The federal government introduced a long-awaited bill Friday afternoon detailing plans for pardons for criminal possession of a drug now deemed legal in Canada.Under the proposed legislation, Canadians previously convicted of simple pot possession would be able to apply for a pardon with no application fee or wait period. Simple pot possession refers to personal use, with no intent to traffic.Estimates vary — and if Ottawa has an official tally, it has never been made public — but there’s a widespread belief that anywhere between 250,000 and half a million Canadians carry the weight of a cannabis conviction.“Today, I introduced Bill #C93 which would take unprecedented action to allow people with criminal records only for simple cannabis possession to apply for a pardon & waive the fee and the 5-10 yr wait period for the 1st time in history,” Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale tweeted Friday.Read more:Ottawa to unveil ‘no-cost, expedited’ pardons for Canadians convicted of pot possession Pot pardons is not the same as amnesty, advocate saysGoodale was joined at a news conference Friday afternoon releasing details of the legislation by Bill Blair, Minister of Border Security and Organized Crime Reduction, and Marc Miller, parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations.Blair told reporters an estimated 70,000 to 80,000 Canadians are eligible to apply for an expedited pardon.“I would hope that all Canadians would reflect on their own personal lived experience, and I would hope that that they would also look upon those with criminal records for possession for their own personal use with compassion and understanding that this is the right way to deal with those records,” Blair said Friday.The move has been in the works for months after the Trudeau government legalized recreational pot use in October.Goodale told a news conference last fall that the government was working on such legisla ...
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