The National Pardon Centre™

January is always a busy time of year for us here at the National Pardon Centre. There are many reasons for this but one of the main reasons is that people tend to travel over the holidays. And whenever people are travelling (to American at least) the the ones with the criminal records are going to find themselves in trouble.

Unfortunately what tends to happen is that people try crossing the border for the holiday season. They are quickly rejected by a border guard doing his job and, come January, when people realize that a Canadian Pardon or US entry waiver is important, they call us.

I always tell people to stay away from the border until things are taken care of but the fact is a lot of people just aren’t aware that an old criminal record is a problem. The other thing is that a lot of people are able to travel to the States without getting caught, creating a false sense of security. And finally, a lot of people (all of us as matter of fact) have a tendency to wait until things like this catch up with us before we decide to finally take care of it.

If you have a criminal record you need to have it taken care of regardless of what may or may not have happened at the border. Even if the criminal record is not affecting your life, there is a good chance that it will in the future. But don’t wait until your holidays are ruined to finally make the decision to clear things up. Give us a call at the National Pardon Centre. We can help make sure your past is not going to come back to haunt you.

 If you have any questions relating to Criminal Records, Canadian Pardons or US Entry Waivers please feel free to email me directly at mashby@nationalpardon.org.

Happy New Year to Everyone.

Michael

When it comes to bad service and/or outright scams a lot of people think that the Better Business Bureau will be the answer to all their problems. Unfortunately such is not the case. While the BBB can be a positive venue for dispute settlement the truth is that they have no authority whatsoever to force a settlement, even if one party is clearly in the wrong.

Now, you might want to ask why the National Pardon Centre bothers with a Better Business Bureau membership at all. It is a good question that I have asked myself several times. The truth is that we don’t get many complaints and the ones we do get are dealt with in the office. We are not the kind of organization that screens calls and ignores unhappy clients. At the National Pardon Centre we understand that these applications can be affecting your life in a serious and important way and we do not take that lightly. So when someone contacts us upset because a pardon or waiver is not getting done as fast as it should we always take the time to clearly explain the problem, if there is any.

So why join the Better Business Bureau? We joined the Better Business Bureau because there are some companies in this industry who do not treat their clients the same way we do. And inevitably those companies are NOT a part of the BBB program. While we do not have a great need for dispute resolution (if any at all) it is fairly clear that the companies that have decided to join the BBB are the ones who need it least of all. And that is a good indicator of the reliability of a pardon or waiver service in my opinion. Feel free to visit the

So be careful when choosing your service. While the BBB is not the answer to the potential problems of doing business with a company for the first time it is a reasonably good indicator of the quality of service you are going to receive. My experience in the pardon and waiver business is that anyone doing reliable business online is a member of the BBB. The ones that aren’t are probably worth staying clear of.

If you have any questions concerning this article or any others on this blog feel free to get in touch with me.

Sincerely,

Michael Ashby

Communications Director
514.842.2411 x 227

www.nationalpardon.org

I must be one of them city folk because I just can’t seem to understand the debate about a long gun registry. For the record I am not a hunter, I am not a gun owner and I dislike guns in pretty much all but arcade forms and even those I have quietly grown too old to enjoy. So I am understandably biased in this debate. But I still think it is reasonable that we, as a society, ask anyone who owns a gun to register it. And I refuse to believe that registering a weapon capable of killing a man is too difficult a thing to do.

Even if the long gun registry is not an effective tool for fighting crime I still think it is a reasonable thing for gun owners to register their weapons. The bottom line is that if you own something designed for killing it is not over stepping the bounds of governemtn control to request that you register it.

I deal with criminal records at work and when I see a crime involving guns it makes me nervous. I apologize to all the hunters out there who are law abiding gun owners but the fact is that guns really do kill people. And if you have to make a compromise I don’t think registering a deadly weapon is a big one.  

There are many names for the most commonly pardoned criminal conviction in Canada. The chances are good that you will be familiar with at least one or two of them. But whatever you want to call it the charge is the same and it involves operation of a motor vehicle while intoxiced by alcohol or drugs or whatever. It could even just be cough medicine because the bottom line is that if you are driving under the influence of anything you are breaking the law.

Unfortunately society took a long time to learn its lesson on this one and the truth is that we are still learning it based on the number of annual criminal convictions in Canada. But thanks to the efforts of police, government and even NGO groups like MADD, drunk driving is now about as socially acceptable as kicking puppies into traffic. It’s just not ok.

So why do so many people still drink and drive or drive under the influence? I think what has happened is that the legal limit for alcohol intoxication is so low that it is nearly impossible to have anything to drink at all without being above the legally acceptable blood acohol level. And this is probably a good thing. But I would guess that many people out there still feel that a couple of drinks will not render them unable to drive a car safely. And there is the problem. You may not feel drunk. You may not feel intoxicted. And you may even feel that you are completely ok to drive safely. But in the eyes of the law if your blood alcohol limit is elevated you are breaking the law and there is no discussion period, except of course in front of a judge at a later date.

 In Canada the law is as follows for blood alcohol limits: 0.05% is a 24-hour suspension and a fine, 0.08% is a D.U.I. charge.

But I think the best guideline for drinking and driving is this: If you drink anything at all don’t drive! It is the only way to be sure you are not putting yourself and others at risk

If you have been convicted of a DUI charge you will want to consider getting a pardon ASAP. Contact the National Pardon Centre. We can help!