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A woman from the RM of Bulcher who is serving a nearly six-year prison sentence after driving on the wrong side of a divided highway and killing two women in a crash has been approved for day parole.
In March 2025, Brittany Dawn Barry pleaded guilty to charges of operating a vehicle with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 80 mg or more causing death and operating a vehicle with a BAC of 80 mg or more causing bodily harm.
Laura Hannah, 50, and her 20-year-old daughter, Jamie Hannah, of Lake Isle, Alta., were killed in the crash.
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On Aug. 11, the Parole Board of Canada approved Barry’s application to be released to a community-based residential facility for six months starting on her day-parole eligibility date.
A community-based residential facility, or halfway house, helps individuals gradually transition from an institution back into the community. It also provides supervision and support services, including substance-use treatment and employment assistance.
The Parole Board acknowledged statements from the victims’ friends and family, noting that the daughter and sister reported experiencing depression and post-traumatic stress.
“Surviving family members feel that it is too soon for you to be released to the community and that you should be disentitled to any form of absences or conditional release based upon the severity of your crime,” the Parole Board said.
The Parole Board also wrote that Barry has served her sentence in minimum security and is at low risk to reoffend as a first-time offender, with no prior criminal history.
“You accept responsibility for your wrongdoing and have acknowledged that you were not coping well with the stressors in your life at the time, which led to you engaging in risky behaviours and ultimately taking two innocent lives and forever altering many others,” the Parole Board said.
Several conditions were imposed on Barry’s day parole, including that she must not consume alcohol, enter establishments that sell alcohol or have any contact with the victims’ family members.
Barry is also prohibited from driving as a condition of her parole, despite already being subject to a seven-year driving prohibition. The Parole Board said the condition “will help to reinforce this.”
The October 2024 Highway 11 crash
The crash happened just before 10 p.m. on Oct. 19, 2024, on Highway 11, about one kilometre north of Dundurn.
A truck driven by Barry was travelling northbound in the southbound lane when it collided with an SUV carrying Laura and Jamie Hannah.
Laura and Jamie Hannah were both declared dead at the scene by paramedics.
Barry’s two children were also in the truck at the time and were taken to hospital with what police described as “non-life-threatening injuries.”
However, Barry’s 3-year-old suffered a fractured C2 vertebra and an injured orbital bone. Her 8-year-old broke his femur and had soft-tissue injuries to his clavicle. STARS airlifted him to hospital.
According to the agreed statement of facts, Barry had “told officers ‘I didn’t drink that much,’ and officers could smell alcohol on her breath.”
A breath sample at the police station showed that “at 5 minutes after midnight, (Barry’s) sample was 210 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood.”
