What is a criminal record check?
A criminal record check confirms whether a person has a criminal record in Canada. Employers, landlords, schools and contract clients ask for one to confirm you are who you say you are and to see any convictions. The most common type is a name-based criminal record check: your name and date of birth are searched against the RCMP's national database of criminal convictions.
MyCRC runs that name-based check online. You verify your identity with your phone, sign your consent, and get a PDF report in your account to download. There is no police station visit and no appointment.
How long does it take?
With MyCRC, reports can be ready in as little as 15 minutes, and the average is about 4 hours. The process itself takes a few minutes on your phone. If identity verification isn't finished, or confirming your ID takes extra time in our system, it can take longer.
The traditional route means taking time off work, going in person and waiting days for your results. That is the line MyCRC lets you skip.
Police check vs criminal record check
"Police check" is the everyday name for a criminal record check, and many employers use the two terms for the same thing. Police services and provinces use more specific names. In Ontario, the Police Record Checks Reform Act, 2015 sets out three levels: a criminal record check, a criminal record and judicial matters check, and a vulnerable sector check. In Alberta, police services call theirs a police information check.
MyCRC provides a name-based criminal record check. If the organization asking for your check names a specific type, use the name they give you to confirm it is the one you need.
What does it show?
A name-based check searches the RCMP's national database, the Canadian Police Information Centre (CPIC), using your name and date of birth. Your report comes back with one of three statuses, set by the police and the RCMP:
- Negative: no criminal record was found matching your name and date of birth.
- Positive: a criminal record was confirmed.
- Incomplete: the police could not confirm a result from a name-based search alone. The next step is fingerprinting in person.
Read what the statuses mean and why a report can be Incomplete.
Can I get one free?
MyCRC charges one price, $68.23 tax included, with no monthly fees. Some local police services offer reduced-fee or free checks for volunteers, usually in person and through the organization you volunteer with. MyCRC doesn't accept volunteer vouchers or prepaid codes. If you have one, your local police service can usually honour it.
Getting one in your province
MyCRC's check covers all of Canada, wherever you live. These guides explain how checks work where you are:
Provinces
- Criminal record check in British Columbia
- Criminal record check in Alberta
- Criminal record check in Saskatchewan
- Criminal record check in Manitoba
- Criminal record check in Ontario
- Criminal record check in Québec
- Criminal record check in New Brunswick
- Criminal record check in Nova Scotia
- Criminal record check in Prince Edward Island
- Criminal record check in Newfoundland and Labrador
- Criminal record check in Yukon
- Criminal record check in Northwest Territories
- Criminal record check in Nunavut
Cities
- Criminal record check in Vancouver
- Criminal record check in Surrey
- Criminal record check in Victoria
- Criminal record check in Calgary
- Criminal record check in Edmonton
- Criminal record check in Red Deer
- Criminal record check in Lethbridge
- Criminal record check in Regina
- Criminal record check in Saskatoon
- Criminal record check in Winnipeg
- Criminal record check in Toronto
- Criminal record check in Ottawa
- Criminal record check in Mississauga
- Criminal record check in Brampton
- Criminal record check in Hamilton
- Criminal record check in London
- Criminal record check in York Region
- Criminal record check in Durham Region
- Criminal record check in Halton Region
- Criminal record check in Kitchener-Waterloo
- Criminal record check in Windsor
- Criminal record check in Montréal
- Criminal record check in Québec City
- Criminal record check in Laval
- Criminal record check in Halifax