The province of Ontario plans to amend the criminal records check reform act. The changes are designed to speed up the amount of time it takes to have a criminal records check completed. Ontario’s solicitor general was in Barrie to make the announcement Thursday morning. “We need to deal with delays, but we can’t and will not compromise on protecting the most vulnerable people in our society” says Michael Kerzner Solicitor General. While speaking outside Barrie police headquarters the solicitor general added “the demand for vulnerable sector checks is growing and the system needs to be modernized. Thousands of companies and institutions across the province require staff and volunteers to have a check conducted by police. The process can be long and delayed. “The average criminal records check for residents takes 14 days to be returned to the applicant. Vulnerable sector checks take longer to process” says Rich Johnston, Barrie Police Chief. Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre (RVH) is an example is a significant employer that depends on criminal records check. It has an average of about 3,600 staff and volunteers that are required to be checked every year. “Hiring is slowed and in some cases patient access to care can be effected if we are delayed filling a role immediately because administrative processes can not keep pace with demand” says Gail Hunt, president and CEO RVH. Barrie minor hockey has about 1,200 criminal record checks that need to be done every hockey season. That covers coaches and other volunteers. “Last season we had some police organizations that were (waiting) two to three months to be able to get a vulnerable sector check” says Steve Fontaine, Barrie Minor Hockey Association GM. The proposed amendments would allow designated police services to support periods of high demand by processing vulnerable sector checks for applicants who live outside their area. Police services across the province process more than one million criminal record checks every year. More than 14,000 of those are done in Barrie alone.
