Criminal Record Check

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Criminal Record Check

Under the Health Professions and Occupations Act and the Criminal Record Reviews Act, all licensees must undergo a criminal record check as part of their licensing requirements. The College of Pharmacists of BC requires its licensees to complete a criminal record check every 4 years for licensing renewal. Applicants applying for a licence will be required to complete a criminal record check as part of their licence application.

This requirement applies to all applicants and licensees of all professional regulatory bodies governed by the HPOA as College licensees are deemed to be individuals working with children or vulnerable adults, or may potentially have unsupervised access to children or vulnerable adults. The CRC is administered by the Criminal Records Review Program (CRRP) under the Criminal Records Review Act (CRRA). All licensees must undergo a CRC regardless of whether or not they work directly with children or vulnerable adults. The CRC must be completed:

  • At the time of applying for licensing;
  • At the time of applying for reinstatement once your licence has expired over 90 days;
  • At least once every 5 years, at the time of applying for licensing renewal;
  • When a licensee has been charged and/or convicted of a relevant offence or a specified offence.

Every licensee must provide consent for the CRC. A licensee who refuses to provide consent will not be able to license, renew or reinstate their licence. Without licensing, an individual cannot practise as a pharmacist or pharmacy technician in B.C.

CRC Process
  1. Licensee provides consent for CRC as part of the licensing, renewal or reinstatement process, and pays the fee.
  2. The College forwards the consent and the licensee’s information required for the CRC to the Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General (PSSG).
  3. The Ministry conducts the CRC by running the information sent by the College against provincial data and RCMP information.

     

    1. If fingerprinting is required, a letter will be sent to the licensee by the Ministry. It may take 6 months or more for processing the fingerprinting result.
    2. If there is a relevant or specified offence, a review is conducted by Ministry of PSSG who determines whether or not the record indicates a risk to children or vulnerable adults. If yes, a “not cleared” result will be returned to the College.
  4. The College receives the CRC result from the Ministry of PSSG approximately 15+ days after sending the consent to the Ministry.

     

    1. If the College receives a “cleared” result, no further action is required from licensee.
    2. If the College receives a “not cleared” result, the College will require further review.
    3. If fingerprinting is required and if you are applying for a licence, your application will not be completed until the CRC is received and is cleared.
    4. If fingerprinting is required and you are renewing your licence, you will remain licensed while the check is being processed.
Fingerprinting

The requirement for fingerprinting and the query parameters for determining who is required are determined by the CRRP and based on the RCMP’s Canadian Criminal Real Time Identification Services (CCRTIS) policy.

The search requires licensees who have either the same name and/or date of birth and gender combination to provide fingerprints to verify their identity in order to eliminate the possibility of an offender changing his/her name to circumvent a criminal record.

There are fees associated with fingerprinting, which are set and collected by individual municipalities and their federal or municipal police. The College does not provide reimbursement for the cost of fingerprinting.

Compliance

Licensees are responsible for undergoing fingerprinting when required in order to comply with the provincial requirement of licensing as a health professional in BC.

Licensees who do not comply with the completion of the CRC process, including providing fingerprints when requested, will have their licence reviewed by the College. The review may result in action being taken by the Investigation Committee or the Licence Committee, including the placement of limits and conditions on a licensee’s practice, cancellation of a licensee’s licence, or disciplinary action.

Pursuant to section 15(2) of the Criminal Records Review Act, if a licensed member does not provide the CRC authorization or CRC verification authorization as required:

  1. The licensed member must not work with children or with vulnerable adults until the licensed member has provided the criminal record check authorization or verification authorization, and
  2. The College must investigate or review the licence of the licensed member and take appropriate action under the Act that governs the College.

For more information on the Criminal Record Check, visit the BC Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General’s Criminal Records Review Program.

Read the Consent for Release of Information and Acknowledgement.

Extrajurisdictional Criminal Record Checks (CRCE)

In accordance with HPOA bylaws, a CRCE is required for each jurisdiction outside of Canada, in which you have held, or currently hold a health profession licence. At the time you apply for licensing, you will be required to initiate your CRCE through CSI Background Screening and pay the applicable fee. Once the results of your CRCE is received by the College, the information will be updated in your application. You will be unable to proceed to complete your licensing application until both CRC results are received.

CRCE Process:

Note: Do not initiate the CRCE prior to submitting your licence application. You should only start this process during or after the submission of your licence application

  1. CRCE is initiated by visiting this link: https://www.jotform.com/232573497464265
  2. Ensure that you complete one CRC for each jurisdiction (e.g. Country/state) outside of Canada where you have held a health profession licence.
  3. In the field titled “Company requesting the check,” enter “CPBC” or “College of Pharmacists of British Columbia.”
  4. Once payment has been received, you will receive an email from [email protected] for the required forms and instructions on the next step.
  5. For additional guidance, please refer to this guide.
  6. If you have questions about completing the check, please contact [email protected] by email or call them at 1-888-818-5251.