E-7470: Petition to the House of Commons — Canadian Petition Tracker
Canonical URL: https://petitiontracker.ca/petition/e-7470
Track petition E-7470 — "Petition to the House of Commons" sponsored by Elizabeth May. 7 signatures and counting. See signature growth trends and provincial breakdown on PetitionTracker.ca.
Petition Text
Petition to the House of Commons
Whereas:
• Wrongful-conviction review applicants may wait many years for review and final determination, causing hardship, uncertainty, and diminished confidence in Canada’s justice system;
• No legislated timelines currently govern wrongful-conviction review applications, including intake, assessment, investigation, recommendation, and final decision-making;
• In the Supreme Court of Canada decision R. v. Jordan, unreasonable delay in criminal proceedings was recognized as harmful to fairness, justice, and public confidence in the administration of justice; and
• Fairness, transparency, and timely justice are essential where miscarriages of justice are alleged.
We, the undersigned, Citizens and residents of Canada, call upon the House of Commons to:
1. Establish timelines, transparency, and fairness in wrongful conviction reviews in Canada under s. 696.1;
2. Require assignment of a case number upon acceptance of a completed wrongful-conviction review application and assignment of a reviewer within 30 days;
3. Require completion of a preliminary assessment within 180 days;
4. Require that where a preliminary negative assessment is issued, and the applicant responds, the Minister of Justice or successor wrongful-conviction review authority render a final decision no later than 18 months from acceptance of the completed application;
5. Require that where a recommendation for review or further investigation is made, the application automatically proceed under a maximum 30-month timeline from acceptance of the completed application, including under any successor wrongful-conviction review commission or authority established by Parliament;
6. Require periodic written status updates to applicants; and
7. Establish a statutory right to seek judicial release, comparable to release mechanisms available during criminal appeals in Canada, once a wrongful-conviction review application has been accepted as complete.