Since the legislation changes in March of 2012 the Parole Board of Canada has undergone some radical changes in the way they process applications, including tightening their requirements for accepting applications. A recent article published by The Canadian Press, and contributed to by Pardon Services Canada, has revealed how dramatic these changes have been. By issuing a request through the Access to Information Act the authors of this article have unveiled some surprising new numbers that are indicative of the changing practices of the Parole Board of Canada.

Perhaps the most apparent policy change by the Parole Board of Canada is the aggressive tightening of their acceptance criteria. When an application is first submitted to the Parole Board of Canada, it is first screened to determine whether or not it contains all of the required components; such as correct court documents, local police checks, etc. If it is missing one or more of these components the application is returned to the applicant, along with instructions of what else is needed, without ever being assigned to an officer. Prior to March of 2012 applications were generally returned for substantial things such as incorrect court documents, or local police checks done in the wrong jurisdiction. Minor discrepancies in the application were sorted out as the application was investigated with the assistance of the officer.

Since the law changes in March, however, the Parole Board of Canada has been denying applications for far more minor reasons. For example, a Local Police Check not current within six (6) months can result in a refused application, even if the applicant hasn’t lived in that jurisdiction for several years. A mistake made by a third party such as the courts failing to check the correct box, or fill in the proper field can also result in a returned application. In the meantime, this can cause further documents to expire while the application is in transit, which in turn can cause further delays or fees. Regardless of the reasons however, the numbers speak for themselves. Between March and December of 2012, a total of 15,871 applications were submitted to the Parole Board of Canada. Of these, only 8,631 were accepted. This is well up from the estimated 25% return rate of applications prior to March 2012.

As a private company who specializes in Pardons/Record Suspensions, we always ensure that an application is accepted by the Parole Board of Canada. Therefore it follows that the ratio of returned applications submitted by individuals on their own must be substantially higher than indicated here. While we don’t believe it was the intention of the Parole Board of Canada to force applications into the hands of a private company such as ourselves, it seems as though this is more and more becoming a necessity. If you don’t want to gamble your future travel or employment opportunities on the tightening requirements of the Parole Board of Canada, then we encourage you to enlist our services to ensure your application is completed correctly and without error.