‘Pardon Truck’ pushes to wipe out minor cannabis convictions

A cross-Canada awareness tour calling on the federal government to wipe out minor cannabis convictions made a stop in Winnipeg this weekend.

The “Pardon Truck,” run by the Cannabis Amnesty campaign and licensed cannabis producer DOJA, parked in Osborne Village on Saturday, encouraging passersby to sign a petition to take to Ottawa. The “Pardon Truck” also set up shop on Goulet Street in St. Boniface on Friday as part of the fourth stop of its tour.

“It’s definitely a complicated issue and there are angles to every side of it” said David Duarte, event manager with DOJA and spokesperson for the tour. “We look at it from the side of fairness. On Oct. 16, it was a crime (to possess cannabis) but on Oct. 17, you were allowed. We think that because laws change, policies change, (and) society changes that we want to stay with that curve and help the people that we think were wrongly charged move forward. It was a victim-less crime and simple possession and we think that it’s fair and they’ve paid their dues and done their time and it’s time to help them move forward.”

The tour also stopped in Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary before moving on to it final stop next weekend in Toronto.

Premier cannabis producer in British Columbia, DOJA, has partnered with Cannabis Amnesty to create PARDON – a signature-driven awareness campaign that encourages Parliament to immediately enact legislation that furthers the pardon by granting expungements to all individuals with minor cannabis convictions. DOJA is hoping to gather 10,000 signatures to take to parliament.

More than 500,000 Canadians have criminal records for simply possessing cannabis. These convictions make it nearly impossible for them to find meaningful work, volunteer and travel, advocates say.

On March 1, the federal government tabled Bill C-93, an Act to provide no-cost, expedited record suspensions for simple possession of cannabis. Duarte said only expungements will result in a permanent deletion of records as pardons merely set the offense aside, meaning those with simple convictions remain vulnerable to having their convictions reinstated or disclosed.

“A pardon is hiding it on your record,” said Duarte.

“An expungement actually deletes it off your record and it’s a forgiving of ever charging that citizen. People can sleep easy knowing that it is gone for good.”

People can also sign the petition online at www.pardon.life. Duarte said the response to the petition has been quite positive so far.

“I didn’t think that cannabis should have been illegal in the first place,” said Bonnie Hallman, shortly after signing the petition Saturday. “So the fact that it is no longer illegal, it’s just seems like the right thing to do. There are so many people who got in trouble with the law over minor possession infractions.

“It’s like,’We’re done with this.’ We realize it is not the ‘reefer madness’ stupidness that previous generations thought.”

Duarte said he has been impressed with the number of people who have shared their stories about having a charge on their records.

“That really validated our cause and shows us that we’re in the right direction,” he said.

People such as Robert Dailley, who was arrested in his apartment in the early 1970’s for possession of three grams of marijuana after police “kicked in” his door looking for his neighbours who they thought were dealing drugs.

“I’ve had that (charge hanging over him) all my life,” said Dailley, who didn’t want to spend the $500 to get a pardon for his simple possession charge.

“If you’ve got a bunch of impaired drivings or if you’ve done something with pharmaceutical drugs, there’s not a problem. Society doesn’t look down on you. But if you’re a person who has a background with a marijuana possession charge, you’re looked at like ‘reefer madness’ ”

[email protected]

Twitter: SunGlenDawkins