Public Safety committee  The only thing I would add is that anybody who follows the life of young people who are in the criminal justice system will see that at a certain point, they can go left and they can go right. If they have nowhere to go, they end up with gangs and a life of crime and so on. If th

Public Safety committee  I would agree with that. My only comment is that the work would continue and that this would not be left behind.

Public Safety committee  It is workable. I would say that in that particular case, it's easy to put the onus on the person who wants it dropped to get a copy of their information to show that it is directly related to their possession of marijuana.

Public Safety committee  I have to admit that the number of grams is not my area of expertise. I don't know where the 30 grams came from. From court, I know police experts have stood up and said that normally, if it's over 30 grams, it means you had it for the purposes of trafficking.

Public Safety committee  To be honest, I can't really comment on that. There are too many stories to be able to give a comprehensive answer.

Public Safety committee  I agree with that answer. The question is whether you will make it to the interview stage if you have anything on your record. If the only thing on your record is the possession of marijuana, how sad that you don't get the interview.

Public Safety committee  No, Ms. Finestone, go ahead. I was actually waiting for you to start.

Public Safety committee  I do agree that it's a step in the right direction and will help some people. For many of our constituents, given their level of education, how much they read and what they do in life, I think it would be a lot more helpful if it were automatic. I've had people in court ask if

Public Safety committee  It would help if it were automatic, and they can learn later on.

Public Safety committee  My experience is that for many young people, a possession of marijuana charge began their criminal career, and that led to so many things. The administration of justice charges linked to those marijuana charges are crucial for our community, because of the link between those ch

Public Safety committee  I have helped people with pardons in the past, but I should say it wasn't my main area. It was just helping them fill in the forms. Most of my clients had very low earnings, so this had to be by a pro bono process. Raising the funds to apply for the pardon was the biggest hurdle

Public Safety committee  The funding for the application was the biggest hurdle for many young people, because they were in either a paycheque-to-paycheque situation or worse. It's about coming up with the $400 to start. It was really difficult for them.

Public Safety committee  In my experience, no.

Public Safety committee  Because as I've said, they're starting from very basic jobs—McDonald's, Walmart, factory jobs—and it's a question that's asked. You can't lie on the form. You can't say.... I'm sorry; I didn't mean to interrupt.

Public Safety committee  No, you wouldn't be able to answer that in a different way. But if the question were, “Have you ever been convicted of an offence”, then yes they could. That's another question that's asked.