Free pardons are just a gimmick offered by some of the pardon services out there. It’s  a bait and switch technique. The idea of a free pardon is enough to get many people to pick up the phone. But when it comes time to get a free pardon done for real the chance of it being free essentially falls to zero.

Why can’t you get free pardons? You cannot get your pardon done free of charge because there are several costs that must be paid out to the RCMP, the local police, the court(s) and finally the Parole Board of Canada. If you find someone willing to pay for all of that on your behalf AND process the application for you then you’ve won the lottery in terms of pardon services and you should be very, very thankful you did.

All that being said we do have some clients whose pardon has been paid for by third parties. Ontario Works for example has sponsored candidate they consider to be highly employable. It’s not that the pardon was done for free it’s that the pardon was paid for by someone other than the applicant.

There is an old saying about there being no such thing as a free lunch and this definitely applies for pardon services and pardon applications. A free pardon is just not possible because the preparation of a pardon application involves a lot of people who need to be paid for their efforts.

If you are looking for a free pardon and would like some clarification on how these applications work feel free to give me a call. The consultation will be free of charge (seriously) but if you want the National Pardon Centre to handle your paperwork and get a file going for you there is going to be a charge.

Unfortunately thanks to Stephen Harper and the Conservative government (which pretends to be the party of fiscal responsibility) the cost has gone up quite a lot in the past year or so.

TLDR: Free pardons don’t exist

Michael Ashby

mashby@nationalpardon.org

514.842.2411 x 227

The post Free Pardons – Learn how to get your pardon done for free appeared first on National Pardon Centre.

The forum was a success and gained a lot more interest than I had originally expected. Myself, along with representatives from the Elizabeth Fry Society, the John Howard Society and other advocacy groups spoke about the changes we’ve experienced. We also heard from some former offenders whose testimony showed a lot of courage.

The interview can be viewed on CBC’s website. Below are some screen shots. I am hoping to get the video of the panel discussion and post that but it likely won’t happen in the next week, so please stay tuned and pardon the pun.

I would like to add that I firmly believe the pardon changes included in the omnibus crime bill which came from bill C23B were unnecessary and should be repealed. I also think the Conservative government accomplished exactly what it wanted with this bill, which was to limit the number of pardons being granted. This is a shame because pardons are a valuable social reintegration tool and rehabilitation is the best way to keep criminal offences at a minimum.

Pardon Changes Include:

1. Increased waiting periods

2. Increase in costs

3. Certain offenders excluded regardless of the sentence

4. Increased scrutiny of applications

5. Pardons renamed to record suspensions

6. Give Parole Board absolute authority to refuse a pardon

Full Video: CBC Power and Politics - Pardon section begins at about 1.32min

Pardon Changes

Pardon Changes – Statistics

Discussing the Pardon Changes on CBC Power and Politics

Discussing the Pardon Changes on CBC Power and Politics

Sharing a laugh

The post Pardon Changes – CBC Power and Politics – 1 year later appeared first on National Pardon Centre.

Below is the press release for this event.

For immediate release

April 4, 2013 (Ottawa) – The Criminalization and Punishment Education Project (CPEP) invites students, academics, and all members of the community to participate in an  pen discussion on the changes that were made to the pardon system in March 2012. This event will include a panel of speakers who work in the community helping criminalized individuals with various issues (education, employment, housing, and applying for pardons), as well as accounts from those who have been directly affected by the recent changes.

On March 13, 2012 the Parole Board of Canada (PBC) began processing pardon applications under new guidelines informed by the amendments to the Criminal Records Act under Bill C-23B (via Bill C-10, the omnibus bill). Most significantly, this law doubles the wait periods for eligibility and excludes certain people from applying for a pardon altogether. These changes, combined with a new $631 application fee, contribute to the ongoing stigmatization and hamper the reintegration of individuals who have completed their sentences and are now looking to move beyond their past actions.

