Library of Parliament Legislative Summary of Bill C-23B: Eliminating Pardons for Serious Crimes Act

The Library of Parliament has released a legislative summary of BillC-23B: Eliminating Pardons for Serious Crimes Act.

Under the proposed legislation, it would be more difficult, and in some cases impossible, to obtain a pardon for a criminal offence after sentence had been completed.

The proposed legislation would:

• eliminate pardons and replace with a more restrictive and narrowly worded "record suspension";
• make those convicted of sexual offences against minors ineligible for a record suspension;
• make those who have been convicted of more than three indictable offences ineligible for a record suspension; and
• increase the period of ineligibility for a record suspension – to five years for summary conviction offences, and to ten years for indictable offences.
  

Progress of the bill through the Houses of Parliament can be followed on the LegisINFO website.