Appeals
The Parole Board of Canada (PBC or Board) Appeal Division helps to make sure the Board's decision-making process follows the law, is fair, and is based on clear and reliable information. It also promotes transparency and accountability for conditional release decisions.
The Appeal Division’s role is to ensure that:
- the Board policy is respected;
- the law and the rules of fundamental justice are followed; and
- the Board's decisions are based upon relevant, reliable and persuasive information.
The Appeal Division reviews the decision-making process to ensure that the offender’s rights have been respected. It is empowered to reassess the issue of risk to reoffend and to substitute its discretion for that of the original decision makers, but only where it finds that the Board’s decision was unfounded, and unsupported by the information available at the time the decision was made.
Who Can Appeal
An offender or someone acting on an offender’s behalf can appeal a PBC conditional release decision.
Your representative can be a family member, friend, lawyer, community support, or another person. Only one person can be identified as your representative at a time and you can change your representative at any point during the appeal process.
How to Submit an Appeal
You, or your representative, can appeal a PBC decision related to conditional release by sending:
- a completed "Appeal of PBC Decision" form
- supporting documents
You must provide valid grounds of appeal and must include all supporting information in your application.
Send the application to the PBC's Appeal Division within two (2) months after the Board’s decision.
You can also get the "Appeal of PBC Decision" form from your, or the offender’s, Case Management Team.
You can submit the form by:
- Email: no.appeals-appels.bn@pbc-clcc.gc.ca
- Fax: 613-941-0543
- Mail: Appeal Division, 410 Laurier Ave. West, 7th floor, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0R1
Appeal Process
You, or a person acting on your behalf, may submit an appeal of a PBC conditional release decision.
The appeal process begins when the Appeal Division receives the grounds of appeal and supporting documents.
Members of the Appeal Division will examine the case using your file, including any available audio recording of the hearing, and the appeal submission. Neither you, nor a person submitting the appeal on your behalf, will be interviewed.
Refusals for Hearing an Appeal
Below are the reasons why the Vice-Chairperson may decide not to hear an appeal, without reviewing the case:
- If the appeal has no real basis or is meant to harass. This includes arguments without reliable information to support or using rude or aggressive language.
- If the Board has no power to decide. For example, appeals that only deal with Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) staff or procedures.
- If the appeal is based solely on new information or a new conditional release plan that the Board did not have when it made its decision. This includes new information or documents from CSC that came after the Board’s decision.
- If the person in custody has 90 days or less before being released when the Appeal Division receives the appeal.
Grounds for an Appeal
The five (5) acceptable reasons you can appeal under the Corrections and Conditional Release Act (CCRA) are:
- Failure to follow a principle of fundamental justice. This ground includes any issues with fairness of the PBC's procedures. For example:
- whether the Board properly shared information used for the review;
- whether your right to an assistant was respected at the hearing;
- whether your official language choice was respected.
Your appeal submission must say how the Board did not respect its duty to act fairly.
- An error of law. This ground includes any concern that the PBC did not follow or misinterpreted the law. For example, if you believe the PBC did not follow a section of the CCRA, your appeal submission must state which part of it was not followed. Your appeal must specify the nature of the error as much as possible.
- Breach or failure to apply a policy (based on subsection 151(2)). Your submission must precisely state the PBC policy that was not followed by the Board in its decision.
- Decision based on wrong or incomplete information. This ground includes but is not limited to:
- any concern that relevant information was missing;
- the Board made errors about the relevant information available; or
- the Board did not consider relevant, reliable, and persuasive information in its risk assessment.
Relevant information refers to information that the Board members determine to be important to an offender’s risk assessment. The Board will assess the reliability and persuasiveness of the relevant information before assigning it any weight.
- PBC acted without jurisdiction or beyond its jurisdiction or failed to exercise its jurisdiction. This ground includes any concern about the PBC either making decisions it should not have or not making decisions when they were supposed to.
Types of Outcomes
The Appeal Division may make the following decisions:
- Agreeing with the decision. The Board's decision followed the law and policy, and therefore the Appeal Division does not need to intervene.
- Agreeing with the decision but ordering a further review of the case by the Board on a date earlier than the date otherwise provided for the next review. The Board’s decision followed the law and policy, but the Appeal Division recommends that the Board renders a new decision of the offender’s conditional release earlier than originally planned.
- Order a new review of the case by the Board, and order the continuation of the decision while the review is taking place. The Appeal Division decides that the Board needs to look at the case again but, the current decision remains in place until that review is completed. Note that this outcome may not be different than the original decision.
- Reverse, cancel or vary the decision. The Board’s decision being appealed is quashed. Varying a decision can include modifying special conditions, whether it is to remove, add or modify the wording of said condition.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Can I or my representative submit additional information?
Yes. In addition to the completed Appeal of PBC Decision form and any supporting documents, you or your representative may submit further information for consideration. All materials should be submitted within two (2) months of the Board’s decision.
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Can I withdraw an appeal?
Yes, you or a person acting on your behalf can submit a written request to withdraw an appeal by letter or email. No form is required.
The request should include:
- your name;
- your institution/region;
- your Finger Print System (FPS) number; and
- the decision that was being appealed.
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How do I or my representative contact the Appeal Division?
The Appeal Division can be contacted by:
- Email at no.appeals-appels.bn@pbc-clcc.gc.ca
- Fax at 613-941-0543
- Mail at Appeal Division, 410 Laurier Ave. West, 7th floor, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0R1
The Appeal Division does not respond to telephone inquiries.
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Can provincial offenders appeal a decision?
- Provincial offenders from the following regions can submit an appeal of a Board decision, as they do not have their own provincial parole board: Atlantic, Prairie (except Alberta provincial offenders) and Pacific.
- Quebec, Ontario and Alberta provincial offenders cannot appeal a parole board decision to the Appeal Division of the PBC, as these provinces have their own provincial parole boards.
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Can I send my request to the Appeal Division to have conditions or special conditions amended or removed?
Yes, only if the appeal submission is based on one of the five (5) grounds of appeal above. If you want a condition changed because you do not agree with it, you must redirect your request to your Case Management Team, who, if agrees, will provide a new document for the PBC to review and provide a new decision.
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How many Appeal Division Board members render the decision?
A panel of two Board members will review your appeal.
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How long does it take the Appeal Division to make a decision?
There is no legal timeframe for the Appeal Division to make a decision. Appeals will be reviewed in the order they are received.
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Is the Appeal Division’s decision final?
The Appeal Division decision is the final recourse within the PBC. If you want to pursue an appeal of the decision, you, or your representative, may seek Judicial Review of this decision at the Federal Court (see section 18.1(2) of the Federal Courts Act for timelines).