Many people believe that if they are charged with a criminal offence and it is discharged in court then the criminal record will disappear on its own.
They are later dismayed and surprised when the criminal record still shows up for a criminal background check for employment, volunteer, coaching or travel purposes. Depending on the type of criminal background check that is done, the offence may or may not show up but in most cases the individual doing the check can see that the person has been in trouble with the police. This can prevent them from gaining employment or traveling.
If you are charged with a criminal offence and there is a judgement of an absolute discharge then you have to be out of trouble for one year to be eligible for a file destruction. A file destruction will remove your prints from the system so that it can no longer be seen by the public.
In the following case, the person had a conditional discharge for an assault charge. One must be out of trouble for a three year period if they were given a conditional discharge to be eligible for a file destruction.
While it is true, the criminal records should disappear on their own after the given time periods, it will still show up on the local police level and sometimes even the RCMP level until a file destruction is requested.
Here is a thank you letter from a person we recently helped to remove a conditional discharge for assault:
