May 8, 2025 . 5 mins read

Understanding The Results of Your Canada Background Check Certificate

We all know that a criminal background check certificate is a basic requirement for employment, volunteering, immigration, or adoption services. You will not be allowed to perform any of the above-mentioned acts in Canada without an authentic criminal record check. The Canadian government and third-party accredited companies have provided seamless facilities for getting a background check. They maintain discretion and send the results only to the person concerned.

However, the legal jargon and the process following the result's receipt can make it confusing for the general public to understand the entire scenario. This guide is excellent for understanding the details after receiving the results.

Types of Checks

You can obtain two types of checks based on your requirements: basic and enhanced criminal record checks.

Basic Criminal Record Check: The CRC, or Basic Criminal Record Check, searches the federal Canadian criminal records database to produce the results. If a candidate has any convictions, they must disclose each sentence's name, date, and court location. A candidate's conviction date typically needs to be validated within the past two years. Records for offenses committed as a minor (under 18) are often not included in the Basic Canadian Criminal Record Check.

Enhanced Criminal Record Check: A CRJMC, or enhanced criminal record check, includes all the basic details from the basic record check. It also conducts searches of the CPIC investigative data bank, the Public Safety Portal (formerly known as the Police Information Portal, or PIP), and, in some cases, local police indices and/or court registries. Typically, the scope of these searches includes items in the following list:

Summary conviction offences
Pending charges of any kind
Conditional and absolute discharges
Wanted and accused person information
Pending probation information
Pending court orders and undertakings
Pending release conditions
Pending diversions such as restorative justice
Persons of special interest to the police
Deportation orders
Illegal entry charges from the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA)
Charges that have been stayed of proceedings

Understanding The Results

Basic Check results:

There are three possible outcomes for the results you will receive when you get a basic check result.

Negative
Confirmation of criminal record
Incomplete

Negative Result: If the result you receive is negative, then the following stands true.

The candidate did not disclose any criminal convictions.
No criminal convictions were found during our check.

Confirmation of criminal record: Confirming the criminal record on the certificate typically means that:

The candidate has one or more felony convictions.
The candidate appropriately revealed their convictions, as confirmed by our review.

Incomplete: If the certificate indicates the result is incomplete, one or more of the following conditions are typically true.

The candidate may not have disclosed a felony that has now been found in the records.
The candidate discloses one or more criminal convictions that do not match the police database records.
The candidate disclosed the criminal convictions, but the details (name, date, etc.) do not match the data provided in the official records.
The data provided by the candidate does not match our actual data, and no data is mentioned in the given records.
The candidate disclosed one or more criminal convictions; however, our check did not reveal any criminal convictions.
Enhanced Check Results:
For an enhanced criminal record check, you may receive one of the two results that have been explained as follows:
Clear: As the name suggests, if the result is” clear,” no results appear in the research.
Not Clear: If the check results in a “not clear” status, it may indicate that one of the aforementioned issues under enhanced check has been identified in your data. The details of these issues are not mentioned in the certificate; however, there are some steps you can take after receiving this result.

What should I do after receiving the results of the criminal record check?

Usually, these check results are your employer's final call to discuss your prospects with the organization. In other cases, the employer may want to proceed with more details regarding the check. Here are some logical next steps you can take to know more about the result.

If the basic criminal record check turns out to be incomplete, then the possible next steps are:

Candidates unsure of the details of their criminal convictions should seek confirmation through a more thorough check with their local police service, an RCMP detachment, or a third-party accredited company. This would require a fingerprint-based check.
If the candidate believes they have accurately displayed all information and wishes to dispute the results, they can contact the relevant authorities and request a recheck.
If they know where the check may have gone wrong, they can request a recheck with all the correct information.
If the enhanced check results are unclear, consider the following steps:
You can follow up with your candidate directly regarding the Not Clear result. It is the sole discretion of the candidate if they want to share the details of the result.
Your candidate can seek a local police information check from their local police service or RCMP detachment. In Ontario, this is referred to as a Judicial Matters Check.
The candidate can also dispute the “not clear” result and contact the authorities through which they did the test in first place.

Written by :

We are a background screening and document verification agency in Toronto. While we cover the Greater Toronto Area for in-person appointments, the bulk of our clientele uses our online services from different countries of the world. Globeia makes it simple and cost-effective for companies and individuals to navigate governmental red tape without breaking the bank.

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