In general, any criminal charges can negatively affect Canadian immigration or residential status, even if the charges were dropped or dismissed. It can definitely prevent you from applying for citizenship and in some cases, it may prevent you from staying in Canada. This includes offences such as theft, assault, manslaughter, dangerous driving, impaired driving, selling [...]

Keeping people out of jail for the first time is instrumental in helping them avoid repeat incarcerations. Yet, statistically, most convicted offenders have at least one prior conviction. In fact, nearly 75 percent of offenders have multiple prior convictions.  According to a study conducted by Statistics Canada and the University of Waterloo, chronic offenders account [...]