Information Sharing with External Partners

The Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) continually strives to improve information sharing with external partners in the Canadian criminal justice system. By increasing information sharing with criminal justice partners, CSC contributes to the enhancement of the public safety in Canada.

Since information sharing activities became a priority for CSC in 2001, we have connected a number of external partners to the Offender Management System (OMS) and InfoPol (Information for Police), as well as introduced new technologies for exchanging information with our partners. CSC has also become connected to many of our partners' information systems. Access to OMS information (granted to the organizations listed below) is designed to ensure that the organizations only receive the information they need to perform their duties, and to which they are entitled by law. This way, we safeguard the security and privacy of information while enhancing our partners' ability to appropriately track offenders.

Police Services (InfoPol)

The Corrections and Conditional Release Act (CCRA) states that CSC must share information with police services on offenders who are released under conditions in their communities or on those who are unlawfully at large in Canada. This exchange of information is accomplished electronically with the InfoPol (Information for Police) application. InfoPol was implemented on March 31, 2003. It contains a sub-set of data extracted from the OMS. CSC also provides police services with a communication tool in the form of a secured email solution in order to share protected information with CSC officers.

In April 2012, after nine years of operation, InfoPol is used by over 95% of all major police services across Canada and has close to 3000 connected users.

Provincial and Territorial Corrections

The exchange of information between the CSC (the federal correctional system) and the correctional systems of each province and territory is crucial to the efficient management of an offender's sentence. The various correctional systems in Canada often deal with the same individuals but at different points in time. For example, all federal offenders must go through the provincial or territorial correctional system while they await their federal sentence (two years or more, depending on where they are located).

Moreover, it is possible that offenders serving a sentence in a provincial or territorial system (less than two years) have previously served a federal sentence, and vice versa.

The sharing of information between the CSC's Offender Management System and the offender management systems of each province and territory provides each authority with a complete and accurate picture of an offender's behaviour and his/her progress during a sentence. The access to additional information is an essential element in the decision-making process during parole assessments in order to ensure the safety of our communities.

The British Columbia, Yukon, Saskatchewan, Quebec, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador correctional services have access to a dedicated OMS menu and, in return, have provided CSC with access to their offender management systems. A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to grant access to the OMS or the provincial offender management systems has been signed with the province of Ontario. Consultations continue with Alberta, the Northwest Territories, Manitoba, Nunavut, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia. .

CSC also provides secure email services for exchanging information with parole offices in Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia.

Provincial Parole Board

The Québec Parole Board is one of only two provincial parole boards (Ontario being the other) left in Canada. The Board's connection to OMS is maintained in the same mode as the one used by the provincial/territorial correctional services.

Community Residential Facilities and Supervision Agencies

Community Residential Facilities (CRF) and other supervision agencies are criminal justice partners that provide services under contract and assist CSC at facilitating the safe reintegration of offenders into the community. They provide supervision and residential services for conditionally released offenders, as well as perform community assessments on behalf of CSC. In order to carry out the work for which CSC contracts them, these organizations need information about the offenders which they obtain from OMS through a restricted access menu. The CRFs use the information to prepare reports for CSC on the offenders' progress within the community while CSC provides the CRFs with a tool to communicate with CSC officers through a secured email solution.

All CRFs and contract agencies identified at the outset of the connectivity project are presently connected to OMS. Additional connectivity is established on an on-going basis for newly contracted CRFs and supervision agencies.

Contract Agencies

CSC grants OMS access to agencies that work with offenders, and assist them to reintegrate into society. Some of these agencies help offenders to gain job skills, and dispense programs to assist with building résumés or interview skills. These agencies also perform job searches for offenders.

The contracted agencies are only granted a restricted access to a selected OMS menu.

National Flagging Coordinators (Attorney Generals)

The Attorney General Offices responsible for the national flagging of high-risk offenders in British Columbia, Yukon, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Québec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador, have electronic access to a dedicated menu of OMS on a "need-to-know" basis in order to facilitate the identification and the monitoring of high-risk offenders.

Provincial Crown Attorney Offices

Provincial Crown Attorney (Prosecutor) Offices require access to CSC's offender information in order to prepare for bail, pre-sentence, and court hearings. This information can concern offenders who are actively serving a federal sentence or having a former federal offence (archived) record.

Passport Canada

A connection between CSC and Passport Canada became active in September 2005. CSC now supplies Passport Canada with an electronic file on all current offenders. The file contains the following type of data:

  • Surname
  • Given name
  • Gender
  • Warrant expiry date
  • Photographs
  • Known aliases
  • Offender's address
  • Date and place of birth

CSC also provides, on a daily basis, notification for individuals who are no longer offenders within the meaning of the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the two departments.

In essence, Passport Canada now receives up-to-date information on all offenders under CSC's jurisdiction, which assists officials in making decisions relating to the:

  • revocation of a passport
  • refusal to issue a passport, or
  • continuation or issue of a passport for an offender.

