By Canadian Press

Who knew what when? A timeline of the Bernardo case and controversial prison transfer

Jul 20, 2023 | 1:53 PM

OTTAWA — The Correctional Service of Canada announced Thursday that a review found Paul Bernardo’s transfer to a medium-security prison from a maximum-security penitentiary was sound and followed proper policies and laws. 

Public backlash had erupted following its decision to move the convicted murderer and serial rapist, engulfing the Liberal government with questions around its handling of the matter and who knew what when. 

Here is a timeline of events that led to Thursday’s announcement, including key dates from the Bernardo case and his recent controversial transfer.

1991

June 15 — Leslie Mahaffy, 14, disappears from outside her home in Burlington, Ont., in the early hours of the morning.

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June 29 — Mahaffy’s body parts are found encased in concrete blocks in Lake Gibson near St. Catharines, Ont. The same day, Paul Bernardo marries Karla Homolka.

1992

April 16 — Kristen French, 15, is abducted as she walks home from school in St. Catharines.

April 30 — French’s body is found in a ditch in Burlington, Ont., 500 metres from Mahaffy’s grave.

1993

May 18 — Homolka is charged with two counts of manslaughter in the French and Mahaffy slayings after striking a deal with the Crown. She is freed on bail.

May 19 — Bernardo is charged with two counts each of first-degree murder, kidnapping, forcible confinement and aggravated sexual assault, and one count of committing an indignity to a body.

July 6 — Homolka is convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 12 years in prison.

1994

March 30 — The Crown files a preferred indictment that cancels Bernardo’s preliminary hearing and sends him directly to trial on the murder charges.

May 4 — Bernardo pleads not guilty to the nine charges.

1995

Sept. 1 — After a long trial and eight hours of deliberation, the jury declares Bernardo guilty on all nine counts. He is sentenced to life in prison with no parole for 25 years on the two murder charges.

2018

May 18 — Bernardo, now 54, is ordered to stand trial for allegedly possessing a homemade shank in the maximum-security prison where he is serving his life sentence.

Oct. 5 — The weapon charge is withdrawn after the Crown says there is no reasonable prospect of conviction.

Oct. 17 — A National Parole Board panel denies Bernardo’s bid for parole.

2022

June — Bernardo applies to be moved from the maximum-security Millhaven Institution to the medium-security Bath Institution, according to a later report from the correctional service, but a security review that finds he meets the bar for the transfer is “overridden” because of his failure to integrate with other inmates.

July — After working with senior officials at Millhaven Institution to develop an integration plan, the correctional service report says, Bernardo is considered “fully integrated” within the prison. He later renews an application to be moved to a medium-security institution. 

2023

March 2 — The Correctional Service Canada emails Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino’s office about a pending transfer, providing it with communication materials. No date for the transfer is provided. A spokeswoman for the minister later says the notification was only received after his office learned of the transfer from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s office and requested information.

May 25 — The correctional service provides Mendicino’s office with updated communications materials and confirms the transfer will take place May 29.

May 26 — Federal corrections commissioner Anne Kelly emails Shawn Tupper and Tricia Geddes, the deputy minister and associate deputy minister of Public Safety Canada, respectively, according to documents obtained by The Canadian Press under access-to-information law. She informs them of the impending transfer and says the Public Safety Department, the Privy Council Office and the offices of Mendicino and Trudeau have all been notified.

May 29 — Bernardo is transported to La Macaza Institution, a medium-security prison that treats sex offenders about 190 kilometres north of Montreal, from Millhaven Institution, a maximum-security penitentiary near Kingston, Ont. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is briefed on the situation, his office will later confirm. And the families of French and Mahaffy are informed of the move, according to lawyer Tim Danson. 

May 30 — Mendicino is told that the transfer occurred the day after it happens, according to his later recollection. 

June 2 — News of Bernardo’s transfer breaks to the public. Mendicino releases his first public statement, calling the killer’s move “shocking and incomprehensible” on Twitter and saying he plans to raise “the transfer decision process” with Kelly.

June 4 — Kelly emails Mendicino personally, writing, “Hello minister, saw your tweet,” according to internal emails. She adds that she remains available to meet, and the minister responds within 10 minutes: “Yes, we’ll co-ordinate a call.”

June 5 — Mendicino addresses reporters on Parliament Hill for the first time and announces that the correctional service will launch a review of Bernardo’s transfer. He emphasizes the decision was made independent of government. The correctional service releases its own statement, offering no specific reasons for the move but saying decisions are based on criteria such as an offender’s escape risk and emphasizing the transfer does not put the public in danger.

June 6 — Kelly emails Geddes and Tupper to check if Mendicino’s office had been told of Bernardo’s move, saying this was a question she was receiving from clerk of the Privy Council. “We have a notification process in place as you know and we certainly followed it,” she wrote in an email with the subject line “PRIVATE — Transfer,” according to documents released under access-to-information law.

June 9 — Danson, the lawyer for the French and Mahaffy families, pens an open letter to Kelly expressing their desire to see Bernardo returned to a maximum-security institution and detailing the hardship his transfer has caused them. The letter includes concerns around their lack of understanding of why it happened, saying it is inappropriate of federal corrections to prioritize Bernardo’s privacy rights over victims.

June 11 — Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre announces the party will introduce a private member’s bill in Parliament to ensure that murderers with multiple victims, like Bernardo, will have to serve out their full sentences in maximum-security institutions. 

June 13 — CBC News first reports that Mendicino’s office learned of Bernardo’s transfer three months before it happened. 

June 14 — Conservatives demand the minister resign. Mendicino releases a statement saying his staff made an error in not telling him sooner, and announces plans to issue a directive to ensure the federal public safety minister is personally alerted the next time a high-profile offender moves. He notes privacy law puts “significant limits” on what can be said about the transfer, and speaks to Danson about the families’ wishes. Canadians also learn for the first time that staff in Trudeau’s office learned of the transfer three months in advance and referred the matter to Mendicino’s office.

June 15 — Mendicino is cornered by reporters after making an unrelated appearance before a parliamentary committee. He refuses to explain why staff decided to keep him in the dark and whether anyone has been punished. Meanwhile, staff in the office of the federal privacy watchdog prepare notes based on the minister’s comments about privacy law, according to documents obtained by The Canadian Press. The notes say the head of an institution can determine whether public interest “clearly outweighs” an individual’s privacy rights.

July 7 — A spokesman in the Public Safety Department defends the decision by top officials not to personally alert Mendicino of Bernardo’s transfer, saying in a statement to media that it would be unusual for them to be involved in operational decisions of the correctional service and they had no reason to believe the minister was unaware.

July 20 — The correctional service says a review found the decision to transfer Bernardo was “sound” and followed proper policies and procedures. An 85-page report includes some personal information about Bernardo, with Kelly telling reporters she felt the release of the details was in the public interest.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 20, 2023. 

Stephanie Taylor, The Canadian Press