The Criminal Record Act is also known as (blank).

• A. rehabilitation
• B. excuse
• C. expungement
• D. pardon

Answer: (D)

The Criminal Records Act governs the process of obtaining a record suspension, which is commonly referred to as a pardon. This act provides the mechanism to have a criminal record set aside in the eyes of most public checks after meeting criteria and waiting periods. It doesn’t erase the record everywhere, and some disclosures can still occur for certain purposes, but for everyday background checks the record is effectively kept separate. The other terms don’t fit because rehabilitation refers to a behavior-change process, an excuse is not a formal legal instrument, and expungement is the term typically used in other jurisdictions to destroy records, not the Canadian process described by this act.