A backlog of more than 22,000 files at the PBC is also a factor in the ongoing criminalization of many applicants who have waited up to three years to have a decision made about the concealing of their criminal records. “Granting a pardon is an important element of the reintegration process as it opens up more opportunities for education, employment, and housing”, states Samantha McAleese, a recent graduate of the M.A. Criminology Program at the University of Ottawa.

This event will be held at the University of Ottawa, Faculty of Social Sciences (FSS) Building (120 University Private) in room 1007 on Friday, April 5, 2013 from 6:00pm to 7:30pm. Speakers will include front-line workers from the St. Leonard’s Society of Ottawa, the John Howard Society of Ottawa, and representatives from the Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies and the National Pardon Centre. The event will also feature first-hand accounts of those whose efforts to rebuild their lives and move beyond their pasts have been frustrated by the recent changes to the pardon system. There will be a question and answer period after the panel presentation.

The CPEP is a group of academics and students from Carleton University and the University of Ottawa who work to raise awareness and educate the public on criminalization and punishment practices in Canada and abroad. “Most of the changes to the pardon system were a reaction to a few sensationalized cases in the media”, states Samantha McAleese, Esther Armstrong, and Alexandria Organ, all members of the CPEP group. “This practice of developing penal policy based on a selection of high-profile cases is a precarious one, and in this situation it is sure to produce many negative consequences for individuals who do not deserve to endure ongoing punishment and criminalization”.
For more information:

Samantha McAleese (MA Criminology)
Member, CPEP
Email: smcal078@uottawa.ca
www.cpep-pscs.sagsc.org /CPEPgroup

The post Public Forum on the New Pardon System appeared first on National Pardon Centre.

An interesting thing to consider is that if I’d been convicted of an indictable offence at that time I would most likely still not be eligible for a pardon after Stephen Harper’s omnibus crime bill. I’m glad that never happened of course.

Here is the Canada Now story. I’m posting it for purely historical reasons.

The post How to get a pardon – circa 2002 appeared first on National Pardon Centre.

Unfortunately I’m forced to discuss the various problems and scams associated with the pardon and waiver services industry too often.  Obviously I wish I didn’t have to but if I can help just a few people by doing so then the effort is worth it.

Federal Pardon Waiver Services: The number one company I’m getting complaints about these days is from Federal Pardon Waivers Services which operates a number of misleading websites and is also serving fraudulent ads on Facebook. Since I’m getting a little tired of this story I thought I would share the misleading information and clearly explain it in the hopes of helping a few more people avoid the trap.

Below is one of the websites operated by Federal Pardon Waivers Services. The “bait” on this website is the claim that the conservative government is proposing to eliminate pardons. This is simply not true. For more information on this see the following blog post: The Truth about Bill C23B.

In a nutshell the Conservatives renamed pardons to record suspensions but it’s still the same thing. The changes also took place more than a year ago at the time of writing.

Notice how the website has no contact page. Instead it has an online form so simple it’s almost impossible to avoid filling it out. Once the contact information is obtained you can be sure you will be receiving a call from a sales person who likely has no interest in giving you accurate information. In case I haven’t been clear yet Federal Pardon Waivers Services should be avoided.

Next is another website operated by the same person. At least this time there is a contact page. Unfortunately there is also the same fraudulent claim on the home page serving as bait for uninformed users. Let me be clear one more time. There is no legislation being tabled that could eliminate pardons. For a clear and honest discussion of this issue click here.

After spending a bit of time on Federal Pardon Waiver Services’ website I had had enough and click the browser closed. But when I did look at what popped up. Just one more chance to try and mislead people. Let me be perfectly clear….again. This is not just misleading. Misleading would be telling people they can no longer get a pardon, when in fact the term pardon has just been replaced by record suspension. It’s not quite fraud, but it’s sure not the truth. This ad on the other hand tells people they can no longer clear their criminal record because pardons are being eliminated.

Unfortunately I just don’t have enough time in the day to listen to all the people who have been misled by Federal Pardon Waiver Services, hence this blog post. If you have a story about this company or any other please feel free to comment below. One day the industry will become regulated and this kind of operation will have a lot more difficulty.

