The Parole Board of Canada says it will now try to accommodate┬аthe families of Kristen French and Leslie Mahaffy тАФ teenagers who were tortured and killed┬аby Paul Bernardo┬атАФ┬аso they can confront their daughters’ murderer┬аin person next week.
The swift reversal follows a wave of mounting backlash after the┬аfamilies’ lawyer revealed late Tuesday that the victims’ mothers had┬аbeen blocked from delivering their victim statements in person at Bernardo’s┬аupcoming parole hearing.┬а
Tim Danson, longtime lawyer┬аfor the French and Mahaffy families,┬аsaid the reason the parole board gave was that it couldn’t ensure safety.┬а
“[The families]┬аare in emotional turmoil. This brings back everything,” Danson told CBC┬аWednesday morning.┬а
He noted the families were able to deliver their statements in person back in 2018, when Bernardo was being held at a maximum security facility.
Bernardo was moved last year to┬аLa Macaza Institute, a medium security facility in Quebec.
“It’s very, very disturbing,” said Danson.
In a statement issued Wednesday evening, a spokesperson for the parole board said the tribunal body is “working to accommodate the in-person presentation of statements by victims” ahead of Bernardo’s Nov. 26 hearing.┬а
The board did not further explain the┬аsafety concerns it mentioned┬аto Danson.
“When scheduling hearings, the PBC must take into consideration a wide range of factors,” said spokesperson Iulia Pescarus Popa in a media statement.
“These may include the board’s ability to accommodate all observers in an institutional hearing room, to ensure the safe proximity of all attendees during the hearing, or operational considerations such as hearing management.”
The federal government has maintained that the parole board is independent. That didn’t stop MPs from speaking out.┬а
Defence Minister Bill Blair, who was a Toronto police officer┬аduring Bernardo’s serial rapes and murders, said he disagrees with the board’s┬аdecision in this case.
“I think, like most Canadians …┬аthe French and Mahaffy families have every right to make the impact those terrible crimes have had on their families, they have a right to be heard,” he said.
“I would strongly support revisiting┬аthat particular decision.”
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre┬аcalled on the federal government to intervene and accused it of not wanting the families to see Bernardo’s new living conditions.
The families of two teenage girls murdered by Paul Bernardo are being denied the opportunity to read their victim impact statements in person at the killer’s parole hearing. Metro Morning host David Common spoke with the lawyer for the families.
┬а┬а“The families of Paul Bernardo’s victims are being told they cannot attend his parole hearings in person, despite having done so in the past,” he posted to X.
“Is this because the government doesn’t want his victims’ families to see what this monster’s life is like after he was moved out of a maximum security facility?”
During an exchange in question period Wednesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused Poilievre┬аof using the families’ grief for political gain.
Earlier in the day, Gabriel Brunet, a spokesperson┬аfor Public Safety Minister Dominic┬аLeBlanc, said the minister was told by the board’s chair, Joanne Blanchard, that the tribunal was reviewing its decision.┬а
“Minister LeBlanc has been assured by the chairperson of the Parole Board she is reconsidering and exploring all possible alternative options to ensure the victims have the ability to read statements in person,” Brunet wrote in an email to CBC News.
Bernardo is ‘loving this,’ lawyer┬аsays
Bernardo is serving a life sentence for┬аkidnapping, sexually assaulting┬аand murdering southern Ontario teenagers French, 15, and Mahaffy, 14 тАФ┬аcrimes he committed with the help of his then-wife Karla Homolka.┬а
Designated a dangerous offender тАФ a label reserved for Canada’s most brutal criminals тАФ Bernardo is not likely to ever be released from prison.
Danson┬аhas argued that the laws should be changed so that┬аvictims don’t have to go though the┬аparole board process every few years. Until that happens, he said, the families have the right to confront their daughters’ killer┬аin person.
The Corrections and Conditional Release Act says┬аthe board “shall make every effort to fully understand the need of the victim and of the members of his or her family to attend the hearing and witness its proceedings.”
The act does allow the parole board to restrict attendance if “the security and good order of the institution in which the hearing is to be held is likely to be adversely affected by the person’s presence.”┬а
“[The families] don’t want this to be sanitized through a computer screen,”┬аDanson said.┬а“It’s important that they’re there.
“Paul Bernardo is loving this. This is all entertainment for him and he benefits by the families not being able to deliver their victim impact statements as effectively as they have a right to do.”
B.C. Conservative MP Frank Caputo says he wants answers on why the Parole Board of Canada barred victims’ families from attending an upcoming hearing for Paul Bernardo in person.
Liberal MP Chris Bittle┬аrepresents St. Catharines, Ont., where French was killed. He called the original decision “completely unacceptable” and said it “ignores the pain of victims and undermines public trust in the board.”
Conservative MP Frank Caputo called the parole board’s decision “absolutely and positively awful.”
“It’s just so wrong on so many levels,” said the KamloopsтАФThompsonтАФCariboo MP Wednesday.
“This has to change.”
The matter was also raised in the Senate on Wednesday.
Conservative Sen. Don Plett┬а questioned how this decision could be made and called┬аthe teens’ murders “one of the most horrific crimes that our country has ever known.”┬а
Sen. Marc Gold, the government’s representative, pointed out that the parole board operates independently but said the government┬аof Canada┬а“disagrees with the decision.”
Bernardo was also convicted in 1995 in the death of his 15-year-old sister-in-law, Tammy┬аHomolka.
Karla Homolka initially┬аportrayed herself as an unwilling participant who feared her abusive husband. It later emerged┬атАФ after she made a plea deal with prosecutors to testify against Bernardo┬атАФ┬аthat she played an active┬аrole in the torture and deaths┬аof French, Mahaffy and her┬аsister.
Homolka served 12 years for the lesser count of manslaughter in the┬аFrench and┬аMahaffy┬аslayings тАФ a sentence described in the media as┬а“a deal with the devil.”
