Public Safety Committee on April 29th, 2019

[Angela Connidis]

That's right. To get the pardon, you need to have satisfied the wait periods for all of the convictions on your record. In the case where your only conviction is for possession of cannabis, you will have satisfied the wait period, because we've waived the wait period.

[Ruby Sahota, Liberal, Brampton North, ON]

But if that was one of the convictions, that conviction alone could not be suspended?

[Angela Connidis]

No, it could not.

[Ruby Sahota, Liberal, Brampton North, ON]

What if somebody had pleaded down a charge and, say, they were convicted of just possession but originally they were charged with trafficking as well? In that case, would they be able to get a record suspension?

[Angela Connidis]

Let's remember a charge is a charge. It hasn't been tried in court. It may have been pleaded down because there wasn't enough evidence. It may not even have been pleaded down. Maybe they looked at it and said, “Really, I shouldn't have done it for that. It should have been possession.” We can't second-guess why something might have originally been one charge and then a conviction for something else. It's based on what their conviction is.

[Ruby Sahota, Liberal, Brampton North, ON]

That's fair enough.

I have one more question. When the police are doing a record check, what do they see on their screen if they were to check someone's record who had a record suspension in place versus an expungement? If an officer stops you on the road and they do a quick record check on you, what would they see?

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Ms. Gonzalez, would you introduce yourself, please.

[Amanda Gonzalez, Manager, Civil Fingerprint Screening Services and Legislative Conformity, Royal Canadian Mounted Police]

My name is Amanda Gonzalez. I'm with criminal records. I'm also responsible for the unit that takes care of sequestering the information once the RCMP....

In regard to your question, a police officer would be querying CPIC and that information would no longer be available.

[Ruby Sahota, Liberal, Brampton North, ON]

Under a record suspension...?

[Amanda Gonzalez]

Right.

[Ruby Sahota, Liberal, Brampton North, ON]

An employer would never be able to access any of that information either once your record was suspended. Is that correct?

[Angela Connidis]

Only under very exceptional circumstances. There are provisions in the Criminal Records Act where the minister could disclose to an employer if it was relevant. We often do get requests for disclosure from police forces for an applicant, and if we assess the record and think it is relevant to the job, then the minister has the decision of deciding whether or not....

[Ruby Sahota, Liberal, Brampton North, ON]

Do you see anywhere where simple marijuana possession could be relevant to somebody's job and that would be disclosed?

[Angela Connidis]

No, I can't think of anything offhand where I would see that.

[Ruby Sahota, Liberal, Brampton North, ON]

Okay.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Thank you, Ms. Sahota.

Mr. Eglinski, you have five minutes, please.

[Jim Eglinski, Conservative, Yellowhead, AB]

I'm going to hit you with some pretty fast questions here.

You were talking about start-up programs. Have you ever suggested going to different community groups like Community Futures Canada, family and community support groups, to encourage them to be trained by you?

All of these community organizations are always looking for funding. They're there for the community. They're not there for their own pocket. We all know there are a lot of unscrupulous characters doing your parole work for you, but have you ever looked at that and would you look at it?

[Angela Connidis]

Sorry, look at them to do what?

[Jim Eglinski, Conservative, Yellowhead, AB]

To assist people in doing parole applications. These are volunteers in communities and they're always looking for funding. You could help them with the funding, help these organizations, and help the communities.

[Angela Connidis]

Yes, we have been thinking about that.

[Jim Eglinski, Conservative, Yellowhead, AB]

Please keep it in your mind. Thank you.

Number two—

[Angela Connidis]

It's top of my mind; trust me.

[Jim Eglinski, Conservative, Yellowhead, AB]

Brigitte, you were talking about going to these communities and getting these documents and stuff like that.

In my 35 years in policing, I was stationed in some pretty small places, where there was no courthouse and where the judge was a layperson in those days. He would come out and sit on one side of the detachment to hold court, and the person would go to be convicted.

Where does that person go to get that record? It's not there. The criminal conviction will be there. It will be sent to Amanda and she will have it recorded, but there's no one in the background who's ever going to find that little record that's in that little book that might be buried in a detachment or buried in some community building, because there are no facilities.

How does that person get his record cleared?

[Brigitte Lavigne]

I believe we deal with applicants who are in similar circumstances today who come forward to request a pardon or a record suspension. They are all across the country. They provide us with documentation required for our application.

[Jim Eglinski, Conservative, Yellowhead, AB]

If they can't get the documentation, this dies then.