In 1959, the Parole Act received Royal Assent and created the National Parole Board (NPB), which resulted in the modern era of criminal rehabilitation in Canada. Over the years, the NPB evolved and grew to meet the needs of offenders and victims alike. In 1970, the NPB was provided with the power to issue pardons to offenders under the Criminal Records Act. When a pardon was granted, the criminal convictions of an offender were set aside. They were seen as a means to assist offenders in removing the stigma of being a criminal, after they had proven that they could be responsible members of society. While not all offenders could apply for pardons, there were few exceptions.
Approximately 460,000 pardons have been granted since they became available in 1970, with 96% of them still active. This averages out to around 10,454 applications granted per year since the inception of the program. 11,223 pardon applications were granted between 1996 and 2002. In recent years, pardons have undergone an explosion in popularity. Since 1970, the NPB had received an average of about 15,000 to 20,000 pardon applications a year. In 2008 alone, they received 37,000 applications. As one could imagine, with the number of applicants increasing, the wait-time between submitting an application and having it granted or denied has become increasingly long.
Although an application fee originally did not exist for a pardon application, the NPB introduced a fee of $50 in 1997. The fee was increased to $150 in 2011, and increased to $631 in 2012. As a result of the fee increase, a backlog in pardon applications currently exits at the Parole Board of Canada since a large number of individuals submitted pardon applications before the increase took effect.
When the Conservative government passed Bill C-10 in 2012, a number of changes took place, all involving tightening the pardon procedure and making the process more stringent. The term ‘pardon’ was replaced with the term ‘record suspension’. Superficially, this does not signify a great change. However, by examining the subtext, it can be seen that this is a very symbolic change and represents a significant change in philosophy. Being pardoned implies that the offender has been forgiven in some way, while a record suspension is a more dispassionate term, and simply reflects the actual procedure of the criminal record being sealed. It signifies the idea that it is not the government’s place to ‘pardon’ or ‘forgive’ anyone.
Pardons or record suspensions are helpful in the process of rehabilitation for offenders, for a variety of reasons. The main reason is because most offenders who are interested in this process are motivated and are no longer involved in the lifestyle which led them to offend in the first place. Therefore they are not likely to re-offend, which is reflected in the numbers, with 96% of granted pardons still in effect today. When offenders are motivated to turn their lives around, the pardon or record suspension allows them to go even further in society. They are then able to pass a criminal record check for employment or for practicum placements in post secondary educational programs. They are also then able to move past the stigma of having a criminal record, giving them a fresh start.
Everybody makes mistakes, don’t let your past limit your future.