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International News

Canadian Police Checks Still Taking Forever

November 01, 2011 posted by Steve Brownstein

The head of a Winnipeg non-profit agency says Canadians are being put at risk because a new system has resulted in long delays getting background checks for new workers.

Karen Fonseth, chief executive officer of Direct Action in Support of Community Homes (DASCH) says it can take more than a year for some checks to be completed due to the poor implementation of a system for doing the checks.

"It's ridiculous," said Fonseth. "People can't wait five to six weeks to get a job, let alone five to six months."

In June, she had over 50 applications awaiting a criminal check. Last month, she could only watch in frustration as three more potential hires found work elsewhere.

The new system, implemented over a year ago, now requires fingerprints to be submitted for anyone whose gender and date of birth match someone who has an offence on record.

It means far more people now need to go to their local police station to submit fingerprints and the delays for processing those prints can extend for several months.

Even the initial check before fingerprints takes four to six weeks, said Fonseth.

She said about one-third of the people she submits for a background check run into the new problem.