For now we’re stuck with the same old problem. The only solution is to educate yourself and stay informed. A pardon is simply too important to leave in the hands of those who would try to take advantage of you.

And finally if you really need to talk or just want an honest evaluation give me a call. I’m happy to explain the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

Sincerely,

Michael Ashby

514.842.2411 x 227
mashby@nationalpardon.org

The post Federal Pardon Waiver Services appeared first on National Pardon Centre.

Canadian pardon waiting periods

If getting a Canadian pardon has been a concern to you in the past couple of years and you don’t know the significance of 5 and 10 years then you must have been living in a cave, maybe on the moon or on mars or somewhere in the Kuiper belt. It would have been hard to avoid learning about these specific time frames.

Since living on the moon or other exotic outer worldly places is highly unlikely it is also possible that some of you have become interested in a pardon only recently.  I will therefore run through the time frames for you and give you my thoughts on why 5 and 10 are important but undesirable.

5 and 10 years

5 and 10 years refers to the amount of time people must wait – AFTER completing the sentence handed down by the courts – before becoming eligible for a pardon.

In the cases of summary offences the wait is 5 years.

In the case of indictable offences the wait is 10 years.

Summary vs. indictable offences – different waiting periods

Summary and indictable are simply ways of classifying less serious and more serious offences. It can be hard to know which one yours is especially since many of the offences we deal with are considered hybrid offences. A hybrid offence is one that can be prosecuted summarily or by way of indictment. The decision is left up to the prosecuting attorney.

Types of summary charges – 5 years

Although a DUI is a hybrid offence it is almost never an indictable offence unless someone was injured or it was a second or third offence. On the other hand something like shoplifting or theft under X amount of dollars is always summary. Other types of summary charges are a simple assault (no one was actually hurt), fraud under 1000, mischief, etc.

Types of indictable charges – 10 years

Generally speaking if someone was hurt during the event that led to the arrest it is highly unlikely that the charge will be summary. Assault causing bodily harm is most likely indictable. The same can be said for more serious non-violent offences like fraud over 5000 or possession for the purpose of trafficking.

Types of Hybrid offences – 5 or 10 years

Most charges we come across seem to be hybrid offences. In reality very few charges in the criminal code must be summary or indictable under all circumstances. However, something like manslaughter will certainly be indictable every time.  On the other hand something like mischief is invariably summary.

Why 5 and 10 years?

The waiting period for a pardon used to be 3 years for summary offences and 5 years for indictable offences. Then the Conservative government was elected and it ran partly on a tough on crime agenda. One of the programs it went after was the pardon program. Despite a 96% success rate for pardons (meaning that 96% of the people granted a pardon never re-offend) the Tories thought that changes were required.

This happened during the Conservative minority years and despite the best efforts of Vic Toews the bill could never get passed. However an amended version of the bill changed the waiting periods for a pardon from 3 and 5 years to 3, 5 and 10 years. In this case 10 years was reserved strictly for sexual offences and serious personal injury offences. This change actually made some sense.

However, once the Conservative government achieved a majority the original bill was passed and we are now stuck with 5 and 10

Proposed Changes

The move to redefine the waiting periods was an ideological one at best. I don’t think there is a single criminologist, lawyer, judge, etc in the country who believe that the Conservatives came to the 5 and 10 year waiting periods after a lengthy analysis of the pardon program.

Adding a longer waiting period for serious personal injury offences and sexual offences was a measure that most people understood and few opposed. However, it was not the idea of the Conservative government. It was instead a compromise proposed by the NDP during the debate surrounding the original version of this controversial crime bill.

Conclusion

It was highly unlikely that the Tories would allow the NDP to hijack its tough on crime agenda. Even though the waiting periods proposed by the NDP and passed in the House of Commons, made a lot more sense than what we have now, they had no hope of surviving once the Conservative government earned a majority status.

And of course they didn’t. The conservatives earned the majority and rest is history.

