David Milgaard: Flourishing in Calgary
Written by Samantha Thiessen
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He spent 23 years in prison--including all of his twenties. Now, wrongfully-convicted David Milgaard, 58, is a university student at Mount Royal University.
He's married with two young children, owns a Calgary home, and works with those in need.
Milgaard sat down with Calgary20.ca reporter Samantha Thiessen to talk about his time in jail--and building a bright new future.
Wrongfully convicted David Milgaard shares his story of pursuing and education and his other goals in the Native Student Centre at Mount Royal University.In 1970, 16-year-old David Milgaard was wrongfully convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for the 1969 murder of Saskatchewan nursing aid Gail Miller. It wasn't until 1992 that he was released following a Supreme Court decision to hold a new trial that ended without re-prosecution. DNA evidence formally proved him innocent in 1997.
Milgaard spent almost 23 years in some of our country's high security prisons for a crime he did not commit. He went down in our nation's history as one of the youngest wrongfully convicted Canadians, next to Steven Truscott who was a death-row inmate at age 14. Milgaard was also a recipient of an unprecedented $10 million compensation package for his lost time.
Though he missed out on 23 years of life while being confined in multiple Canadian penitentiaries and psychiatric institutions, he is now living the life that was taken from him so many years ago. On his 19th year of picking up, moving on and relishing the benefits of being a free man, Milgaard sat down with me in mid-February in the Native Student Centre at Mount Royal University to share his life story.
His presence in the room was almost overwhelming. Milgaard is a welcoming man, who seems to appreciate time those choose to spend with him. Though he is almost in his sixth decade of life, he has not lost his youthful appearance or the bright flare in his blue-green eyes. He has few grey hairs, and appears strikingly younger than 58.
The following are the highlights of what I learned from this Canadian legend:
It's never too late to live the life you want
Milgaard is a father of two, the oldest whom came into the world when he was 53, during his current second marriage to Cristina Milgaard. The two met while David was on vacation in Bucharest, Romania, in 2002 and have been married for five years.
Though he was born in Manitoba and previously lived in Vancouver, he said he and his family made the move to Calgary five years ago to evade the high cost of living in British Columbia. He lives in urban Calgary, but said he and his wife would like to purchase a new home outside Calgary, for the scenery and the ability to keep horses.
He is also planning on using the post-secondary credits he accumulated through distance learning while in prison to combine with courses he is currently pursuing to receive a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in sociology and minoring in psychology.
After he finishes this degree, Milgaard said he hopes to move to Europe to work within a developmental agency that works to improve social service programs and assist those in need.
Being rich didn't last forever
Though Milgaard received the largest settlement to compensate for wrongful conviction in Canada, he said he sadly does not have much to show for it today.
"As for the money, I am no longer rich at all. I lost my money in the stock market."
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