Recently, I was arrested, held in temporary custody, falsely charged with a number of indictable offenses (sexual assault of a child and sexual penetration of a child that had apparently occurred many years ago), and then released on bail.
The charges were presented to Magistrates court, then was supposed to go to County court. However, just before I was supposed to go to my first hearing at the County Court with my lawyer and barrister, I got a call from my lawyer stating that the OPP had dropped all charges against me, which I was relieved by - not only because the charges against me were all false, but because it had drained me financially, mentally, and emotionally.
As a result, my police record remains clean, and my criminal check also clean, and I have had my Working with Children card reissued again.
My questions are threefold:
1. What record of these charges are kept by the government/police/Federal police?
2. If such record is kept by them, can I obtain a copy of what is recorded against me?
3. If I want to migrate overseas to America or Canada, are these dropped charges likely to have an impact? For example, if I do a national criminal check, it states that there are are no notable outcomes. But from a migration/immigration point of view, are these dropped charges still against my name that will be released to the overseas immigration board? Or does a clean criminal record "mean what it says"?
The charges were presented to Magistrates court, then was supposed to go to County court. However, just before I was supposed to go to my first hearing at the County Court with my lawyer and barrister, I got a call from my lawyer stating that the OPP had dropped all charges against me, which I was relieved by - not only because the charges against me were all false, but because it had drained me financially, mentally, and emotionally.
As a result, my police record remains clean, and my criminal check also clean, and I have had my Working with Children card reissued again.
My questions are threefold:
1. What record of these charges are kept by the government/police/Federal police?
2. If such record is kept by them, can I obtain a copy of what is recorded against me?
3. If I want to migrate overseas to America or Canada, are these dropped charges likely to have an impact? For example, if I do a national criminal check, it states that there are are no notable outcomes. But from a migration/immigration point of view, are these dropped charges still against my name that will be released to the overseas immigration board? Or does a clean criminal record "mean what it says"?