Close X
Sunday, January 12, 2025
ADVT 
National

Pardon backlog denies social reintegration to thousands of former offenders

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 27 Nov, 2014 11:28 AM

    OTTAWA — Almost 7,000 outstanding pardon applications are in limbo as the Parole Board of Canada struggles to clear a backlog created when the Conservative government changed the rules in 2010.

    The parole board has announced it is not currently processing old pardon applications for more serious, indictable offences, but rather is focusing its efforts on lesser, summary convictions.

    In March 2013, the board told The Canadian Press it would clear a backlog of 22,000 older applications within two years, but now says it still has more than 10,000 applications remaining.

    It announced last month that only older applications pertaining to summary offences are being processed at this time.

    "The board expects to have close to 70 per cent of the overall backlog, and 100 per cent of the backlog of files containing offences tried summarily, cleared by March 31, 2015," the board said in response to a media inquiry.

    "This will leave approximately 6,963 applications for indictable offences in the backlog."

    Asked how and when those applications would be handled, the board replied it "does not currently have a timeline for when the backlog will be cleared."

    A notice on the board's website suggests applicants — long ago having submitted the proper paperwork and the appropriate fee — start over with a new application that now costs $631.

    The parole board's mission statement is "the timely reintegration of offenders as law-abiding citizens."

    For thousands of Canadians who have long-since served their sentences and returned to a crime-free life, advocates say the backlog means their criminal records are easily obtained, shutting the door to job, education and housing opportunities.

    "It is unacceptable that people are being denied human rights protections associated with pardons due to administrative delay and poverty," Catherine Latimer, the executive director of the John Howard Society, said in a release.

    The backlog resulted from a government crackdown on the whole pardons process after The Canadian Press revealed in 2010 that former hockey coach and serial sex predator Graham James had been granted a routine pardon.

    James was facing fresh allegations at the time, to which he has since pleaded guilty. The public outcry over his pardon prompted a sharp political reaction.

    The Parole Board was immediately given a new mandate to ensure no pardon would be granted that could bring the administration of justice into disrepute.

    The Conservative government later enacted a three-strikes rule, meaning anyone with more than three convictions for indictable offences with two-year sentences (even if all served concurrently) could never be pardoned. Certain offences, such as sex crimes against children, were made ineligible.

    The crime-free cooling off period after a sentence was fully served was also increased to five years from three for lesser offences, and doubled to 10 years from five for indictable offences.

    The term "pardon" was dropped and the process is now referred to as a "record suspension."

    And the application fee, long set at an affordable $50 to reflect the notion that pardons benefit society as much as the individual, was tripled to $150 and subsequently raised to the current $631.

    MORE National ARTICLES

    Gone Downtown: 2015 Real Estate Trend

    Gone Downtown: 2015 Real Estate Trend
    TORONTO - Homeowners who choose the convenience of city life over the more generous living space in suburbia are driving Canada's real estate market, according to a new report jointly produced by consultancy PricewaterhouseCoopers and the non-profit Urban Land Institute.

    Gone Downtown: 2015 Real Estate Trend

    Cdn consulate in Istanbul to reopen after officials say powder was chalk dust

    Cdn consulate in Istanbul to reopen after officials say powder was chalk dust
    ANKARA, Turkey - The Canadian consulate in Istanbul will reopen Thursday after tests revealed yellow powder sent there last week was similar to chalk dust.

    Cdn consulate in Istanbul to reopen after officials say powder was chalk dust

    Parliamentary Budget Officer says budget for Arctic patrol ships 'insufficient'

    Parliamentary Budget Officer says budget for Arctic patrol ships 'insufficient'
    OTTAWA - There's a fresh spat brewing between the Parliament's top bean counter and the Conservative government, this time over Arctic patrol ships.

    Parliamentary Budget Officer says budget for Arctic patrol ships 'insufficient'

    Rough consensual sex including pain is 'murky' legal area in Canada: experts

    Rough consensual sex including pain is 'murky' legal area in Canada: experts
    Rough sex that inflicts pain is a murky legal area that can still lead to assault convictions in Canada, say legal experts.

    Rough consensual sex including pain is 'murky' legal area in Canada: experts

    How would public health officials trace an Ebola patient's footsteps?

    How would public health officials trace an Ebola patient's footsteps?
    OTTAWA - Should Canada's first Ebola case ever present itself, public health officials will be faced with a daunting challenge: tracking down everyone the patient had contact with in order to contain the spread of the virus.

    How would public health officials trace an Ebola patient's footsteps?

    Justin Bourque apologizes for Moncton shootings, to be sentenced Friday

    Justin Bourque apologizes for Moncton shootings, to be sentenced Friday
    MONCTON, N.B. - Justin Bourque apologized Tuesday for the shootings in Moncton, N.B., that killed three RCMP officers and injured two others, saying the rationale that he gave to police for the rampage was the talk of "some arrogant pissant."

    Justin Bourque apologizes for Moncton shootings, to be sentenced Friday