SUMMARY

This enactment amends the provisions of the Criminal Records Act with respect to pardons and makes minor and technical amendments to that Act.

The enactment provides for the automatic revocation of a pardon upon a subsequent conviction for an indictable offence or an offence punishable either on indictment or on summary conviction, subject to certain exclusions. It provides that, when the National Parole Board is considering the denial or revocation of a pardon, the affected person will generally make any representations to the Board in writing. It also imposes a one-year waiting period to re-apply for a pardon following a denial.

A new provision enables notations to be made in the automated criminal conviction records retrieval system maintained by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in respect of the records relating to certain offences listed in the regulations of pardoned persons in order to allow the disclosure of those records when individuals are screened for positions of trust with children or other vulnerable groups.

EXPLANATORY NOTES

Criminal Records Act

Clause 1: The relevant portion of section 4 reads as follows:

4. Before an application for a pardon may be considered, the following period must have elapsed after the expiration according to law of any sentence, including a sentence of imprisonment, a period of probation and the payment of any fine, imposed for an offence, namely,

Clause 2: Subsection 4.2(4) is new. Subsections 4.2(2) and (3) read as follows:

(2) If the Board proposes to refuse to grant a pardon, it shall notify the applicant of its proposal and advise the applicant that he or she is entitled to make any representations to the Board that he or she believes relevant.

(3) The Board shall, before deciding whether to refuse to grant a pardon, consider any oral or written representations made to it by or on behalf of the applicant within a reasonable time after the notification is given to the applicant pursuant to subsection (2).

Clause 3: The heading before section 5 reads as follows:

EFFECT OF GRANT OF PARDON

Clause 4: The relevant portion of section 5 reads as follows:

5. The pardon

    . . .

    (b) unless the pardon is subsequently revoked or ceases to have effect, vacates the conviction in respect of which it is granted and, without restricting the generality of the foregoing, removes any disqualification to which the person so convicted is, by reason of the conviction, subject by virtue of the provisions of any Act of Parliament, other than section 109, 110, 161 or 259 of the Criminal Code or subsection 147.1(1) of the National Defence Act, or of a regulation made under an Act of Parliament.

Clause 5: Subsections 6(1) and (2) read as follows:

6. (1) The Minister may, by order in writing addressed to any person having the custody or control of any judicial record of a conviction in respect of which a pardon has been granted, require that person to deliver that record into the custody of the Commissioner.

(2) Any record of a conviction in respect of which a pardon has been granted that is in the custody of the Commissioner or of any department or agency of the Government of Canada shall be kept separate and apart from other criminal records, and no such record shall be disclosed to any person, nor shall the existence of the record or the fact of the conviction be disclosed to any person, without the prior approval of the Minister.

Clause 6: New.

Clause 7: Sections 7.1 and 7.2 read as follows:

7.1 (1) If the Board proposes to revoke a pardon, it shall notify in writing the person to whom the pardon was granted or issued of its proposal and advise that person that he or she is entitled to make any representations to the Board that he or she believes relevant.

(2) The Board shall, before deciding whether to revoke a pardon, consider any oral or written representations made to it by or on behalf of the person to whom the pardon was granted or issued within a reasonable time after the notification is given to that person pursuant to subsection (1).

7.2 A pardon ceases to have effect if the person to whom it is granted or issued is subsequently convicted of an offence prosecuted by indictment under an Act of Parliament or a regulation made under an Act of Parliament.

Clause 8: Section 9.1 reads as follows:

9.1 The Governor in Council may make regulations for carrying out the purposes and provisions of this Act.

Criminal Code

Clause 9: Subsection 750(4) reads as follows:

(4) A person to whom subsection (3) applies may, at any time before a pardon is granted to the person under section 4.1 of the Criminal Records Act, apply to the Governor in Council for the restoration of one or more of the capacities lost by the person by virtue of that subsection.