No way to stop Homolka's bid for pardon, Harper says
PM claims 'soft-on-crime'laws leave government powerless in process
Vancouver Sun – April 20, 2010
By Janice Tibbets

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.

Toews said he expects to table a bill by the fall at 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.