Frequently Asked Criminal Record Check Questions

Q. What is provided in your Criminal Record Check Service?

A: Sterling Backcheck conducts criminal record checks based on the name and date of birth of an applicant. These searches may provide an indication of the existence of criminal convictions, for which a pardon has not been granted, within the RCMP National Repository of Criminal Records. Any information discovered will be provided as the record exists on the date of search.

Information provided as a result of this search will not include:

• Outstanding entries (i.e. charged and wanted person information)
• Convictions under provincial statutes
• Offences subject to a pardon or record suspension
• Local records of other police services in Canada, where a conviction was not issued
• Cases where the applicant has been found not guilty by reason of mental disorder

Please note: Specific details of a criminal record conviction cannot be released without fingerprint verification. Fingerprinting can be conducted by local police or accredited fingerprinting companies, with whom Sterling Backcheck has partnered for the convenience of our customers. Please contact us for further information.

Q: What is eIV? Does it affect my credit score?

A: Used by Canada’s largest financial institutions, electronic ID Verification (eIV) is the industry standard in confirming identity online. Your TransUnion credit file is used to confirm your identity. Part of this process includes four questions relating to your personal credit history. This process has no effect on your credit score.

Q: How can I obtain more information about the “Not Clear” result?

A: Sterling Backcheck’s police partners provide 3 types of Criminal Record Check results: “Clear,” “Not Clear,” and “Not Clear – Accurate Disclosure.”

If your candidates results reflect “Not Clear,” you can either choose to Re-check with Sterling Backcheck’s proprietary eConsent technology, or send your candidate to the police station for fingerprints.

Q. What is Sterling Backcheck’s typical turnaround time for Criminal Record Checks?

A. Sterling Backcheck provides Criminal Record Check results in 4 hours or less.

Q. Is there any other record information Sterling Backcheck may not obtain?

A: Local police services may have local police information that is not on CPIC, or that has not yet been entered into CPIC.

Q. Where do you get your information from?

A: The information given to our clients is provided by an authorized Canadian police service. Sterling Backcheck works with numerous police departments across Canada to obtain Name-based Criminal Record Checks from the Canadian Police Information Centre (CPIC). This is the only national source of criminal records in Canada.

Q. How do you satisfy privacy legislation?

A: Sterling Backcheck is committed to providing thought leadership and promoting best practices for compliance with human rights, privacy, and employment legislation. We have a dedicated, full-time Privacy and Compliance team dedicated to ensuring Sterling Backcheck’s compliance with our legal obligations and helping ensure our products are designed to facilitate our clients’ compliance with their obligations. In addition, all Sterling Backcheck employees are trained at time of hire and refreshed annually on privacy and information security.

Q. What process do you have to obtain information?

A: Typically, when candidates complete their application forms for employment with a Sterling Backcheck’s client, our client also asks the candidate to provide the necessary personal information to perform a Criminal Record Check. Once the candidate has provided the required information and provided signed consent for the check, we conduct the Criminal Record Check by utilizing the services of one of our police departments. Our contact at the police department will conduct the check and report back to us in a timely fashion. Sterling Backcheck ensures the accuracy of results with numerous quality control measures and returns the result to our client within one business day of receiving the request.