Archives for the Canadian Pardons category.

If you have been following this blog you might be aware that I held a little competition recently written in a post called Letter Blogging: Time Frames for a Pardon. I honestly didn’t expect that the competition would be won so soon mostly because I didn’t think that the blog was read as much as it seems to be. But within a week the competition was won and Louis earned himself a pardon at half price.

So, congratulations Louis. Obviously I am not going to include your full name because any sensible person would not want that information published. And since I am still not in the business of slandering my competition I am not naming the company in question (which may be a perfectly fine pardon service for all I know). But I am very happy to know that at least a few people are reading this blog.

Sincerely,

Michael Ashby
Communications Director
http://www.nationalpardon.org/

One of my competitors has a blog that I watch from time to time. And I find it amusing because every blog entry reads like this:

“Here is a letter from a happy client who loves us…”

And then the entry continues with a letter congratulating the company on its excellence. It is not for me to decide whether or not the letter is a fake. And I am also not in the business of disgracing my competition which is why I have not named names. But…I am willing to do a pardon or waiver for half price to the first person who actually reads this blog AND discovers the competitor I am referring to. Send your answers to info@nationalpardon.org I would be very happy if someone actually managed to do this.  

In the meantime I thought it would be fun to turn things around. So, in the interest of blog entries that are nothing more than letters from one person to another here is a letter I sent to an actual person who asked me how long the pardon procedure takes to complete. I guarantee it is 100% authentic.

Hi Albert,

Our expedited service is only applicable as far as the work done in our office in concerned. Once the file is sent to the Parole Board it is out of our hands. That being said we are seeing our expedited files finished within 2- 8 months right now (that estimate includes time at the National Parole Board). Of course there are always exceptions since we are dealing with the government, which is why we cannot guarantee this time but that is honestly the average response we expect at the moment.

You should also be aware that expedited services are only available if the client is currently eligible or if he/she will be eligible very soon. We have no way of getting around the probationary periods imposed by the Parole Board.

As for emergency pardons there are some situations that warrant special treatment by the Parole Board. The work on our side does not change but if we can provide proof of emergency status then the response time from the Parole Board can be shortened. However, work is not a valid reason because work is the number one reason people finally get around to obtaining a pardon. Unfortunately, our clients tend to wait until the criminal record is adversely affecting something in their life before realizing the importance of the application.

I hope that information helps. Please let me know if you have further questions or if you would like to get a file started.

Kind regards,

Michael Ashby

(514) 842-2411 x 227
http://www.nationalpardon.org/

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

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!

A lot of my clients ask if they are required to tell people about their pardon if asked. This usually applies to things like job applications and the US border. I have discussed the US border in length on this blog so for the purpose of this article I will just discuss how this situation affects things here in Canada, particularly in relation to job applications. The truth is that there is no correct answer but hopefully some of the following information will be of help.

That answer does beg the following question though: If I choose NOT to tell about my pardon, then what happens? The best answer I can give is that nothing happens at all (there are some exceptions with certain job application that require extensive security clearance but you would be giving your permission in advance for a more extensive search to be done anyway. For the average old job app’ there is not much to worry about).

In the case of a job application if you lie to your employer and he/she finds out, then that would be grounds for dismissal. But I am fairly certain that if you admit you have a criminal record, then you are not getting the job anyway. It is your call. You be the judge.

You should be aware that there is really no straight answer to this question and there is certainly nothing written down in the law books. If you lie about having been convicted of a crime there is no legal penalty that I have ever heard of. So if the Parole Board says you cannot deny that you have been convicted, you might want to ask yourself “why not”?

The Canadian Human Rights Commission states the following in relation to pardoned criminal convictions:

I think it is nice that the Human Rights Commission makes the above statement but the problem is that we all know that human nature is not so forgiving. In a job interview if it comes down to you and another person and you are the one with the criminal record, we all know who is getting the job. I may disagree with the National Parole Board on this one but if I had a pardon for an old criminal conviction I would certainly just say NO when asked if I have ever been arrested. Since no one can find out anyway, why would I disclose my pardon?

Please keep in mind that this is not legal advice. This post is just my understanding of the system and some of my own judgment. In the end you need to evaluate each situation you are in and decide for yourself whether or not you must disclose your pardon.

When it comes to pardoned Canadian criminal records, I am afraid there are few straight-forward answers.

I was reading an article the other day about how the Russian search engine Yandex is gaining in popularity. Of course it will never rival google for any of us here in the English speaking world but nonetheless I couldn’t resist searching “National Pardon Centre” just to see what popped up. Well here you are. The best I could get was an image result of our old logo.

I am not sure if this post has any value whatsoever in the world of pardons but I still like the idea of our website floating around in Russian cyberspace. So if you speak Russian and have a criminal record in Canada we will do our best to help you out. But your application for a Canadian pardon or US entry waiver will have to be done in French or English.

