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Status and purpose

• Bill S-207 was introduced in the Senate at first reading on May 28, 2025. It would replace the Criminal Records Act’s record suspension framework with a system of record expiry.

Criminal Records Act

• Who is affected: The expiry rules would apply to people convicted of federal offences and Canadian offenders transferred to Canada under the International Transfer of Offenders Act.
• Waiting periods: For offences committed as an adult, a record would generally expire two years after completion of the sentence for summary conviction offences, or five years for indictable offences. Comparable periods would apply to specified service offences. For offences committed as a child, there would be no additional waiting period after the sentence ends. Completion includes probation and payment of fines; the bill specifies how imprisonment is calculated.
• When expiry is delayed: If the RCMP’s automated records system shows a conviction during the waiting period, or outstanding charges or an investigation at its end, expiry would be delayed. The person could apply to the Parole Board of Canada, which must order expiry if satisfied of specified rehabilitation and administration-of-justice criteria. The Board must notify the person within 30 days after the adult waiting period ends. A delayed record could also expire following specified outcomes, such as the dropping of charges or expiry of the later conviction’s record.
• Effect: An expired conviction record would be kept separate from other criminal records. Expiry would remove federal statutory disqualifications or obligations arising from the conviction, unless expiry is revoked or ceases to have effect. It would not mean the record is deleted.
• Disclosure: Federal records of expired convictions generally could not be disclosed without ministerial approval, subject to specified exceptions. The bill also restricts disclosure of convictions for offences that have been decriminalized and requires their removal from the RCMP system without delay.
• Powers and safeguards: The Board could make inquiries, refuse an application, and in specified circumstances revoke or end the effect of an expiry involving an offence listed in Schedule 1 or 2. Applicants facing refusal could make representations and reapply after one year. The Governor in Council could add or remove offences from those schedules.
• Fees and reporting: Applications for expiry would be free of fees or charges. The Board’s reporting would include application outcomes and breakdowns by offence and province of residence.

Transitional provisions

• Existing record suspensions granted before royal assent would be deemed record expiries.
• Pending suspension applications would be handled under the new expiry provisions, with the applicable process depending on subsequent convictions and whether the RCMP system shows outstanding charges or an investigation.

Consequential amendments and repeal

• Criminal Code and National Defence Act: Replace references to suspensions with expiries, including in provisions allowing applications to terminate specified orders or obligations after expiry.
• Canadian Human Rights Act: Extend the stated prohibited ground concerning pardoned or suspended convictions to convictions whose records have expired.
• Immigration and Refugee Protection Act: Provide that specified grounds of inadmissibility cannot be based on an expired conviction.
• DNA Identification Act: Require relevant stored bodily substances to be kept separate and prohibit their forensic analysis or disclosure of their existence.
• Other amendments: Update references in the Income Tax Act and Youth Criminal Justice Act. The bill also repeals the Pardon Services Fees Order.