Canadians who have been convicted of a number of offenses that are no longer in the Criminal Code, such as being in a gay sauna or having an abortion, can now have those convictions removed from their criminal records.
The list of “convictions constituting historic injustices” is expanded to include a series of charges dating back to 1892 and aimed primarily at the LGBTQ community and women.
Public Security Minister Marco Mendicino said at a press conference on Tuesday that these offenses unfortunately lead to the stigmatization and marginalization of people, and deprive them of a sense of belonging because of their sexual orientation or their kind.
The government says police have historically used certain counts of “indecency” to carry out actual, often high-profile, “roundups” of bathhouses and gay bars. These establishments were then considered safe spaces for members of the LGBTQ community, the government said in a statement.
“Between 1968 and 2004, there were approximately 38 police raids on bathhouses and 2SLGBTQI+ nightclubs across Canada,” says a government brief published in the Canada Gazette.
The Criminal Code defined until 2019 a “bawdy house” as a “premises which is kept or occupied, or frequented by one or more persons, for the purpose of prostitution or for the practice of acts of indecency”. However, the police have in the past used the “indecent” aspect of the provisions “to target in a detrimental way” saunas, gay bars and swingers’ clubs, says the government.
“As a result of the raids, the people who were owners, employees or patrons of these places were charged under the bawdy house provisions of the Criminal Code. »
In 2017, the City of Montreal and its Police Department apologized to the LGBTQ+ community for police raids on gay bars and saunas across the city in the 1960s and into the 1990s.
Abortion
In addition, some laws, now repealed, also targeted women who had “procured their own abortion” or were trying to obtain one. Charges also targeted the doctors, nurses and midwives who provided this service.
Canadians can ask the parole board to have these offenses expunged from their criminal records. Family members or trustees can also apply posthumously on behalf of the deceased.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police’s National Criminal Records Index contains 18,597 records related to bawdy houses and indecent acts, as well as 67 abortion-related convictions.
But given the historic nature of the convictions, it’s unclear how many people will ask to have their records expunged. The Parole Board estimates that it will process approximately 2,500 applications.
“We are in the process of undertaking this analysis so that we can deploy it as quickly as possible,” Mendicino said on Tuesday. The government is looking for ways to reduce barriers to make it easier for people to erase their records. This procedure is absolutely free and the minister said officials will help people navigate the system.
Minister Mendicino also indicated on Tuesday that “the idea of money-based transactions had stigmatized sex workers for too long” and that the idea of radiation should also be considered in these cases.