The government missed a statutory deadline to fully implement the program, which was proposed as a way to help Canadians with cannabis possession records bypass the hoops to obtain a formal pardon.
Recreational marijuana has been legal in Canada since 2018, but a record of marijuana possession could prevent you from getting a job or traveling abroad.
The Liberal government is seeking to pardon Canadians convicted of simple possession. Its major expedited amnesty program: limited intakeHowever, and Some Canadians are running into logistical hurdles in applying.
In response to these concerns, the Liberals adopted Bill C-5, an NDP amendment to the Criminal Justice Reform Bill of 2022. This automatically “segregates” simple possession records, meaning they no longer show up on criminal background checks.
To help people who may have addiction issues, the program also covers possession records for other illegal drugs.
Bill C-5 gave the government two years to sequester all property records across the country. That deadline passed in November, and Public Safety Canada recently told CBC News that efforts to quarantine records are “ongoing.”
“The RCMP…is proceeding with manual verification and working to set aside records. This work will require an extensive investigation and significant effort,” the department said in a media statement.
Annamaria Enahor, a criminal defense lawyer and former president of the advocacy group Cannabis Amnesty, told CBC News she was not surprised the deadline was missed.
“This program is very ambitious given the involvement of many levels of government in collecting and preserving records,” she said.
Enenajo noted that different governments and police agencies maintain records differently. Some files are digitized, while other records are kept in paper format. If a paper file still exists, someone would have to physically track it and ensure it is stored separately, which can take a lot of time and resources, she said.
“You can’t press Ctrl+Alt+delete and erase everything,” she said.
“There needs to be a concerted effort on the part of the federal government to coordinate and collaborate with the state government and various law enforcement agencies across the country. But I just don’t see that happening.”
Andrew Tannenbaum, director of the nonprofit Pardons Canada, said the program faces bureaucratic hurdles.
” [local] Police have their own records. [are] “It’s separate from the RCMP records, so it’s difficult to coordinate that with all the police departments across the country,” he said.
“I think the government has big fish to fry at the moment and they have other concerns besides quarantine.” [records] …It seems like it’s not a high priority. ”
Minister instructs RCMP not to release records
A month before the November deadline, Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc issued the following statement: minister’s instructions It called on the RCMP not to disclose simple possession offenses when completing background checks “unless otherwise required by law.”
CBC News asked LeBlanc’s office why the directive wasn’t issued sooner and when the government expects the quarantine project to be completed. His office said it would not comment.
NDP MP Alistair McGregor accused the Liberals of “not keeping” their promises.
“Honest Canadians trying to get their lives on the right track are being sidelined as they continue to wait for their records to be sequestered,” he said in a media statement.
But Enajor said that while the directive was “probably effective”, he cautioned that it may not be a “permanent solution”.
“What’s important is not so much the existence of records, but the impact they have on people after they’re released,” she said, adding that directives are easier to overturn than those set by law.
“This is not a permanent solution and the ministerial directive will be revoked if a government comes to power that wants to send a message that all drug offenses (even simple possession offenses) will be taken seriously. It will be.”
The Conservative Party, which holds a sizable lead in opinion polls, is calling on the government to repeal some of the provisions of Bill C-5. CBC News reached out to Conservative Leader Pierre Poièvre’s office to ask if the Conservative government would keep the foreclosure part of the bill, but has not yet received a response.