In an age where information is shared instantaneously it makes little sense to forgo applying for a pardon to remove your criminal record and alleviate yourself of the restrictions to travel and employment you may currently experience.

When it comes to traveling to the United States of America you may be at risk as it is against the law to cross the border with a criminal record. The penalties for attempting to do so may be fines, imprisonment and/or being banned from future entry. The solution to this problem is to secure a pardon or United States entry waiver making your criminal record inaccessible in common searches by the U.S. and Canadian authorities.

If you have a criminal record and are planning to apply for your passport consider applying for a pardon at the same time to remove the restrictions associated with a criminal record. Failing to do so could present serious complications to your life and freedom.

We expect the crime bill to pass in the next few months and I personally do not have a lot of hope that anything to do with pardons will be amended. I am sure that if the bill passes in its current form we will see a number of charter challenges filed very soon after but I do not know of anyone with the resources or inclination to challenge the pardons section.

So I am sure we can expect pardons to become record suspensions in the next few months. If the bill ended there it would not be so bad since a simple name change doesn’t affect anyone in any real way. Unfortunately the bill contains some very real measures which will make it more difficult and take much longer for people to obtain a pardon. And in some extreme cases a pardon or record suspension will no longer be available at all.

Of course there is still time to make our voices heard. Contact your local MP and express your dissatisfaction with the current government and its stance on crime. There is no shortage of criticism for this bill. But unfortunately the Conservative government is happy to ignore just about all of it.

Happy new year to all!

Michael Ashby

mashby@nationalpardon.org

We’ve all made mistakes. Whether you were caught shoplifting, smoking marijuana or was caught up in a bar fight years ago, you now have a criminal record that prevents you from realizing your career potential. Yes, there is a solution to this common problem, a National Pardon.

Applying for a pardon before you become eligible is important. A pardon will seal your criminal record and your past will not be revealed to employers, even during a background check.

Pardon applications are submitted to and approved by the Parole Board of Canada and involve a lot of tedious, intricate paperwork. Meeting your pardon eligibility requirements and processing the necessary paperwork correctly is the key to securing a National Pardon.

Once your pardon is granted your criminal record is removed and kept separate from active criminal records. This means employers will not be able to review your past criminal history.

The National Pardon Centre specializes in securing pardons for our clients. We are experts at completing and filing applications with the Parole Board of Canada to ensure a successful outcome.

Don’t miss out on future employment opportunities. Apply for your pardon today!

Depending on the outcome you may require a purge and file destruction instead of a pardon. In any case, starting the application process today is the first step in removing your criminal record.

The Parole Board of Canada is the governing body that grants pardons and the application process involves paperwork that is intricate, tedious and time consuming. Your application must be done right or it will be rejected and returned and then you will have to start over at the beginning. Furthermore, if your pardon application is rejected you will have to pay a fee.

The National Pardon Centre takes care of the application process for you. We ensure your highest possible chance of securing a pardon and removing your criminal record.

Trying to find work in a downturn economy is hard enough but trying to get a job in today’s economy if you have a criminal record is a real struggle. More and more companies require background checks and security clearance before committing to hiring an employee.

There is great value in eliminating your criminal record. Even minor offenses like shoplifting, DUI and marijuana possession will make you ineligible for certain jobs and place restrictions on your ability to travel.

If you have a criminal record, apply for a pardon today and remove the restrictions on your life and livelihood.

Hi all;

I received the copy of my pardon documents today.  When you destroy the remaining documents at your office, would it be possible to shout “BOOYAH!” on my behalf?  Thanks again for everything and have a great day!
 

Nothin’ but sweet, sweet love;

John

“Before Elvis, there was nothing.” –
John Lennon

What if the ‘Hokey Pokey’ really IS what it’s all about?- ANONYMOUS

“We all enter this world the same way: Naked; screaming; soaked in blood.  But if you live your life right, that kind of thing doesn’t have to stop there.” – DANA GOULD

With a Conservative majority government the crime bill is certain to be one of the first measures to be pushed through parliament. Although the pardons issue is not at the forefront of the crime issue it is still important. I have been following Bill C23 since it first appeared in the house so here are my expectations on what we can expect to see in the Tory crime bill. They have pledged to pass this legislation within 100 days of achieving a majority.

The chances are good that the pardons side of the new bill will read exactly as Bill C23-B currently does. If so we know exactly what to expect. This will not mean the end of pardons but it will exclude a fair number of people from the program.

But there is an alternative possibility. With a Conservative majority it is possible that Harper could soften his approach slightly and make some amendments to the crime legislation. If that is the case the following is what I would expect from the new crime bill regarding pardons.

I am fairly confident about the following changes to the pardon program will take place even if the details of Bill C23-B are amended.

*The term pardon will be replaced with record suspension (this is purely symbolic and not very important, people will continue using the term pardon)

*Sexual offences involving children will be ineligible for a pardon

*Serious criminals will be ineligible for a pardon (how they will define serious criminal is still up for grabs but the 3 strikes rule might remain and that would be the definition)

*Fee increase is certain to happen. The fee is currently $150 but will be increased to $631 (so if you need a pardon get going NOW!)

