Global Courant
The office of Public Security Minister Marco Mendicino was briefed months before it happened by Canada’s corrections agency about plans to hand over notorious serial rapist and convicted murderer Paul Bernardo, CTV News has confirmed.
According to the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC), it informed the minister’s office by email, first on March 2 and then again on May 25, about the decision to move Bernardo from a maximum security prison in Ontario to a medium-security facility. jail. in Quebec.
“Canada’s Correctional Service has a process to notify the Office of the Secretary of State of high-profile offenders in advance,” CSC senior communications adviser Kevin Antonucci said in a statement.
While noting that decisions around specific cases and operations, such as the transfer of offenders and victim reports, fall within the purview of CSC, not the minister or their office, Antonucci said the first email sent notified Mendicino’s office of the transfer, as well as “communication notices”, but the final date of Bernardo’s move had yet to be determined.
Subsequently, the May 25 message contained “updated communications messages, as well as the fact that the handover would take place on Monday, May 29.”
When it was made public in early JuneMendicino said he was “deeply concerned and shocked” by the “incomprehensible” transfer, indicating that he also had no explanation for the decision to move Bernardo.
When asked on Parliament Hill on Tuesday why he wasn’t told about the transfer until after it happened, Mendicino said there is “back and forth” between CSC and his department when it comes to prison transfers.
“In this particular case of Paul Bernardo, there was back and forth leading up to the decision. I found out personally the week the decision was made,” said Mendicino.
Noting that these decisions are “usually not public” due to security and privacy concerns.
CTV News has asked Mendicino’s office for comment on why staff in his office decided not to notify the minister of CSC’s plans sooner.
Bernardo, 58, was convicted in 1995 of kidnapping, raping, torturing and murdering two teenagers, 15-year-old Frenchman and 14-year-old Mahaffy, in the early 1990s near St. Catharines, Ont. He was also convicted of manslaughter in the death of Tammy Homolka.
Sentenced to life in prison, he is listed as a dangerous offender and is currently serving an indefinite sentence with no end date.
His transfer has sparked outrage across the country and reopened old wounds for the victims’ families, who have also seen their perpetrators transferred to less secure facilities in recent years.
After becoming aware of Bernardo’s move, Mendicino spoke to Federal Corrections Commissioner Anne Kelly to express “in very clear terms” the concerns of the families of Bernardo’s victims and all Canadians.
TRANSFER IN ASSESSMENT
Earlier this week, CSC confirmed to CTV News that a review of the decision to move Bernardo has begun.
This is reported by the Federal Bureau of Corrections the three-person committee has begun its work and is expected to complete its review “within a couple of weeks.”
“We know that Canadians want to know the reasons for this offender’s transfer. What we can say is that it was based on his security rating review, which is required every two years, and an analysis around the management of his risk within an institution, a spokesman for the agency said in an email.
The transfer review, which the CSC says will include outside representation, will examine the “appropriateness” of Bernardo’s safety rating and subsequent move to Quebec’s La Macaza facility.
Further, the CSC said it will review victims’ considerations and reports and determine whether the legal policy framework was followed before the transfer took place.
Mendicino has said he is awaiting the results of this assessment before considering next steps.
With files from Annie Bergeron-Oliver of CTV National News and CTV News Toronto
