Verification of Protected Criminal Record: Minister

The Brockville police department is no longer in danger of losing vital income from criminal record checks, provincial MP Steve Clark said on Saturday as he joined a colleague at the police station in the city.

Clark, who is also Minister of Municipal Affairs, joins Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services Michael Tibollo to announce amendments to the Criminal Record Check Reform Act.

The changes allay the fears of the Brockville and Gananoque police services that their local police criminal record services can leave the province.

"The legislation was intended to strengthen the way information about privacy issues is relayed," Tibollo said.

"The problem has become that, under the regulations, it creates a secondary control that makes it impossible for municipalities or the local police to control. What we did, is to reverse the trend and allow police controls to continue as they have been in almost every region of the country, keeping jobs here in Ontario. "

"Our government has cut red tape and immediately addressed the needs of the community," said Tibollo.

Revenue from file verification has long been a vital source of revenue for the Brockville Police Service.

But the locals saw the reforms proposed by Kathleen Wynne's previous Liberal government as a threat to these incomes.

The issue became a matter of dispute between Clark, MPP for Leeds-Grenville-Mille-Îles and Rideau Lakes, Progressive Conservative, and Brockville Mayor David Henderson, a Liberal candidate in the recent provincial election.

Clark Saturday said the amendments are a promise kept.

"By reversing legislation, key jobs and a significant source of revenue for the Brockville and Gananoque police services are protected," he said.

Clark added, "In Brockville, at least five full-time and five part-time jobs were at risk. The loss of hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue, which would offset police budgets, would have been a huge financial shock for the communities of Brockville, Gananoque, Cornwall, Cobourg and Port Hope. "

In a statement, Brockville Police Chief Scott Fraser said seven full-time and five part-time jobs were at risk.

Stormont, Dundas and South Glengarry, Steve Clark MP and Parliamentary Assistant Jim McDonell, said, "Maintaining jobs is so important to the community. Too often we talk to displaced people. "

"Resource management is the number one for us and one of our biggest challenges," said Mark Noonan, deputy police chief of Brockville.

"This bill will not only have an impact on the jobs mentioned by Minister Clark, but in all of our services, it will be a tremendous resource for the continuation of our activities."

Gananoque Police Chief Garry Hull was also relieved, saying the amendment was protecting a similar number of jobs in his small service.

"We contacted Minister Clark's office. We very early discussed this issue and got answers. I think it's very important that the police in general in the province build strong relationships with Ministers Clark and Tibollo, "said Hull.

A criminal record check is a search of information in police databases, used by organizations, businesses and others to screen applicants for employment, volunteer work, permits or other opportunities, such as admission to an educational program.

The Criminal Record Check Reform Act will come into force on November 1 and will ensure consistency by defining three types of criminal record checks as well as a standardization of the type of information that may be available. to be disclosed, officials said.

They added that the previous government was at risk of losing jobs in Ontario, as contractors under contract for background checks were planning to relocate to less bureaucratic jurisdictions.