The following are some items that could perhaps be amended if theTories decide to take a more moderate approach.

*Changing the waiting periods from what they are now to 5 and 10 years (it is remotely possible that the waiting periods will be left alone, but I am not confident about this)

*The 3 strikes rule (it is possible this will be amended as there were even Conservatives who opposed this measure)

With a little luck we might see a softer approach now that Harper doesn’t have anything to prove. He is PM, for the next four years with no risk of a hasty election.

The bottom line about the Tory majority is that if you need a pardon get it started ASAP. Nothing is guaranteed anymore and there is a decent chance that if you start a pardon today we could get it into the Parole Board before the changes take place.

Bill C23-B was never going to mean the end of pardons. It would have increased the waiting period for eligibility and it would have renamed the term “pardon” to “record suspension”. But it would all amount to the same thing. Your record would be removed and kept separate and apart from active criminal records.

Bill C23-B would have eliminated pardons (or records suspensions, call it whatever you like) for some serious offenders, particularly sexual offenders involving youth. But for the vast majority of crimes committed in Canada it would have been business as usual.

Bill C23-B is effectively dead following the election. If we end up with a Conservative majority government the Tories have pledged to write a single, sweeping crime bill. The measures in C23-B will certainly be included. Without a Conservative majority it is unlikely that the Bill will pass without significant modification.

No pardons services provider can offer you a grandfather clause. I have spoken to several people who were promised this if they signed up with company X right away. So let me make this clear. Your application must be complete, correct and submitted to the Parole Board of Canada in order to be assured that it will be reviewed based on the current rules. If it is not submitted by the time the rules change (if they change, and that is a big if right now) then your application will be reviewed based on the new rules.

If you have any questions about Bill C23-B or feel you were misled by another company I would be happy to hear from you. I know what I am talking about as I was involved in the process. I was invited to speak at the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security in Ottawa. I was questioned by members of all political parties.

NO AGENCY BUT THE PAROLE BOARD OF CANADA CAN GRANDATHER YOUR APPLICATION.

It has certainly been an interesting process but unfortunately I can’t help believing that Bill C23-B was purely political posturing. The fact that some pardon services are profiting from people’s ignorance of the bill makes it a messy affair indeed.

All we can hope for at this point is that the Conservatives do not get a majority and the bill dies with the election results. But I am far from confident. The Conservatives are very dedicated to their crime agenda and I don’t think this is the last we have heard about amendments to restrict Canada’s pardon program.

Another article about the changes in the pardon system from the Globe and Mail. It is a worthwhile read but in my opinion it reflects the total lack of common sense following this debate and these legislative changes. For example are we really going to accept the Parole Board employees need social media training? Will “scouring” twitter actually help us decide the fate of someone looking to be rehabilitated?

Please read the original article by clicking through to the Globe and Mail website. Otherwise it is reprinted below:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/pardon-crackdown-demands-more-staff-cash-and-online-sleuthing-skills/article1866229/

Jim Bronskill and Bruce Cheadle
Ottawa— The Canadian Press
Published Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2011 5:31PM EST
Last updated Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2011 8:14PM EST

Canada’s strict new regime for granting criminal pardons is turning civil servants into psychologists, spies and even Internet sleuths, The Canadian Press has learned.

The Parole Board of Canada says it will need more staff, new funding, better training and access to intelligence sources ranging from Facebook to Interpol in order to enforce rules unanimously adopted by Parliament.

More related to this story
•MPs agree to head off Homolka’s bid for pardon
•With ex-cons, forgiveness should not be by rote
•Tory bill would replace pardons with harder-to-get ‘record suspensions’
The logistical and operational challenges are detailed in documents obtained under the Access to Information Act. The internal notes stress that the impact of last summer’s legislative change “has been, and will be, significant.”

A law rushed through Parliament with all-party agreement last June requires the board to assess the behaviour of pardon applicants from the time of their conviction to ensure granting a pardon would not “bring the administration of justice into disrepute.”

The changes came in reaction to revelations by The Canadian Press that former coach and convicted sex offender Graham James had been quietly pardoned for sex convictions involving three young hockey players dating from 1971.

Last October, Mr. James was charged with nine new sex counts involving three additional teenagers under his influence from the late 1970s into the early ‘90s.

With some 32,000 pardon applications annually, the switch from a system that was all but automatic to one requiring detailed personal assessments is a huge challenge.

“There’s no question that the process is going to be lengthier,” said Caroline Douglas, a spokeswoman for the parole board.

“It’s more complex. There are more investigations that are required. So there will be more work involved with processing each and every pardon application that comes to the board.”

Internal notes from late May say the onus would be on the applicant to show that a pardon “would help sustain his or her rehabilitation as a law-abiding member of society.”

