Four years ago Murray Rankin, who was MP for Victoria, BC at the time, tabled a private member’s bill to completely expunge criminal records for anyone convicted of simple drug possession. Finally, this past week, the Federal Liberals agreed with NDP justice critic Randall Garrison’s proposal to amend Bill C-5 to incorporate Rankin’s original proposal.

According to some estimates, about 250,000 Canadians have a criminal record for simple possession (less than 30 grams). The implications are very serious. It becomes many times harder to access employment, educational training or to enter other countries like the US for instance. One’s credibility is automatically challenged by police, the courts, or in cases where one’s testimony is required when that record becomes known.

It seems like an eternity since we have been talking about the war on drugs, and it’s been that long since the criminalization of simple possession has fallen squarely on the heads of Black and Indigenous persons.

These actions have contributed significantly to overrepresentation in the criminal justice system of Black and Indigenous adults. The records show that Blacks, which make up 3 percent of Canada’s population, account for over 7 percent of federally incarcerated inmates; while Indigenous people, who account for 5 percent of the population, represent 30 percent of inmates.

Furthermore, studies indicate that Black and Indigenous youth are more likely to be arrested and less likely to be diverted – to house arrest for instance – for minor drug possession than their white counterparts. To say that these amendments were a long time coming is to realize how many young lives have been damaged over decades because of the criminalizing effects of C-5.  

So we are pleased to know that the lives of hundreds of thousands of people will be much improved now that simple drug possession records will effectively be deleted within the next two years, and in the meantime the records will be sequestered (they won’t show up on a record check).

“They’ve assured me that in two years from the passage of the bill, criminal records for personal possession for all drugs will disappear,” Randall Garrison confirmed.

The bill repeals mandatory minimum sentences for drug offences, allow for the increased use of conditional sentences, and gives prosecutors more discretionary powers to deal with such matters out of court.

Unfortunately, bill C-5 falls short of decriminalizing simple drug possession; this would have gone a long way to reducing the harm being done to racialized minorities.  Furthermore, the process for applying for a pardon remains onerous, even as the cost of applying for one has been reduced from $650.00 to $50.00.

Garrison said, “The bill is better than nothing but Canadians need the federal government to take a more holistic approach to ensure our justice system doesn’t continue to perpetuate systemic racism.”

It is long overdue for the federal government to remove all criminal sanctions for low-level drug possession, which in turn will reduce racial disparities in drug-related incarceration.

There’s still a lot to be done if the long-suffering racialized are to regain an important part of their lives; so let’s get on with it.