The omnibus crime bill passed despite heated opposition. Everything that could ever be said about the bill has already been said ad nauseum so let’s just move on.
The measures contained previously in Bill C23B came into law with the passing of the omnibus crime bill, bill C10. Therefore pardons are now record suspensions but they are still the same thing.
Some of our clients will no longer be eligible for their pardon ever. I am sorry this happened but the number of you affected to this extent is relatively few. I realize this will be of no comfort to you.
More than a few of you will be forced to wait significantly longer until you become eligible for your pardon. Rest assured we will keep your file on site and it will be monitored by us. When the time comes to submit it to the Parole Board we will be the ones making sure that gets done.
I would like to thank everyone for their understanding. The past couple of years have been quite a challenge to everyone working in the pardons business. The team at the National Pardon Centre has been working extra hard and I have to admit everyone is a little burned out as a result. After all, this is not only our jobs and our livelihood that has been affected but the lives of all of you as well. We understand how a criminal record affects your life. We understand how common background checks have become for employment. And we understand that a lot of you are having trouble moving forward in life without being able to get a pardon. I promise you we did our best.
But the moment the Conservative government attained a majority the omnibus crime bill was a done deal. I don’t think that any form of persuasion would have changed the tough on crime rhetoric coming out of the Conservative party of Canada.
That this kind of rhetoric was shallow and short on facts or evidence goes without saying.