Now that Canada has passed its law to legalize recreational cannabis, the government is facing renewed pressure to swiftly expunge the criminal records of everyone convicted of cannabis offences that will no longer be a crime under legalization. But even if the government does pursue it, it will likely be a complicated and tedious process. It even admits there is currently no legislative authority that allows it to grant any mass pardon at all.

The Liberals have said they won’t touch the pardons issue until after legalization takes effect on October 17. The existing criminalization of cannabis for any non-medical purpose stands until then, and people will continue to be charged.

Former Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair, now the Parliamentary Secretary to the Justice Minister who oversaw the Liberals’ legal cannabis law, once again threw cold water on the idea that pardons would be happening soon. “Any discussion of those records can’t take place until that process is complete,” Blair told reporters on Wednesday, the day after the law passed.

A spokesperson for the Public Safety department told VICE News on Friday that no mass pardon has ever been granted in Canada, nor would it be possible "as there is no legislative authority allowing" for it. "As the legislative framework moves forward, the Government intends to also consider options about what can be done to make things fairer for Canadians who have been previously convicted for minor possession offences," the spokesperson said.

In the meantime, other members of parliament are taking it upon themselves to address pot pardons soon as possible.

NDP justice critic Murray Rankin announced on Thursday he will introduce a private member’s bill in October that would expunge the criminal of those convicted of cannabis-related offences that will no longer be a crime, including possessing 30 grams or less of the substance, or growing up to four plants at home. Rankin is optimistic about his efforts, even though numerous other MPs, senators, lawyers, and activists have been unsuccessful in getting the government to include pardons as part of its recreational cannabis legislation, or say when or how they will pursue it.

At the same time the Cannabis Act was made law, so too was a Liberal bill that would expunge any criminal records of Canadians convicted of engaging in gay sex when such acts were crimes. Bill C-66 allows people convicted under the previous gross indecency, buggery, and anal intercourse laws to apply to the Parole Board of Canada, free of charge, to have those records erased.

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“I want something like that,” Rankin told VICE News in a phone interview on Friday. He and his team are still figuring out the details of his plan. However, he said the pardons process will have its challenges.

“It isn’t going to be easy.”

He said he envisions a “two-fold” pardons system that would involve people working inside the government to identity people who have been convicted of the cannabis-related offences that will no longer be illegal, and a simultaneous online process where Canadians could apply for pardons themselves.

Rankin pointed to San Francisco, where the district attorney has said it will dismiss thousands of marijuana-related convictions. California legalized recreational cannabis earlier this year and prioritized amnesty and reparations for people previously convicted of cannabis offences as part of that process. Rankin said he will be monitoring the state’s use of an algorithm that will comb through digital criminal records for cannabis offences to be scrubbed, to see if such a system could be used here. As for any older criminal records on paper, Rankin said he has a “vision of a summer student sitting there with boxes and boxes of files.”

Rankin acknowledged that things could be further complicated by the fact that cannabis criminal records may not include the quantity of cannabis for which someone was convicted. This is important because if someone was convicted of possessing more than 30 grams, or growing more than four plants, they may not be eligible for a pardon under his plan. In such instances where quantity for possession offences is not recorded, it may be up to the offender seeking a pardon to sign an affidavit or otherwise promise that they were convicted for an amount that is now legal.

Further, anyone convicted of possessing or cultivating edibles would have to wait at least a year until edibles are legalized, at which time the pardons process would begin again, said Rankin.

Currently, Canadians convicted of most crimes may apply through the Parole Board of Canada for a pardon — officially referred to as a “record suspension” — five years after their sentence is completed, at a cost of more than $600.

Some estimates suggest there are around 500,000 people in the country with criminal records that include simple cannabis possession.

A spokesperson for the Public Safety Minister, who oversees the record suspension regime, would not answer questions from VICE News about what steps the minister and the department have taken so far on cannabis pardons.

“Once Bill C-45 is enacted, we will examine how to make things fairer for Canadians who have been previously convicted for minor possession offences,” Scott Bardsley wrote in an email. He added that the department is also in the midst of reforming Canada’s pardons system writ large.

“Inaccessible pardons can be a significant barrier to good employment as many positions require criminal record checks,” he continued, but didn’t say exactly how or when the system would be overhauled.