I'd like to thank the chair for the clarification and continue with my argument.
As the member knows, the entire clause that we're dealing with here, changing the name of the Criminal Records Act to talk about suspension of records when the majority of the act talks about pardons.... The majority of the changes here, in addition to preventing people from getting pardons—changing the definition of “pardon”, dealing with the whole aspect of removing the possibility of people actually getting pardons unless Her Majesty the Queen gives a pardon by way of royal relief.... That seems to me to be a significant change.
We would like to start by taking out of the long title this whole implication that this is about suspension of records as opposed to providing relief for people who have been convicted of offences and who have subsequently rehabilitated themselves. Clearly, the intention in the long title is to talk about record suspensions for people who have rehabilitated, not pardons. That's what it's all about. That's why we have this amendment.
We want to make it clear from the outset that we're not interested in seeing the loss of this redemptive and important opportunity for young people. It's not necessarily only young people, of course, but also people who have shown by their conduct, to a demonstrable effect, that the parole board takes their application seriously and grants a pardon. This is an important aspect of a rehabilitation system in our criminal justice paradigm.
I'm not raising this as a frivolous thing at all. It is in fact extremely important that we support rehabilitation by allowing the continued consideration of pardons. This is the kind of amendment that I would hope persuasion at this committee level would actually have some effect on those opposite.
We all have children, grandchildren, brothers, sisters, brothers-in-law, and sisters-in-law who may run afoul of the law. As we noticed, a lot of these offences are impaired driving charges, or something like that. Somebody who seeks rehabilitation and seeks to restore their good name in their community and their reputation can hold their head up high and say, “Yes, I may have done something wrong, and it's clear that I did, but I have gone to the trouble, as a responsible citizen, to demonstrate my rehabilitation, to apply to the parole board, and they have recognized, after inquiries and a report and a study being done, an investigation and report by the RCMP—”