“Senior pardon officers may need to access psychological tools to analyze the conduct, the nature, the gravity and duration of the offence before determining whether to recommend suspension of a record in some situations.”

In additional to new information-sharing arrangements with Interpol, the Canada Border Services Agency and Citizenship and Immigration, pardon officers were given “data mining courses” and access to social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

“We will examine these involvements in such social networks to help us understand and explain [pardon applicants'] behaviour and attitudes individually and within a network of members, and to make sure they are law-abiding citizens before going ahead with a recommendation to grant an applicant with a pardon,” say the documents.

There are currently just 19 people assessing pardon applications in Canada. But the board is not yet ready to say whether pardon applications are piling up.

“It probably would be premature to say that we have a backlog, given that we’re still in the process of putting in place the requirements to make sure we meet the legislative [demands],” Ms. Douglas said in an interview Tuesday.

The board is still assessing how much more staff and funding are needed, she said.

“More resources are required to meet those legislative changes, but the full analysis of what is required – that takes time. I don’t have an answer as to the bottom line of what we’re looking at.”

One aspect of the public program has already changed. The $50 application fee for a pardon, set in 1994, has been tripled to $150 and likely will increase further.

“The $150 certainly is going to help, but it’s not going to cover all of the costs involved with running the program,” Ms. Douglas said, adding the board is looking at an additional fee increase.

The documents say the parole board also pondered streamlining the initial application process by having Service Canada – the one-stop government kiosks set up to help Canadians access many federal programs and services – handle pardon applications.

Currently, about 25 per cent of all applications contain errors, and a large private industry has emerged to assist people seeking criminal pardons. One parole board briefing note refers to such companies as offering “questionable services.”

Ms. Douglas said Service Canada will answer general questions about the pardons process but will direct would-be applicants to the parole board.

“At this time there’s no firm plan to change that.”

My biggest concern with the legislation is this idea that certain offenders need to remain unpardonable. The problem is that we already have a category of offender for that. That category is anyone who received a lifetime sentence. If we take the Karla Homolka story as an example then it is of course very, very difficult to argue a case that she deserves to receive a pardon for her crime.

The problem with the case of Karla Homolka is that she received a plea bargain. Had Karla Homolka been convicted of the crimes she committed she would still be appropriately rotting away in prison and the idea of a pardon would be the furthest thing from anyone’s mind. But that didn’t happen. Unfortunately, she was convicted on a much lesser charge and because of that anyone with any knowledge of Canada’s pardon program understood that she would one day be eligible for a pardon. In other words there was no emergency situation that justified the hasty passing of legislation to stop Karla Homolka from receiving a pardon. There were years wasted when this should issue have been looked at and addressed.

This brings me back to sentencing. Since a lifetime sentence denies the possibility of a pardon perhaps the issue society should be looking at is sentencing procedures. Because it is my opinion that if a court of law hasn’t found a person to be beyond redemption at the time of sentencing then the possibility of a pardon should remain available. And if there are certain type of offenders who we do not want receiving pardons, then we need to accept that these types of offenders deserve a lifetime sentence.

Society needs to realize that Canada’s pardon program is not about forgiving criminals. It is rehabilitation. If we are going to accept that criminals are capable of rehabilitation then we must provide them the possibility of living without the consequences that come with a criminal record. We need to provide them with the opportunity to be pardoned.

Unfortunately Bill C-23B is a legislative contradiction. What the bill hopes to accomplish is contradicted by what a pardon is supposed to achieve. In other words you can’t rehabilitate people and punish them for life at the same time.
Let’s hope when it comes time to vote on this bill that cooler heads prevail.

NPC presented evidence and recommendations supportive of reforms passed through Bill C-23A but opposed additional reforms proposed in Bill C-23B that would introduce unfair financial hurdles for less affluent applicants. They also criticized additional wait times that would delay applicants’ ability to resume fully productive lives and that would add to the burden on Canadian tax payers. NPC disagreed any name change, citing data that proved overwhelming support for the status quo.  Finally, they argued against a “3 strikes” rule, stating that every person and crime should be assessed on its own set of circumstances.

“10% of Canadians have a criminal record”, said Michael Ashby, co-Founder of the National Pardon Centre. “Typically, our clients are non-violent offenders. Most have been charged with DUI offenses. Before applying, applicants must complete all aspects of their sentence and wait the prescribed waiting time. If they accomplished this, and have not been charged with any other crimes, they are eligible to apply.”

The Government rolled out the first half of its pardon reforms in May 2010 with Bill C-23A. The Bill introduced longer wait times, a more effective classification system, and a more rigorous and comprehensive review system.

The National Pardon Centre (NPC) is Canada’s only national, fully-bilingual pardons agency and one of handful that is RCMP accredited to conduct fingerprinting and background checks. It has a 99% success rate. NPC offers walk in services at each of its offices in Calgary, Toronto and Montreal. The National Pardon Centre helps those who are eligible to apply for a pardon that will remove mention of their criminal offence from the public record.