Step 1 - Check if you are eligible to apply
You may apply for expungement if you, or the deceased person for whom you are applying, has been convicted of one or more of the following offences:
- gross indecency (or attempt to commit gross indecency);
- buggery (or attempt to commit buggery);
- anal intercourse (or attempt to commit anal intercourse);
- bawdy-house (i.e., keeping, being an inmate of, being found in, or permitting a place to be used as);
- transporting to bawdy house;
- indecent show (including exhibiting a disgusting object);
- indecent acts;
- indecent exhibition (openly exposing or exhibiting in a public place);
- immoral, indecent or obscene performance (in a theatre);
- nudity;
- any offence under the National Defence Act or any previous version of that Act for an act or omission that constitutes an offence listed in the schedule of the Expungement of Historically Unjust Convictions Act.
An expungement can only be ordered if all relevant criteria are met:
Gross indecency, buggery and anal intercourse
- the activity for which the individual was convicted was between persons of the same sex;
- the person(s) other than the person who was convicted had given their consent* to participate in the activity; and
- the persons who participated in the activity were 16 years of age or older at the time of the activity or subject to a “close in age” defence under the Criminal Code.
*Section 273.1 of the Criminal Code defines consent as the voluntary agreement of a person to engage in the sexual activity in question.
Keeping common bawdy-house
- The conviction relates to the convicted person’s association with a bawdy-house, kept for the practice of acts of indecency, where consensual sexual activity is viewed or engaged in, and not for the purpose of prostitution; and,
- The person who was convicted did not exchange money for providing or receiving sexual services.
Transporting person to a bawdy-house
- The conviction relates to a bawdy-house kept for the practice of acts of indecency, where consensual sexual activity is viewed or engaged in, and not for the purpose of prostitution.
Indecent show, indecent acts, indecent exhibition, immoral, indecent or obscene performance and nudity
- The activity for which the person was convicted took place in a bawdy-house in which acts of indecency are practiced, where consensual sexual activity is viewed or engaged in, and not for the purpose of prostitution; and
- The person who was convicted did not exchange money for providing or receiving sexual services.
To apply on behalf of a deceased person, you must be the person’s:
- spouse or the individual who, at the time of the person’s death, was cohabiting with the person in a conjugal relationship, having so cohabited for a period of at least one year;
- child;
- parent;
- brother or sister;
- agent or mandatary, attorney, guardian, trustee, committee, tutor or curator, or any other person who was appointed to act in a similar capacity before the person's death;
- executor or the administrator or liquidator of the estate; or
- any other individual who, in the opinion of the Board, is an appropriate representative of the person.
