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An upcoming initiative by the Canadian federal government
is seeking to collect as much as $129 million in unpaid fines owed by Canadians with criminal convictions (see link below). In many cases a fine will be issued by the court as part of a sentence, but left to the individual to pay it. For this reason, many individuals including our clients will often find that they have outstanding fines from several years ago. Many assume that since they have never been actively pursued for these fine payments, they are no longer in effect or the records for them have been destroyed. This is certainly not the case, and this new initiative seeks to collect from the over 20,000 Canadians who are still owing outstanding fines.
How does this relate to Pardons/Record Suspensions?
In order to apply for a pardon (now known as a record suspension), an individual must be currently eligible as per the eligibility requirements stipulated under section 4 of the Criminal Records Act. This Act states that in order to be eligible, a minimum of five (5) years must elapse from the end of any sentence for summary offences, or ten (10) years for indictable offences. This is important because a sentence is defined under the Criminal Records Act as “…including a sentence of imprisonment, a period of probation and the payment of any fine, imposed for an offence.” This means that the five or ten year eligibility period would count from the date that the fine is paid (unless there is a later element of the sentence that must elapse, such as a probationary period).
How can I find out if my fine is paid?
If you are unsure of whether or not you have paid all fines associated with your convictions, a good place to start is by contacting the court(s) at which you were convicted. Many courts now keep digital records of outstanding fine payments, and therefore should be able to easily look up whether or not you have a fine outstanding. Generally these fines can be paid directly to the courts in order to satisfy your sentence, but some sentences will include payments of restitution or victim surcharges that must be paid to other affected parties, i.e. the victim. In some cases these payments of restitution will never be paid through the court, and so the court will not have record of them being paid, however this does not necessarily mean that the fine is outstanding.
If you have ever thought about getting a pardon, or want to avoid the federal collections teams that will be tasked with collecting these fines in the future, it’s very important that you ensure all of your fines are paid in full. If you have any further questions about fine payments or eligibility, don’t hesitate to contact our offices.