The pardon services industry slows down considerably in the summer which is good for vacation time but bad for business. It is understandable that fewer people have a pardon or waiver on their mind. When the sun is out and the weather is warm most of us are focusing on vacation and barbecues. We don’t want to be bothered with the hassle of getting an old criminal record removed. But summer is actually the best time to get started.

In summer time you can feel assured that the team at NPC is not overwhelmed with paperwork. You can come visit one of our offices and be assured that you will not have to wait to see a counsellor. When we send your fingerprints to the RCMP there is a good chance they will be returned faster than usual and even the court system is liable to send us court documents a little quicker than they would during the busy season.

And to top it all off there is an excellent chance that when summer is over your pardon will be done and you will be able to get back to work, school, whatever feeling confident because your criminal record and the mistakes you made in the past will have been left behind.

It’s easy to procrastinate in the summertime. But it only takes a little bit of effort to get your pardon underway. And come September you will be happy that you did.

I would like to advise my clients and the general public that the National Pardon Centre is committed to maintaining a level of service and commitment to our clients and their needs which is not offered by other institutions. Our clients and the general public should be aware that the website referred to in the image below is in no way affiliated or associated with the National Pardon Centre. This website may be in violation of federal trademark laws and we are currently exploring all legal remedies to have it removed.

continued below….

Mr. Peter Dimakos is the owner of the URL attached to this website. Mr. Dimakos works with Canadian Pardon Services, a small company operating in Toronto. I can only speculate into Mr. Dimakos’ motives, but it is our resolve that all remedies will be pursued to ensure our trademark is respected and to ensure that our clients and the public are not confused between the National Pardon Center and any other entity.  

I apologize if anyone has exprienced any trouble with this site and would like to add that if you are looking for a trustworthy company to handle your case please contact us at the  National Pardon Centre. We provide free consulations and we give honest trustworthy counsel.

Sincerely,

Michael Ashby
Communications Director
http://www.nationalpardon.org/

One of the things I am repeatedly blogging about on this site is the importance of getting a pardon if you have a criminal record.  But for all my writings and all my arguments I honestly don’t think I could say it any better than one of my previous clients who was kind enough to comment on one of my previous posts. So in the interest of persuading the few skeptical minded people out there who may be debating the importance of a pardon I will leave it up to Duane. He seems to have a way with words.

Thanks to your service it for sure saved me, now im moving forward to train to become something I always wanted to be a police officer.

Everyone makes mistakes some bigger then others, but we ALL deserve a second or third chance to make it in this world.

NPC if you require a person for your online ad’s or TV ad’s please contact me and I will speak the truth about how your service saved me.

I was reading an article the other day about how teenagers in American who fool around are subject to arrest as sex offenders. To most of us who have even the vaguest recollection of being a teenager this sounds like paranoid insanity and the truth is not far from it.

In most cases two teenagers engaging in sexual activities are imune from the law because we all know that human nature has a way of taking us hostage, esecially when we are young, full of hormones, and prone to doing stupid things that we would never even dream of as an adult. Children need to be protected from adults who would exploit them, not from themeselves. So what has changed?

The problem is that with the proliferation of cell phone cameras kids engaging in sexual play are, understandably, prone to take photos of themeselves and then circulate those photos among friends. And once that happens a bunch of nut jobs in the American judicial system, brainswashed by right wing propaganda, have decided that this behaviour must be stopped at all costs. And of course the only way to stop this behaviour is prosecution. The logic: teach a few good kids a really nasty lesson and others will learn from it. Patent nonesense.

We acknowledge that kids are kids for a reason; because they are KIDS! They do not yet have the capacity to make adult decisions. Charging a teenager with a sex crime as an adult because she posted a topless picture of herself on myspace is a classic example of paranoid delusion. This is creating a problem where none exists and ruining the life of a young person because her actions offend the sensibilties of only the most conservative section of modern society.

Obviously we do not want our kids taking pictures of themeselves in compromising positions. That is not being argued because there exists a segment of society so twisted that we have a global industry circulating child pornography. But let’s fight the real fight. Let’s go after the people who are actually sex offenders. Go after the pedophiles who exploit children and throw the book at them. There is no question about that because there are bad people our children need protecting from.

And admittedly our children need protection from themeselves from time to time. But when two consenting teenagers fool around and take a picture of the activity a crime has not been commited. When a young girl takes a picture of herself and sends it to her boyfriend a crime has not been committed. We don’t need teeangers applying for pardons because they did something foolish in a moment of passion. And we don’t need teenagers registered as adult sex offenders. This helps no one.

This is policing at its worst. Allow me to make a small comparison. This would be like a busting a hippie commune for growing weed when a bunch of crystal meth crack dealing junkies are pushing their smack on preteens two doors down the street.

Why do we have so much trouble fighting the real fight?