Public Safety committee  The ministerial directive states that, when a transfer is being considered, the Correctional Service of Canada will contact victims to let them know that they can update their statement at any time, which is very important. It's part of the information provided. Ms. Gagnon, woul

Public Safety committee  Again, the security classification is a process. We assess a number of factors. We apply an actuarial tool. The final assessment is a combination of both, so definitely what you mentioned was taken into consideration, but the final assessment was that this particular offender cou

Public Safety committee  I can't speak for the future. What I can say is that, as I said, he has spent 30 years in maximum. He has been in medium now for about a year. He is still a high risk to the safety of the public, so certainly minimum is not on the radar.

Public Safety committee  Again, with the fact that he is in medium security, as I mentioned, in terms of perimeter control, it's the same as maximum security. He spent 30 years in a maximum-security prison. He not so long ago got to medium security, so there is more work to do.

Public Safety committee  Again, our job is to assign a security classification to each inmate and to review it at regular intervals, which we have done in this case, and Bernardo came out as medium. Once that's determined, we have to ensure they are transferred to an institution that corresponds to their

Public Safety committee  As part of the transfer process, we have to take into consideration whether the victims have submitted victim statements. Those are taken into consideration. In the transfer at hand, we actually communicated with victims, and I spoke with one victim before we reviewed the case.

Public Safety committee  With regard to the way it works for transfers, let's say, from maximum to medium, in this case we are mandated to advise the victims. Normally, it's after the transfer occurs. In the case of a transfer to minimum security, we advise the victims prior to the transfer. In this par

Public Safety committee  Again, in this case, we followed the legislation and the policies, but I think there was a recognition—and that was part of the review—that maybe more could have been done. That is why we are having the multidisciplinary committee, to discuss exactly those things.

Public Safety committee  He committed absolutely horrific crimes. The other thing I would say is that Paul Bernardo has spent 30 consecutive years in maximum security. He was transferred to medium security. At this point, there is absolutely no talk of going to a lower security level. He just got to med

Public Safety committee  First of all, again, maximum security is very strictly guarded. The movement is very controlled. It's not as easy to do programming, and that's one.... We're mandated by law to rehabilitate offenders, and that's done through the delivery of services, interventions and programming

Public Safety committee  We do many transfers a year, and inmates do move between maximum, medium and minimum security. However—and I think this was mentioned by the president of UCCO-SACC-CSN—if an offender exhibits behaviours, we monitor the offender's behaviour. If there's something the offender is do

Public Safety committee  Thank you for the question. I would say that, in this case, Paul Bernardo was given the harshest sentence we have in the criminal justice system, which is a life sentence. He was also designated a dangerous offender, and the sentence is the punishment. In terms of the different

Public Safety committee  Actually, when we do a security classification, as I said, there are two tools. There's a statistical component and a clinical component. Obviously, we look at security risks, so we look at offence severity and previous offences. We look at those things. In terms of assigning a

Public Safety committee  Good morning, Mr. Chair and committee members. Thank you for inviting me as part of your study on the security classification, the transfer of offenders and the rights of victims of crime. These issues have received considerable public attention, following the transfer of offen

Public Accounts committee  Yes. With the chiefs we met, we actually discussed that. Often they themselves will say—