The National Pardon Centre™

I don’t usually post emails or letters from clients but I just couldn’t resist with this one. Every now and then I come into my office, sit down at my computer and get to start my day with a morning smile. Today this one was it.

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.

Contrary to some insincere sales tactics by some of our competitors Bill C23-B was never going to mean the end of pardons. So I would like to clear the air about what is real and what is not real concerning this Bill and Canada’s pardon program. The following points should help clarify a few things for those of you trying to make an educated decision about what pardon service you would like to hire.

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.

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.”