Visitor: The offence that I was accused of was a little more than five years ago and it was shoplifting a small value of merchandise from a store. I think it was $20 or $25. My lawyer at the time got the charge to be withdrawn so I do not have a criminal record. I have also traveled to the US and all over the world and haven’t had one issue at customs.

The reason why I am contacting you is that I will be graduating from school with a bachelor’s degree in about 1.5 years. I’m worried that even though I was never convicted an employer might not hire me if this is on a background check. Now that I have provided more information, would you be of any help to me?

Pardons Canada: It is good that your shoplifting offence was withdrawn but since you were fingerprinted by the police and there is a police and court record then your name may still show up on a criminal background check for employment. You will need a file destruction to remove your prints so that in the future nothing will show up when applying for work. You do not need a pardon or record suspension because you do not have a criminal conviction, just a criminal charge or non-conviction.