Pressure continues to mount on Mendicino over Bernardo transfer briefings
Global News
Marco Mendicino faced calls to resign Wednesday after the Correctional Service of Canada revealed it had alerted the minister’s office months before Paul Bernardo was moved.
Pressure continued to mount on Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino Thursday over what he knew about Paul Bernardo’s prison transfer last month.
Mendicino faced resignation calls from Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre Wednesday after the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) revealed it alerted the minister’s office months before the notorious rapist and serial killer was moved to a medium-security prison in May.
“It is very clear that I should have been briefed at the time, and that is something that I made abundantly clear to my staff,” Mendicino told reporters in Ottawa on Thursday.
“As I said yesterday in the House of Commons, I have taken the corrective steps to ensure that that does not happen again.”
CBC News was the first to report that Mendicino’s office knew about Bernardo’s transfer months before the minister did on Wednesday. The minister’s office told the outlet it did not tell Mendicino about Bernardo’s transfer until May 30 – the day after the move happened.
The CSC told Global News Wednesday it contacted Mendicino’s office by email on March 2 to inform them that Bernardo would be transferred from Millhaven Institution, a maximum-security penitentiary near Kingston, Ont. A transfer date hadn’t been determined at that time.
CSC then followed up with the minister’s office on May 25, telling them Bernardo would be transferred on May 29. News of the transfer made headlines on June 2.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s office said staff were also alerted in March to the “possibility” that Bernardo would be transferred, and referred that information to Mendicino’s office when it was received.
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