Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to be here today and to lend my support to this study of the record suspension program brought forward by my colleague from Saint John—Rothesay. I thank him for doing so.
I was pleased to second this motion in the House today. As a member of the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security, I think it is important that we have someone who feels so strongly about this issue raising it and suggesting that this study come to the committee as a priority. That is how we set our agenda. It is by having members who see what is happening in their communities and how it is touching individuals in their communities bringing that forth so we can make sure that it is a priority for us to look at in our committee. I am very grateful for that.
If this is passed, we would be looking at undertaking a study on the record suspension program. We would examine the impact of a record suspension in helping those with a criminal record reintegrate into society. We would examine the impact of criminal record suspension fees and additional costs associated with the application process on low-income applicants. We would identify appropriate changes to fees and service standards for record suspensions, and we would identify improvements to better support applicants for a criminal record suspension.
This is fairly new wording we are talking about when we are talking about record suspensions. What are we actually talking about?
Formerly, this was known as a pardon. What record suspensions do is allow people who have been convicted of criminal offences and have completed their sentences and demonstrated that they are law-abiding citizens for a prescribed number of years to have their criminal records kept separate and apart from other criminal records. They essentially remove a person's criminal record from the Canadian Police Information Centre database, known as CPIC, for short. The reason this could be important is that it would help people access employment, it would help people access education, and it would help people reintegrate into society. That is important.
I am looking at a study by EKOS that came out of a government consultation on this issue. When the government consulted with the public, the findings showed that participants said that a record suspension was a tool to help offenders move forward in their lives, and in doing so, remain productive members of society, free of criminal behaviour. If that is the goal seen by the people who were responding to the consultation, then making sure that the record suspension program works has to be considered as far as allowing people to access housing, employment, education, and the like, so that they may reintegrate into society.
One of the reasons we are discussing this today, and why it is important, is that there were many changes brought by the former government in 2010 and 2012 that made significant changes to the way the record suspension program works. For example, the period of time people convicted of indictable offences had to wait to apply for a record suspension went from five to 10 years. It was doubled. That is one part. How long do people have to wait?
Another important part is part (b) of the motion, which states, “examine the impact of criminal record suspension fees and additional costs associated with the application process on low-income applicants”. As has been mentioned by other members, the fee was quadrupled to $631. This simply made getting a record suspension unattainable for many people.
I was looking at an article in The Globe and Mail, which brought to my attention an example that stood out as far as how record suspensions can work. One of the examples was a former Yukon premier who served from 2002 to 2011. He gave an interview on record suspensions. He said:
If you're burdened with mistakes of the past on an ongoing basis, that in itself can contribute significantly towards further problems as you go through life.... It becomes a real challenge for individuals. They're shunned. Certain doors aren't open to them.
This was a former premier of Yukon, who, in 1975, was convicted of offences, and he spoke about that. The article reads:
“In my case, I went from the penitentiary to the premier's office”.... [He] rose to power as leader of the conservative Yukon Party. “And the reason I got there was because I was able to achieve that full pardon and have a clean slate in my life.”
He is someone who has experienced quite dramatic change in opportunity and in what he was able to accomplish. As I mentioned, this is one of the reasons we need to be thinking about it.
I want to highlight an organization in my community that does some great work providing opportunities for people who have criminal convictions and are exiting the penitentiary system. It is called KLINK Coffee. It is a social enterprise that works through the John Howard Society. It provides employment opportunities specifically to individuals who are leaving the penitentiary system. It is a chance for people to develop jobs skills and get the experience they need. It also sells some quite lovely coffee. I know, because we have it in our office, and it makes a good cup of coffee. As a social enterprise, it is an amazing thing.
However, we know that this is not true for all employers. Not everyone is going to be comfortable hiring someone with a criminal record. How do we make sure that people have opportunities to reintegrate, and how do we make sure that we have a fair system going forward?
I see the study as a chance for us to look at where we go from here. We know that there were significant changes made under the previous government, and we have seen the impact. We heard some statistics mentioned by my colleague about the number of applications for record suspensions. They have been drastically reduced in the past years.
Through the public consultations I mentioned, we found that people overwhelmingly supported shorter waiting periods. People suggested that the periods we have right now are too long. Another part that was flagged for us, and I will note the John Howard Society, is that the process is complicated. In fact, it creates a disincentive. It is too complicated for some people to ever be able to complete the process. This is something else we considered, specifically in part (d) of this motion, as something we should consider.
What I am looking forward to in a study is a chance to look at all these issues, to get better information, and to build on what was found in the public consultations. We could then make recommendations on how we can make a stronger system going forward.
It is a wonderful opportunity to give people a second chance, and I am very happy to be supporting this motion today.