The federal fee of applying for a criminal pardon will drop to $50 from January.
The announced development fulfils an element of Trudeau’s plan to better the system by creating an easier and less expensive way to obtain a pardon, also known as a record suspension.
The government said apart from the $50 processing fee, applicants will be responsible for any extra fees to obtain the information they need for their application, like fingerprints, court documents and police checks.
Meanwhile, the government reveals it will offer $22 million in five years to community-based organizations to provide support services which will help people complete record suspension applications and grow awareness of these services.
Also, the government plans to spend on program modernization for the Parole Board of Canada, which includes developing a new online portal to make the application process faster and simpler.
This announcement came after many civil society groups asked the government to automatically seal an individual’s record once the person has completed his sentence and lived in the community without fresh convictions.
While reacting to the development, the office of Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino said in a statement that the application fee reduction removes what has been a barrier to the successful reintegration of people with criminal records that have served their jail terms and are living law-abiding lives.
