OTTAWA – Prime Minister Stephen Harper says ex-convict Karla Homolka will be able to apply for a pardon this year.
It’s the latest in a series of frustrations the prime minister said he has felt in the last few weeks about the weaknesses in Canada’s justice system.
Harper said the news that murderer Clifford Olson is receiving government pension benefits in jail was compounded by revelations by The Canadian Press that hockey coach Graham James received a pardon for sexual-abuse convictions.
Homolka, who was convicted in the sex-slaying of three girls, is also eligible to apply for a pardon through a system that grants 99 per cent of applicants their wishes, Harper noted.
“For many years, the vast majority of Canadians have found this deeply offensive. Now, they find it unacceptable,” Harper told a victims’ rights conference.
“Yet, for now, the law remains. And the law will allow Karla Homolka to apply for a pardon this year.”
As a result, Public Safety Minister Vic Toews said he has been asked to table legislation to tighten the pardon system by this fall at the latest.
Toews says he prefers legislation to regulatory changes to the pardon system, because he’s not convinced rule changes would address what happened in the James case.
“I think that simply looking at it by way of making administrative changes doesn’t appear to be sufficient,” Toews said.
He noted that the government made some changes in 2007, but they didn’t address all the problems of the pardon system, and didn’t prevent James from being pardoned.
Harper said that situation is unacceptable.
“Even though he ruined the lives of boys who just wanted to play hockey, he can travel without having to admit his criminal record.
“That, too, is offensive. But that, my friends, is how the laws have been written over the past few decades. Written when soft-on-crime attitudes were fashionable and concern for criminals took priority over compassion for victims.”
Public opinion in Canada has swung from thinking the pardon system is merely “offensive” to finding it intolerable, Harper said.
“The problems run deep, but we will keep pushing forward,” Harper said.
Ban pardons for violent criminals
Killer Karla Holmolka is eligible for a pardon in July. Of course she is. This is Canada — land of the criminal coddlers.
Some 95% of pardon applications are accepted and 99% that reach the adjudication stage are granted.
Unless a criminal is serving a life sentence or is deemed a dangerous offender, pretty much any criminal can get a pardon it seems after living “crime free” for five years.
Incredibly, the Criminal Records Act does not permit the National Parole Board to distinguish between offences when reviewing pardon applications.
In other words a killer or a rapist gets the same consideration as a guy caught with a few pot plants.
Only in Canada.
The good news is that the federal Tories plan on tabling legislation soon that would at least allow the NPB to distinguish between crimes. Not sure how far that will go in solving the problem. It might be a good first step.
A more reasonable solution would be to amend the act to prevent anyone with a serious, violent conviction from ever getting a pardon.
That record should stick with you forever.
Actually Tom, a record should NOT reflect negatively on a person's character for their entire lives. It severely limits job prospects and we all know that unemployment, increases the probability of re-offending. We need to give these people a second chance and facilitate their rehabilitation and reintegration. Karla has not re-offended since her release.
Ban pardons for violent criminals
Killer Karla Holmolka is eligible for a pardon in July. Of course she is. This is Canada — land of the criminal coddlers.
Some 95% of pardon applications are accepted and 99% that reach the adjudication stage are granted.
Unless a criminal is serving a life sentence or is deemed a dangerous offender, pretty much any criminal can get a pardon it seems after living “crime free” for five years.
Incredibly, the Criminal Records Act does not permit the National Parole Board to distinguish between offences when reviewing pardon applications.
In other words a killer or a rapist gets the same consideration as a guy caught with a few pot plants.
Only in Canada.
The good news is that the federal Tories plan on tabling legislation soon that would at least allow the NPB to distinguish between crimes. Not sure how far that will go in solving the problem. It might be a good first step.
A more reasonable solution would be to amend the act to prevent anyone with a serious, violent conviction from ever getting a pardon.
That record should stick with you forever.
Actually Tom, a record should NOT reflect negatively on a person's character for their entire lives. It severely limits job prospects and we all know that unemployment, increases the probability of re-offending. We need to give these people a second chance and facilitate their rehabilitation and reintegration. Karla has not re-offended since her release.
