Report: Feds expected to pardon past cannabis possession convictions tomorrow

Oct 17 2018, 7:49 am

With the legalization of recreational cannabis in Canada just hours away, the federal government is expected to announce it will pardon people with past convictions for cannabis possession as the new law takes effect.

In a report from the Toronto Star’s Ottawa Bureau Bruce Campion-Smith writes that the federal government will announce Wednesday that it intends to “move quickly to grant pardons to Canadians with past criminal convictions for simple possession of pot under 30 grams.”

Citing reports from an unnamed government official, Campion-Smith writes that according to the official, the exact details of how Canadians can apply for pardons will be announced in the near future.

“For people to whom this applies in their past, we’re going to give them certainty that there will be recourse for them … in terms of exactly how it gets rolled out, the steps that we take, how much time it will take them, we’ll lay that out in the coming days and weeks,” the official says in the report.

Campion-Smith notes that the lead ministers on the cannabis file — Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale, Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould, Health Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor and Bill Blair, minister of border security and organized crime reduction are expected to speak to reporters on Wednesday morning.

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