Since as can been seen by the jest of the letter - the main reason for the criminal check is to do with child and/or family abuse.
When I showed up at the Corp of Commissioners this morning I meet with a commissioner that was Chinese. He was confused with my original request because he thought the letter was from the Hong Kong Police and not the Canadian Consulate. He passed me on to his supervisor who enlightened me on Judicial matters. The supervisor mentioned that quite often he gets this request from Mexico and the Philipines. However, this was the first time he had a request from Hong Kong.
He explained that certain people could have had a conviction and that later be granted a pardon on the so called family crimes. This pardon would make the crimes fall under the radar if a routine criminal check was done from a potential employer. Only if the job would require working with children that a more through check would be needed. This they call a "Vulnerable Sector Clearance" search. The consulates do not have the authority to conduct the search, thus the RCMP request.
Now he said that at one time the RCMP had the Corp of Commissioners do the search, but because of some foul up back east, The RCMP washed their hands of the business and now the local police department institutes the search. So off to the Calgary Police department I went while thinking on how I seem to end up first on my October trip and now, spending Hard time in Copper land. Penny for my thoughts...
Well the "Vulnerable Sector Clearance" search cost me $30 Cdn of cold hard cash and I am told that it will take 2 - 3 weeks to complete.
But I am now scratching my head - why the check. Sure she has a child, a boy of 16 years. But if she never had a child, she could as so often happens become pregnant. So in turn then every Male sponsor should have to under go a similar precaution. I for the Life of me try to think if any of my EMF's contained anything that would raise concerns from the Visa officer checking our application. But I can not think of something rotten in Dem-marks of writing.