More than two years after passing legislation protecting innocent Ontarians from having unproven allegations, mental health incidents or withdrawn charges show up on their police record checks, the proposed law remains unenforced. The Police Records Check Reform Act, passed at Queen’s Park in December 2015 by a vote of 93-0, followed a Toronto Star investigation that revealed that tens of thousands of Canadians have records in police databases despite having never been convicted of a crime.The province still hasn’t proclaimed the legislation into law, meaning it is not yet in force. This unusual delay has continued to undermine careers, volunteer opportunities and travel because of the disclosure of false or misleading information, say lawyers, victims and a report from the John Howard Society to be published Wednesday. “I get complaints about it about once a week,” said Toronto criminal defence lawyer John Struthers. “The acknowledgment of the importance of the presumption of innocence wasn’t a random event. It was a basic necessity of a civilized society.”In response to questions from the Star, the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services said the legislation remains a priority but did not provide a timeline for making it law. “Our government heard from many Ontarians who lost out on opportunities when routine police record checks resulted in the inappropriate disclosure of non-criminal information,” said a ministry spokesperson, Dorijan Najdovski, in a written statement. “We are currently developing the appropriate regulations to support the legislation … This is an important issue to many across the province — that is why we are committed to getting this right.”Unless the province’s process of public consultation, refining regulations and proclaiming it into law all happens before Ontario’s June election, the proposed law is in serious threat of dying, say ...
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