I think it should be recognized that they should have a good number of months to prepare, not weeks, and should not receive a form letter that it has to be done in two weeks. In fact, we take the time that we need and they allow it, but it creates huge pressure on the families when they get an official letter from the Parole Board and from the Correctional Service that they have a limited period of time, so I think they need a number of months.
The other thing that needs to be recognized—and I have seen this a lot, especially as Bernardo's now coming up for his third parole hearing and I have other offenders who have had five, six or seven—is that the only constant in the parole process are the victims themselves, because we have a different composition of the Parole Board with each different hearing. It's the families, more than anybody else, who are able to identify how the offender is manipulating the system and saying one thing to one Parole Board panel and something to another Parole Board panel—and they don't know.
That's why in our application, which as I say is before the Supreme Court of Canada, we want public disclosure of the audio recordings of previous parole hearings and the evidence and the testimony of the offender, so that the victim impact statements can be very informative and helpful in assisting the Parole Board in effectively adjudicating the issues before them.