Normally a conviction certificate from a police department would be proof that someone is a criminal. Usually that's done through the RCMP, and if you have the same name as someone else, like Stewart for example, we may need to get fingerprints done and to do further checks to determine if we have the right person, so that we can come up with a determination. In some cases we might want to check foreign police jurisdictions or international police jurisdictions to come to that determination.
On March 10th, 2008. See this statement in context.