Although Olson, now 66, has no realistic chance of release, in August he will have served 25 years of his life sentence and is now eligible to apply for parole.
From now on, the man who dubbed himself the Beast of British Columbia is entitled to a hearing every two years, to the outrage of many.
"If there's ever been anybody in our system who should never get out, it's clearly him," Steve Sullivan, president of the Canadian Resource Centre for Victims of Crime, said in a recent telephone interview.
"A lot of families feel the need to be there, to participate, for different reasons. Some feel that the person's still a threat and they need to communicate that to the parole board members. Others want to represent their loved ones.
"Putting people through this repeatedly every two years is cruel."
A three-member parole board panel will hear Olson's application on July 18 at the federal prison in nearby Ste-Anne-des-Plaines, where he's currently jailed. The hearing isn't expected to last more than a day.
"I don't think he could ever do enough time in prison," Gary Rosenfeldt, whose son Daryn was murdered by Olson, told The Canadian Press last month as the possibility of a hearing approached.
"He should die in prison."
Olson, who has been in prison since 1981, pleaded guilty in 1982 to killing eight boys and three girls ranging in age from nine to 18.
He worked out a notorious cash-for-bodies deal with the Crown and RCMP that provided his family with a $100,000 trust in exchange for information about the deaths and the locations of bodies.
His taunting of victims' families prompted the courts to bar Olson from communicating from prison, while public outrage over his 1996 faint-hope hearing prompted lawmakers to amend the Criminal Code, stripping serial killers of the right to the 15-year faint-hope review.
Now Mike Farnworth, a New Democrat member of the B.C. legislature, wants the federal government to abolish the right to a review every two years for Olson and others like him.
"These are particularly heinous, outrageous crimes that involve multiple victims and there's no way those people should, or ever will, be let out on the streets, so why are we going through this exercise every two years until they die?" Farnworth said Monday.
Parole board officials say they have been inundated with requests to observe the hearing, which will take place in the special handling unit of the prison.
The hearing will be carried via closed circuit television to what is expected to be a large crowd of journalists and legal professionals.
"There were more requests than places available," said Diane Belisle, a spokeswoman for the board.
The families of several victims are expected to submit impact statements, either in person or in writing.
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I really don't get how you can brutally kill 11 young adults/children and even come up for parole.
