Not only has the waiting period for eligibility been increased now that Stephen Harper has had his way with Canada’s pardon program but once you are eligible the backlog at the Parole Board of Canada means you will have to wait even longer. Is this fair? No. Did it have to be this way? No. Why did this happen? Politics.
At least that’s my take on it. The number of photo opps Stephen Harper managed to get in with Sheldon Kennedy standing beside him is shameful politicking in my opinion. If the Conservative government actually cared about victims and preventing crimes in the first place they would not have been looking at Canada’s pardon program. They would have been looking at the absence of a law requiring groups working with youth and other vulnerable groups to perform vulnerable sector background checks as a part of standard hiring procedures. But they didn’t do that. Why? Who knows. But any government that claims to stand up for victims and safety that allows that to go unnoticed is both insincere and incompetent.
But at least people who are just trying to change their lives and get back to work will have to wait a lot longer to do so.
Just how that will make anyone safer is something I am still struggling to understand.