Paul Bernardo in a courtroom sketch during Ontario court proceedings via video link in Napanee, Ont., on Oct. 5, 2018.Greg Banning/The Canadian Press
The Parole Board of Canada says it is reversing its decision to prevent family members of the two teenage girls slain by Paul Bernardo from speaking in person at his parole hearing next week.
Tim Danson, the lawyer for the families of Kristen French and Leslie Mahaffy, raised complaints Tuesday after his clients were told the day before that they could not appear to deliver victim impact statements at Mr. Bernardo’s hearing at La Macaza Institution, a medium-security prison 200 kilometres northwest of Montreal.
The Parole Board, which cited safety concerns for its initial decision, announced Wednesday it was changing its position.
“The board is currently working to accommodate the in-person presentation of statements by victims at the Nov. 26 hearing of Paul Bernardo,” spokesperson Iulia Pescarus Popa said in an e-mail.
But Mr. Danson said the Parole Board did not go far enough and that the hearing in Quebec should be rescheduled to December to accommodate the families, who live in Ontario.
The lawyer said that the mothers and siblings of the slain girls were told early this month that Mr. Bernardo’s parole hearing would be on held on Nov. 26. He said the family members had started making travel plans to go to Quebec to give victim impact statements in person, but were then told on Monday that they could could only give testimony by video.
Though the parole board is now changing its stance, Mr. Danson said much remains up in the air, and that at this point, the family members do not know if they will be able to get to the remote prison in time to speak against Mr. Bernardo’s bid for release.
“If you’re going to backpedal, backpedal and do it right,” Mr. Danson said in an interview. “This is 600 miles away, and you guys decided to move him to rural Quebec – now you’ve got to give the families an opportunity to make travel plans.”
Mr. Danson had argued in a Tuesday letter to the parole board’s chair and Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc that they had a legal obligation to give the families a voice as victims of a crime. He said it is crucial that parole officials hear from the mothers who have lived with the impact of Mr. Bernardo’s crimes every day for the past 30 years.
Mr. Bernardo is serving an indeterminate life sentence for the kidnapping, sexual assault and murder of 15-year-old Kristen French and 14-year-old Leslie Mahaffy. Those crimes occurred in the early 1990s near St. Catharines, Ont. Mr. Bernardo was also convicted of manslaughter in the death of his then-wife Karla Homolka’s 15-year-old sister, Tammy.
When Mr. Bernardo was first considered for parole in 2018 at a maximum security prison in Ontario, the French and Mahaffy families appeared in person to oppose his bid for release. Earlier this year, Mr. Bernardo was transferred to a medium-security prison, prompting a public outcry.
“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,” federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre wrote in a post on X on Wednesday.
“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?”
Federal Defence Minister Bill Blair – a former Toronto police chief – told reporters in Parliament Hill he disapproved of the Parole Board’s initial decision to deny victims’ families in-person access to next week’s parole hearing.
“I was a police officer in Toronto during Mr. Bernardo’s criminal activities, and I know those families and the victims,” Mr. Blair said Wednesday. “I disagree with the decision made by the parole board.”
With files from Stephanie Levitz and The Canadian Press
Editor’s note: A previous version of this story incorrectly spelled Iulia Pescarus Popa's first name. This version has been corrected.