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Pardon = Record Suspension

In early 2012, the Canadian Government made sweeping changes to the Parole Board of Canada via the 'The Safe Streets and Communities Act' (Bill C-10). As of March 13, 2012, the term "pardon" was been replaced with "record suspension". Click here for changes to eligibility.

My update.

I started my Pardon (Record Suspension) process through a third-party service Pardons Canada back in February, 2010. The actual application was filed by them to the Parole Board (PBC) in March, 2011. So it's been about 18 months since filing and I've still not received my response. Back in June, I wrote to Pardons Canada for an update and they responded:
Your Pardon application has been with the Parole Board of Canada (PBC) since March 3, 2011.

The file is no longer in our hands. We are now waiting for the PBC to give their final approval.

Please be patient as there are delays due to changes of legislation to the Pardon rules. Please click here www.pardons.org if you would like further information regarding these changes.

We will notify you as soon as the decision has been made. Please make sure to let us know if your address or phone number has changed. Please DO NOT respond to this email. 

Remember to always go to our Client Support Centre at www.pardons.org whenever you have questions or need to send us information.

Kind Regards,
Client Support Centre

18 months seems like a long time for a Pardon determination. I am a little frustrated in my decision to go with Pardons Canada in the first place. Although they've been fairly responsive, I have felt quite blind throughout this process. Did Pardons Canada truly file on March 3, 2011? Additionally, I cannot check status of my application directly with PBC. The PBC website:
For applicants who choose to use a third-party service provider, correspondence around the application will continue to be directed to the service provider from intake (i.e. receipt of the application) up until the recommendation for decision.
And the decision is directed through the third-party service:
Once a decision is made by the Board, it will be sent to the mailing address the applicant provided in the Record Suspension Application form. However, it will now be sent in a double envelope – the outside envelope will use the mailing address provided by the applicant, and the inside envelope (containing the decision) will be addressed to the applicant, and marked “protected” and “to be opened by [recipient’s name] only”.
So what if Pardons Canada is so busy that my 'decision' has been sitting on someone's inbox pile for the last few months unopened? To that point, how quickly do these third-party providers turn around these decisions of PBC? I'm not concerned 'if' I will receive my pardon but rather my anxiety continues to be 'when' I will receive it. I have no idea.

Applying for a Record Suspension is actually quite simple and straight forward. PBC provides a guide: http://pbc-clcc.gc.ca/prdons/pardon-eng.shtml

If I could do it all over again, I would have done it myself and not used a third-party. The benefit for me would clearly have been better visibility, throughout this process.



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Comments

  1. AnonymousSeptember 21, 2012 at 5:07 PM

    As an employee with another competing third-party Pardons company, I can confirm that it is not unusual for files submitted in March of 2011 to the PBC to not yet be granted. In all likelihood, it has not even been assigned to an officer yet. This is because you have submitted under the old PBC fee of $150. It has since gone up to $631 in February, and the PBC is processing those applications faster, and leaving the old ones by the wayside. It's a truly terrible practice, and we're all very upset and angry about it. Unfortunately that's just how it is at the moment. I can confirm that some individuals who sent their applications in December of 2010 still don't have their pardons, so you certainly aren't the only one.

    Also I can't say for Pardon's Canada, but we tell our clients their pardon has been granted the day that it comes in. I see no reason why Pardons Canada wouldn't do the same thing.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ryan SmartySeptember 22, 2012 at 11:23 AM

    Thanks for your comment.

    It's good to know from your professional experience that decisions are flipped to the clients right away. PBC sitting old applications 'by the wayside' is crazy and seems terribly error-prone.

    ReplyDelete
  3. uswaiverMarch 13, 2013 at 1:58 AM

    In Canada, the Pardon is essentially an expungement.

    US Waivers For Canadians

    ReplyDelete

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