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Pardons Backlog

The following links will give you a pretty good idea of what is going on with the Parole Board of Canada. It will also provide a pretty clear picture that the situation is not the result of your government failing you, it is the result of your government achieving exactly what it wanted to achieve, while never admitting what that was in the first place.

I firmly believe that it was the intention of Stephen Harper and Vic Toews to significantly reduce the number of pardons being granted. You can decide for yourself if that’s the case.

The following is an article by the present author published in the Toronto Star on the pardons backlog.

http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorialopinion/2013/02/03/ottawas_anticrime_agenda_hurts_canadians_looking_for_a_new_start.html

Next we have an article by Bruce Cheadle at the Canadian Press discussing the pardons backlog problem.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2013/03/10/canada-parole-board.html

And finally we have the Parole Board of Canada’s status page for the pardon backlog. There is no shortage of discussion on this problem, that’s for sure.

http://pbc-clcc.gc.ca/prdons/backlog-eng.shtml

I hope this information helps. The pardons backlog is a problem with an obvious solution. Worse yet it is a problem that never had to exist in the first place.

The post Pardons backlog – If you’re stuck at the Parole Board of Canada appeared first on National Pardon Centre.

I always loved the Far Side so when I stumbled across these and they were vaguely relevant to what we do here at the National Pardon Centre I thought, why not? So here’s a couple of Far Side cartoon.  I hope I’m not breaking any copyright laws.

The post Cow and Dogs On Trial appeared first on National Pardon Centre.

Sadly the big news in pardons is that the cost of getting one has skyrocketed. Following legislative changes championed by the Conservative government the fee for filing your application with the Parole Board of Canada went from $50 to $631. And of course most service providers, having wasted so many resources fighting the legislation, followed suit although not nearly to the same extent.

If you are reading this and thinking about getting a pardon or waiver started soon do it now because we will also be raising our fees in the near future. It will not be a drastic increase but it’s going up a bit. After all, that thing called inflation also still exists.

PARDONS NAME CHANGE

Pardons were renamed to record suspensions. We still call it a pardon because a pardon is an actual word with a history and definition that people identify with. But if you prefer to call it a record suspension please feel free to. These days considering why people are applying we could also call it a work permit.

PARDONS WAITING PERIODS

The waiting periods for eligibility were once 3 years for summary offences and 5 years for indictable offences. Then it was changed to 3 years for summary but 5 years for non violent offences and 10 years for violent and sexual offences. In fact this initial adjustment made sense and few people opposed it. But the Conservative government felt all indictable offense should be subject to a 10 year wait. Why? We aren’t sure. But if you find out please give me a call.

PARDONS BACKLOG

Something like 23,000 older pardon applications are backlogged at the Parole Board so if you ever felt like venting your frustration at government bureaucracy this would be a good one to vent on. Sadly enough the after many years in business the Parole Board was finally starting to be somewhat predictable when it came to time frames. Same goes for the RCMP. Amazingly enough we were quoting average time frames to clients and they were remarkably consistent.

Nowadays anyone giving you an exact time to get a pardon done should be dealt with skeptically. We will still provide you with a guideline but we’re also going to make it clear that things are not guaranteed under any circumstances.

PARDONS CHANGED BUT WHY? 

I am not sure how to finish off a post like so I will just talk about why all these changes took place. It all came about when the media reported that Graham James had received a pardon. The Tories took that ball and ran with it and even Sheldon Kennedy, former victim and NHL star got on board too.

I met Mr. Kennedy at the Standing Committee when we discussed the bill in question and I would like to say how much I admire the courage it must take to discuss an experience like his. I’m not opposed to the changes that prevent the likes of Graham James from getting a pardon. In fact I support Graham James not getting a pardon. The problem of course is that the net was cast too wide and a lot of people have been affected by these new laws without any evidence to support why the changes were needed in the first place.

Welcome to politics.

The post Pardons – What’s New? appeared first on National Pardon Centre.

There is certainly room for improvement in Canada’s justice system but the Conservative government does seem to go overboard. The pardons legislation is a good example I think.

If you would like to read the article on the Toronto Star’s website simply click here.

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