Sometimes your past can follow you and make the present increasingly difficult. This is especially true if you made the sort of mistakes in your past that wound up going on your criminal record. The poor choices you made in your early adulthood can easily follow you for the rest of your professional life unless you take steps to clear your name and remove the blemishes from your now-improved record.
Why Criminal Record Suspension?
A Criminal Record Suspension is, in essence, a pardon from the government for old crimes. In fact, a record suspension used to be called a pardon, and the name changed only recently. When you apply for and receive a criminal record suspension, the summary and indictable offenses you committed five to ten years ago are removed from public record leaving you with a clean record which can be a huge bonus for you professionally.
Record Suspension and Your Career
Canadian business owners are using criminal background checks more frequently. For those with blemishes on their record, this often means that your application goes directly into the trash bin, regardless of how qualified for the position you might be.
In many cases, an indictable offense you committed decades ago may be keeping you from getting a job today. The offense you committed was at least ten years ago and you have not had any additional charges in that time. You were assigned punishment for the crime and you have resolved or served the sentence. Now, even though you have paid for the crime you committed so many year ago, you still continue to pay every time you apply for a new job.
It’s not just new jobs that can be affected by background checks. Increasingly companies are including criminal record checks when you are considered for a promotion within your own company. Trying to move up in your career may result in hitting a glass ceiling rather early on, leaving you with no career advancement prospects and little or no hope of increased salaries down the road as well.
If you meet the right criteria for a record suspension, receiving the pardon from the government effectively seals your records from five or ten years ago. This means when an employer does a background search, old offenses will no longer appear and you will get the fresh start you need in your career.
Traveling
It’s not just careers that are affected by old criminal convictions and summary offenses. Your criminal record may also keep you from traveling the way you’d like to travel. While you can likely travel through Canada with relative ease, if you want to cross the border and travel into the United States, you will be stopped at the border.
You may not enter the United States if you have a criminal background, and as the United States and Canada share criminal records, your record will show up when the border patrol performs a background check at the border.
A record suspension will close your record so that the old offenses are not visible when the agents perform the check. Your background check will be clear and you will be allowed to enter the United States for travel purposes. This is true not only in the United States but in many other countries as well. It is worth noting that the United States does not have a record suspension program. If you volunteer the fact that you have a pardon or record suspension, you will likely be stopped at the border and required to show additional paperwork. In short, a record suspension will not disclose your old record unless you disclose it personally.
A record suspension can make it easier for you to leave the past behind at work and while you travel. The record suspension will also clear your name when it comes to renting a home or even adopting a child. It is important to note, however, that there are requirements for obtaining a record suspension.
The waiting period for indictable offenses is 10 years and the waiting period for summary conviction offenses is 5 years. This means a record suspension is not immediately available – you must show that you have been fully rehabilitated for quite some time before even applying. If you have certain offenses on your record including sexual offenses against minors or if you have more than three indictable offenses, you are not eligible for a record suspension.