P.A.lawyers react to free cannabis pardon process

“I think we’ve realized this for a long time, it’s just the wheels of government are slow to move on big social changes like this,” he told paNOW. “I think the average person has recognized the need for this for the past thirty years.”

Anyone who was fined or perhaps received a more serious conviction for simple pot possession can now start the process online through the parole board website. Application forms still need to completed in the normal way, via printed forms and regular mail. The legalization of recreational marijuana since October last year means possession is no longer illegal. Bendig is hoping Ottawa holds true on their promise the process will be swift.

It requires the submission of a local and national criminal record check, and for convictions beyond a fine Bendig said the application also required the submission of the court documents. He said the cost of getting this paperwork was negligible.

No guarantee of access to the U.S.

“I would expect there will be a streamlined process in the review of applications, because presently if you submit an application for any other type of record, you enter a queuing system that can take up to 14 months,” he said.

Bendig said the pardons would open the door for people who could not enter the U.S. because of their criminal record and advised anyone with a simple conviction to go through the process. But he added the pardon was no guarantee of crossing the southern border.

“It’s a little bit of a grey area, sometimes the border agents don’t recognize our pardoning system and if they still oppose your entry then you would have to apply for a waiver,”

Is the free pardon a vote-getter?

Meanwhile another P.A. lawyer isn’t impressed with the way the federal government has gone about putting the onus on individuals to clear their name.

“There should be an automatic expungement process for all matters that are no longer offences under the Canadian Criminal Code, and not just the targeting of marijuana” Gordon Kirby told paNOW. “That would save a lot of money and bureaucracy and would not require people to take these kinds of bureaucratic steps.”

Kirkby said the process would not help those in remote areas or ‘unsophisticated people’, or people who would never hear about this process,” he said. He added there were still questions around whether cases where a marijuana trafficking offence had been negotiated down to a simple possession qualified for the pardon. He added in many cases simple possession of drugs went along with other criminal offences, and getting rid of one offence wasn’t going to be of much assistance to most people charged in this way.

Kirkby suggested there was a political element to the federal government offer coming less than three months before the election because he figured most of the estimated 10,000 people who needed the pardon had already applied for it under the previous pay and wait process.

“I don’t see this as accomplishing anything real,” he said. “It does have a glossy appearance … [and] it is more, I think, to deal with the electorate and people who don’t need the pardon.”

Editor’s note: the article has been amended from the original to make clear while information and FAQ’s are available online and application forms can be downloaded, the process must be completed in the normal way, via printed forms and regular mail.

glenn.hicks@jpbg.ca

On Twitter:@princealbertnow

by Glenn Hicks

P.A.lawyers react to free cannabis pardon process

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