Local organization helps people erase their criminal records

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Michael Ashby has seen the shame and bitterness. "I get women bawling their eyes out because they had a shoplifting charge 20 years ago, and then there's those who come in thinking they've been totally screwed and wondering why they should work within such a system. In their case they're feeling straight-out anger. Then we get those who are very hard on themselves and won't forgive themselves until the state has forgiven them."

For the past 16 months, from the Peel office of their National Pardon Centre, Ashby and his partner wife Nicole Lévesque have helped about 1,000 such people wipe their slates clean. One in 10 Canadians has a criminal record yet only a 10th of those have bothered to get cleared of the charges, even though doing so is surprisingly easy.

Unlike the States, where getting a pardon is almost impossible, the Pardons committee of the federal National Parole Board grants about 98 per cent of the roughly 15,000 pardon requests it receives per year. Yet only a small fraction of Canadians stuck with criminal records have attempted to get a pardon - only about 300,000 pardons have been granted since the program began in 1970.

Those with criminal records are blocked from working in a wide variety of jobs in such fields as banking, daycare, government, insurance and teaching. And some already employed end up being betrayed for an old conviction. "We've seen, many times, that somebody is up for a promotion and gets excited about it, and then suddenly a records check is required as part of the promotion policy and the worker not only doesn't get the promotion, he loses the job," says Ashby. "In this day and age, severe record checks are getting more common."

Unless one has committed a serious indictable offence such as rape or murder, one has a good chance at starting anew. "The most common one we get is assault. It's one of the easiest to get saddled with - you go into a bar and end up in a fight, one of the two (combatants) will complain and the other will get an assault rap. DUI is another common one we see, along with possession of marijuana, shoplifting and minor fraud cases."

It takes anywhere from five to 20 months to get a pardon and one must wait three years with a clean record before applying. Those willing to do their own legwork can start the process by paying a $50 processing fee at the National Parole Board, while hiring Ashby to fill in the papers and get the documentation will set you back around $400.

Ashby advises those applying for citizenship to get a pardon prior to applying for their citizenship. And he also notes that it's illegal for a Canadian with a criminal record to enter the USA without a special waiver form. Canadians who have already let American authorities know that they have a criminal record (i.e. those who answer "Yes" when asked at the border, "Do you have a criminal record?") will never get removed from the American databank once they have been put on it. However, if a Canadian gets a pardon before the American authorities ever catch wind of the past misdeed, then the entry restriction doesn't apply.

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