Some records may be accessed for longer periods than those listed above and some records can be accessed forever. Records can be accessed for longer periods when the offence was presumptive or when the offence is on a specific list of violent offences. Please see page 49 for a further discussion of the length schedule or a list of specific violent offences.

Special Records Repository

In cases where the charge was for a presumptive offence (see page 35 for information on presumptive offences), the record can be held forever in a location known as the special records repository (section 120 (3) (b)), and be accessed by a restricted group of people.

In cases of a violent offence, the record will be kept in the special repository for an additional five years (section 120(3) (a)). During that additional five year period, if the young person commits another offence listed in the schedule, access to the record may be given to a specific list of individuals for specific purposes (section 120(4)) – parents/guardians; judge/court/review board; government agent involved in the youth’s case.

If a person over 18 years of age is found guilty of another offence before the access period for a youth record has passed, those youth records become part of the person’s adult record and the rules about adult records now apply.

What Happens to Records after the Access Period?

Once a youth’s record has passed the access period, no court record, police record or government record can be used for any purpose that would identify the youth (section 128). It is an offence to disclose or share youth records after they have passed the access date. A person who illegally discloses a youth’s record can get a punishment of up to two years in prison (section 138).

It is the responsibility of the youth to check whether their youth record has been sealed
once the access period has been reached.

Police records kept by the RCMP in CPIC are destroyed (deleted, shredded or physically destroyed) after the access period has passed (section 128). When a record has passed the access date, CPIC should not show that a record ever existed. Each individual offence must have passed the access period before the record can be destroyed.

It is important to realize, however, that mandatory disposal of youth records at the end of the access period does NOT apply to all types of records. Police records in the special records repository or in the regular and special fingerprints repositories are not necessarily destroyed. The people who hold the court records, government records and other records have a choice about whether to destroy them. They cannot, however, disclose them after the access period is completed.