A vulnerable sector check was requested for your job or volunteer role. Who qualifies, what to bring, the B.C. route, fingerprints, and repeats.
Applies in: across Canada
A job or volunteer role working with children, seniors, or people with disabilities often comes with a request for a vulnerable sector check. The request sounds like a criminal record check, and it partly is — but it is a different product, with a different test, a different issuer, and a rule that trips up applicants: one check covers one position, and the result goes to the organization, not to you. This guide follows the RCMP's vulnerable sector page step by step, so you bring the right papers to the right door the first time.
Vulnerable sector checks were created in 2000 to protect children and vulnerable persons, and they are governed by section 6.3(3) of the Criminal Records Act. A vulnerable sector check is a police information check plus a check to see if a person has a record suspension — a pardon — for sexual offences.
The test is about the position, not the person. People who volunteer or have jobs where they are in positions of trust or authority over children or vulnerable persons can be asked to obtain one — and being in a position of trust or authority is more than just having contact with children or vulnerable persons. The nature of the position must cause the person to have authority over, or the trust of, children or vulnerable persons. Children are anyone under the age of 18. Vulnerable persons are people who, because of their age, disability, or other circumstance, are more vulnerable than others.
The decision to request a check is made by the hiring company or volunteer organization. If the position is one of trust or authority over children or vulnerable persons, the organization can request that an applicant obtain a vulnerable sector check — and the organization also decides how often the check must be repeated. If you are unsure whether your role qualifies, ask the organization first: the police service will make its own determination when you apply, and it can refuse a check the position does not qualify for. Public Safety Canada's Screening Handbook gives organizations guidance on what level of criminal record screening a position requires, and it is the document to point an uncertain organization toward.
Outside British Columbia, you contact your local police service. The RCMP page lists four things to provide:
Bring these with you rather than reconstructing them at the counter. A position description that does not show the trust-or-authority element is the most common reason a service questions whether the check can lawfully be conducted — see Step 6.
Vulnerable sector checks must be conducted by the local Canadian police service where an applicant lives. That is the rule on the RCMP page, and it is what makes this check different from a certified criminal record check: an RCMP-accredited fingerprinting company can take fingerprints for a certified check, but it cannot provide a vulnerable sector check, and no private company can substitute for the police service.
British Columbia is the exception. In British Columbia, follow the process defined by the British Columbia Criminal Records Review Program, which the RCMP page names as the authorized body for conducting vulnerable sector checks in the province. The provincial page states the check is only for employees or volunteers of registered organizations who work with children or vulnerable adults, and that organizations covered by the Criminal Records Review Act must screen people who work with children or vulnerable adults through the program. If your British Columbia organization or regulator names the program, follow its instructions and do not substitute another issuer.
Once the police service has determined that the position meets the requirements, a name-based search is conducted. The check draws on national databases maintained by the RCMP and local police records where the applicant lives.
In some cases you will be required to submit fingerprints to confirm your identity. The RCMP page states this plainly: fingerprints are part of the identity confirmation, and their use ensures the accuracy of the identification process. Being asked for them does not mean a record was found — see the FAQ on fingerprints.
One check is conducted for one position. The Criminal Records Act requires that vulnerable sector checks be conducted for individual positions, so if you are applying for different positions that require a vulnerable sector check, you may need to submit fingerprints for each of those individual positions. Plan each application separately rather than assuming one check will carry across roles.
Once the vulnerable sector check is completed, the police service conducting the check will send the results to the requesting organization. Do not expect the result in your own hands: the organization that asked for the check receives it, and the organization decides what the result means for the position.
The same organization also decides how often a vulnerable sector check must be repeated. This guide states no universal validity period, because none was verified on the RCMP page: the requester sets the repeat rule. If the organization sets no window, get the check as close to the start date as the processing time allows, and keep the issue date visible on any document you submit.
Two limits are worth knowing before you apply. First, the police service will use the information you submitted to determine if the position meets the legal requirements — and if the position does not meet the requirements of the Criminal Records Act, it is illegal for the police service to conduct the check. A refused check is a statement about the position, not about you; the organization must reframe the position or accept that no check can lawfully be conducted for it.
