Update: Express Pardons is closed. Express Pardons has gone out of business.
Express pardons is one of several terms used to describe getting pardon as fast as possible. There are many names for this service and express pardons is just one of them but most of the pardon service providers offer some form of this service. At the National Pardon Centre we call it an expedited pardon but I have heard it called an accelerated pardon, a rush pardon, a rapid pardon and many others.
There is nothing wrong with offering an express pardons service. However, some of the companies out there try to take advantage of the public’s lack of knowledge about pardons by offering something that is not possible to guarantee. Simply put no one has control over the various government agencies involved in piecing together a pardon application so no one can guarantee how long it is going to take. That being said let’s look at the facts about express pardons:
1. An express pardon means the company will get it done as soon as possible. It does not mean that company has special knowledge or insider tricks that will get it processed faster than the next guy getting an express pardon from another company.
2. The speed at which a company can process an express pardon is based on its efficiency and nothing else. Therefore if the company is disorganized the chances it can actually get your pardon done ASAP is next to zero.
3. Any company guaranteeing the fastest pardon in Canada is lying and committing fraud because it is not possible to guarantee such a thing under any circumstances. The ability to offer an express pardons service is based on several factors that ALL pardon service providers are subject to.
4. An express pardon is subject to delays incurred at the RCMP, The courts, local police stations and the Parole Board of Canada. NO ONE HAS CONTROL OVER THESE GOVERNMENT AGENCIES AND NO ONE CAN CONTROL THE SPEED AT WHICH THESE REQUESTS ARE PROCESSED.
5. Some factors can make your file move along more quickly at one company than the next. One major advantage is using a local service that you can actually visit in person because sending documents through the mail takes time. Not all pardon service providers will allow you to visit their facilities however.
6. Some provinces allow personal court information requests. In Quebec for example we are able to send our employees to the Montreal CSP court house to retrieve court documents in person. This saves an enormous amount of time because we do not need to wait for a court employee to fulfill the request.
Above are just a few examples of the kinds of things that make it impossible to guarantee a pardon service faster than the next guy. But if you are really concerned about finding the fastest pardon service provider that can offer real express pardons, and you understand that much of time involved in processing a pardon is waiting on a third party, then here are some things to think about:
1. Visiting an office in person is an advantage as it avoids the need to send documents through the mail.
2. Some local services can request court documents more easily than one from out of province.
3. A company that is RCMP accredited to handle fingerprinting onsite has an advantage when dealing with fingerprinting submissions, although processing times for fingerprints, once submitted to the RCMP, do not vary according to which agency they were submitted by.
4. Experience is important. Keep in mind that there are some companies that will claim to have 20 years plus experience because there are a few employees in the office who have been doing pardons for a few years. Add up those years and you get 20 years experience. So when deciding on a pardon service provider, ask when the company was started, not how much “experience†it has.
Above outlines the ins and outs of express pardons. At the National Pardon Centre we do pride ourselves on offering the fastest service possible but we also pride ourselves on being honest and upfront. And the honest truth is that a lot of the time involved in preparing a pardon application is out of our hands.
If you would like an honest evaluation on how long it should take to get your pardon give me a call on my direct line below. I have been in this business since I founded the National Pardon Centre with my wife and business partner Nicole Levesque in 2002. I am quite confident that the National Pardon Centre is the fastest AND the best in the business. But it’s not something I can guarantee and I don’t try to.
I do, however, deal with my clients honestly and in my opinion that goes a very long way.
Michael Ashby
Director
National Pardon Centre
1.866.242.2411 x 227
514.842.2411 x 227
mashby@nationalpardon.org