Paul Bernardo victims’ families barred from parole hearing: lawyer
Families of victims who were murdered by notorious serial killer and rapist Paul Bernardo have been barred from attending his upcoming parole hearing in person, according to the families’ lawyer.
Bernardo, who is serving a life sentence and was transferred from maximum- to medium-security prison last year, is scheduled to appear for a parole hearing next week at Quebec’s La Macaza prison.
Tim Danson, the lawyer representing the families of Kristen French and Leslie Mahaffy, who were murdered as teenagers by Bernardo, argued in a letter sent to officials on Tuesday that his clients have a legal right to attend the hearing and read their statements in person.
The letter, shared with Global News, was addressed to Joanne Blanchard, the chairperson of the Parole Board of Canada, Correction Service of Canada commissioner Anne Kelly and Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc.
“We have just been advised that the families’ statutory right to be physically present at Mr. Bernardo’s November 26, 2024 parole hearing and to read their Victim Impact Statements in person, in the physical presence of Mr. Bernardo and the Parole Board panel, has been denied,” Danson wrote in the letter.
“Other than a bald reference to the PBC being ‘unable to ensure safety and security of all hearing attendees’, we have not been provided with any further details.”
Danson argued that this does not meet the criteria stated in the Corrections and Conditional Release Act.
According to the act, the parole board can deny a person from attending a review hearing 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.”
Danson said this denial was “unacceptable” and
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