Global Courant
Staff at the office of Public Security Minister Marco Mendicino had known for three months that serial killer and rapist Paul Bernardo would be transferred from a maximum to a medium-security prison — but did not inform the minister until after it happened — CBC News has learned.
The Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) said it first emailed Mendicino’s office on March 2 informing it that Bernardo would be transferred to a medium-security facility. A final date for the transfer had not yet been set at that time.
CSC said it sent a second email to Mendicino’s office on May 25 saying that Bernardo would be transferred four days later.
The minister’s office now confirms that it did not inform Mendicino of Bernardo’s transfer until May 30, the day after the transfer took place.
CBC News asked Mendicino’s office who received the information from CSC. The minister’s office would not reveal the names of who in the office knew, saying only that several members of his staff knew.
Families remained in the dark
A lawyer representing the families of two teenage girls killed by Bernardo said it was alarming that the minister and the victims’ families were kept in limbo for nearly 90 days.
“If that’s true, that the staff really kept this a secret from their boss, that’s a blatant abdication of responsibility and very unfair to the minister,” said Timothy Danson, counsel for the families of Kristen French and Leslie Mahaffy.
“This is exactly the kind of information that should be communicated to the minister, because the responsibility lies with the minister.”
Kristen French was 15 and Leslie Mahaffy was 14 when Paul Bernardo brutally kidnapped, tortured and murdered them. (Handout/The Canadian Press)
Bernardo was convicted of first-degree murder in 1995 for the murders of Mahaffy and French. He was also convicted of manslaughter for his role in the death of 15-year-old Tammy Homolka and sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for the first 25 years.
CSC reviews transfer decision
Bernardo was quietly transferred from the maximum security Millhaven Institution in Kingston, Ontario, to a medium-security prison in La Macaza, Que, on May 29. Danson said the victims’ families didn’t learn of the handover until the morning.
A three-member review committee at CSC is now reviewing the decision to transfer Bernardo. CSC said it expects the review to be completed in the coming weeks.
WATCH / Families of Bernardo’s victims call for prison transfer laws to be changed:
Families of Bernardo’s victims are calling for prison transfer laws to be changed
A lawyer representing the families of Paul Bernardo’s victims says they have not been given enough notice of the serial killer’s transfer from a maximum-security prison to a medium-security prison. They have joined lawyers who say there is a loophole in the law that needs to be amended so that victims can be consulted in future transfer cases.
CBC News asked Mendicino’s office if his staff was trying to protect the minister by not telling him about Bernardo’s impending transfer. The office said staff were not protecting him and they were exploring the minister’s options.
Mendicino’s office said it “has investigated the authorities available to the minister and found” that it has “no authority over transfer decisions”. The CSC also confirms that decisions on the transfer of perpetrators and the reporting of victims fall within its competence, not that of the minister.
Mendicino publicly acknowledged Bernardo’s transfer on June 2 — three days after his office says he was first informed of the transfer. After news of the transfer leaked that day, Mendicino tweeted that CSC’s “independent decision” to transfer Bernardo “is shocking and incomprehensible”.
On June 5, Mendicino told reporters he spoke to CSC Commissioner Anne Kelly that morning to say “I was deeply concerned and again shocked by this decision.”
Danson said the minister’s comments gave the impression that he had just learned that Bernardo had been transferred that day — not that he had known about it for days.
“The families and myself clearly had the impression that when the minister said he found the decision both shocking and incomprehensible, he was unaware of it,” he said. “I don’t think there is any other interpretation.”
Danson also said the Commissioner should have called Mendicino prior to the transfer to let him know.
“When you are dealing with someone so dangerous, so notorious and high profile, how is it possible that the Commissioner or Deputy Commissioner did not pick up the phone and call the Minister directly so that there is no doubt that he was informed? is of the situation?” he said. “And what’s the explanation for not doing it?”
WATCH / Mendicino discusses Paul Bernardo transfer:
‘There was back and forth leading up to the decision’: Mendicino on Paul Bernardo transfer
Public Security Minister Marco Mendicino says his department is communicating with Canada’s Correctional Service regarding prisoner transfers. In the case of Paul Bernardo’s transfer, he said, “he found out personally the week the decision was made.”
There was ‘back and forth’ with the transfer: Mendicino
CBC News asked Mendicino on Tuesday why he was not notified in advance of the transfer and why he had not spoken to the commissioner earlier.
“There is back and forth between the Canada Correctional Service and the department when it comes to transfer decisions,” he said.
And so, in this particular case of Paul Bernardo, there was back and forth leading up to the decision.
“It’s also important to underline that these decisions are usually not public because of security concerns, because of privacy concerns that are well enshrined in law. But when the decision to transfer Paul Bernardo became public, I naturally took the opportunity to get out expressing very clearly to the Commissioner the concerns of Canadians regarding the transfer.”
Following those comments, Mendicino’s press secretary, Audrey Champoux, said in a media statement that during that “back and forth” with CSC, the minister’s office was briefed on “some of the steps” involved in the transfer of prisoners. .
“The decision at every step remained independent of our office,” she said.
Mendicino’s office said the minister was unable to notify victims’ families in advance or speak publicly, adding “it is not within our authority to share this information” due to the privacy legislation.
“Clear processes are still in place for notifying victims and families of transfer, and it is not appropriate for politicians to reach out directly,” Champoux said. “CSC has a process to notify families.”
Danson said the government is avoiding accountability by using “privacy concerns” as an excuse.
“Our view is that they are actually protecting themselves,” he said.
The staff must inform the minister
Mary Campbell, who retired in 2013 as director general of corrections and criminal justice at Public Safety Canada, said Mendicino’s original reaction to Bernardo’s transfer “came across as if he was quite surprised”.
Campbell said that, after a 40-year career in criminal justice under 14 ministers, she would have expected staff to brief a minister ahead of such a high-profile transfer.
“This is probably the largest case in the public eye in Canada right now,” she said. “You would want to be extremely prepared for the reaction that will come from a lot of people.”
Campbell also said it would have made sense for the minister to “pick up the phone” and call the commissioner after being briefed, rather than the following week.
“It’s such a high-profile case that I thought every measure would have been taken so that no one was surprised and everyone was willing to talk about it,” she said.
