had moved out about a month before that, “for safety reasons stemming from his interactions” with Moise.
The people said that at the end of May, Moise had raised a hammer above his head while yelling at his ex-girlfriend.
They said they also believed Moise had been in a relationship and was the father of a baby. The conditions of Moise’s long-term supervision order include that he reports any “attempts to initiate” relationships, friendships and any changes to the status of his relationships.
Moise’s permission to live privately in the community was suspended and he had to return to a halfway house.
The Sept. 5 Parole Board of Canada decision said that RCMP were investigating the threats allegation, but were “uncertain if this will lead to criminal charges being approved.”
It also said the Ministry of Child of Family Development had contacted the Correctional Service of Canada “to report concerns regarding the baby’s safety” and that Moise “will not be permitted to live with or around the baby or her mother.”
“Also, a local community agency reported there were recent unverified reports that you had been the perpetrator of intimate partner violence,” the parole board said. “Currently, these reports are unfounded, and police confirm they are not investigating.”
