email to the Parole Board of Canada

As I’ve blogged about before, the Conservative government is moving to increase the length of time before which criminal offenders who have served their sentence can apply for pardon. They are also radically increasing the fee which applicants will have to pay.

However, Canadian law mandates public consultation on changes to public fees – including the fee for pardon application. So the Parole Board of Canada is currently seeking public input on the proposed fee increase – it was $50 last year, was increased to $150 in December and now is proposed to be $631.

I believe that this decision which will make it much more difficult for former offenders to lead full and productive lives as members of society. If you happen to agree or have any concerns or comments with this bill, you have until Feb 27 (this Sunday) to have them included in this public consultation.

You can email the Parole Board of Canada at consultations@pbc-clcc.gc.ca.

As an example:

To the Parole Board of Canada,

I am writing to express my concern about the proposed increase to the pardon application fee.

Since 1970, more than 400,000 Canadians have received pardons, 96% of which are still in force – meaning the recipients remain crime-free within their communities. Why is the government impeding a process with this level of success? There is no evidence that this fee increase will in any way make our communities safer.

The people most affected by this proposed increase are disproportionately poor, disadvantaged, and marginalized. The proposed $631 fee is very likely to be far beyond their means.

Without a pardon, a person’s chance of finding decent work is extremely limited – and we know that lack of employment is very highly correlated with the likelihood to re-offend. Unpardoned, they continue to live with stigma and oppression, exacerbating such things as low self-esteem and social isolation. Unpardoned, they are more likely to remain on welfare or return to criminal activity, both of which are a far greater cost to citizens and communities than that of subsidizing the cost of processing pardons.

As a concerned Canadian citizen, I sincerely appeal to the Parole Board of Canada to not raise the fee for pardon application.