Canadians with criminal records stemming from nothing more than mere possession of cannabis should have been pardoned — their records completely expunged — the day prohibition ended.
The federal government under the Trudeau Liberals has, better late than never, finally announced a streamlined application process for pardons for simple possession charges.
Justice Minister David Lametti recently unveiled the new online system, which aims to lift barriers to employment, housing and even volunteering opportunities for non-violent offenders who had been convicted before the end of prohibition.
Canadians whose potential has been hamstrung, to the detriment of all society, by non-violent pot possession convictions now have the option to apply for a pardon through the Parole Board of Canada’s website. Additionally, the new system has done away with the $631 fee, which for working-class, paycheque-to-paycheque individuals can be crippling.
With an estimated quarter million Canadians who have pot convictions, the government expected tens of thousands of applications. However, according to a report by the CBC, experts are not convinced there will be a major surge in applications, largely because many who were convicted also faced impaired driving or assault charges. Plus, most people who sought pardons already received one. Additionally, police in the days leading up to legalization tended not to pursue simple possession charges so as to reduce the burden on the already clogged court system.
But anyone who had slipped through the cracks now has an opportunity to put their past behind them and to focus their efforts on the future.
Even so, at least one cannabis lawyer and advocate in Toronto, Jack Lloyd, reportedly told the CBC that while commendable, the government’s announcement was but a small step that fails to address the larger issue of “historical injustices” of mere possession.
“All of the stigma associated with cannabis prohibition continues,” Lloyd said. “If their goal was to help, an expungement is how you do that. Not this tiny step.”
He’s not wrong — an expunged record for someone with a non-violent history would be far more suitable than a pardon. Even so, a minuscule step forward is always preferable to maintaining a failed status quo, or worse, going backwards.
Which leads us to the unpleasant reality that this progress, however limited in scope, is potentially in peril.
We hope that should Andrew Scheer form a new federal Conservative government following the coming fall election, that his administration will not take us backwards in time and continue to penalize, or ignore and leave lingering in legal limbo, non-violent offenders over what amounts to an arbitrary crime that is no longer even against the law.
— Ducatel is the Round Up’s editor
