By Canadian Press

Bernardo transfer should be ‘turning point’ on better informing victims: ombudsman

Nov 29, 2023 | 4:08 PM

OTTAWA — Three childhood friends say they were forced to relive the anguish and fear of losing Kristen French when Correctional Service Canada decided to transfer her killer to a medium-security prison. 

The women testified at a parliamentary committee today about how it felt to learn that Paul Bernardo was being moved out of his maximum-security prison in late May. 

Bernardo is serving an indeterminate life-sentence for the kidnapping, sexual assault and murder of 15-year-old French and 14-year-old Leslie Mahaffy in the early 1990s near St. Catharines, Ont.

Benjamin Roebuck, the federal ombudsman for victims of crime, says the legislation that governs the prison system “is failing victims of crime” as it places too many limits on what can be shared with victims. 

He told the committee that his office has been raising concerns about prison transfers since 2010, and he hopes that the Bernardo decision becomes a “turning point.”

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The correctional service concluded in a review that it followed proper policies with the transfer, but its commissioner said it could’ve done a better job informing the victims’ families, who said they only learned about the transfer as it was happening. 

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 29, 2023. 

The Canadian Press