CSC staff ‘worried the circus would begin’ before Bernardo transfer: emails

A series of emails from Correctional Service Canada employees detail worry about the 'optics' and potential 'circus' around Paul Bernardo's prison transfer.

Correctional Service Canada (CSC) emails show employees worried “the circus would begin” if word got out to families and others before notorious serial killer Paul Bernardo’s prison transfer was complete.

Global News received a collection of internal CSC emails through an access-to-information request, detailing internal conversations about moving Bernardo from a maximum-security penitentiary to a medium-security facility and plans for how and when to notify the victims’ families.

In an April 6 email exchange between two CSC officials, whose names are both redacted, they talk about Bernardo being told of his upcoming transfer. The first official then asks when the victims’ families get notified, and if it must happen a certain number of days prior to the transfer.

The second official replies that they only need to give advance notice for transfers to minimum-security prisons, and that Bernardo’s victims’ families will be notified once the transfer is complete.

“Oh good, I was worried the circus would begin prior to the transfer,” the first official replied.

“Nope, he’ll be assigned to someone else by the time it hits the fan,” the second official wrote.

In preparing for the transfer, the emails showed CSC staff discussed avoiding sensitive dates. This included the birth and death dates of Kristen French (May 10 and April 19) and Leslie Mahaffy (July 5 and June 15).

An email exchange on April 11 that discussed the upcoming transfer noted, “This will likely have a strong negative victim and media reaction.”