Poilievre calls on feds to reverse Paul Bernardo prison transfer | 24CA News
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is asking on the federal authorities to make use of no matter instruments it may well to reverse a choice by the Correctional Service of Canada to switch killer Paul Bernardo to a medium-security jail.
Bernardo‘s move to a facility in Quebec was made public last week after the correctional service notified the lawyer representing the families of 15-year-old Kristen French and 14-year-old Leslie Mahaffy, whom Bernardo kidnapped, tortured and murdered in the early 1990s.
The killer and serial rapist had been serving a life sentence at Millhaven Institution, a maximum-security penitentiary near Kingston, Ont.
Tim Danson, a lawyer for the victims’ households, says it was unacceptable that the jail service refused to reply questions concerning the motive for the Bernardo’s transfer or particulars of his custody circumstances, citing his privateness rights.
Speaking to reporters in Ottawa, Poilievre known as Bernardo a “monster” and mentioned Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s authorities ought to work to see him returned to a maximum-security jail.
In an announcement final Friday, Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino mentioned Bernardo’s switch was “shocking and incomprehensible,” including that he deliberate to lift the difficulty with Anne Kelly, commissioner of the federal correctional service.
Danson mentioned he was happy to the minister’s assertion
“Now we need action,” he advised The Canadian Press on Sunday. “This is one of Canada’s most notorious, sadistic, psychopathic killers.”
“We need the public in masses, in millions, to be writing to the minister, to the commissioner of corrections, and to the members of Parliament, to express their outrage over this _ that secrecy will not work. We want transparency.”
Mendicino mentioned he deliberate to lift the state of affairs with Anne Kelly, commissioner of the federal correctional service, saying he expects it to “take a victim-centred and trauma-informed approach in these cases.”
The service, for its half, issued an announcement providing no particulars about Bernardo’s switch however saying security is its “paramount consideration” in all such selections.
“While we cannot comment on the specifics of an offender’s case under the Privacy Act, we want to assure the public that this offender continues to be incarcerated in a secure institution, with appropriate security perimeters and controls in place,” the assertion learn.
It went on to notice that Bernardo, who has been designated a harmful offender, is serving an “indeterminate sentence” with no finish date.
Danson mentioned the French and Mahaffy households had been shocked to listen to of Bernardo’s switch, with the transfer mentioning a long time of anguish and grief.
“Then for me to have to tell them as their lawyer and their friend, ‘I’m afraid I have no answers for you because of Bernardo’s privacy rights,”’ he mentioned.
“Of course their response is the one that you would expect: ‘What about the rights of Kristen? What about the rights of Leslie? What about their rights?”
“These are questions I can’t answer other than just to agree with them and share in their despair.”
Bernardo’s harmful offender standing makes the transfer all of the extra puzzling, Danson added as he questioned why Bernardo ought to reap any advantages of being in a medium-security facility with extra lenient dwelling circumstances.
“We need an open and transparent discussion and debate. These are major, major public institutions paid for by the taxpayers of Canada.”
He recommended the correctional service’s dealing with of the matter dangers main the general public to really feel suspicious of your complete system.
“They want to do everything behind closed doors and secretly.”
© 2023 The Canadian Press
