The National DNA Data Bank of Canada - Annual Report 2019-2020

Chart 1: Offender ^{chart 1 footnote 1} and forensic ^{chart 1 footnote 2} hits

Convicted offender samples

When someone is found guilty of committing a designated offence for which a biological sample can be obtained, the judge has the choice to issue a DNA order. However, for some designated offences, such as murder, the judge must issue an order. A trained peace officer will then collect a biological sample from that person by taking a blood, buccal or hair sample. The National DNA Data Bank is responsible for processing all convicted offender biological samples and entering the DNA profiles derived from these samples into the Convicted Offenders Index.

Kits designed specifically for the National DNA Data Bank are used for collecting biological samples from offenders. There are three types of kits available:

• Blood: The sample is obtained by using a sterile lancet to prick the fingertip
• Buccal: The inside of the mouth is rubbed with a foam applicator to obtain skin cells
• Hair: Six to eight hairs are pulled out with the root sheath attached

Although all three types of biological samples have been legally approved for collection, more than 98% of samples taken from convicted offenders are blood samples. The National DNA Data Bank encourages the collection of blood samples because blood has proven to be more reliable than hair or buccal samples in generating high-quality DNA profiles.

Crime scene and victim samples

Crime scene DNA evidence is collected by police investigators and examined by forensic laboratories across Canada to generate DNA profiles. Only a DNA profile derived from a designated offence can be added to the National DNA Data Bank's Crime Scene Index or the Victims Index. The National DNA Data Bank is also responsible for removing victims' DNA profiles in accordance with the DNA Identification Act. The following public forensic laboratories are authorized to add DNA profiles to the Crime Scene Index and Victims Index:

• The RCMP National Forensic Laboratory Services in Ottawa, Edmonton and Surrey
• The Centre of Forensic Sciences in Toronto and Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario
• The Laboratoire de sciences judiciaires et de médecine légale in Montréal, Quebec

Voluntary donor samples

Samples collected from voluntary donors during the course of a criminal investigation of a designated offence are processed by a public forensic laboratory. If the resulting DNA profile provides a potential benefit to the investigation, it is added to the National DNA Data Bank's Voluntary Donors Index. Voluntary donor samples collected as part of a humanitarian investigation are provided to the National DNA Data Bank for processing and added to the Voluntary Donors Index. The National DNA Data Bank is responsible for removing voluntary donors' DNA profiles in accordance with the DNA Identification Act.

Missing persons, relatives of missing persons and human remains samples

Processing of samples from missing persons, relatives of missing persons and found human remains falls within the National Missing Persons DNA Program. This program is a partnership between the National Centre for Missing Persons and Unidentified Remains and the National DNA Data Bank. The role of the National Centre for Missing Persons and Unidentified Remains is to act as a single point of contact for investigators. As such, the National Centre for Missing Persons and Unidentified Remains authorizes the submissions to the National DNA Data Bank for missing persons and human remains investigations.

Under the DNA Identification Act, the National DNA Data Bank is responsible for maintaining the humanitarian indices and also for:

• receiving biological samples from submitting agencies and developing DNA profiles
• receiving DNA profiles from approved laboratories for technical review
• interpreting and comparing DNA profiles from human remains, relatives of missing persons and personal belongings from missing persons
• adding and removing DNA profiles in the Human Remains Index, Relatives of Missing Persons Index and Missing Persons Index in accordance with the legislation
• issuing and explaining kinship and identity association reports
• providing scientific advice and support to the National Centre for Missing Persons and Unidentified Remains and investigators, as required

Overview of National Missing Persons DNA Program submission process

1. Canadian Police Information Center
   • Investigators ensure Canadian Police Information Center entries are complete for the missing person or human remains case
   • Contact the National Centre for Missing Persons and Unidentified Remains for submission authorization
2. National Centre for Missing Persons and Unidentified Remains
   • The National Centre for Missing Persons and Unidentified Remains assesses cases
   • Provides consultation and guidance to investigators
   • Provides submission and consent forms
   • Authorizes cases for National DNA Data Bank submission
3. Investigation
   • Investigators collect biological samples, personal effects and/or human remains
   • Investigators complete submission and consent forms and send the submission package to the National DNA Data Bank
4. National DNA Data Bank
   • National DNA Data Bank verifies that all forms are completed
   • Conducts DNA analysis
   • Adds qualifying profiles to humanitarian indices
   • Provides scientific support to the National Centre for Missing Persons and Unidentified Remains and investigators
5. Match in the Combined DNA Index System
   • National DNA Data Bank generates a report for associations to a missing person or human remains DNA profile
   • Sends the report to the National Centre for Missing Persons and Unidentified Remains
6. Match notification
   • The National Centre for Missing Persons and Unidentified Remains forwards the report to the investigator

