Criminal background checks now free for volunteers
Posted October 26, 2013 1:21 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Things just got a little easier for volunteer coaches in Vancouver.
While criminal background checks for volunteer coaches are free in some parts of the province, Vancouver is not one of them.
Checks are necessary for all coaches and can cost up to $50.
Now a new provincial website will let organizations submit groups of names for the background check free of cost.
“I think it’ll make it easier for everybody. It’s challenging to run a soccer club on a volunteer basis so this will ease the pressure on getting volunteers to come out,” says Chris Merritt with the Killarney Youth Soccer Association.
He says the fee money can easily be better spent elsewhere.
“The money that we save will then be put towards additional training, equipment or trips out of the city, just things to help our clubs.”
Justice minister Suzanne Anton broke the news at the Killarny Oval.
“Quite often it’s hard for people to pay that extra fee. You can see all the coaches and parents who are working with kids behind me. You can imagine how many volunteers there are in an organization like that. So for every one of them to have to go down to the police station and pay a fee, that was hard.”
The cost of the move will be offset by charging eight dollars more for an employee record check.
