‘It’s high time’: Industry-led petition calls for cannabis convictions to be expunged

A cross-country tour to fight for the rights of more than 500,000 Canadians with a criminal cannabis conviction is making a pitstop in Edmonton.

The PARDON truck, a campaign created by B.C.-based cannabis producer DOJA and Cannabis Amnesty, is visiting five major cities in hopes of garnering 10,000 signatures in support of having minor cannabis records expunged. The call sparked from the legalization of cannabis in October, making the once chargeable offence of cannabis possession a regular everyday norm.

“We’re trying to raise awareness and get those records expunged so that they can move their life forward and get back into society the way we want them to,” DOJA experiential event manager David Duarte said outside the cannabis plant-designed truck Friday afternoon.

The green automobile is set up on the southwest corner of Jasper Avenue and 106 Street from 12-6 p.m. Friday and Saturday to let Edmontonians know what the issues is about and looking for signatures in support.

“We want to give back to the smaller people and show that we actually are with them every step of the way,” Duarte said on why DOJA, which is a subsidiary of Canopy Growth, launched this initiative. “We actually have had people come out to our truck that have a conviction and tell us their personal story.”

Duarte said he met a man at their last stop in Calgary who was caught with less than one gram of cannabis in 1987 and wasn’t able to afford post-secondary education or get a job because of the criminal conviction.

“It just completely destroyed his life,” Duarte said. “These people have to think about it every day of their lives.”

In February, federal Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale tabled a bill to grant no-charge pardons to Canadians with minor cannabis convictions, but DOJA is campaigning for the government to go further and expunge previous convictions, deleting them completely.

“A pardon is just kind of hiding it on your record. It’s an apology that it happened and they will hide it, but it can be leaked back out,” Duarte said. “An expungement actually deletes it from your record and then it can never be brought up again and these people can sleep easy knowing it’s finally done with.”

After Edmonton, the truck will trek to Winnipeg and Toronto, its final stop on the popular weed-smoking weekend of 4/20 for a major rally. As of Friday afternoon, the petition was just shy of 6,100 supporters as people continued to visit the team set up along Jasper Avenue.

Passerby Mike Thomas said it was important to him to support the petition because cannabis is now legal and those previously convicted shouldn’t have it deter the rest of their lives.

“I think it’s high time it happened,” Thomas said. “It shouldn’t be able to stop somebody from getting a job.”

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