Members of the Parole Board, I can only imagine how many glowing reports you hear each and

every day about how remarkable their deceased family members were and how much victims truly ache to be able to touch and hug them again. However, it is important for you to understand that my mother and father in-law, Arnold and Donna Edwards, were amazing people. They were wonderful, caring, loving and full of life. They were respected church and community leaders and lent a helping hand to anyone in need. I do not have to elaborate and tell you how exceptional they were, how much they were loved, and are continued to be seriously missed each day. I am not here to dwell on the past events that will forever go down in history as despicable and that have changed our lives, our childrens lives and their childrens lives forever. I want to focus on George Harding Lovie the manipulative and evil person that sits before us all. This is all about a murderer and what atrocities he committed. This self-confessing murders thought process was to obliterate Micheles entire family so that she would have no option but to love him and him only. The fact that he was unable to complete his plan made him more angry and determined. Even after calmly confessing these appalling crimes to the police, he continued to threaten all of us no one was left unscathed. Because he has not achieved his ultimate goal, that being taking more of our lives, I remain extremely confident that he still possesses a distinctive personality trait that drives the need in him to fulfil his mission that he set out 20 years ago to do. In the past, he flourished with attention and notoriety and I believe that he continues to crave it. I am here to bring awareness to his cold and calculating wayshow he killed slowly, deliberately, precisely and with foreknowledge and premeditation. You have heard or will hear from other victims statements regarding some of the most serious and blatant errors associated with the numerous law protection agencies and of the erroneous justice system and how it failed all of us and an entire community. I need not to go into them in detail. I would like to describe to you the anguish and impact that this murderer has caused just my own immediate family. On the day of the murders, my husband and I frantically drove two hours to his parents home. The Hamilton Police were on the scene and had set up a command post in a motor home parked on the Edwards lawn. My husband approached Sgt. McCullough, the officer in charge, and was filled in on the sickening and graphic details of his parents unspeakable deaths. The officer assured my husband that his parents bodies had been removed from the home some time ago but, as Don stood there, he was subjected to the coroner removing the black body bags through the front door. He was instructed to enter his parents home and retrieve personal articles that would be needed for their funerals. Upon his entry, he was forced to view the gory crime scene. No where in the home could he escape the bloody rampage of George Lovie.

The days, weeks and months that followed the murders were a blur. So many important things had to been decided upon immediately. Due to all of the damage that the murderer did to their house (bullet holes, doors smashed, carpets that had to be replace, etc.),it had to be renovated so it could be sold. The stigma attached to selling a house that a violent crime occurred in is emotionally, psychologically, and financially devastating. As a family we had no choice but to auction it off. We were forced to also auction off our parents belongings even though we were not emotionally stable enough to make rational decisions regarding items to keep. After 20 years, several boxes containing their personal items remain untouched as we are still unable to accept their fate and come to grips with the event. The auction exposed the family to the reality that morbid curiosity exists with society and, once publicly branded, the connection of the name and history of this heinous crime continues to make it virtually impossible to live a so called normal life. My husband suffered and continues to suffer from post traumatic stress disorder and his symptoms have re-surfaced again. Don struggles to focus and is unable to concentrate on simple everyday tasks. He is impatient, irritable, unhappy, distant, and nothing seems to spark his humour. He lacks an appetite for food and life and has serious bouts of insomnia. If he does sleep, he is not at peace as he continually grinds is teeth. His personality has altered dramatically since the tragic event. Professional grief counselling that deals with traumatic deaths was and still remains virtually non-existent. Our entire family has been recommended to numerous experts but every opinion that we receive tells us that it is so difficult to assist victims where there is no closure. It is like a festering wound that will not heal. Let me briefly reflect on the life-long emotional trauma that our three children have suffered. When their grandparents were murdered, their ages were 11, 9, and 5. At the time, we told them the truth about what had happened but protected them from the explicit and graphic details. As they grew older and were of age to digest and process the information regarding the events surrounding the murders, the consequences of Lovies actions have had deep, profound and lasting effects on each of them. These are the some of the ramifications that continue today-- Our son fears for his safety so much that he wants this offender to only be able to recognize him as he looked when he was five years old. Our daughters are to speak today and, with the help of extensive professional counselling and persistent reassurance regarding their safety, are here to confront their demon face to face. This murderer crippled and disabled our family ties. As far as a family unit is defined, we have not been afforded this luxury. Our family became divided and each branched off with the hopes to deal with their own thought process. Individually we began to design a safe environment relative to our own needs to be able to survive. Due to trauma and fear, we were not emotionally capable of supporting each other. The remorse and unwarranted guilt along with the fear and everyones inability to deal with this nightmare has caused the family entity to disband. Not only did we lose our parents and grandparents but we lost sisters and brothers, aunts, uncles and cousins. It is difficult to find comfort in each other so you end up mourning privately because you do not wish to inflict any more pain on each other.

We are victims of not only this murderer but of the system that failed us as an entire family. This is why we have reservations as to you even considering any type of release. Do you truly believe that this murderer has changed his ways or are you another pawn in his quest to manipulate the system? How confident are you that he has been rehabilitated? Not, once, not ever, has this murderer shown any remorse for his merciless and heartless actions, not even an apology. Remorse, now there is an interesting concept. From the Latin verb remordere, meaning to bite again. So now, years later, after the reality of prison life has begun go sink in, along comes Mr. Remorse, bright and new and as good as gold. I cannot help to speculate what might be Lovies approach. Is it Please, sir, I didnt mean to do it, or Please, sir, I did it all right, but it was a mistake, an accident, or is it. Please sir, OK, I admit it, I planned it. I thought it through, but let me out and Ill be good, I promise. And now, you, the Parole Board of Canada, in its wisdom, will have to decide that he has shown due remorse, recognition of his crime and participated in rehabilitation programs and it is time you let him out. Many safeguards were apparently implemented to protect us as a family and we truly wanted to have trust and faith in the judicial system but because of all the aforementioned facts, we continue to function in the survival mode. We feel that we are no longer unable to trust anyone with our own lives. Since the murders, we have moved numerous times, continually taking extra precautious about disclosing our new place of residence --only our closest family and friends are aware of our current location. One of the National Parole Boards suggestions is to convey how the offenders release would impact us emotionally, physically and financially. If all of these statements are not enough evidence of what we continue to face emotionally, physically and financially each day, then I am not sure what would ever be argued as adequate or sufficient. Human nature is such that we tend to cringe when criticism is directed our way but if it is constructive then it benefits everyone. What is really alarming is that we received a letter from Correctional Services Canada dated February 23, 2009 notifying us that the offender was permitted to be absent from the institute for medical purposes. The letter named the wrong institute where the offender is housed, in fact, where he is being held is 312 km from the stated facility. If Corrections Canada does not know where George Harding Lovie is when he is supposed to be under their supervision, how can you guarantee us that they will know his whereabouts if he is granted any type of temporary absence? My sole mission in life now is very simpleit is to protect what is left of my family. Hope is the most precious treasure to a person. I plead with you and hope that you make the right decision. DO NOT grant this shrewd murderer any type of leave or parole or be assured that history will repeat itself. Our lives should not be the price to pay for the assumption that he is a reformed man. ----Submitted by Tannis Edwards