On December 3, 2015, Royal Assent was granted to the Police Record Checks Reform Act, 2015 (the “Act”), which implements a new statutory regime in Ontario governing police checks to screen an individual for employment, volunteering or other purposes. Prior to the implementation of the Act, police record checks were governed by different procedures established by each respective regional/municipal police service resulting in a lack of consistency in both the processes followed and the terminology used to describe the various types of police record checks throughout Ontario.
A summary of key features of the Act include the following:
- Standardization of the police record checks that can be requested by individuals, as well as standardization of the information authorized for disclosure for each type of police check. The Act establishes three types of police checks, as follows: (1) criminal record checks (2) criminal record and judicial matters checks, and (3) vulnerable sector checks.
- Restrictions placed on the release of mental health information and non-conviction records. Non-conviction information can only be disclosed in the context of vulnerable sector checks where individuals are applying to work or volunteer with vulnerable individuals, subject to the conditions outlined in the Act. An individual may request reconsideration of the release of non-conviction records, if the individual believes the applicable conditions under the Act were not met.
- Police record checks will always be provided to the individual for review before any disclosure to an employer or other organization that requested the police check. After receiving the results of the police check on himself/herself an individual must provide written consent allowing the disclosure of the police record check results to another person or organization.
- Authorization to third-party background screening companies to conduct certain types of police checks.
As mentioned earlier in Charity Law Bulletin No. 303, while there is no statutory legal requirement to carry out police record checks on individuals working with vulnerable persons in Ontario, they are becoming the industry standard. Charities and not-for-profits who have employees and volunteers who work with children are often required to carry out police checks by insurance companies before the organization can qualify for abuse coverage.
Police record checks are an important first step in screening out potential volunteers and/or employees with criminal convictions involving violence or abuse to protect children and other vulnerable persons from harm. However, police record checks alone do not provide sufficient due diligence on their own, since not all perpetrators of abuse have a past criminal record. In this regard, a number of incidents of child abuse have involved first-time abusers.
Instead, police record checks should be the first step in a comprehensive child protection policy or protocol that includes other screening methods and procedures to protect children from potential harm through a charity or not-for-profit organization’s programs. Reference can be made to Church Law Bulletin No. 23: Thoughts on Child Protection Policies: How to Make Them Work for your Church or Charity for further information on child protection policies.