Parliamentary Committee Notes: Financial Note - Parole Board of Canada (PBC)

Proposed Response

• This funding is a reprofile from 2023-24 of lapsed funds under the Record Suspension Program Reform initiative. These funds will allow the Parole Board of Canada to complete the modernization of its Pardon and Record Suspension System (PARSS), which is currently underway.
  
• The goal of this initiative is to create an online application web portal that will allow record suspension, clemency, and expungement applicants to submit their applications electronically. This will provide greater access to these programs.
  
• Additionally, a new case management and decision-making system that is essential for processing applications and collecting related information will be developed to replace the current, outdated, system. The project is expected to be completed in 2025-2026.
  

Background

The 2024-25 Fall Supplementary Estimates “B” total amount for the PBC is $1.4M or 1.8% of authorities to date.

In November 2021, the Parole Board of Canada (PBC) received Treasury Board (TB) approval following Budget 2021 for Pardon and Record Suspension System (PARSS) Renewal through the TB Submission “Funding for Record Suspension Program Reforms and Support to the PBC Core information technology (IT) and Legal Services” with funding in the amount of $4.4 million over a three-year timeframe ending in 2023-24.

The PBC, in conjunction with Correctional Service Canada, its IT provider, officially began work on this initiative in 2021-2022. The project encountered delays in the beginning due in part to a prolonged in-depth exploration of available technological solutions and a reprofile was requested and approved in the 2023-24 annual reference level update (ARLU). Given the intricacy of the business requirements for the system and an underestimation of the complexity of work required, for the second time, the PBC is seeking authority to reprofile $1,385K from fiscal year 2023-24 to 2024-25.

Pardon and Record Suspension System (PARSS) Modernization Initiative

• The PARSS modernization initiative includes the creation of an online application web portal and the creation of a new case management and decision-making system (e-PARSS) that is essential for processing pardon/record suspension, clemency and expungement applications and collecting related information. The total capital funds for this project was estimated at $4.4 million over a three year timeframe. This represents a major (IT) project for the PBC that cannot be achieved by using other funding within the PBC's current appropriation without causing program integrity pressures. PBC’s current appropriation for PARSS (excluding the additional capital funds) is sufficient only for maintaining the current system and for obtaining licenses.
  
• The modernization of the system is crucial for PBC so that the organization can meet the technological/security requirements specified in the new Policy on Service and Digital to future enhancements that go beyond today’s business standards. The system will then be in alignment with the Policy on Government Security (PGS), Directive on Security Management (DSM) and its related instruments. The PBC has very limited IT capacity and receives its IT services from Correctional Service Canada (CSC) under an annual negotiated Service Level Agreement. This project is therefore implemented under the CSC project authorities.
  
• The current PARSS system was implemented in 2000 and has been used since then as the electronic case management system and applicant database for pardon/record suspension and expungement decision-making, cannabis process and the data bank for clemency files.  PARSS was upgraded in 2005 and again in 2012 after significant legislative change. Since then, the system has been modified to adjust to legislative and process changes in addition to regular semi-annual maintenance. The combined modifications, along with the passage of time, has resulted in a system that has been used well beyond its original lifecycle and work-arounds and stop-gap measures have been necessary to keep it operational. There is a need for a new case management system that integrates an online digital application system to improve overall service delivery along with enhanced interoperability with criminal justice partners.
  
• There is a risk related to continuing to run the system beyond 2025 as it is vulnerable to updates with new changing technologies and platforms. Additionally, with the passage of time, it may be unlikely that the current system will be able to adapt to significant system changes that could be necessary in the event of new legislative requirements. Finally, there is a risk that the current system will continue to create barriers to facilitate and expedite the application process as all applications would continue to be paper-based; the current system is not capable of interacting with an online application portal.
  
