Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Garrison, there are approximately 21,500 pardon applications currently in our backlog. Of course, you're all aware that the legislative changes over the last few years have increased the fee from $50 to $150, and the user fee to $631, under the User Fees Act, which is the true cost of administering a pardon for an applicant.
The board has hired and trained temporary staff, in determinate positions, to deal with this backlog. The applications have now been screened up to the eligibility stage, and we are proceeding to the inquiry stage for backlogged applications, processing them in the month in which they were accepted so one is not getting preferential treatment over another.
We are currently processing applications that were accepted in March 2011 for summary offences, and as well indictable offences going back into 2010. My goal is to ensure that the backlog is completed within the next two years, by 2014-15. We're looking at about 1,000 decisions per month on each one of those—an investigative background on it, as well as the screening as per the new legislation, and the review of those pardons as per the new legislation and regulations in relation to each of those applications.