Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino’s office said Thursday that it was informed about Paul Bernardo’s pending prison transfer at several key junctures leading up to the move.
That included the office being “informally advised in the weeks that followed” the transfer decision being made on March 27, it said in a statement.
Reporters cornered the minister as questions swirled on Parliament Hill about why he and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau were among the last to know about it, despite their staff being informed months earlier.
He acknowledged that the fact he and Trudeau were among the last informed was a “challenge,” but did not detail why that was the case.
The Liberal government was already dealing with fallout from the Correctional Service of Canada’s decision to move the convicted killer and serial rapist out of a maximum-security prison in Ontario to a medium-security institution in Quebec.
But further controversy erupted this week when the correctional service confirmed it told the minister’s office about the possibility of a transfer in early March and again in late May after a date for the move had been set.
The news that they both found out so late dealt another blow to a government whose ability to manage information has been under intense scrutiny.
Labour Minister Seamus O'Regan said Thursday that he thinks the government “will get through” the concerns over information flow, which have largely centered around the handling of intelligence about foreign interference.
He and other cabinet ministers voiced trust in their political staff to keep them informed about matters concerning their files.
A spokeswomen for Trudeau said the Privy Council Office alerted one of his staffers about the potential move March 2, and the office reached out to Mendicino’s office for more information.
Mendicino’s office added in a later statement on Thursday afternoon that the reclassification decision that led to the transfer had been made in February.
“The transfer decision was made on March 27 and the minister’s office was informally advised in the weeks that followed,” it said.
“As CSC confirmed, notification in the form of communications products came to the minister’s office on May 25 ahead of the May 29 transfer.”
The Privy Council, which acts as the administrative arm of the prime minister’s office, said in a statement late Thursday after the decision to transfer Bernardo was made it “requested regular updates and ... received notification and communication products over the course of May 25 and May 26.”
“As far an internal matters,” the minister said of his office, “I’ve dealt with it.”
He refused to say whether any of his staff have been disciplined. “The short answer is, it is unacceptable and my job is to make sure that it doesn’t happen again.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who was not in question period, did not respond to reporters when asked if he still has confidence in the minister.
In the House, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre also challenged the Liberal government to support a private member’s bill from an Ontario Tory MP that proposes to change the rules so that convicted murderers with multiple victims must serve out their entire sentences in maximum security.
Government House leader Mark Holland said Bernardo’s transfer remains under review by the correctional service.
He said despite Canadians’ understandable outrage over his transfer to a medium-security prison, it is important not to “politicize” the country’s prison system, which operates independently of government.
Bernardo is serving a life sentence for the kidnapping, sexual abuse and murders of 15-year-old Kristen French and 14-year-old Leslie Mahaffy in the early 1990s.
He has admitted to sexually assaulting 14 other women and was convicted of manslaughter in the death of Tammy Homolka, who died after being drugged and sexually assaulted.
Tammy was the 15-year-old sister of Bernardo’s then-wife Karla Homolka, who was released in 2005 after completing a 12-year sentence for her role in the crimes committed against French and Mahaffy.
Tim Danson, a lawyer for their families, said that this week marks the anniversary of Mahaffy’s abduction and murder. He said the victims’ relatives want the correctional service’s decision reversed.
She said the reason a process exists within corrections to alert the minister’s office about situations involving high-profile offenders is so as to not catch a minister off guard.
“The process should have worked just fine.”
Campbell said Thursday that having worked under 14 ministers she had never seen one have to issue a directive that said: “Please tell me important things.”
“I’m completely at a loss,” she added.
The federal corrections service has been clear that the public safety minister and their staffers have no say over decisions around the transfer of inmates or the security classifications they receive, both of which are governed by laws covering the prison system.
Corrections spokesman Kevin Antonucci said such decisions are made through applying criteria like an offender’s risk of escape and adjustments to a facility.
Both Poilievre and Danson have suggested the public safety minister could force Bernardo back into maximum-security prison by issuing the kind of ministerial directive that he said he would use to ensure better communication.
Tom Engel, president of the Canadian Prison Law Association, penned an open letter to the minister Thursday, saying his comments to date about Bernardo’s transfer have been “inappropriate.”
“Fundamentally, what is inappropriate is for you, or any other politician, to be commenting on a specific decision of the Correctional Service of Canada,” the letter read.
The letter continued: “We do not choose a person’s security level based solely on the severity of their offences and we certainly do not keep them in maximum security based on this factor alone. Nor does the sentencing judge decide what a person’s security level is going to be when they are convicted and sentenced.”
Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino’s office said Thursday that it was informed about Paul Bernardo’s pending prison transfer at several key junctures leading up to the move.
That included the office being “informally advised in the weeks that followed” the transfer decision being made on March 27, it said in a statement.
Reporters cornered the minister as questions swirled on Parliament Hill about why he and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau were among the last to know about it, despite their staff being informed months earlier.
He acknowledged that the fact he and Trudeau were among the last informed was a “challenge,” but did not detail why that was the case.
The Liberal government was already dealing with fallout from the Correctional Service of Canada’s decision to move the convicted killer and serial rapist out of a maximum-security prison in Ontario to a medium-security institution in Quebec.
But further controversy erupted this week when the correctional service confirmed it told the minister’s office about the possibility of a transfer in early March and again in late May after a date for the move had been set.
The news that they both found out so late dealt another blow to a government whose ability to manage information has been under intense scrutiny.
Labour Minister Seamus O'Regan said Thursday that he thinks the government “will get through” the concerns over information flow, which have largely centered around the handling of intelligence about foreign interference.
He and other cabinet ministers voiced trust in their political staff to keep them informed about matters concerning their files.
A spokeswomen for Trudeau said the Privy Council Office alerted one of his staffers about the potential move March 2, and the office reached out to Mendicino’s office for more information.
Mendicino’s office added in a later statement on Thursday afternoon that the reclassification decision that led to the transfer had been made in February.
“The transfer decision was made on March 27 and the minister’s office was informally advised in the weeks that followed,” it said.
“As CSC confirmed, notification in the form of communications products came to the minister’s office on May 25 ahead of the May 29 transfer.”
The Privy Council, which acts as the administrative arm of the prime minister’s office, said in a statement late Thursday after the decision to transfer Bernardo was made it “requested regular updates and ... received notification and communication products over the course of May 25 and May 26.”
“As far an internal matters,” the minister said of his office, “I’ve dealt with it.”
He refused to say whether any of his staff have been disciplined. “The short answer is, it is unacceptable and my job is to make sure that it doesn’t happen again.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who was not in question period, did not respond to reporters when asked if he still has confidence in the minister.
In the House, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre also challenged the Liberal government to support a private member’s bill from an Ontario Tory MP that proposes to change the rules so that convicted murderers with multiple victims must serve out their entire sentences in maximum security.
Government House leader Mark Holland said Bernardo’s transfer remains under review by the correctional service.
He said despite Canadians’ understandable outrage over his transfer to a medium-security prison, it is important not to “politicize” the country’s prison system, which operates independently of government.
Bernardo is serving a life sentence for the kidnapping, sexual abuse and murders of 15-year-old Kristen French and 14-year-old Leslie Mahaffy in the early 1990s.
He has admitted to sexually assaulting 14 other women and was convicted of manslaughter in the death of Tammy Homolka, who died after being drugged and sexually assaulted.
Tammy was the 15-year-old sister of Bernardo’s then-wife Karla Homolka, who was released in 2005 after completing a 12-year sentence for her role in the crimes committed against French and Mahaffy.
Tim Danson, a lawyer for their families, said that this week marks the anniversary of Mahaffy’s abduction and murder. He said the victims’ relatives want the correctional service’s decision reversed.
She said the reason a process exists within corrections to alert the minister’s office about situations involving high-profile offenders is so as to not catch a minister off guard.
“The process should have worked just fine.”
Campbell said Thursday that having worked under 14 ministers she had never seen one have to issue a directive that said: “Please tell me important things.”
“I’m completely at a loss,” she added.
The federal corrections service has been clear that the public safety minister and their staffers have no say over decisions around the transfer of inmates or the security classifications they receive, both of which are governed by laws covering the prison system.
Corrections spokesman Kevin Antonucci said such decisions are made through applying criteria like an offender’s risk of escape and adjustments to a facility.
Both Poilievre and Danson have suggested the public safety minister could force Bernardo back into maximum-security prison by issuing the kind of ministerial directive that he said he would use to ensure better communication.
Tom Engel, president of the Canadian Prison Law Association, penned an open letter to the minister Thursday, saying his comments to date about Bernardo’s transfer have been “inappropriate.”
“Fundamentally, what is inappropriate is for you, or any other politician, to be commenting on a specific decision of the Correctional Service of Canada,” the letter read.
The letter continued: “We do not choose a person’s security level based solely on the severity of their offences and we certainly do not keep them in maximum security based on this factor alone. Nor does the sentencing judge decide what a person’s security level is going to be when they are convicted and sentenced.”
