Michael Charron is just one among thousands of convicts affected by a Conservative tough-on-crime move, which one lawyer is hoping the public will help fight.
Retroactive changes to conditions for pardons became law in 2012 and are beginning to take effect, but Ottawa-based criminal lawyer Michael Spratt says the changes are unfair and unconstitutional.
When Charron pleaded guilty as a 24-year-old to selling small amounts of cocaine to an undercover officer three separate times, the law stated he would have to wait five years to apply for a pardon, or what’s now referred to as a record suspension.
That was before Stephen Harper’s Conservatives passed C-10, a massive and sweeping crime bill, that included a clause retroactively changing the wait for a pardon to 10 years for some offences, including Charron’s, and eliminating it for others.
Read Amy Minsky’s Full Article: Global News