OTTAWA — Prime Minister Stephen Harper admitted the past few weeks have been frustrating.
But it's not because of Helena Guergis.
Rather, it was only recently he learned a serial killer with "the blood of 12 children on his hands" was receiving a taxpayer-funded pension in prison, and a serial sex offender — a former hockey coach who abused some of his players — had been pardoned.
Addressing attendees at a federal symposium on victims’ rights Monday in Ottawa – which kicked-off the fifth annual Victims of Crime Awareness Week – Harper called Clifford Olson's pension and Graham James' pardon "offensive.
"But that's how the laws were written," he said. "The law will allow Karla Homolka to apply for a pardon this year," and 95% of pardon applications are granted, he lamented.
But the government, Harper added, is making changes, though more than a dozen of his own party's justice bills died late last year when he prorogued Parliament.
Public Safety Minister Vic Toews confirmed last week he was reviewing the Criminal Records Act with an eye towards changes, making it tougher — or at least take longer — to be pardoned for certain crimes.
And Harper said the government will introduce legislation to make the victim surcharge imposed on offenders mandatory, instead of leaving it to the judge's discretion, which would help pay for victims' services.
"I call on Parliament to recognize that every victim matters, to get tough on criminals and protect law-abiding Canadians and to pass our vital law and order legislation,” Harper said, noting delays and political games were "unacceptable" while, "serial killers collect pensions and serial sex offenders get pardons."
The theme for this year's Victims of Crime Awareness Week is ‘Every Victim Matters.’
The symposium, attended by several hundred victims, relatives of victims, advocates and service providers, featured keynote speakers from across the country.
There are expected to be 90 government-funded events in Canada this week to raise awareness about victims' issues.
Stephen Harper says ex-convict Karla Homolka will be able to apply for a pardon this year. It's the latest in a series of frustrations the Prime Minister said he has felt in the last few weeks about the weaknesses in Canada's justice system.
Mr. Harper said the news that murderer Clifford Olson is receiving government pension benefits in jail was compounded by revelations by The Canadian Press that hockey coach Graham James received a pardon for sexual-abuse convictions.
Ms. Homolka, who was convicted in the sex-slaying of three girls, is also eligible to apply for a pardon through a system that grants 99 per cent of applicants their wishes, Mr. Harper noted.
“For many years, the vast majority of Canadians have found this deeply offensive. Now, they find it unacceptable,” the Prime Minister told a victims' rights conference.
“Yet, for now, the law remains. And the law will allow Karla Homolka to apply for a pardon this year.”
As a result, Public Safety Minister Vic Toews said he has been asked to table legislation to tighten the pardon system by this fall at the latest.
Mr. Toews says he prefers legislation to regulatory changes to the pardon system, because he's not convinced rule changes would address what happened in the James case.
“I think that simply looking at it by way of making administrative changes doesn't appear to be sufficient,” Mr. Toews said.
He noted that the government made some changes in 2007, but they didn't address all the problems of the pardon system, and didn't prevent James from being pardoned.
Mr. Harper said that situation is unacceptable.
“Even though he ruined the lives of boys who just wanted to play hockey, he can travel without having to admit his criminal record.
“That, too, is offensive. But that, my friends, is how the laws have been written over the past few decades. Written when soft-on-crime attitudes were fashionable and concern for criminals took priority over compassion for victims.”
Public opinion in Canada has swung from thinking the pardon system is merely “offensive” to finding it intolerable, Mr. Harper said.
“The problems run deep, but we will keep pushing forward,” the Prime Minister said.
Mr. Harper said the news that murderer Clifford Olson is receiving government pension benefits in jail was compounded by revelations by The Canadian Press that hockey coach Graham James received a pardon for sexual-abuse convictions.
Ms. Homolka, who was convicted in the sex-slaying of three girls, is also eligible to apply for a pardon through a system that grants 99 per cent of applicants their wishes, Mr. Harper noted.
“For many years, the vast majority of Canadians have found this deeply offensive. Now, they find it unacceptable,” the Prime Minister told a victims' rights conference.
“Yet, for now, the law remains. And the law will allow Karla Homolka to apply for a pardon this year.”
