Canadian Government Misses Deadline to Pardon Citizens with Cannabis Possession Records

The Canadian government has missed the legislated deadline to fully implement a program to pardon citizens with cannabis possession records, the CBC reports. Legislation passed in 2022 – four years after cannabis was legalized federally – requires the sequestration of all cannabis possession records in the country, which would prevent them from appearing on background checks; however, that deadline passed last month. 

In a statement to the CBC, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said it is “proceeding with a manual validation and setting records aside and apart; this work requires extensive research and significant effort.”

Annamaria Enenajor, a criminal defense attorney and former director of the advocacy group Cannabis Amnesty, told the CBC that she is not surprised by the delay.

“You can’t just press control-alt-delete and have them all disappear. … There would have to be a coordinated effort on the part of the federal government to work with the provincial government and various law enforcement entities around the country. And I just haven’t seen that happening.” — Enenajor to the CBC 

In October, Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc issued a ministerial directive to the RCMP to not disclose simple cannabis possession records during background checks “unless otherwise required by law.” 

The government has not indicated when the process will be completed.