1. Determine what type of record check you need

There are different types of record checks. The law says what kind of information a check can include.

Criminal record check

You may need a criminal record check for:

• job or volunteer applications
• immigration purposes
• by-law licenses

A criminal record check states if you've ever been convicted of a criminal offence. This includes findings of guilt under the Youth Criminal Justice Act for the time that those records can be accessed.

A criminal record check will not include:

• outstanding charges and warrants
• any crime that you got an absolute discharge for
• any crime that you got an conditional discharge for
• convictions where you were granted a record suspension (pardon)
• summary offences you were convicted of more than 5 years before you asked for the check

If you don't have any criminal convictions, any police station can give you a clearance letter. A clearance letter confirms that as of the date when your application was processed, you had no criminal convictions.

If you have a criminal conviction, you must ask the local police station where you live for the criminal record check.

Criminal record and judicial matters check

You may need a criminal record and judicial matters check when you apply for a job or volunteer position.

A criminal record and judicial matters check will include the information that's in a criminal record check. It can also include information about:

• criminal convictions
• court orders, charges, warrants, peace bonds, probation and prohibition orders that are still active
• any crime that you got an absolute discharge for, unless you were sentenced more than one year ago
• any crime that you got a conditional discharge for, unless you were sentenced more than 3 years ago

But it can't include certain types of court orders, for example:

• an order that you have a psychiatric examination when you're in custody charged with a crime
• an order that you have an assessment of your mental condition when you're charged with a crime
• an order that relates to a charge that was withdrawn
• a restraining order
• convictions where a record suspension (pardon) has been granted

Vulnerable sector records check

You will need a vulnerable sector check if you're applying for a job or volunteer position that involves working with:

• children
• older people
• others who may be vulnerable

The law says who is a vulnerable person. For example, people are vulnerable if, because they're younger or older or have a disability, they:

• depend on others
• are at a greater risk of being harmed by people they trust or people who take care of them

A vulnerable record sector check will include all of the information that's in a criminal record and judicial matters check.

It can include information about convictions for certain crimes that you got a record suspension or pardon for. For example pardoned sex offences.

It can also include information if you were charged with a crime and were found to be not criminally responsible because you had a mental disorder. But this information can't be included if:

• the finding was more than 5 years ago, or
• you got an absolute discharge.

A vulnerable sector record check can include what's called “non-conviction” information. This means information about certain crimes, even if you were charged but not convicted. This information can be included only if:

• the law says that non-conviction information can be given about this crime, for example, crimes that are sexual assaults
• the person you were accused of hurting was a child or a vulnerable person
• there are reasonable grounds to believe that you have what the law calls a “pattern of predatory behavior”, which shows that there's a risk you might harm a child or vulnerable person