How much does a Pardon cost in Canada?

How much does a Pardon cost in Canada?

• I’m going to start with the answer on the total cost to get a Pardon in Canada, which is now called a Record Suspension.
• The total cost to get a Pardon or Record Suspension in Canada ranges between $175 and $225, but it could cost more depending on your situation.
• Here’s how those costs break down

There are 2 categories of costs.  

The first category is the application fee.

• That application fee is paid to the Parole Board of Canada
• And the cost is $50.

And the second category is the document preparation fees.

• I’m giving you a range on how much these fees cost because they vary depending on the company, the court, the local police service and your specific circumstances.
• First is the fee to get your criminal record.  You need to pay a fee to an accredited fingerprinting company or a police service that will submit your fingerprints to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
• The fee ranges anywhere from $50 to $100.
• Second, you need to get court information for each of your convictions.  Every court will charge a fee, usually $25 to $50, to complete the Court Information Form.
• But if you have multiple convictions from different courts, your court information fees will be higher.
• Finally, you need to get a local police record check from your local police station.
• The fee varies depending on the police service, but you can expect to pay anywhere from $50 to $75 for this local police record check.
• Now, you may need more than one local police record check if you’ve live in more than one place during the last 5 years or if you lived in that place for 3 months or more.  If that’s the case, your costs will be higher as you will need more than 1 local police record check.
• That brings us to a total of $175 to $225, but as I just went through, your out-of-pocket expenses may be higher depending on how many courts you were convicted in and the number of places you have lived in the past 5 years.
• Finally, let’s quickly discuss the timing of when those payments are made.
• The first payment is made to the fingerprinting company to get your criminal record.
• After you get your criminal record, the 2nd payment is made to the court to get court information.  
• After you get your court information, you need to make payment to the police to get your local police record check.
• And the last fee is paid to the Parole Board of Canada to process your Record Suspension application.

How much does a Pardon cost in Ontario?  

• The answer is the same as how much does a pardon cost in Canada, which I just covered.
• The reason is that Pardons and Record Suspensions are governed by federal law, not provincial law.
• So the application fee paid by the Parole Board of Canada is $50 regardless of where you live in Canada and regardless of where you were convicted of your charges.
• What may be different are the document preparation fees which may differ in each court, to get your court information and in each police station to get your local police record check.