One of my competitors is such a nuisance that I feel I need to reiterate a point I have been making concerning the pardon and waiver service industry.

My impression of most of my competitors is that they are small but competent companies run by honest people. But unfortunately this industry still has a bad rep and it is because there are a few dishonest people running borderline scams in the form of a pardon and waiver service.

The most notorious company for this operates on the fringe. It does nothing directly illegal but it certainly allows its clients to believe things that are simply not true. Below is an excerpt from its website:

So for 500 dollars or so this company is offering to “help you” do what you will be doing yourself anyhow.  Again, this is not illegal but the rest of the website certainly leads a user to believe that the service being offered is a little more “complete”. At the National Pardon Centre, for example, we do not “help” you do the work. We do the work. It’s just that simple.

And this is just one example of the reasons that the pardon and waiver service industry is regarded as being just a little bit unscrupulous. A company that is only “helping” you do the work is not really doing anything at all. You would not hire a painter to watch you paint your house.

So please be careful when choosing a pardon and waiver service. Check the website over thoroughly and determine what (if anything) you will be paying for. See if the company offers fingerprinting services, see if it is RCMP accredited, verify that you can visit the office in person if you wish.

Be careful with the choice you make but also remember not to be too paranoid or you may never feel comfortable taking this important step. Remember what I said. Most of my competition appears to be honest enough. I receive complaints concerning only a couple of companies, but unfortunately I can’t list them here because complaints are only complaints and have never been verified.

And on a final note I would like to assure anyone interested in obtaining a pardon or waiver that the National Pardon Centre is honest, upfront and legitimate. We are not the cheapest company in the business but we are also not the most expensive. And I give you my personal word that we will handle your case professionally and that you will get real value for your money. If you have any questions about the National Pardon Centre I can be emailed at mashby@nationalpardon.org. I am a founder and a director of the company. You can see my profile by clicking here and I would be happy to have my organization handle your case.

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/

Language can be a confusing element of human interaction. And nowhere is this fact more true than in the world of business. Take the paragraph below for example. Another pardon company is offering its service:

The first thing you need to do is to pick a package that best suits your needs. If you want to settle the matter as quickly and efficiently as possible, we recommend a Premium Package. With this service, we will do most of the work. We will leverage our contacts to push the process through as expediently as possible, and we will offer full-service at every step along the way, to make sure that your application is handled as professionally and discreetly as possible.It all sounds great but there is at least one problem. When the company claims “we will leverage our contacts” they are lying to their clients. Canadian bureaucracy may be no better than many other bureaucracy in the world but one thing it does tend to be more than any other is relatively fair. And what that means is that no one has any way to move things through any faster than the next guy. So, if the company in question calls the National Parole Board and asks it to move Mr. X’s file ahead of Mr. Y’s, the answer is the same no matter who you are. The answer is no! I know this for a fact because I work in the same industry and my company, National Pardon Centre, processes more pardons than any other company in Canada. Including the company in question from this article.

I haven’t named the company I am talking about here because it is not the purpose of this blog. My intention in writing this article is not to point fingers and say that such and such a company is not worth doing business with. My intention is to help you, the consumer, make an informed decision.

So read websites carefully. Find out what the fees include and what they don’t. Make sure you understand what you are paying for and what you can expect that payment to get you. In other words, when you are choosing a pardon and waiver service you should always do your homework.

I am obviously biased being the company’s Communications Director but I personally and with complete confidence recommend the National Pardon Centre. We are the only company that lists all of our employees and directors on their website including email addresses and extension numbers. And when you are handing over your hard earned money to someone transparency is a very good thing.

Good luck and make sure to get your pardon.

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?

Ex-cons are seeking a lot more pardons these days as criminals try to put their past behind them

Reposted from  www.ottawasun.com

By KATHLEEN HARRIS, NATIONAL BUREAU CHIEF

The number of ex-cons seeking pardons has doubled as more employers and volunteer groups screen applicants for criminal records.

