3. Have your DNA taken

If the court orders you to give a DNA sample as part of your sentence, a correctional officer will take you to have a sample taken. This will happen after your sentencing hearing.

If there is a warrant for a bodily sample, you don’t have the right to refuse. You must attend at the date, place, and time on the warrant to give a DNA sample.

Your bodily sample for a DNA profile may include:

• a piece of hair
• a swab from inside of your mouth
• a blood sample

A police or correctional officer who is trained to take bodily samples will take your DNA sample. Before they take the sample, they will explain the procedure and the purpose of taking a DNA sample.

Removal of DNA from a data bank

If your DNA is entered into the convicted offenders data bank, it will be kept indefinitely. It will only be removed from the data bank if:

• you’re acquitted of every crime included in the order
• you apply for and are granted a record suspension, also called a pardon, for every designated offence you were convicted of
• you were convicted of the offence as a young person under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, and they are required to destroy or seal their record of that offence