Public Safety committee  From my clients' perspectives, the issue is not the actual date of the transfer. It is the shock of finding out after the fact. As long as there is appropriate consultation prior to the transfer so that they have the ability to absorb it and say what they need to say, they don't

Public Safety committee  Yes, I have heard of it. I think it would be very helpful. I was directing my comments toward the Frenches and the Mahaffys, where I spent significant amounts of time and worked with them, but obviously there are lots of victims who don't have counsel at all. I think it's very i

Public Safety committee  Great. Thank you very much.

Public Safety committee  Absolutely. As I said earlier, you have no idea how quickly two years goes by. There's the emotional trauma that the families go through to prepare their victim impact statements, to then attend at the hearings and give their victim impact statements, and then all of a sudden wit

Public Safety committee  First of all, I reject that we require exceptional circumstances. That's not the law. That's not what the statute says. I think that's important because Correctional Service Canada and the Parole Board are always looking for these exceptional circumstances. The way they define “e

Public Safety committee  In terms of the French and Mahaffy families, there's no support, other than a person with victims' services at Correctional and the Parole Board who is there to provide information. Other than that, they're on their own. In their particular case—I've been working with them over t

Public Safety committee  It's a good question. It's something I haven't recently talked to the families about. At this stage, they would much prefer just to be left alone and to never hear the names of Paul Bernardo or Karla Homolka. They recognize that, when these parole hearings come up, they have to

Public Safety committee  Absolutely. I respect and the families respect that to a very large extent, the independence of Correctional Service Canada and the Parole Board—the Parole Board being different because it's a quasi-judicial tribunal, although some people would quarrel with that language. When

Public Safety committee  I'm sorry—

Public Safety committee  I think I've covered it off. The different regimes treating it differently.... I'd just be repeating myself. I've given you their main concerns. Also, the huge concern with respect to transparency is of vital importance to the families.

Public Safety committee  I suspect there has to be some system of registration, because the numbers could be significant. Some victims want to stay totally involved and others don't. I don't have a problem with the registry. I prefer.... It's easier for the victims if they're automatically informed. I've

Public Safety committee  I come back to the essential theme of what we've been sharing with you today. The moment—

Public Safety committee  First of all, I would strongly recommend that the victims be notified well in advance so that they're not shocked or reading about it in the paper from the media. That's important: that they're not blindsided by such a decision. I do think—

Public Safety committee  Fair enough. I would think that.... I was about to make this point too, and I'm going to answer your question directly. When we talk about transfers, as I say, there's always a continuum of seriousness, and I'm just focusing on the serious offenders who have life sentences—not fi

Public Safety committee  I have to say that I'm not familiar with the numbers. I know that everything is a bill with a number—