Last year, more than 30,000 people applied for pardons, and that number is expected to jump to 36,000 or more this year. That’s up from 16,000 just a few years ago.

The steep climb is also because more private businesses are sprouting up advertising help with the pardon process — a service that can cost $500 or more.

Corita Harty, director of pardons and clemency for the National Parole Board, said most who apply are granted, if they have proven themselves law-abiding citizens. But she said strict rules are in place — including completion of sentence, payment of all court-ordered fines and a waiting period of three to five years.

“They aren’t just doled out,” she said.

Dangerous offenders and “lifers” with murder raps are ineligible, but all other offenders can apply for a pardon that essentially seals off their criminal record. Most people seeking pardons are for “relatively minor” offences such as petty theft, impaired driving and pot possession.

About 10% of Canada’s population has a criminal record, and about 5% are eligible for a pardon. About half apply.

Harty said a pardon doesn’t wipe out a criminal record, it just sets it aside. If the person is convicted of another offence, the pardon can be revoked.

“It’s a stringent process, but one that contributes to our overall mandate of public safety because it facilitates integration of people in society as law-abiding citizens,” she said. “And it works, because 97% of those who receive pardons, those stay in effect.”

In a recent performance report tabled in Parliament, the National Parole Board noted the workload spike from increasing requests had created a “serious situation” for the program. But Harty said the backlog problem has now been addressed and the process is speedier despite the rising tide of new requests.

Keri Wallis, manager of the Montreal office of the National Pardon Centre, said the higher demand for pardons is due to greater scrutiny for jobs, adoption or travel.

Many just want to remove the “stigma” of a criminal record on their file, which is open for the public to see in some provinces.

She said their for-fee service is “guaranteed” as offenders rarely get turned down if they fill the requirements.

“If the person serves their sentence and they have good conduct, they should not have any problem,” Wallis said.

“The only way you can get turned down is if you re-offend or if you have a little mishap with the law.”

Harty said applications facilitated by third parties that often charge “exorbitant fees” do not get processed in any preferential order.

KATHLEEN.HARRIS@SUNMEDIA.CA

To view the original article please click the link below:

http://www.ottawasun.com/News/National/2009/02/22/8481056-sun.html

When this picture of Michael Phelps smoking a bong surfaced the world once again went loony, insisting that Phelps make amends for something that everyone does anyway. What nonsense.

The fact that an olympic champion of Phelps’ stature has smoked weed is a clear indicator that marijuana is relatively harmless, great fun on accasion and obviously the grand champion of substances that should be decriminalized. Is there any other conclusion to draw from this?

I am quite certain that no photos exist of Phelps sticking a needle full of herione in his harm. I am also quite certain he has never smoked crystal meth. And I am equally certain he has smoked weed on more than just this one “regrettable” occasion. Which is really the core of the problem. Not all drugs are equal and continuing the global farce that is marijuana prohibition is dumb.

Another part of the problem is that the United States of America (I was tempted to write “of hypocrisy” but it just seemed childish) is so far entrenched in the war on drugs that they cannot get out of it even if they wanted to. An industry that big doesn’t get demolished easily and there are a lot of people intersted in maintaining the status quo as far as marijuana legislation goes.

My guess is that it will take the supreme court to rule that marijuana legislation is a violation of basic rights before the federal laws will be changed. And by then the feds will just be playing catch up to the various States, that realized long, long ago in a time far, far away that the criminlization of marijuana is just plain stupid.

There has been talk of criminal background checks becoming part of Canada’s passport application but nothing seemed to be actually happening. I’m still not sure if it is but this article explores a little bit of the issue.

