Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
And thank you, members of the committee, for inviting me.
I'll read from my text a bit, and I may depart occasionally. I believe you've all received it.
I appear before you today as a representative of the Seventh Step Society of Canada and also as a person who has received a pardon for criminal offences. The Seventh Step Society is a self-help, ex-offender-based organization that is active in the criminal justice system in Canada. The society and its provincial affiliates have been providing services in the form of community residential centres, self-help groups, public education, and volunteer training since the early 1970s in Canada. It started originally in the United States in the 1960s.
The organization is governed by volunteer boards of directors, many of whom are ex-offenders who have made a successful transition from their former lifestyle into the mainstream of society. Our current national board has a majority of ex-offenders as its membership and our constitution requires that the president and executive director be ex-offenders.
The Seventh Step Society does not represent all ex-offenders, and in fact we don't represent sex offenders, because we don't feel qualified to work with people of that particular background and with the issues they represent. But we do represent many other offenders who have offences ranging from break and enter to murder. These are people who have made a positive change in their lives and are dedicated to assisting others who are willing to make that change. This is done in concert with non-offenders who act as volunteers and staff of the organization.
In 1969, as a 16-year-old, and in 1971, just before I turned 18, and as a 17-year-old, I was convicted of a total of three criminal offences--property offences. While serving the sentence for my final offence I realized this was not a path I wanted to follow for the rest of my life and I was able to make a successful transition back into society, eventually graduating from Mount Royal College, now Mount Royal University, in 1975. I then went on to assist in the initial development of the Alberta Seventh Step Society and the Seventh Step Society of Canada. I applied for and received a pardon in 1980, so I have been through that process, thus taking one more important step in my personal journey. I left the organization as paid staff and merged into the mainstream of the oil and gas business in 1982, and I've been a volunteer since then. In fact, as of this year I've been a correctional volunteer for 37 years, so it does cover a few cycles in the justice system. Since entering the oil and gas business, I've held various management positions, including the president and general manager of a service company I was a shareholder in. Currently, I'm a senior management consultant with a well-recognized engineering firm and I'm responsible for worldwide business development.
I can say, from personal experience, that receiving a pardon was an important part of feeling that I had been accepted back into society and had regained a measure of credibility that I had lost when I was convicted of my offences. The current Minister of Public Safety had made a public statement last summer that it was not the responsibility of the state to forgive when it comes to criminal offences, but rather the responsibility of society to do so. I disagree with this statement, and I said so in an e-mail that I sent to the minister shortly after this statement was reported. I believe the state represents society and must take a responsible leadership role with regard to public safety. I believe the public looks to the state for the administration of justice, and that includes exoneration for positive deeds as well as punishment for negative ones. Society places its trust in the state for its safety and also trusts the state to advise us when we feel someone is no longer a threat.
It is important that offenders who apply for a pardon be fully screened and assessed prior to a pardon being granted. I believe the National Parole Board has done an excellent job over the years in this regard. The reoffending rate of persons granted pardons is minuscule compared to those granted, and should not override the tremendous records of those persons who have successfully moved on with their lives. It is unfortunate that a few exceptional and sensational cases have had such a strong impact on the current pardons process, and I don’t feel it is necessary to completely revamp the process and set up a system that might be discouraging to many ex-offenders who rightly deserve the benefits of the current structure.
Although I don’t have scientific evidence to present, I do have anecdotal information from my many years as a correctional volunteer and many firsthand accounts of how a pardon has re-instilled confidence in an offender’s rehabilitation journey and provided practical support when applying for a job, crossing a border, or gaining a sense of accomplishment.
I can say that I know from personal experience about crossing the border. I was asked about having a criminal record. The question usually comes out as “Have you ever been arrested by a police force anywhere in the world?” That's a pretty broad question, so it’s hard not to say yes. I said yes and told them that I had a pardon, and I was allowed to cross the border. In fact, I had an L1A, which is a work visa in the United States, so it didn’t totally deter me, but whether they let someone cross with that background is at the discretion of the Department of Homeland Security.
Conviction and incarceration is a humiliating and degrading experience. I can tell you that from personal experience. I was a young person; under today’s legislation, I wouldn’t have been sentenced in an adult situation for minor property offences and I wouldn’t have been put into a maximum security holding wing in the Fort Saskatchewan institution. It would have been handled differently, but I can guarantee it probably isn’t that much different for an 18-year-old from what it is for a 16-year-old.
That process removes a lot of your self-confidence and your self-worth, regardless of what you've done at the time, so it's really important for those offenders who take the necessary steps to correct their behaviour to receive a pardon. A pardon is a stamp of approval that helps to remove some of that stigma. Again, in my own personal experience it was a feeling that somehow I had been, if not exonerated, at least accepted back as an important member of society.
In speaking directly to the proposed changes in Bill C-23B, I have the following comments: first, the new language being proposed, “record suspension”, to me is weak and ambiguous and does not afford the benefit that the word “pardon” carries. It is an administrative term that could be easily misconstrued or misinterpreted. “Pardon” has a powerful meaning to the individual who receives it and, I believe, to the society that perceives it.
Second, changing the waiting period for summary convictions from three years after completion of sentence to five years and to five to ten years for indictable offences is to me both unreasonable and unnecessary. With rare exceptions, the current program has proven to be highly successful and appropriate.
I understand that there need to be some changes for certain types of offences and certain types of offenders. I don't have an argument with that, but one can only imagine the additional burden that will be placed on individuals who have to wait that much longer for the benefits that a pardon currently provides with relation to employment and other necessary aspects of a person's life. I feel this extended waiting period would have a very detrimental effect on people who have made a positive change in their lives and are ready to move on. As I said, I don't disagree that certain types of offenders may need to be restricted and require extra scrutiny by the Parole Board, but I believe there has already been a caveat placed into the act in Bill C-23A. To make wholesale change for a few exceptional cases is to me, again, both unreasonable and unnecessary.
In conclusion, I would ask that the standing committee seriously consider putting this information forward, because there are thousands of lives affected by this bill, and I believe the benefits under the current legislation far outweigh any perceived risk to society.
Thank you.