Senator Boisvenu Urges Cooperation From Opposition Senate Members to Urgently Pass Legislation Needed to Prevent Pardons for Serious Criminals

The Honourable Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu, Senator, today called on his opposition colleagues in the Senate to cooperate and urgently pass legislation that would prevent the current practice of granting pardons to serious criminals.

'The pardons approval rate suggests that the National Parole Board interprets the Criminal Records Act as requiring it to grant a pardon in almost all cases. Our government disagrees, and is on the side of victims. That is why we moved quickly to take action to correct this,' said Senator Boisvenu.

The new system would allow a pardon in more limited cases. The proposed legislation would:

--  Prevent the issuance of any pardon that would bring the administration
    of justice into disrepute.

--  Expand criteria the National Parole Board may consider in making
    decisions.

--  Place the onus on the applicant to satisfy the National Parole Board
    that granting a pardon would benefit and sustain their rehabilitation as
    a law abiding citizen.

--  Prevent anyone convicted of a sexual offense against a child from
    receiving a pardon for a period of 5 years if convicted of summary
    offence and 10 years if convicted of an indictable offence and sentenced
    to more than two years in prison.

--  Force the most dangerous and serious criminals to wait longer before
    becoming eligible to apply for a pardon

'A criminal's jail term may end, but in many cases the suffering caused to his or her victims lasts a lifetime,' said Senator Boisvenu. 'This compromise bill will advance the most critical aspects of pardons reforms now, without delay. We will be following through on our commitment to make the remaining reforms contained in C-23 in the fall.'