Since November 1, 2019, every police record check in Ontario has run under a single statute: the Police Record Checks Reform Act, 2015 (PRCRA). It permits exactly three types of check, requires written consent to the specific type being run, sends results to the candidate before the employer, and all but eliminates the disclosure of non-conviction information.
Ontario was the first province to standardize this end to end, and if you hire here, the Act quietly shapes every screen you order. Here is what it actually says, and what it means for your process.
Before the PRCRA, what a "police check" disclosed depended on which police service ran it. Some services released withdrawn charges, mental health apprehensions, and other police contacts that never led to a conviction, and that information could quietly end a candidacy. The Act was passed in December 2015 to end that lottery: one set of check types, one disclosure standard, one consent process, province-wide.
The result is a system built on a principle we recognize: the check should answer the question the role justifies, and nothing more.
The PRCRA defines three products, and a record check provider in Ontario may not offer a fourth:
Each level, what it shows, and who can request it are covered in depth in our guide to the three types of criminal record checks in Canada.
The Act builds consent in twice, and the order of operations matters:
That candidate-first disclosure is the part that surprises employers most, and it is a legal requirement, not a provider quirk. It also happens to be good screening practice: the person the record is about gets the first chance to catch an error, which protects the employer from acting on a mistaken result.
Non-conviction information is effectively off the table. Withdrawn charges, acquittals, complaints that went nowhere, and mental health contacts do not appear on a CRC or CRJMC at all. Even on a vulnerable sector check, such information can be released only through the Act's exceptional disclosure test: the alleged offence must be on the prescribed list, the alleged victim must have been a child or a vulnerable person, and the provider must have reasonable grounds to believe the individual presents a risk of harm to a child or vulnerable person.
A screening result for an ordinary Ontario role that includes withdrawn charges or police contacts is a red flag about the provider, not the candidate. The PRCRA made that information non-disclosable for good reason, and a compliant report will not contain it.
Three practical consequences for any organization screening Ontario candidates:
Comfortably, because the Act essentially legislates the process a careful screener already runs: named consent before anything is searched, disclosure limited to what the check type permits, and the candidate kept in the loop rather than screened behind their back. Our screens are built around written, specific consent and specialist review of every result, so the PRCRA is not a hurdle we work around; it is the floor we build on.
If your Ontario consent forms or screening scope have not been reviewed since the Act came into force, that is a worthwhile afternoon, and we are happy to walk through how each check we offer maps to the three permitted types.
Place an order in the portal, or talk to us about a screening program.
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