PARDON CANADA
What is a pardon?
A pardon allows people who were convicted of a criminal offence, but have completed their sentence and demonstrated they are law-abiding citizens, to have their criminal record kept separate and apart from other criminal records. Under the Criminal Records Act (CRA), the National Parole Board (NPB) may issue, grant, deny, or revoke pardons for convictions under federal acts or regulations of Canada.
What are the advantages of a pardon?
All information pertaining to convictions will be taken out of the Canadian Police Information Center (CPIC) and may not be disclosed without permission from the Minister of Public Safety Canada. The CRA applies only to records kept within federal departments and agencies. However, many of the provincial and municipal law enforcement agencies cooperate by restricting access to their records once notified that a pardon has been granted.
The Canadian Human Rights Act forbids discrimination based on a pardoned conviction. This includes services a person needs or the opportunity to work for a federal agency. The CRA states that no employment application form within the federal public service may ask any question that would require an applicant to disclose a pardoned conviction. This also applies to a Crown corporation, the Canadian Forces, or any business within the federal authority.
What are the limitations of a pardon?
A pardon does not erase the fact that a person was convicted of an offence.
A pardon does not guarantee entry or visa privileges to another country.
Courts and police services (other than the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP)) are under provincial and municipal legislation. This means that they do not have to keep records of convictions separate and apart from other criminal records.
The CRA lists certain sexual offences. If a person was pardoned for such offences, his/her record will be kept separate and apart, but his/her name will be flagged in the CPIC computer system. This means a person may be asked to let employers see his/her record if this person wants to work with children or with groups that are vulnerable because of their age or disability.
A sentence may have included a driving or firearms prohibition order. A pardon will not cancel these prohibition orders.
Who may apply for a pardon?
A person may apply for a pardon if he/she was convicted of an offence under a federal act or regulation of Canada. A person may apply even if he/she is not a Canadian citizen or a resident of Canada. A person may also apply if he/she was convicted in another country and transferred to Canada under the Transfer of Offenders Act.
When can a person apply for a pardon?
Before a person is eligible to apply for a pardon, he/she must have 1) completed all sentences and 2) waited a certain period from the completion of all sentences.
1. When is a sentence completed?
When a person has paid all fines, surcharges, costs, restitutions and compensation orders in full;
When a person has served all of his/her time, including parole or statutory release; and
When a person has satisfied his/her probation order.
2. What is the waiting period?
a. Under the Criminal Code of Canada and other federal statutes:
Three years for summary convictions; and
Five years for indictable offences.
B. Under the Transfer of Offenders Act:
Five years for all convictions.
c. Under the National Defense Act:
Five years if the person was fined more than $2,000;
Five years if the person was imprisoned more than six months;
Five years if the person was dismissed from the service; and
Three years for all other penalties.
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The benefits of obtaining a pardon cannot be denied. For most people the peace of mind which comes with knowing a personal criminal record has been removed is enough reward. However, the benefits extend into other areas of life as well. The most notable of these are the removal of restrictions on employment and the ability to freely travel to the United States.
With the granting of a Canadian pardon from the National Parole Board of Canada you will never again have to disclose that you were ever convicted of a crime.
Employment Restrictions
Anyone with a Canadian criminal record should consider themselves at a disadvantage when competing for employment opportunities. A fact of Canadian society is that many job opportunities are simply not attainable, regardless of any and all qualifications, to persons with a Canadian criminal record. Similarly, people with a Canadian criminal record will be considered last when competing for jobs that do not require a criminal record search.
When choosing a career path, candidates with Canadian criminal records should consider that the following career choices require criminal record searches to be performed for all potential candidates:
- Investment
- Banking
- Daycare (any career involving the supervision of children)
- Government (any position within)
- Insurance
- Teaching (any position within an educational facility)
- Any and all volunteer work
- Couriers
- Any hospital or health care position
- Firefighting
- Police
- Legal
- Taxi Driving
- Massage therapy
- Social Workers
- Dentistry
- Security
- Medicine and Health, nursing
- Physiotherapy
- Correctional Centres
- Cashier
- And more
Once a pardon has been granted and the Canadian criminal records have been removed, restrictions no longer exist and applications for these careers can be made without risk of refusal based on past criminal misconduct..
Time Frames: "How long does this take"?
This is the most common question asked at the EXPRESS LAW SERVICES and it is also the most difficult to answer. Each application is unique, which means that pardons and waivers are granted on a case-by-case basis.
When preparing your application we must communicate with the RCMP, the courts, the local police and finally the National Parole Board or DHS. This is in addition to file preparation which takes place at a National Pardon Centre office in Montreal or Calgary.
Each correspondence takes time and varies depending on the details of the file. Therefore, the following time frames are provided for clarification purposes.
Please note that these guidelines apply if you are currently, or will soon be, eligible to receive a pardon and/or waiver. Learn more about eligibility rules.
RCMP Correspondence: This step normally requires approximately 3 months. However, we experience waiting times ranging from 1 to 9 months. For several years now the RCMP civil fingerprinting division has become overwhelmed with requests and as a result time frames are not guaranteed.
Court Request: A court record request normally requires anywhere from one week to several months. Therefore, the extent of the individual criminal record is a major factor. If we must communicate with several courthouses the request time will normally increase slightly.
Local Police Correspondence: Completion of local police correspondence can sometimes be done immediately but can also take up to several months. The number of times you have moved in the past five years will also be a factor.
National Parole Board (Canadian pardon applicants only): This is the final step in the pardon application process. The parole board is the government agency ultimately responsible for granting your pardon. They reserve the right to take up to 24 months. However, applications processed by the EXPRESS LAW SERVICES are professionally prepared and we only rarely experience a waiting period of more than 12 months with the Parole Board.
DHS (waiver applicants only): This is the final step in the waiver application process and can take anywhere from 3 to 15 months. DHS gives no maximum allowable time frame. Furthermore, a restructuring of the entire system at DHS headquarters is currently underway and processing times are constantly changing. And to further complicate the situation with DHS, many of the new rules and regulations being implemented are province specific.
The above information outlines best and worst case scenarios. It is intended to provide a guideline for understanding why pardon and waiver application processing times cannot be guaranteed by anyone.
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