In the dark chapters of Canadian crime, few names conjure the raw revulsion and dread that Paul Bernardo once did. A sexually sadistic predator, a serial rapist, and a remorseless murderer, Bernardo’s reign of terror in the late 1980s and early 1990s carved a wound into the nation’s soul. Yet, in recent years, his shadow has faded from public outrage, lost in the noise of fleeting headlines—until he oozes back into view, a grotesque reminder of evil unchecked and a government too weak to keep him where he belongs. The Liberal government under Justin Trudeau has not only botched justice but defiled it, coddling this beast while kicking dirt on the graves of his victims. Exhibit A: Bernardo’s cushy transfer from maximum-security Millhaven to a medium-security prison in 2023. Exhibit B: the Liberals suing his victims’ families for daring to demand accountability. This is a government that’s forgotten the meaning of shame.
Let’s rewind to the nightmare Bernardo inflicted. This wasn’t a mere criminal; this was a fiend who fed on fear and pain. As the “Scarborough Rapist,” he preyed on at least 14 women, stalking them through Toronto’s suburbs, pressing a blade to their throats as he savored their screams. Then, with his depraved partner Karla Homolka, he turned to murder. Leslie Mahaffy, 14, was ripped from her Burlington street in 1991, raped, tortured, and hacked apart—her remains encased in concrete like some sick monument. Kristen French, 15, snatched from St. Catharines in 1992, endured days of unspeakable torment before being strangled, her body tossed near Mahaffy’s resting place. And Tammy Homolka, Karla’s 15-year-old sister, drugged and violated by Bernardo in a twisted holiday “gift,” choked to death on her own vomit as he smirked. These were not crimes; they were atrocities, preserved on videotape for his endless gratification.
For decades, this abomination rotted behind bars at Kingston Penitentiary, Canada’s toughest maximum-security lockup, until it shuttered in 2013. From there, he was shipped to Millhaven Institution, another maximum-security fortress, where he stayed from 2013 to 2023. Canadians could breathe a little easier knowing that this “dangerous offender”—sentenced to life with no realistic shot at parole—was caged like the animal he is. But that was before the Trudeau Liberals decided justice was optional, before they decided a psychopath deserved a softer landing.
In May 2023, the bombshell dropped: Bernardo had been quietly shuffled to La Macaza Institution, a medium-security facility in Quebec. Medium-security. Chew on that. The man who raped, tortured, and butchered teenage girls—who remains, by every psychological measure, a high-risk sexual sadist—was handed a lighter sentence in all but name. Now he rubs elbows with other inmates, tends to a landscaping crew, and boasts about “friendships and meaningful contacts.” This isn’t justice; it’s an insult to every life he stole, every family he destroyed. Who greenlit this outrage? The Liberal government, whose soft-on-crime agenda and bureaucratic spinelessness paved the way.
The Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) insists the transfer was “sound,” compliant with all policies. Naturally—because the Liberals rewrote the playbook! In 2019, they resurrected the “least restrictive” principle for inmate placements, a sop to progressive do-gooders that’s proven a disaster for public safety. This wasn’t about reform—Bernardo’s latest parole hearing in November 2024 confirmed he’s still a delusional narcissist, a ticking bomb of sexual deviance. No, this was about a government so drunk on its own virtue it forgot what monsters deserve. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre nailed it: “Paul Bernardo should leave prison in a box when he’s dead.” Instead, the Liberals gave him a shovel and a social circle.
The victims’ families erupted in justified fury. Tim Danson, their lawyer, branded the transfer “shocking and incomprehensible,” demanding Bernardo’s return to maximum security. But the Liberals didn’t just dismiss them—they doubled down. In a move so vile it boggles the mind, Trudeau’s government sued the families of Kristen French and Leslie Mahaffy for $4,000 in court costs after they battled for parole board documents in 2021. These families, forever haunted by loss, sought clarity about the beast who took their daughters. The Liberal answer? Hit them with a bill. Only after a firestorm of public scorn and an looming appeal did they relent in 2023, but the stain remains. This wasn’t a misstep; it was a calculated middle finger to the grieving.
The political fallout has been a parade of Liberal deflection. Then-Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino pleaded ignorance of the transfer until it was done, despite his office getting a heads-up months prior. Trudeau shed crocodile tears, claiming the decision was “independent.” Independent? Tell that to the CSC, which dances to his cabinet’s tune. Commissioner Anne Kelly parroted the party line, arguing Bernardo’s move was fine because he “integrated” with inmates. Integrated? This isn’t a halfway house; it’s a prison for a killer who should be rotting in the deepest hole we’ve got, not planting flowers.
And yet, despite these flashes of media coverage—his transfer in 2023, his parole rejection in 2024—Bernardo’s name has slipped from the forefront of Canadian consciousness. The horror he once embodied has dulled, eclipsed by fresh controversies and social media noise. That’s the true travesty: not just that he still draws breath, but that we’ve let him fade into the background, a ghost we’re too busy to exorcise. The Liberals count on that indifference, praying we’ll overlook their complicity in this farce. They’ve failed the Mahaffys, the Frenches, and every Canadian who believes evil should face consequences.
It’s time to drag Paul Bernardo back into the light—not as a rehabilitated soul, not as a medium-security groundskeeper, but as the soulless killer he is. And it’s time to hold the Trudeau Liberals accountable for pampering him, for suing his victims’ families, for valuing a predator’s comfort over the cries of the dead. This isn’t just a policy flop; it’s a betrayal of everything justice stands for.