Criminal record checks limit hiring

The Iqaluit District Education Authority is looking for a workaround to the routine criminal record checks that frequently turn up old charges on elders who would otherwise be hired to work in schools.

IDEA administrator Alice Ladner has run into three such cases since September.

“I don’t like the idea of turning away people who appear like they would be really good,” Ladner said at an IDEA meeting this past Monday.

Ladner said she needed guidance on when to overlook minor infractions in the distant past, and when to simply not hire people with criminal records.

“Do we continue to punish people who have served their time?”

IDEA member Mike Courtney suggested contacting Sport Nunavut, a group that is “dealing with that same issue right now.”

The IDEA should also consider the legal risks of hiring people with known criminal backgrounds, Katherine Trumper suggested.

The IDEA will consult Qikiqtani School Operations to see what leeway it has on hiring people with past criminal records.