P.E.I.'s plans for vetting childcare partners too broad, say RCMP

P.E.I.'s legislation on vulnerable sector checks for people in the early childhood education sector needs to be more specific, says the commanding officer for the RCMP in the province.

A vulnerable-sector check is done to determine if a person has ever been pardoned for a sexual offence, and is used in conjunction with criminal records checks.

Both are required for organizations hiring in early childhood education, but last year the province began a reconsideration of its guidelines when RCMP refused to do some requested checks. This led to some people not being eligible for employment.

Proposed changes are currently being reviewed by a legislative committee. RCMP Chief Superintendent Derek Santosuosso told the committee Tuesday the proposed amendment, with language including partners and shareholders, is too broad.

"If they have trust and authority over the child, and using the guidelines that we have, if that's the case we absolutely want those people to have vulnerable sector checks," said Santosuosso.

"It's when it gets a little broad. And what if there's a publically-traded company that owns it and they have 1,000 shareholders? Are we doing 1,000 vulnerable sector checks? Just the way it's written currently, makes that problematic."

While a situation with a publically-traded childcare company may be unlikely, the current proposal would also include people such as accountants and electricians who would never have any contact with a child, Santosuosso said.