Brandon Gailbraith has been in and out of jail since he was a teenager and has a criminal record ranging from assault to break and enter to possession of a weapon.

So when it came time to turn his life around and find a job, the 32-year-old wasn't very optimistic about his prospects.

"Having a criminal record, it just kind of takes a lot of options off [the table]," Gailbraith told CBC Toronto.

His options were limited but eventually he was able to find work in construction in the Ottawa area, specifically in roofing.

Gailbraith isn't alone. More than one million people in Ontario have a criminal record, according to the province . The unemployment rate among them is around 50 per cent, according to Safiyah Husein, the John Howard Society of Ontario's (JHSO) director of policy. Find

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