As a result, Public Safety Minister Vic Toews said he has been asked to table legislation to tighten the pardon system by this fall at the latest.
Mr. Toews says he prefers legislation to regulatory changes to the pardon system, because he's not convinced rule changes would address what happened in the James case.
“I think that simply looking at it by way of making administrative changes doesn't appear to be sufficient,” Mr. Toews said.
He noted that the government made some changes in 2007, but they didn't address all the problems of the pardon system, and didn't prevent James from being pardoned.
Mr. Harper said that situation is unacceptable.
“Even though he ruined the lives of boys who just wanted to play hockey, he can travel without having to admit his criminal record.
“That, too, is offensive. But that, my friends, is how the laws have been written over the past few decades. Written when soft-on-crime attitudes were fashionable and concern for criminals took priority over compassion for victims.”
Public opinion in Canada has swung from thinking the pardon system is merely “offensive” to finding it intolerable, Mr. Harper said.
“The problems run deep, but we will keep pushing forward,” the Prime Minister said.
OTTAWA — Prime Minister Stephen Harper says the government is powerless to stop killer Karla Homolka from applying for a pardon when she becomes eligible this summer —and that 99 per cent of applications are approved by the National Parole Board.
"The law will allow Karla Homolka to apply for a pardon this year," Harper told a gathering Monday to mark national crime victims week.
"In fact, more than 99 per cent of pardon applications that reach the adjudication stage are granted."
Harper's comments suggest that the government intends to go further than restricting pardons for sex offenders — that others will also be included in new legislation designed to make pardons harder or even impossible to obtain for certain types of offenders.
The government is planning to introduce new legislation this year to toughen the pardon system, in reaction to revelations earlier this month that sex offender Graham James, the disgraced former hockey coach, received a pardon three years ago.
"Even though he ruined the lives of boys that just wanted to play hockey, he can travel without having to admit his criminal record," Harper said. "That, my friends, is how the laws have been written over the past few decades, written when soft-on-crime attitudes were fashionable and concern for criminals took priority over compassion for victims.
Harper did not mention that his government reviewed the system for sex-offender pardons in 2006 and opted for minor administrative tinkering rather than changing legislation to make it harder or even impossible for people like James to be pardoned.
At a separate gathering, however, Public Safety Minister Vic Toews acknowledged that the first review, ordered by then public safety minister Stockwell Day, didn't go far enough.
Day settled for minor administrative changes so that two members of the National Parole Board, rather than one, screen applications for sex offenders.
"My colleague, Minister Day, made some improvements in 2007," Toews told reporters at a meeting of the Canadian Police Association. "Those were not sufficient to deal with some of the pressing problems that we continue to face."
Toews said he expects to table a bill by the fall at the the latest.
Under the current law, offenders can apply to the National Parole Board for pardons three or five years after completing their sentences, depending on the gravity of the crime.
The board has said it has no discretion to refuse pardons as long as the offenders meet the key requirement of demonstrating they have been upstanding citizens since serving their sentence.
Homolka was freed from prison in July 2005 after serving 12 years for manslaughter for her role in the sex killings of teenagers Kristen French and Leslie Mahaffy. Video tapes discovered after she had reached a plea bargain showed her to have a more active role in helping her then husband, Paul Bernardo.
Offenders convicted of first- and second-degree murder, and those serving indeterminate sentences, are not eligible to apply for pardons, but Homolka does not fit into that category because of the plea bargain.
She said, upon her release, that she would like to be pardoned one day.
Pardons do not forgive a criminal record, but they mask them so they do not surface in backgrounds checks. Sex offenders, however, turn up in checks if they apply to work with children or other vulnerable people.
Regardless of the offence one committed in their past, I feel that everyone should be eligible for a pardon. The stats show that the majority of people granted are successful and it opens up more employment opportunities. If we deny people pardons, it severely limits their job prospects and with unemployment, comes the increased risk of re-offending. We need to give everybody a second chance because people can and do change. To my knowledge, Karla has not re-offended and has been living a crime free life, outside of Canada. She is entitled to a pardon like anyone else and I fully support her in that.
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