PARDON SERVICES OTTAWA
A stricter RCMP police check for volunteers is creating a major headache for minor hockey officials.
All volunteers working closely with children and the elderly are now required to be fingerprinted if their birthdate and gender matches someone with a criminal record. The fingerprints are then run through a national databank before a volunteer is cleared.
While minor hockey officials support the reason for the new policy — the safety of children — it also means hundreds of volunteers could be left in limbo for up to four months while the RCMP processes their fingerprints.
“Everybody wants to protect everybody and we agree with that, but what this does to the system is that it creates a backlog,” says Richard Sennott, executive director of the Ottawa District Hockey Association.
“It comes at a bad time for us, because we’re just starting our season now. It should have been started in May or June.”
Under the old policy, all volunteers were subjected to police checks, but were only red-flagged and asked for fingerprints if their name and birthdate matched those of a criminal.
RCMP spokesman Sgt. Greg Cox says the police check was amended because in some provinces people can change their names without reporting it.
“We realize it has created some concern from people who didn’t have to go through the process before,” Cox says.
“The reason it came with no warning is that we realized there was a gap in the process. We’re aware (of the delays), but when you’re dealing with safety and concerns for people, these things have to be done.”
In April, abuse of young hockey players returned to spotlight after it was revealed that convicted sex offender Graham James had been pardoned by the National Parole Board. Former NHL players Sheldon Kennedy and Theo Fleury have said they were abused by James while playing junior hockey. Since then, changes have been made to the pardon system.
Cox says the RCMP has made adjustments to staffing, attempting to speed up the fingerprinting process, but initial reports suggest a flood of volunteers will need to be tested.
Following a police check of 25 volunteers at one Toronto minor hockey association last week, eight were asked for fingerprints, according to Brent Dick, the ODHA’s risk and safety chair. At another Ontario hockey association, seven of 15 police checks showed that the birthdate and gender of a volunteer matched that of a criminal, requiring followup fingerprinting.
In the Nepean Minor Hockey Association, one of Canada’s largest, the 2,800 players require more than 800 volunteers — head coaches, assistant coaches, managers and trainers — all of whom must have a police check because they’re dealing with children.
“Nobody is disagreeing with the rationale,” Dick says. “A lot of things have transpired and when Graham James was pardoned, there was more attention to it.
“It’s not so much the procedure or the policy, it’s how it impacts minor hockey associations. What happens now if a bunch of coaches are red-flagged? What does the association do with this person while they’re waiting (for the fingerprints to be processed)?”
His advice to hockey associations is to exercise their own strict due diligence, including extensive background checks on all volunteers.
That’s also the message from Will Coukell, executive director of Volunteer Ottawa, which connects volunteers to 300 non-profit organizations.
“What’s happened is that people are relying solely on the police checks, but those checks aren’t fail-safe. Even this only gets (criminals) if they’ve already been caught.”
Coukell says the $25 fee for fingerprinting could discourage potential volunteers, but he also suggests the simple process of going to a police station could turn off others.
“My particular concern in this instance is that we deal with a lot of new immigrants who are looking for volunteer opportunities while they’re waiting for their paperwork to work,” he said.
“Some of these people have the skills where they’re able to help volunteer agencies, but they might hesitate to get fingerprinting. The police in some of the countries where they come from are not as friendly. To me that’s a big concern.”
Article from The Ottawa Citizen.
