Record Suspension Assistance

Programs that provide assistance for people who want to submit a petition to the Parole Board of Canada requesting a record suspension (formerly called a pardon) under the Criminal Records Act. Record suspensions allow people who were convicted of a criminal offence, but who have completed their sentence and demonstrated they are law-abiding citizens for a prescribed number of years, to have their criminal record kept separate and apart from other criminal records (in effect removed from public access). Record suspensions do not erase a conviction, and do not allow people to say that they do not have a criminal record.