I'm seeking confirmation of how I read this amendment, because I certainly support the intention to make it so that individuals who have unpaid fines or what they call “time served remaining” be able to access this process regardless, in keeping with the testimony we heard.
However, I look at proposed subparagraph (iv), under paragraph (b) “other than”, it says “sections 734.5 or 734.6 of the Criminal Code or section 145.1 of the National Defence Act, in respect of any fine or victim surcharge imposed for any offence referred to in Schedule 3”.
My understanding of that was that it means that, when certain organizations might be doing background checks.... Colleagues will recall that when there were changes brought in by the previous government so that individuals obtaining record suspensions who, for example, were on the sex offender registry, those things would still appear when doing vulnerable checks, background checks and things of that nature. My understanding, reading this amendment, is that even though we're waiving the need to pay the fine, it would still be uncoverable through a background check that the fine remained unpaid, which seems to me to defeat the purpose of the record suspension in the first place. I'm perhaps seeking clarity from smarter people than me to confirm that we have indeed understood that correctly.