I was speaking this morning to one of my colleagues who used to work at the Canadian Civil Liberties Association. She said they had people all the time saying they were in communication with Pardons Canada and were told to spend $2,000. There's a serious information gap.
My best suggestion, respectfully, is to remove the application requirement. We're in a digital era, these records can be accessed. I don't know how much government databases cost and how easy they are to manage, so maybe I'm making some assumptions there, but I know that we have statistics as to how many records of conviction there are.
I say to the Parole Board of Canada, do it yourself. Maybe I'm just a practical guy. I don't see a possible benefit of having individuals apply. Vet them, if there's some question they don't meet the standards, then engage them.