New Criminal Background Check Legislation Introduced in Ontario

New legislation has been introduced to impose strict regulations on what information can be released in a police record check. Ontario’s Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services, Yasir Naqvi, presented Bill 113, the Police Record Checks Reform Act, into the provincial legislature this week. Mr. Naqvi stated that “the main thrust of the legislation is to strictly limit the disclosure of non-conviction information and prohibit the disclosure of non-criminal information such as mental health information”.

This new legislation comes as a response to criticisms of the release of non-criminal information creating barriers for people’s education, employment, volunteering, and other opportunities.

The highlights of the Police Record Checks Reform Act include:

• The legislation will standardize the three types of record checks – criminal record check, criminal record and judicial matters check, and a vulnerable sector check;
• It will allow any individual to request a police record check on their own account;
• The legislation will require the consent of the individual prior to the release of a police record check to a third party and the individual may request a reconsideration of the information to be disclosed; and
• No information related to the Mental Health Act will be disclosed.

The introduction of this Bill has been met with widespread support. Sukanya Pillay, the Executive Director of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association stated that “this more consistent, transparent, and accountable approach will go a long way to removing unnecessary but restrictive barriers – and ending the discrimination by the release of non-conviction disposition records – and in doing so will increase employment and volunteering opportunities for thousands of Ontarians”.