Clifford Olson from CP photo archives
Infamous serial killer Clifford Olson, 71, is dying of cancer in a Quebec hospital with only days to live. The self proclaimed “Beast of British Columbia” is currently serving 11 consecutive life sentences after being convicted in 1982 of killing three boys and eight girls is dying of cancer. Corrections Canada has informed the families of victims who say they are experiencing a complicated mixture of emotions. Olsen’s killing spree, which lasted for eight months between 1980-1981 sent the country into terror. He was Canada’s first mass murderer who went after innocent children and youth.
Sharon Rosenfeldt whose 16-year-old son was one of Olson’s victims started an organization with her husband called Victims of Violence to “provide support and assistance to victims of violent crime and to assist families of missing children in the search for their loved ones.” She didn’t quite know what to make of the news. “I felt, ‘My God Sharon, I should be feeling yippee.’ But I’ve been conditioned, I guess. I was raised in a Christian belief that I just don’t get yippee over anybody’s death,” Rosenfeldt told the media.
She told the CBC’s Anna Maria Tremonti on Monday that she favoured the Conservative government’s new Safe Streets and Communities Act noting that the justice system in general need to be tightened up. We believe the bill goes adequately far, she said. Rosenfeldt also mentioned that she was in favour of Capital Punishment stating, “I believe in capital punishment but I don’t believe we’re there today.”
In 1989 while imprisoned in Kingston Penitentiary, Olson said that God forgave him. “I’ve asked for forgiveness, I’ve been forgiven and that’s the end of it,” he said.
Victims Rights in Canada: Sharon Rosenfeldt [CBC]