New hearing ordered for criminal-record check appeal

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 29/04/2019 (2384 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

An ambiguous appeal of a Winnipeg man’s criminal-record check has been sent back to Manitoba’s Court of Queen’s Bench after a panel of judges ruled the case was too important to handle without all of the information being put before a judge.

In a decision released Monday, the Court of Appeal ordered a new hearing for Michael Kalo as he challenges non-conviction information the Winnipeg Police Service included on his vulnerable-sector check. He claimed he lost a chance to apply for a job as a school bus driver because a 2017 records check revealed he’d been accused of sexual offences against a child eight years earlier.

The charges against Kalo were stayed after he signed a peace bond, and he was never convicted of any crime.

Previous criminal-record checks he underwent came back clean, and Kalo argued he didn’t know when he gave his consent for his record to be disclosed the non-conviction information would be included.

The case brings up “important systemic and public interest issues” and leaves many unanswered questions about the power police have to include non-conviction information, the Court of Appeal said.

“A large group of individuals may be affected by these decisions and, in particular, those who often face significant challenges in securing employment. On the other hand, the protection of vulnerable individuals is an equally important societal concern and part of the consideration. These decisions should not be made on the basis of the ambiguity in front of us on this appeal,” Justice Freda Steel wrote in the appeal court’s decision.

The appeal court awarded Kalo $5,000 in costs because of the “confusing manner” in which the City of Winnipeg went about the legal process.

The case wound up in the Court of Appeal after another judge agreed to allow a judicial review of the Winnipeg Police Service’s decision to include the non-conviction information on the records check. The lower court judge, Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Sheldon Lanchbery, didn’t have all of the relevant information in front of him when he made his initial decision, the appeal court decided, particularly about the police’s reasons for including the non-conviction information.

Lanchbery criticized an internal police service policy that allowed the non-conviction information to be disclosed and called on the provincial government to standardize the criminal record and vulnerable-sector check disclosure process.

The case will now have a new hearing in front of a different judge.

Kalo is self-represented litigant who has brought many legal challenges to Manitoba’s courts. As of late March, he has been barred from appearing in court on others’ behalf by the Law Society of Manitoba. He has said he intends to appeal that decision.

katie.may@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @thatkatiemay