Legal Project Management Plan & Checklist
Use this plan when a client has completed all components of their sentence and wants to apply to the Parole Board of Canada for a record suspension under the Criminal Records Act. A record suspension does not erase a conviction, but it legally separates the federal criminal record from active databases, removing it from Canadian Police Information Centre background checks and lifting federal disqualifications that affect citizenship, government employment, and volunteering with vulnerable populations. This plan covers the full application process from eligibility calculation through to Parole Board decision and any proposed refusal response.
Federal - administered exclusively by the Parole Board of Canada under the Criminal Records Act RSC 1985 c C-47. No court appearance is required. The application is a paper-based administrative filing reviewed by a Board member. Forks cover the Schedule 1 sexual offence exception pathway and the Cannabis Act simple possession immediate eligibility pathway.
Counsel first calculates the correct waiting period using the offence date (not conviction date) to identify which legislative era applies - pre-June 2010, transitional 2010-2012, or modern post-March 2012. Counsel confirms all sentence components are complete: custody, parole, conditional sentence, probation, and all financial penalties including victim fine surcharges. The client obtains digital fingerprints from an RCMP-accredited agency, which triggers issuance of the certified criminal record. The Court Information Form is sent to every court that imposed a sentence, and the Local Police Records Check Form is submitted to every police service where the client has lived for three months or more in the past five years. The Measurable Benefit and Sustained Rehabilitation Form is drafted to demonstrate the concrete benefit the suspension will provide. The completed application package with the $50.00 processing fee is submitted to the Parole Board. The Board reviews the file against three criteria - good conduct, measurable benefit, and that granting the suspension will not bring the administration of justice into disrepute. If the Board proposes to refuse, written representations may be filed within the specified response window.
Use this fork when the client is a foreign national who has been granted a Canadian record suspension and now needs to apply to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada for Criminal Rehabilitation to resolve their ongoing inadmissibility to Canada. A Canadian record suspension alone does not resolve immigration inadmissibility - a foreign national with a Canadian conviction must also obtain a finding of Criminal Rehabilitation from IRCC before their inadmissibility is lifted.
Use this fork when the client has been convicted of a Schedule 1 sexual offence against a minor - such as sexual interference, child pornography, or invitation to sexual touching - and believes they may satisfy the narrow s 4(3) exception under the Criminal Records Act to overcome the general exclusion. This pathway is available only to Modern Era applicants (offences from March 13 2012) and requires proving three cumulative elements to the Parole Board's satisfaction.
Use this fork when the client's only conviction is for simple possession of cannabis under the former Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, now captured under Schedule 3 of the Criminal Records Act. Schedule 3 cannabis offences attract immediate eligibility for a record suspension upon completion of all sentence components, with outstanding cannabis-only fines and surcharges not delaying eligibility. This fork also covers the automatic sealing pathway for CDSA simple possession convictions, which requires no application at all in many cases.
Criminal Records Act RSC 1985 c C-47 - s 3 (effect of record suspension: kept separate and apart in CPIC), s 4 (eligibility criteria and waiting periods - 5 years summary, 10 years indictable for post-March 2012 offences), s 4(1) (prohibition orders: 10 years after commencement of lifetime orders, 5 years for orders over 5 years but not lifetime), s 4(3) (Schedule 1 exception - no position of trust or authority, no violence or coercion, age within 5 years), s 4.1(1) (Board's three-criteria evaluation: good conduct, measurable benefit, administration of justice), s 4.2(2) (proposed refusal procedure: Board must notify applicant and allow representations), Schedule 1 (designated sexual offences against minors including sexual interference, child pornography, invitation to sexual touching), Schedule 3 (cannabis offences - immediate eligibility). Jurisdictional stratification confirmed by P.H. v Canada (Attorney General), 2020 FC 393 (Federal Court, March 2020), Chu v Canada (Attorney General), 2017 BCSC 630, and Charron v The Queen and Rajab v The Queen (Ontario Superior Court of Justice, June 2017) - PBC cannot retroactively apply Bill C-23 (2010) or Bill C-10 (2012) amendments to offences committed before those amendments; the criteria in force at the time of the first offence apply. Pre-Bill C-23 offences (before June 29 2010): 3-year summary, 5-year indictable waiting periods with no automatic exclusions. Bill C-23 transitional (June 29 2010 to March 12 2012): 3-year summary, 5-year indictable standard, 10-year for serious personal injury offences (s 752 Criminal Code) with 2+ year custodial sentence or Schedule 1 indictable offences. Modern era (from March 13 2012): 5-year summary, 10-year indictable, absolute bar for more than 3 indictable convictions each with 2+ year custodial sentences. CDSA simple possession: automatic sealing by RCMP - no application required. Victim fine surcharges imposed between October 24 2013 and December 13 2018 under s 737 Criminal Code are excluded from eligibility calculation. Processing fee: $50.00 CAD (reduced from $657.77 on January 1 2022 under Service Fees Act - low-materiality category exempt from remissions and inflation adjustments). Standard processing times: 6 months for summary matters, 12 months for indictable matters, up to 24 months for proposed refusal files. A Canadian record suspension has no extraterritorial effect: US Customs and Border Protection maintains independent databases and may retain records of convictions queried before the suspension was granted. Foreign nationals with Canadian records must obtain a record suspension before applying for Criminal Rehabilitation through IRCC. Automatic sealing rules: adult absolute discharges (post-July 24 1992) sealed 1 year from sentencing; adult conditional discharges (post-July 24 1992) sealed 3 years from sentencing; pre-July 24 1992 discharges require manual RCMP GRC 3953e form; CDSA simple possession sealed automatically 2 years from conviction or sentence expiry (whichever is later); youth summary offences destroyed 3 years from sentence completion; youth indictable offences sealed 5 years from sentence completion.
* Disclaimer: We're nobody's lawyer, because we aren't lawyers. You are, so you know better than to take legal advice from an app. We also aren't accountants or dog trainers - just digital spirit guides taking zero liability for any of this. This site exists to gather the collective knowledge of practitioners like you. Verify everything and submit your feedback on the Record Suspension Application (Applicant) matter plan to improve the playbook. THIS IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE, it's a request for input.
This legal matter plan provides a structured workflow for Criminal Law cases, outlining the standard Administrative Filing process. Utilize these tracking templates to manage your legal cases efficiently.
| Field | Token | Type | Required | Defined in |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Matter(4) | ||||
| Matter numberⓘ | matter.matterNumber | text | Required | inheritedmatter-core |
| Matter title | matter.title | text | - | inheritedmatter-core |
| Matter typeⓘ | matter.matterType | text | - | inheritedmatter-core |
| Matter status | matter.status | text | - | inheritedmatter-core |
| Client(1) | ||||
| Client name | matter.clientName | text | Required | inheritedmatter-core |
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