OTTAWA – A person’s DNA profile may dictate who they are but, if it’s in the RCMP’s DNA bank, they aren’t allowed to have it.
That’s according to a first-of-its-kind decision published this summer by Information Commissioner Caroline Maynard. The ruling is an example of how the government can sometimes legally withhold even extremely personal data like one’s DNA profile in certain cases.
Last year, an unidentified individual filed an access to information request to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) for their “own deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) profile generated from a biological sample” that was provided to the national police force.
According to the commissioner’s ruling, the RCMP’s DNA Data bank is largely comprised of the DNA profiles of criminals convicted of a federal offence and who were ordered by a court to produce a biological sample.
According to its 2023-24 annual report, the DNA bank currently holds over 680,000 genetic profiles as part of its convicted offenders and crime scene indexes.
The DNA, a molecule that contains a person’s genetic material, is stored and can be used by police forces across the countries to help identify suspects or link them to different crime scenes.
Despite the requester asking for their own DNA profile, the RCMP refused to disclose the information because it said it wasn’t legally allowed to.
The requester disagreed and filed a complaint to the Office of the Information Commissioner, who dismissed it.
That’s because the DNA Identification Act only allows the RCMP commissioner to disclose DNA in very specific cases, such as when trying to match DNA profile during a criminal investigation or in cases of missing persons, the commissioner wrote.
Otherwise, the commissioner says the DNA act is clear: “no person shall communicate any information that is contained in the DNA data bank or allow the information to be communicated.”
“The DNA Identification Act prohibits the disclosure of the requested information – the complainant’s DNA profile,” Maynard wrote in her ruling.
In a statement sent by a spokesperson, Maynard told the National Post that this was the first time her office was asked to rule on an access to information request for DNA from the RCMP’s database.
A spokesperson for the national police force said in a separate statement that it had previously received similar ATIP requests and that it “strictly abides” to the act.
“While the RCMP has received requests from individuals for their DNA profile through the Access to Information Program, this information has not been released,” RCMP spokesperson Robin Percival said in an email.
“For a DNA profile contained in the Convicted Offenders Index, all these communication options exclude the possibility of the DNA profile being shared by the (data bank) to an individual that is not directly responsible for conducting an investigation or for the prosecution of a designated offence, even if presented with a court order or judicial authorization,” she added.
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National Post
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