There is also talk about pardons being mandatory for those applying for a passport but I believe there are enormous hurdles to overcome before that will be possible. In the meantime have a quick read of the article below:

Canada’s passport agency phasing in criminal checks

Jim Bronskill
THE CANADIAN PRESS

From thestar.com
 
OTTAWA-Canada’s passport office is still finalizing a system to check the criminal background of applicants, almost four years after the federal spending watchdog first flagged the security gap.

The office has also dropped out of a national project to devise a quick electronic means of verifying the data on birth and citizenship certificates, used by applicants to obtain passports.

The lingering challenges come to light as Auditor General Sheila Fraser prepares to deliver an update next month on Passport Canada’s progress toward fixing various problems identified in April 2005.

At the time, Fraser revealed Passport Canada was hampered by inadequate watch lists, outdated technology and poor record-checking.

She found the agency lacked ready access to information about people wanted by police or on probation. The data are contained in the Canadian Police Information Centre database, known as CPIC, administered by the RCMP.

Passport Canada set up a link to CPIC in 2006 and subsequently conducted two data trials.

A “significant investment” would be needed to fully usher in CPIC checks as part of a new computerized case management system, says a recently published progress report from Passport Canada on meeting the auditor general’s recommendations.

“The magnitude of the process is under review before implementation can occur.”

Passport Canada spokesperson Sebastien Bois said the agency is taking a “phased-in approach” to screening applicants against CPIC.

“We’re linked with the system. We’re using it. But our approach right now is based on risk-management models.”

The agency is checking applicants only when red flags trigger suspicions, particularly given the huge volume of people seeking passports.

“With 4.8 million applications a year, it’s a lot of applications,” Bois said, adding there is no target date for deciding if and when all people seeking travel documents will face a criminality check.

“We’re looking at all the options.”

In recent years, Passport Canada has faced a crush of applicants concerned about meeting stringent new U.S. border requirements. As of June 1, Canadians will need a passport or other approved, secure document to enter the United States by air, land or sea.

As of last May, just over half of Canadians held a valid passport, up from 41 per cent in 2005.

Three years ago, it emerged that an alleged Russian spy used a fake Ontario birth certificate to obtain passports in 1995, 2000 and 2002. He was later deported to Moscow.

In her 2005 audit, Fraser warned that Passport Canada had no easy way of verifying proof of citizenship.

The passport agency stressed its involvement in the planned National Routing System project, intended to establish links to provincial and territorial bureaus of vital statistics and Citizenship and Immigration Canada. This would allow agency staff to prevent fraud by quickly scrutinizing birth and citizenship data on applications, as well as checking the person’s name against death records.

The initiative, now under the wing of Statistics Canada, has moved beyond the pilot stage but Passport Canada is no longer among the participants, said project manager John Menic.

“They had to pull out. They had some operational priorities with the backlogs they had a couple of years ago and they decided to step back,” he said.

“I haven’t heard from them for a couple of months now.”

In its June 2008 progress report, Passport Canada says that while it continues to support work on the routing system, it “is now concentrating its resources over the next 18 months on its core mandate” of issuing passports.

Last month Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart said Canadians applying for passports face serious security risks - including identity theft - because of flaws in every step of the process. She found problems in how personal information is collected, stored used and ultimately discarded by passport officials.

Passport Canada insists security has improved, noting in its latest annual report that an electronic link with the federal Correctional Service helped it deny passports to 44 people forbidden from leaving Canada.

It intends to proceed this year with a long-planned program to use facial-recognition technology to prevent the same person from holding more than one passport under different names.

It also aims to introduce a passport containing data on an electronic chip by 2011.

I just spoke with a nice enough guy today who had been imprisoned for ten years for attempted murder (you would be surprised how many of the guys with serious records are the nicest people to speak to. On the other hand the shoplifters can be a nightmare).

Some of his fellow inmates had explained to him that if you wait 7 years after getting out of prison your criminal record with be expunged automatically. I want to make it clear that such is not the case. A criminal record NEVER goes away until you make the application to have it removed. In other words, until you apply for your pardon the record is staying put.