Waiting Period Prior to Pardon Eligibility Subject to Change

Under current legislation, the duration of the waiting period prior to your being eligible to submit your application for a pardon to the Parole Board of Canada depends on the nature of the offense, as follows:

 

• A summary non-sexual offense carries a 3-year waiting period.
• An indictable non-sexual offense or a summary sexual offense carries a 5-year waiting period.
• An indictable sexual offense or a personal injury offense, for which a sentence of 2 or more years was imposed, carries a 10-year waiting period.

 

This waiting period begins when your sentence has been completely fulfilled, and only when the waiting period has elapsed will the Parole Board of Canada accept your application. Bill C-23B currently before Parliament would make significant changes to these eligibility waiting periods, resulting in substantially longer eligibility waiting periods for prospective pardon applicants.

 

Under the proposed new legislation, the waiting period prior to eligibility would be extended to the following:

 

• A summary offense would carry a 5-year waiting period.
• An indictable offense would carry a 10-year waiting period.

 

Additionally, the new legislation extends the criteria that would render an applicant permanently ineligible for a pardon. Permanent ineligibility would apply to anyone:

 

• Who was convicted of any offense listed in Schedule 1 of the Criminal Records Act - broadly speaking, Schedule 1 of the Criminal Records Act consists of sexual offenses
• Who was convicted of more than 3 indictable offenses each carrying a sentence of two or more years

 

So what does this mean to you? It depends on how far into the Pardon process you are. Any applications acknowledged and accepted by the Parole Board of Canada prior to the new legislation passing will be governed by the current laws. What is still unknown is exactly if and when the new legislation will take effect. The new legislation is currently before Parliament, but the timelines for passage and what the final version will look like remain to be seen.

 

If you are interested in starting the Pardon process, the time to act is now. While there is still uncertainty regarding if and when the new legislation will become law, what is certain is that the sooner you begin the process, the better your chances of having your application governed by the current legislation.