Second, the Criminal Records Act does not allow vulnerable sector checks to be conducted for the purpose of adoptions. A local police service may request fingerprints in order to check if adoptive parents have record suspensions for sex offences, under other provisions of the Act, and the RCMP strongly recommends that a check of local police records accompany any adoption request completed by Canadian Criminal Real Time Identification Services. An adoption request follows that route, not the vulnerable sector check route.
First, the organization's request names a vulnerable sector check — not a generic criminal record check — and the position puts you in trust or authority over children or vulnerable persons. Second, you have the position description, the organization's name, details about the children or vulnerable persons, and a volunteer letter if the role is unpaid. Third, you are going to the right door: your local police service, or the Criminal Records Review Program in British Columbia. Fourth, you have confirmed the fee with the service and asked for its current timeline. Fifth, you know one check covers one position, and the result goes to the organization that requested it. Sixth, if the service refuses the check, you know the refusal is about the position and the organization must decide the next step.
No, and the difference decides where you go. A vulnerable sector check is a police information check plus a check for a record suspension — a pardon — for sexual offences. It exists for one purpose: protecting children and vulnerable persons, and it is governed by section 6.3(3) of the Criminal Records Act. A regular criminal record check does not include the pardoned-sexual-offence search, and a vulnerable sector check is available only where the position itself puts you in trust or authority over children or vulnerable persons. If your letter names a vulnerable sector check, go to your local police service — or, in British Columbia, through the Criminal Records Review Program — and do not substitute a check from a private fingerprinting company, which cannot provide one. The companion police-certificate guide explains the other check types and how to tell them apart.
Being asked for fingerprints does not mean you have a record. The RCMP page states that a name-based search is conducted first, and that in some cases fingerprints are required to confirm identity. Fingerprints are an identity check: they confirm that you are not another person whose name and date of birth resemble yours. The check itself is what the organization asked for, and the fingerprint step is part of completing it, not a finding against you. If fingerprints are requested, ask the police service how much time the step adds, and tell the organization the check is in progress so a deadline is not missed while the step runs.
Do not assume so. The Criminal Records Act requires vulnerable sector checks to be conducted for individual positions, and the RCMP states that applying for different positions may mean submitting fingerprints for each of those individual positions. The result also goes to the organization that requested the check, not to you, so a second organization cannot simply reuse the first one's result. The safe move is one check per requester, requested as close to the submission date as the requester allows, and a fresh check whenever a new employer or volunteer organization asks for its own.
Through the British Columbia Criminal Records Review Program. The RCMP page names the program as the authorized body for conducting vulnerable sector checks in the province, and the provincial page states the check is only for employees or volunteers of registered organizations who work with children or vulnerable adults. In practice the organization you will work for is registered with the program and handles the screening through it, under the Criminal Records Review Act. Follow the instructions your organization or regulator gives you for the program, and do not substitute a local police check or a private fingerprinting company's check where the program is the named route.
No processing time and no fee are stated on the RCMP vulnerable sector page, so this guide states neither. The fee is set by the police service conducting the check, and the timeline depends on whether the name search alone settles identity or fingerprints are needed. Confirm the fee with the service before you go, and ask for its current timeline when you apply so the organization that requested the check knows when to expect it. Do not carry a fee or a timeline from another check type into this one: the figures published for fingerprint-based certified criminal record checks do not apply to a vulnerable sector check.
A refusal is a statement about the position, not about you. The police service first decides whether the position meets the legal requirements, and if it does not, it is illegal for the service to conduct the check. Contact alone with children or vulnerable persons is not enough: the nature of the position must cause you to have authority over, or the trust of, children or vulnerable persons. Tell the requesting organization what the service decided. The organization must reframe the position description so the trust-or-authority test is met, or accept that no vulnerable sector check can lawfully be conducted for that role and decide what check, if any, it will accept instead.
No fee figure is stated in this guide, because none was verified on the RCMP vulnerable sector page: local police services set their own fees, so confirm the fee with the service before you go. No processing time for a vulnerable sector check is stated, because the RCMP page publishes none for this check: ask the service for its current timeline when you apply. No universal validity period is stated, because the requesting organization decides how often the check must be repeated. Re-check the RCMP vulnerable sector page on the day you apply: it governs over any summary, including this guide.