Public Safety committee  When they appear before the Parole Board, the Parole Board reviews all available information. This includes the judge's comments, Crown comments and police comments. It includes psychological assessments and psychiatric assessments. It includes everything that the board considers relevant and reliable information so that they can make an overall decision.

Public Safety committee  No, we do not have a shortage of staff in the Parole Board. In terms of the appointment of board members, it's always a churn. Where we would like to be would be somewhere about 90 board members, a combination of part time and full time. We're at 78 right now; some term off and some term on.

Public Safety committee  I'm not going to talk about that particular decision for a couple of reasons. First, they're independent decisions. Second, there are currently two investigations going on. I can say that in making any decision, the board members take all of the information that is available to them and make a decision with the protection of society being the paramount consideration.

Public Safety committee  Absolutely not. We can't speed up the process. It's written in law when people can apply for release. In fact, 60% of the releases into the community are not made by the Parole Board. Sixty per cent of offenders coming back into the community are statutorily released. That means they're released after spending two-thirds of their sentence incarcerated.

Public Safety committee  You can't speed up the process. It's written in law.

Public Safety committee  No. It's the law.

Public Safety committee  Sixty per cent are released at two-thirds and they must be released at two-thirds. It's a statutory release by law and the board does not make those decisions. That's 60% who are released that way. Forty per cent of those released are released by the board decisions. They are either day parole or full parole release.

Public Safety committee  I was aware, but I was not here at that time. My appointment began in January 2018, but I was made aware. I have not seen that letter.

Public Safety committee  No.

Public Safety committee  No, I didn't feel like I should step down. I think there is an opportunity to provide clarification. There were many mistakes and misinformation that were being perpetrated by both, I would say, journalists and members of the House in their misunderstanding of how our system works.

Public Safety committee  It didn't come through. Can you repeat the last part?

Public Safety committee  I would not say that we do everything perfectly, but we do follow the law. The law is very prescriptive. The law provides for all offenders to apply for parole at some point in time of their sentence. The law dictates when they can apply for parole. The law provides a framework from which board members must make their decisions.

Public Safety committee  Good morning, Mr. Chair and members of the committee. I am joined today by Sylvie Blanchet, the Executive Vice-Chairperson, and Martin van Ginhoven, the Regional Director General of the Quebec Office. I would like to start by extending my deepest sympathies to the family and friends of Marylène Levesque.

Public Safety committee  We have implemented an expedited process for pardons. We have received 381 applications so far since the law passed. We have accepted 215 of those applications. We've returned 160 applications as they were either ineligible or incomplete. Of the ones we've accepted, we have ordered 213 cannabis record suspensions, and there are six applications pending processing.

Public Safety committee  It's to cover costs from the front end: training of staff, developing a new application form because it's a totally new expedited way, looking at running everything through plain language editors, and all of the outreach and working with our partners in terms of letting them know how to help people apply.