June

Asylum seekers and refugees applying to be minicab drivers are exempt from criminal records checks, potentially allowing murderers and rapists to get behind the wheel. Rules laid down by Transport for London (TfL) mean refugees and those applying for asylum do not have to reveal whether they have a criminal history when trying to become a cab driver.

The legal loophole in an official application document on 'private hire driver licensing' says people coming to Britain will not be required to have their criminal convictions checked. The form states: 'With regards to overseas criminal records checks, no such checks will be made in respect of those applicants who declare that they are in possession of or who have applied for refugee or asylum status.' Campaigners called for a change in the guidelines, calling on all minicab drivers to undergo criminal checks.

"The city police force is moving ahead with trying to speed up the process to get a background check. The Thunder Bay Police Service will issue a request for proposal to find a third-party to handle the criminal records searches, which are often necessities for employment and volunteer purposes.

Police officials said the force conducts more than 6,000 checks this year, with the average wait time being between one to three months. Creating a more efficient process is the goal, said police chief J.P. Levesque. ""We 're counting on them to speed things up so we 're looking at a one to two year pilot project,"" Levesque said. The process will ensure the hired company will be able to properly conduct the detailed and thorough searches that are necessary."

In the last few years, statistics show that an increasing number of licences to possess medical marihuana have been granted, and with the recent changes to the federal legislation, this number is very likely to keep growing. One of the many issues to be considered in the wake of these changes is the impact on the employment sphere: How should employers deal with employees who use prescribed marihuana in the workplace? What measures should be put in place? Should parameters be set in order to supervise the use of medical marihuana in the workplace? Beginning in 2001 in Canada, medical marihuana was controlled through the Marihuana Medical Access Regulations (MMAR), under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, as established by Health Canada. Since March 2014, under the MMPR, licences are no longer granted by Health Canada. Practitioners, who previously had the role of declaring medical conditions, are now enabled to prescribe medical marihuana.