Changes to Canadian pardon laws from 2010 to 2018

The Liberal government has proposed to make changes to Canada’s pardon system, but no legislation has been introduced.

The previous government took a tough-on-crime approach to the issue of pardons. As a result, they made many changes to the process in order to make it harder to get a pardon. They also changed the name to Record Suspension to reflect the fact that if a person were to re-offend, the pardon would be revoked. This has always been the case, but the previous government felt it should be reflected in the name. Other changes include:

• Changing the waiting period for a summary conviction from three years to five
• Changing the waiting period for an indictable conviction from five years to ten

Making some people ineligible: 1) people with Schedule 1 offences against a minor (except in limited cases where the person was close in age to the victim, not in a position of trust and no coercion took place) 2) People with more than three offences each with a prison sentence of two more years.

Raising the fee from $50 to $150 in 2010, and then raising it again to $631 in 2012. (The government felt that the person applying for the Record Suspension should not be subsidized by the taxpayer.)

Introducing new subjective criteria that the Record Suspension should not “bring the administration of justice into disrepute.” This provision takes into considerations things like the severity of the offence and the impact on the victim. The government may also want to avoid any embarrassment that might result from a high-profile criminal being granted a pardon.

Many people criticized these changes. They said that they were unnecessary because there was already a low rate of reoffending among people who had received a pardon (less than four percent). They said that the long wait times and high fees contributed to recidivism because they shut people out of jobs and opportunities.

As a result, the new government has promised changes. However, the only thing that has taken place so far is two public consultations in which the public was asked to give feedback on the current situation and some possible scenarios for reform.

In the meantime, two recent court cases in BC and Ontario have resulted in some people convicted prior to 2012 being allowed to submit applications under the old rules. In those cases, the judges ruled that the government was unconstitutional in applying the new rules to people who had already been sentenced. Since these decisions were made by provincial judges rather than federal judges, their decisions only apply in those two provinces.

As a result, people in Ontario and British Columbia can apply under the old rules if they were convicted prior to 2012. 

In addition to being unconstitutional in extending the “punishment” of an offender after sentencing, the changes made by the previous government were criticized as not being evidence-based.

If you would like to find out more about applying for a pardon, including whether you can apply under the pre-2012 rules, contact AllCleared for a free consultation at 1-866-972-7366.