• The online application portal/modernization of the system, e-PARSS, is divided into five phases, divided under Gates: Preliminary Selection (Gate 1), Prioritizing/Inception (Gate 2), Planning/Elaboration (Gate 3), Execution/Construction (Gate 4), and Closuring (Gate 5). They include:
  
• Preliminary Selection (Gate 1), which started September 2021 (prior to the official approval), was originally expected to last only 1.5 months, however, was completed and approved in January 2022. This phase included project components such as furthering the business case, developing a detailed schedule, outlining deliverables related to IT/IM and ensuring security and privacy requirements are maintained while developing an organizational change strategy.
  
• Prioritizing/Inception (Gate 2): This phase included finalizing the project charter and project management plan, confirming business requirements, and creating a change management strategy. It started in February 2022 and was originally planned to go until March 2022, but was completed and approved in October 2022.
  
• The Planning/Elaboration (Gate 3) phase was expected to last four months and begin immediately following the conclusion of Gates 1 and 2. Gate 3 started in November 2022. In May 2023, CSC notified the Board that it would not be possible to spend the allocated $2,286K for the initiative in the 2023-24 fiscal year, as forecasted, due to a four (4) month delay experienced in 2022-23. The final amount spent in 2023-24 was $901K leaving the balance $1,385K to be reprofiled to 2024-25. This delay was due, in part, to underestimating the complexity of work and the time required to complete the end-to-end business process and business requirement documents. The delay also resulted in deferrals in the sequence of the tasks required for the Gate 3 approval process which was completed in February 2024. As the deadline for completion of the Business Use Cases (BUC) was extended, the system design was subsequently delayed, which, in turn, delayed the launch of the execution phase which only began in April 2024. As each of these components had to be completed before the other, there was not an opportunity to recoup lost time. Given that the execution phase could not begin as originally planned due to the above interdependencies and the delay in selecting the technology and getting started, the majority of funds originally set aside for 2023-24 were not able to be used. 
  
• Execution/Construction (Gate 4) is where the bulk of the system and portal work is occurring. This phase was originally estimated to last a year from April 2022 to March 2023, but with all the previous delays, CSC estimates that this phase could take up to 18 months, projecting completion closer to June 2025 as work began in April 2024. PBC has already signed a Service Level Agreement for 2024-25 in the amount of $2.8M to complete this last phase. PBC only has $1.4M in it's reference levels and is counting on the reprofile to be approved. This phase includes software and code development for e-PARSS and the portal, sourcing licensing (as applicable), testing of e-PARSS and the portal, and developing and delivering training to affected users. At the end of this phase, the system and portal will go live.
  
• Final phase, Closing, (Gate 5) is anticipated to last a few weeks and end September 2025. This phase will include close-out reports and the transition to ongoing support for and maintenance of the new system/portal.  
  

Record Suspension/Pardon and Expungement Decisions/Clemency Recommendations

• A record suspension/pardon is designed to support the sustained reintegration of an individual into society. It is an administrative act to remove the stigma of a criminal record for persons convicted of an offence under an Act of Parliament, who have completed their sentence, having met the criteria in the Criminal Records Act (CRA) and demonstrated law-abiding behavior for a prescribed number of years. Record suspensions/pardons can be revoked or cease to have effect if a new offence is committed, or a person is no longer found to be of good conduct. In meeting this core responsibility, the PBC screens applications for completeness and eligibility, collects information for Board member decision-making and develops policy to guide decision-making processes.
• In addition, under the Expungement Act, the PBC will order the expungement of records of convictions for eligible offences that would be lawful today. Persons convicted of an offence listed in the schedule to the Expungement Act may apply, as well as authorized representatives in cases where the person is deceased. The difference between a record suspension/pardon and an expungement is that with a record suspension/pardon, the criminal record is held ‘separate and apart’ from other criminal records, while an expungement will completely destroy the record. The PBC is also accountable for assessing requests and providing recommendations under the Royal Prerogative of Mercy (i.e., clemency) and providing advice to the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness on the merits of each case.
  
• On January 1, 2022, the record suspension application fee reduction came into force, lowering the cost of applying for a record suspension from $657.77 to $50.00. The significantly lower fee improves access to record suspensions, especially for people with lower incomes. There is no application processing fee for cannabis record suspensions, expungement or clemency.

Date modified:

2025-03-28