Toronto police union seeks to make public corrections, parole files of 3 notorious killers

A federal appeal that could result in the incarceration records and parole hearing audio for convicted murderers Paul Bernardo, Craig Munro, and Clinton Gayle being made public is now underway.

The two-day hearing began Monday at 9:30 a.m. at the Federal Court of Appeal.

The Toronto Police Association (TPA), on behalf of the families of Kristen French, Leslie Mahaffy, and Consts. Michael Sweet and Todd Baylis, is behind the appeal.

Back in August 2021, the Honourable Justice Glennys McVeigh ruled that the corrections and parole files of the aforementioned offenders be kept secret as Bernardo, Munro, and Gayle did not consent to their release.

Among other things, McVeigh also refuted the families’ claims that they had a constitutional right to that information as parole board hearings are not court proceedings.

In the end, she ordered the French, Mahaffy, Sweet, and Baylis families to pay the government $4,000.

The TPA, which represents roughly 8,000 police and civilian members of the Toronto Police Service, said McVeigh disagreed with their position and rejected their alternative argument that the “public interest outweighed the purported privacy interests of offenders convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison.”

“(She) also rejected our argument that the open court/open justice principle guaranteed by s. 2(b) of the Charter applied to parole hearings,” the union said in a Jan. 23 release.

“For many years, the Association has taken a formal position at the parole hearings of each of these offenders, including the submission of a complete Victim Impact brief,” said TPA President Jon Reid.

“The incarceration records of the offenders are key to our continued efforts to protect the public by keeping these dangerous men behind bars and limit the suffering for the family, friends, and colleagues of the victims.”

Prior to going to court, the TPA said it unsuccessfully tried to access to the incarceration records used by these offenders at their parole hearings and the audio recordings of those hearings through an Access to Information Act request to Correctional Services Canada and the Parole Board of Canada.

That request was denied, TPA said, on the grounds that making this information public infringed on the privacy rights of the offenders.

Gayle, who is now 53 years old, is currently serving a life sentence for the June 1994 murder of Constable Todd Baylis and the attempted murder of Staff Sergeant Mike Leone.

Munro, who is now in his 70s, was convicted of the March 1980 murder of Constable Michael Sweet and is also serving a life sentence.

Fifty-eight-year-old Bernardo is also currently serving life in prison for the June 1991 sexual assault and murder of then 14-year-old Leslie Mahaffy as well as the sexual assault and murder of then 15-year-old Kristen French, whose body was found on April 30, 1992.

Speaking with CP24 on Monday afternoon, criminal defense lawyer Joseph Neuberger said he believes the TPA and the victims’ families want to have access to the offenders’ psychological and psychiatric records and assessments so that they can better inform themselves when it comes to the submissions they want to make at a parole hearing.

However, he said this is not the role of the police or the victims’ family.

“We have to remember that at a parole hearing, the police associations and the victim's families have a very defined role and it's not to expand, to make submissions based upon risk assessment and other issues that would be derived from these records,” Neuberger noted.

“So I agree with the initial decision and I don't think the appeal itself will be successful, but I understand why there are applications.”

Neuberger went on to say that carving out an exception for these “highly protected” records to be made public, would essentially “rob individuals of their privacy rights” by setting “precedent for disclosing the records of other inmates or offenders that may pose less risk.”

He also noted that the parole board’s job is to evaluate offenders’ risk and act accordingly.

“And we have to remember that the parole hearings, they don't lose sight of the risk because the parole hearing is informed by the assessments that are done in the jail. And for example, Mr. Munro has been in jail for some 42 years and Mr. Gayle has been in jail for some 27 years appropriately and again, given their risk profile, they will remain in jail for a long period of time, if not the rest of their lives,” he said.

“So although the police may find this to be of importance and the families overall, the parole board is very well informed from the jails and all the experts when a parole hearing happens.”

In the end, Neuberger said it is unlikely that these three offenders will ever be released from jail.

“All of these offenders are particularly notorious with high-risk profiles where none of them are likely to get a release. Certainly Mr. Bernardo is not an individual who will ever be released from prison. And I suspect the other offenders as well will remain there for their natural lives so it is not a safety risk,” he said.

“I think it's a precedent that should not be created.”

If this appeal is rejected by the federal court, the TPA can apply to have the matter heard by the Supreme Court of Canada.