Background checks for Canada
Join Zinc today for fast, compliant checks that save your global team more time.
Checks and features
Hiring in Canada, made simpler
Criminal checks
Zinc's Canadian criminal court search scans all 13 provinces and territories, and covers records as far back as 1990 to help you keep your business secure.
Transparent pricing
With Zinc, what you check is what you pay — no invoice surprises. Flat fees for checks and no extra costs for integrations or setup mean you always know what your next invoice looks like.
Fully integrated global checks
Zinc integrates directly with 20+ ATS and HRIS systems, including Workday, SuccessFactors, and Greenhouse. All our integrations are available at no cost and most can be set up in minutes.
7.62
/10
21
hours
Average criminal check completion
16
days
Average education check completion
Adaptive checks, always
Zinc helps you adapt to local hiring laws so candidates only give the information necessary. You stay compliant, and checks come back faster — sounds like a win to us.
Compliant and secure
Zinc’s checks are designed to be non-invasive and compliant with GDPR and PIPEDA. Our data security, legal, and compliance teams work internally and with external partners to make sure your candidate data is protected to the highest standard.
Award-winning candidate experience
Put your best foot forward with custom branding, a mobile-friendly candidate experience, and AI-enabled support available 24/7 in 200+ languages, including French.
“Zinc almost feels too good to be true. It’s so affordable, smart, quick and hassle-free. The app looks really cool and our candidates find it super easy to use.”
Checks that work everywhere you do
Fully visibility, transparent pricing, and adaptable checks for borderless hiring.
Industry-leading global turnaround times
Adaptive checks, not extra admin
Integrated with your HR tech stacking
Truly transparent pricing
Pricing
Built for global teams
Whether you're a growing team or an enterprise hiring across borders, Zinc has a plan for you.
Under 20 hires annually
Pay As You Grow
Get started in minutes. Our Pay As You Grow plan is built for lower hiring volumes — a flat rate per check, with no hidden costs or setup fees.
Start checking in minutes, no setup needed
Flat rates per check, no hidden fees
Pay only for what you check, every month
20+ hires annually
Custom solutions
For larger volumes, our experts build a plan around your needs. Credit is flexible with your hiring and never expires, with integrations, setup, training, and support all included for free.
A custom plan built around your hiring
Credit pool that rolls over and never expires
Integrations, setup, and training included for free
What background checks are standard for employers in Canada?
Standard pre-employment background checks in Canada include a criminal record check covering all 13 provinces and territories, employment history verification, education and qualification checks, and references.
Credit checks are permitted for roles carrying financial trust responsibilities. Every check has to be proportionate and necessary for the role, and Quebec adds extra restrictions under its provincial Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms.
How does Zinc's criminal court search work in Canada?
Zinc's criminal court search in Canada draws from nine databases across all 13 provinces and territory, from British Columbia and Alberta through to Nunavut, with records kept back to 1990\. Mean turnaround is less than a day.
What is PIPEDA and how does it affect background checks?
PIPEDA (the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act) is Canada's federal private-sector privacy law, and it governs how employers collect, use, and disclose personal information for screening.
It requires candidate consent, limits data collection to what's necessary, and gives individuals the right to access their own information. British Columbia and Quebec layer their own provincial privacy laws on top, with broadly similar requirements.
What additional considerations apply to background checks in Quebec?
Quebec's Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms adds restrictions on top of PIPEDA, limiting what information employers can collect during recruitment.
The key test is proportionality: make sure the scope of your background check is clearly justified by the role. Zinc's compliance team can help you configure checks appropriately for Quebec-based hires.
Can Zinc run background checks for our Canadian employees alongside our global workforce?
Yes, that's exactly what Zinc is built for. Canadian employees sit on the same platform as your UK, US, Indian, and other global hires, with PIPEDA-compliant checks for Canada and country-appropriate checks everywhere else, integrated with your ATS and HRIS. Zinc’s platform adapts to the legal requirements of the country you’re hiring in, so candidates aren’t giving you unnecessary data or being frustrated with redundant fields. All your checks progress is available in a centralised dashboard, including country-by-country breakdowns. If you have multiple hiring teams globally, user groups allow you to share checks packages across Zinc without exposing candidate data to users who don’t need to see it.
Zinc's compliance team helps you make sure the right checks get configured for provincial legal restrictions, so you don't end up running a check the law doesn't allow.