Simon's Megalomaniacal Legal Resources

Police - Canadian Police Information Centre (CPIC)

. Shanthakumar Estate v. Canada Border Services Agency

In Shanthakumar Estate v. Canada Border Services Agency (Ont CA, 2025) the Ontario Court of Appeal dismissed an appeal, here involving "whether the appellant law enforcement agency should be held civilly liable [SS: in negligence] for arresting the respondents based on inaccurate information obtained from the Canadian Police Information Centre (“CPIC”)".

Here the court briefly canvasses the Canadian Police Information Centre (“CPIC”) system:

[23] The evidence at trial established that CPIC is a system for sharing crime-related information. It is managed by the RCMP. Law enforcement agencies from across the country may access CPIC upon accepting a Memorandum of Understanding (“MOU”). The CBSA and the NPS were each subject to MOU’s, which, among other things, required adherence to CPIC policies, documented in the CPIC Policy Manual. The standard MOU provides: “Information emanating from the CPIC system must not be acted upon without it first being verified with the originating agency.” The CPIC policy manual provides: “Output from CPIC must therefore not be acted upon without verification of the originator of any related record.” Moreover, the agency that posts the information on the system is responsible for correcting inaccurate information “as soon as possible”, and “at the earliest opportunity.”