Letter to Stockwell Day re: Automatic 2-Year Parole Hearing Review
I want to share a letter written by Steve Sullivan of the CRCVC (Canadian Resource Centre for Victims of Crime) on behalf of families like ours. This letter relates to the automatic scheduling of parole hearings every two years. For families who have been victimized by psychopaths and sociopaths including Ralph Power, Clifford Olson, Paul Bernardo (to name a few), this is a complete waste of time. They will always pose a threat to public safety and study after study proves they are not treatable.
This letter is very well written and I hope Stockwell Day together with Vic Toews can help make the necessary legislative reform.
Take a read:
____________________________________________________________________________________
July 19, 2006
The Honourable Stockwell Day
Minister of Public Safety
340 Laurier Avenue West
Ottawa, ON
K1A 0P9
Dear Mr. Minister:
On behalf of the Canadian Resource Centre for Victims of Crime (CRCVC), I want to lend our support to recent comments from your colleague, the Honourable Vic Toews, with respect to the need to review existing parole laws that allow convicted killers a parole hearing every two years after reaching their eligibility dates.
As you know from our past correspondence and our meeting in April, the CRCVC works with and advocates on behalf of many families of homicide victims. It is our experience that the existing parole laws for convicted murderers must be reviewed, as it is a cruel process to put families through potential parole hearings every two years.
We are currently dealing with many families who either have been to parole hearings or who are awaiting a hearing, possibly the offender’s second or third. The initial hearing can be a particularly difficult experience for families, but the possibility of hearings every two years compounds the emotional impact. The threat looms over them and they feel like there is no end to it. There is no time to catch their breath before they have to begin preparing again. Hearings of this nature can cause families to relive the murder again and again. It is important to note that provincial compensation plans do not assist families in these situations with costs related to counselling, which some may require as a result of the distress caused by the parole hearing.
Preparing for a hearing takes an emotional toll on families. Families we work with are often affected months in advance, upon notice of the hearing, and for weeks afterward. It is a process they have no control over, especially due to the fact that the offender may postpone the hearing at any time or cancel it at the last minute.
I encourage you to work with Minister Toews to examine the options available to you, options which respect the challenges and difficulties that victims face while still recognizing that some individuals may be appropriate for conditional release. I should point out that this is not just a concern in cases of high-profile inmates, but it is a serious issue for any family suffering the loss of a loved one.
One option could be to allow the parole board the discretion to determine when they will see the offender next in cases of first and second-degree murder. Another option may be to amend the CCRA to make the time between parole hearings longer, perhaps 5 or 10 years.
I would also like to encourage you to review the process by which offenders can cancel their parole hearings at any time, for any reason. You may recall that your late colleague Chuck Cadman introduced a Private Member’s Bill to limit an offender’s right to do this without a justifiable reason. It was my understanding at the time that Mr. Cadman had the support of the party.
The postponement of hearings is a serious, on-going issue. Yesterday, we received the fourth postponement notice in the case of an offender who murdered a young man in B.C. We have been involved with cases where the parole hearing has been postponed five or six times, before finally being waived or where the parole board stepped in to stop allowing undue postponements. Each time a hearing date is set the family must prepare itself emotionally to face the killer and must arrange time off work, daycare for the children, etc., only to have the hearing postponed. This forces families to live under constant stress and angst, not knowing when or if the hearing will proceed.
On behalf of the CRCVC, I am offering you our full cooperation and expertise to review the existing laws and policies and their impact on victims. It is our sincere belief that we can design a system that respects the rights of offenders and at the same time, causes the least burden and inconvenience to crime victims.
I look forward to working with you on these issues.
Sincerely,
Steve Sullivan
President
Cc The Honourable Vic Toews, Minister of Justice
Mrs. Susan Ashley
Ms. Terri Prioriello
Mrs. Sharon Rosenfeldt
Ms. Carolyn Gardner
Mrs. Marie O’Connor
Mrs. Rosalie Turcotte
This letter is very well written and I hope Stockwell Day together with Vic Toews can help make the necessary legislative reform.
Take a read:
____________________________________________________________________________________
July 19, 2006
The Honourable Stockwell Day
Minister of Public Safety
340 Laurier Avenue West
Ottawa, ON
K1A 0P9
Dear Mr. Minister:
On behalf of the Canadian Resource Centre for Victims of Crime (CRCVC), I want to lend our support to recent comments from your colleague, the Honourable Vic Toews, with respect to the need to review existing parole laws that allow convicted killers a parole hearing every two years after reaching their eligibility dates.
As you know from our past correspondence and our meeting in April, the CRCVC works with and advocates on behalf of many families of homicide victims. It is our experience that the existing parole laws for convicted murderers must be reviewed, as it is a cruel process to put families through potential parole hearings every two years.
We are currently dealing with many families who either have been to parole hearings or who are awaiting a hearing, possibly the offender’s second or third. The initial hearing can be a particularly difficult experience for families, but the possibility of hearings every two years compounds the emotional impact. The threat looms over them and they feel like there is no end to it. There is no time to catch their breath before they have to begin preparing again. Hearings of this nature can cause families to relive the murder again and again. It is important to note that provincial compensation plans do not assist families in these situations with costs related to counselling, which some may require as a result of the distress caused by the parole hearing.
Preparing for a hearing takes an emotional toll on families. Families we work with are often affected months in advance, upon notice of the hearing, and for weeks afterward. It is a process they have no control over, especially due to the fact that the offender may postpone the hearing at any time or cancel it at the last minute.
I encourage you to work with Minister Toews to examine the options available to you, options which respect the challenges and difficulties that victims face while still recognizing that some individuals may be appropriate for conditional release. I should point out that this is not just a concern in cases of high-profile inmates, but it is a serious issue for any family suffering the loss of a loved one.
One option could be to allow the parole board the discretion to determine when they will see the offender next in cases of first and second-degree murder. Another option may be to amend the CCRA to make the time between parole hearings longer, perhaps 5 or 10 years.
I would also like to encourage you to review the process by which offenders can cancel their parole hearings at any time, for any reason. You may recall that your late colleague Chuck Cadman introduced a Private Member’s Bill to limit an offender’s right to do this without a justifiable reason. It was my understanding at the time that Mr. Cadman had the support of the party.
The postponement of hearings is a serious, on-going issue. Yesterday, we received the fourth postponement notice in the case of an offender who murdered a young man in B.C. We have been involved with cases where the parole hearing has been postponed five or six times, before finally being waived or where the parole board stepped in to stop allowing undue postponements. Each time a hearing date is set the family must prepare itself emotionally to face the killer and must arrange time off work, daycare for the children, etc., only to have the hearing postponed. This forces families to live under constant stress and angst, not knowing when or if the hearing will proceed.
On behalf of the CRCVC, I am offering you our full cooperation and expertise to review the existing laws and policies and their impact on victims. It is our sincere belief that we can design a system that respects the rights of offenders and at the same time, causes the least burden and inconvenience to crime victims.
I look forward to working with you on these issues.
Sincerely,
Steve Sullivan
President
Cc The Honourable Vic Toews, Minister of Justice
Mrs. Susan Ashley
Ms. Terri Prioriello
Mrs. Sharon Rosenfeldt
Ms. Carolyn Gardner
Mrs. Marie O’Connor
Mrs. Rosalie Turcotte
posted by Carolyn Gardner at 9:30 a.m. 
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