Royal Canadian Mounted Police revealed absolute discharge

A man applied for a Transportation Security Clearance in July 2010, which was denied by Transport Canada (TC) in September 2011 based on information from the RCMP. The man complained that the RCMP improperly disclosed his personal information to TC. The RCMP had obtained information about an incident involving the complainant in 2009, which resulted in an absolute discharge a few months later. The RCMP provided this information to TC in 2011. The OPC found that the disclosure contravened the Criminal Records Act because more than a year had passed since the absolute discharge and no ministerial approval was obtained. The disclosure was also not authorized under the Privacy Act. The complaint was found to be well-founded.