In addition, once a decision has been made by Passport Canada on an offender's passport status, it is electronically confirmed and transmitted to the CSC.

Canada Border Services Agency (Border Security and Immigration)

- Border Security -

In collaboration with the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), CSC is currently working with CBSA to ensure that offenders who are not allowed to leave the country are intercepted at the border. The InfoPol application, which is presently accessible to the Canadian police services, is considered as a possible technical solution for CBSA personnel.

- Immigration -

CSC needs to know the status of immigration proceedings when they relate to federal offenders. CSC collaborates with Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC), and supplies CIC with information such as the planned release dates of federal offenders. Any offender who is subject to an outstanding immigration action or deportation order is released from CSC at the stipulated release date and entrusted to the custody of CIC until a decision is made on their immigration status.

Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics

The Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics (CCJS) is an agency of Statistics Canada that issues annual correctional statistics on federal and provincial offenders. Since 2006, CSC transmits electronically to the CCJS generic offender statistical information, on an annual basis, through an OMS data extraction mechanism.

Canada Revenue Agency

In 2001, representatives from CSC and the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to exchange information about offenders incarcerated in federal institutions. CSC forwards to CRA a list of offenders, on a monthly basis, to assist CRA in enforcing the Income Tax Act (Canada), the provincial and territorial income tax acts, the Excise Tax Act, as well as in carrying out any investigation with respect to the aforementioned acts.

Québec Revenue Ministry

In 2004, CSC and the Québec Revenue Ministry (QRM) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to exchange information about offenders incarcerated in federal institutions. Under the terms of the MOU, CSC is forwarding information to the QRM, once a year, through a secure email solution. The information is necessary to enable the QRM to properly administer different refund programs with regards to offenders.

In July 2011, a legislation to administer the new solidarity tax credit came into force. CSC is in the process of n a new MOU with QRM to formalize the sharing monthly of information on all offenders incarcerated in federal institutions in Quebec at the beginning of each month. This information assists QRM in the effective administration of the tax credit to which incarcerated offenders are not entitled.

Ontario Sex Offender Registry (OSOR)

Christopher's Law was passed on April 23 2001 in the province of Ontario to create a provincial sex offender registry. It stipulates that any sex offender residing in Ontario has to register within 15 days to a local Police service.

Since June 2005, an electronic link exists between CSC and the Ontario Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services (MCSCS). Through this link CSC supplies OSOR with relevant federal sex offender information on the individuals released in the province of Ontario. The information also enables OSOR officials to identify offenders who are to be listed on their registry.

In July 2009, an additional sex offence category related to electronic media (Criminal Code of Canada s. 162) was included into this electronic exchange following amendments to Christopher's Law.

National Sex Offender Registry (NSOR)

In April 2011, an electronic information exchange between the RCMP's National Sex Offender Registry (NSOR) and the CSC's offender management system (OMS) was established. This enables information from the OMS to be automatically transferred to the NSOR in accordance with the changes to the Sex Offender Information Registration Act (SOIRA) under Bill S-2. The amendments to the law stipulate that recently released sex offenders who are out in the community for 7 days or more must register with the RCMP.

Criminal Conviction Review Group

The Criminal Conviction Review Group (CCRG) is a sector of the Department of Justice responsible for reviewing applications to the Minister of Justice under s. 696.1 of the Criminal Code of Canada (Miscarriage of Justice). The CCRG has access to CSC's offender information and uses it in the study of cases under review.

The letters of understanding came into effect in December 2009 and grant the CCRG access to OMS at CSC's National Headquarters (NHQ) on an as-and-when-requested basis.

Web Portal for Victims

When victims of crime register with the CSC or the Parole Board of Canada (PBC), they are entitled to receive information about the offenders who harmed them. The information that can be released by CSC is covered under section 26(1) and (2) of the Corrections and Conditional Release Act (CCRA), while information that can be released by the PBC is covered under section 142(1) and (2) of the CCRA. Notifications are currently done by telephone and/or letters to the victims.

The National Victim Services Program requested the creation of a secure victim notification site that would enable victims to register to receive information and notifications electronically. The ability to register to receive information electronically would enhance the services currently provided by Victim Services officers and expedite the victim application process. The electronic notifications to victims would not replace the current methods but rather provide an alternative for notifying victims when new information about the offender becomes available.

Accurate information and timely notification services are essential to help meet the needs of victims, survivors, their families, and the communities. This project is currently under a feasibility study.

Criminal Records Act: PBC

On June 29, 2010, the Criminal Records Act was amended to restrict the granting of pardons for serious crimes. As a result the Parole Board of Canada (PBC) gained enhanced access to OMS to enable PBC personnel to extract relevant information for the purpose of the inquiries and pardon decisions.