By Amy Derickx

On Nov. 1, 2018, new “checks” on the police record check system will be in force under Ontario’s Police Record Checks Reform Act. Organizations who rely upon police record checks as a method of determining suitability for employment or volunteer work will want to review related policies and procedures for the purposes of compliance.

The new Act introduces a framework of limited disclosure, which is more akin to the philosophy of “what you need to know”, instead of “everything but the kitchen sink”. For instance, under the new regime, only vulnerable sector checks meeting the threshold for exceptional disclosure would yield mental health and non-conviction information. Nonconviction information means information concerning the fact that an individual was charged with a criminal offence if the charge was dismissed, withdrawn or stayed, or resulted in a stay of proceedings or an acquittal. Before the new regime, a routine police record check could have yielded information relating to mental health detentions or even nonconviction information.