SAINTE-ANNE-DES-PLAINES, Que. - Serial killer Clifford Olson was denied parole for the third time Tuesday and said it would be his final bid for freedom, though relatives of his young victims said the pledge is simply his latest publicity stunt.

The two-member board said Olson has never expressed regret about his sadistic murders of 11 young people in British Columbia in 1980-81. The panel reiterated many of the same conclusions it reached at Olson's last hearing in 2006, saying he was a high risk to escape and reoffend and that he displayed narcissistic, psychopathic and sexually sadistic tendencies.

"Caseworkers have not perceived any change in your attitude," read the board's three-page decision that followed a short hearing at a maximum-security prison north of Montreal.

"You show little sign of remorse and do not appear to be inclined to question your criminal behaviour. Therefore, (the board) recommends that any form of release be denied."

Olson, who was confined to a prisoner's cage and appeared well-tanned but gaunt, had told the parole board his bid for release was a waste of time.

He argued he demonstrated remorse by confessing to the murders and leading police to the bodies of his victims. The board reached its decision minutes later.

Olson will continue serving his life sentence at Sainte-Anne-Des-Plaines prison where he is isolated from other inmates and all but a few prison guards.

Olson had waived his right to a hearing in 2008. On Tuesday, he presented the board with an affidavit in which he said he wouldn't make any further parole applications. But a board spokeswoman later said that under federal law Olson would continue to be eligible for parole every two years.

He confessed to the 11 killings in 1982. For leading police to the bodies, he received $100,000, which was paid to his family in trust. He was sentenced to 11 consecutive 25-year prison terms for 11 counts of first-degree murder.

Three relatives of Olson's victims were present at Tuesday's hearing. Outside the prison, they said he was playing with their emotions once again. Olson has made several attempts to contact them over the years.

"What he did today is definitely a ploy," said Sharon Rosenfeldt, whose 16-year-old son Daryn was killed by Olson in April 1981. "That's why I have no qualms in saying that I would assume that we'll be back here two years from now."

The pain of repeat cross-country trips for the parole hearings was plain on the face of Ray King, who lives in Maple Ridge, B.C. Olson bludgeoned his son Ray Jr. to death with a rock and then dumped his body off a trail near Alpine Lake in July 1981. King, 68, said he hopes Olson makes good on his pledge to waive future hearings.

"It's reliving everything that happened 29 years ago," said King. "Everybody remembers about Olson but nobody remembers the kids."

Rosenfeldt has tried to heal her pain by pushing for victims' rights through her Ottawa group Victims of Violence.

Her latest rallying point is a Conservative government bill that would force future multiple murderers to spend more time behind bars before being eligible to apply for parole. The proposed law would allow judges to issue consecutive parole ineligibility periods, meaning someone convicted of two counts of second-degree murder would be ineligible for parole for 20 years.

"I would ask (MPs) to pass it as quickly as possible," said Rosenfeldt. "I was hoping that it would already have been passed for (sex killer and former soldier) Russell Williams. It wasn't so he will be afforded the same opportunity every two years. But for future families, I really believe this will really be helpful."

Until then, she says she's prepared to return to Quebec in October 2012 should Olson go back on his word, as she expects.

"We have to do that for our kids," she says. "If (Olson) lived till he was 90 it would only mean we'd have another ten parole hearings to come to.

"Some families go to gravesites, we come to parole hearings."

The families will also continue raising money for a memorial park or garden in B.C. in honour of their murdered loved ones.