Canada Background Check Trends to Watch in 2026
                     H IR IN G C OMPLIA N C E    
Background check trends 
in Canada, 2026. 
 
 
What is changing, at a glance 
01 Ontario employers with 25 or more employees must disclose AI use in job postings. 
02 Bill C-36 would replace Part 1 of PIPEDA. It is not law yet. 
03 Quebec's Law 25 is fully in force and is the strictest regime in the country. 
04 Continuous criminal monitoring does not work here the way it does in the US. 
05 Vulnerable sector checks still cannot be automated by any third party. 
06 Identity verification has moved to the front door of the criminal record check. 
IN  FORCE  AI disclosure is now a hiring 
1 Jan rule 
2026 Employers with 25 or more employees must state in publicly advertised job postings whether AI is used to screen, assess or 
select applicants. 
Ontario Employment Standards Act 
The definition is broad. Resume parsers that rank candidates, chatbots 
that pre-screen, and any automated system that scores or shortlists. 
Four other posting rules landed with it 
$ No 45 days 3 years 
Expected compensation Canadian experience Interviewed applicants Postings and application 
or a range must appear requirements are must be told whether a forms must be retained 
in the posting. prohibited in postings decision has been after the posting comes 
and forms. made. down. 
For staffing agencies posting on behalf of clients, this matters twice over. The obligation sits with the 
employer, and the agency is usually the one writing the ad. 
Federal privacy law, third attempt 
2000 2020 Jan 2025 15 June 2026 
PIPEDA is written. Still the Bill C-11 does not Bill C-27 dies on the Bill C-36 is introduced. It 
governing federal law today. proceed. Order Paper when would enact the Protecting 
Parliament is prorogued. Privacy and Consumer Data 
Act. 
It is a bill, not a law. Nothing about it is in force. 
The provinces have not waited 
QUEBEC  ALBERTA  BRITISH COLUMBIA  
Law 25 PIPA PIPA 
Its own Personal Information Its own Personal Information 
Protection Act, separate from the Protection Act, separate from the 
 federal regime. federal regime. 
Collect less, state the purpose plainly, keep it for a defined period, and be able to show your consent 
trail. Worth building now regardless of what happens to Bill C-36. 
Continuous monitoring, compared 
MECHANISM  UNITED STATES  CANADA  
Record source County and state court feeds RCMP CPIC, police services only 
Third party access Subscription or licence Not available directly 
Consent model Standing authorization for the Informed consent per search 
employment period 
Practical equivalent Always-on alerts Scheduled re-screening 
If a vendor sells you continuous Canadian criminal monitoring, ask what data source produces the alert and 
what consent covers it. 
W H A T  IT  M E A N S  H E R E  
Continuous monitoring in Canada is 
really scheduled re-screening. 
 
  
Identity verification moved to the front 
STEP ONE  STEP TWO  STEP THREE  
Document scan Liveness check Record search 
Completed by the candidate on Confirms a real person is 
their phone. submitting, not a copied document.  
A name-based check compares name and date of birth A certified criminal record can only be issued on the 
against the criminal names index. It is not a fingerprint basis of fingerprints submitted to the RCMP National 
check. Repository. 
A voicemail, no call back, the file 
BEFORE  
sits for a week. 
Where automation 
actually pays off Requests go out, reminders run on 
NOW  a schedule, answers return in a 
Criminal record checks were already fast. References structured written format. 
are the slow part, and it is slow for a human reason. 
A written, consistent set of answers across every candidate 
The whole exchange is 
is defensible in a way that a recruiter's phone notes are not. 
RESULT  timestamped and consistent across 
candidates. 
Social media screening needs guardrails 
A MANAGER SEARCHING PERSONALLY  A THIRD PARTY CHECK  
Sees everything: age, ethnicity, religion, family Scoped to defined risk categories, reporting only 
status, disability. All protected grounds under what is job relevant. Protected characteristics are 
human rights legislation. filtered out before the employer sees the report. 
The trend is not more social media screening. It is more disciplined 
social media screening. 
What is not changing 
Blockchain credential wallets Predictive risk scoring 
Discussed for a decade. No meaningful adoption in Canadian Sits directly in the path of human rights law, and now the 
hiring and no infrastructure behind it. Ontario disclosure rule as well. 
Vulnerable sector checks Psychometrics inside a check 
Still only available in person at a local police service. No third Assessment and verification are different products with 
party can automate them today. different legal footing. 
What to do this year 
1 Audit your job postings against the Ontario rules if 2 Write down whether any tool in your hiring stack 
you have 25 or more employees in the province. scores or ranks applicants, and disclose it if it does. 
Set a retention period for screening records and Define a re-screening interval for safety sensitive 
3 4 
actually apply it. roles instead of relying on a check from four years 
ago. 
Confirm where your screening provider stores Route social media screening through a third party 
5 6 
candidate data and who can access it. rather than doing it in the recruiter's browser. 
Run Canadian checks without the 
subscription. 
 
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