Process for reporting a DNA match: Criminal investigations

1. National DNA Data Bank processes biological samples from convicted offenders and enters the resulting DNA profiles into the Convicted Offenders Index
   1. National DNA Data Bank runs a search between the Crime Scene Index and the Convicted Offenders list
   2. DNA match between a convicted offender's DNA profile and a crime scene DNA profile
   3. The offender, the crime scene and the laboratory identifiers are brought to the Canadian Criminal Real Time Identification Services (CCRTIS)
   4. CCRTIS forwards the convicted offender data to the forensic laboratory
   5. Forensic laboratory passes the convicted offender identity information to the investigator
2. Forensic laboratories process biological samples left at crime scenes and enter the resulting DNA profiles into the Crime Scene Index
   1. National DNA Data Bank runs a search between the Crime Scene Index and the Convicted Offenders list
   2. DNA match between a convicted offender's DNA profile and a crime scene DNA profile
   3. The offender, the crime scene and the laboratory identifiers are brought to the Canadian Criminal Real Time Identification Services (CCRTIS)
   4. CCRTIS forwards the convicted offender data to the forensic laboratory
   5. Forensic laboratory passes the convicted offender identity information to the investigator

Process for confirming a DNA match: Criminal investigations

1. The investigator assesses the case evidence to determine if further investigation of the suspect is required
2. If evidence of a match between the convicted offender and the crime scene DNA profiles is required for court purposes, the investigator must apply to a provincial court judge for a DNA warrant; if the DNA warrant is ordered, a biological sample can be collected from the suspect under that authority
3. The biological sample is submitted to a forensic laboratory for analysis where the forensic laboratory compares the suspect's DNA profile to that of the crime scene evidence
4. The forensic laboratory issues a report confirming a DNA match between the suspect's DNA profile and that of the crime scene evidence
5. Based on the laboratory report and other investigative information, the investigator can consider whether charges should be laid or recommended against the suspect

Uninvited guest

In the spring of 2018 in Regina, Saskatchewan, a homeowner in his mid-sixties was standing in his open garage while talking on his mobile phone. An unknown male walked right past him into the garage, opened the fridge, grabbed a 2L bottle of iced tea, drank from it, and put it back in the fridge.

When the homeowner approached the intruder and asked what he was doing, the intruder punched him in the face, breaking his nose. The intruder then stole the homeowner's phone and fled on foot.

No useful fingerprints were found on the iced tea bottle but a swab was taken of the mouth area. The swab was sent for DNA analysis to the RCMP National Forensic Laboratory Services and an unknown male profile was developed from the evidence. In July, when the profile was added to the crime scene index of the National DNA Data Bank, it resulted in a hit to a known convicted offender.

After obtaining a DNA warrant to confirm the match, the suspect was arrested and charged with assault. He was convicted of assault causing bodily harm and given 388 days in jail and probation for 12 months.

Other than the victim, this file had no witnesses or leads and was concluded as unsolved pending the DNA analysis. If it wasn't for the National DNA Data Bank, this file may have remained unsolved and the offender would have escaped justice for this violent offence.

I have been in the Forensic Identification Unit for 5 years now and I have too many files to count the successes that we have had through a analysis from the National Forensic Laboratory Services and the assistance of the National DNA Data Bank, from stolen autos to homicides.

Can't fool DNA

In August 2017, the RCMP in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador, received a call from a parent that their child (a minor) had been sexually assaulted.

The victim, although initially scared and reluctant to speak to police, bravely gave a statement, agreed to a hospital examination, and completed a sexual assault examination kit. The victim's clothing was taken as evidence and sent for DNA testing as well.

The RCMP continued their investigation while waiting for the DNA results. The investigator also spoke with an individual living in the area about a possible suspect, however it was determined that the suspect had since left the area.

While the investigator was busy tracking down this lead, the laboratory was processing DNA found on the victim's clothing and comparing it to DNA profiles in the National DNA Data Bank.

The National DNA Data Bank got a match. Despite the direction in which the investigation had been led, the match was not to the out of town suspect but rather to the individual who had given the investigator misleading information!

In early February 2018, the suspect was arrested and taken into custody for sexual assault and sexual interference and was later convicted in 2019. It is worth noting that the offender matched the description provided by the victim in her statement.

The National DNA Data Bank was vital in this investigation. We had exhausted all avenues of ground investigation, but it was the data bank that identified and named a suspect through DNA evidence. The suspect was located, arrested, charged, and later convicted for sexual interference on a minor.

Violent attacker caught by candy

In January 2018, the Montreal police service was on alert for a sexual predator after two violent attacks in the city. The attacks took place within weeks of each other and the degree of violence was escalating. The investigators had no suspects and their hopes rested on DNA.

The first assault happened in December 2017. A man followed a young woman, grabbed her from behind and threatened her with a knife to her throat. While trying to escape, the victim was stabbed in the neck but managed to flee. After evaluating the scene, investigators believed that the suspect might have been waiting for his victim in a nearby bus shelter and followed her from there. They collected items from the victim's clothing and the bus shelter and submitted them for DNA analysis to the Laboratoire de sciences judiciaires et de médecine légale in Montréal. The laboratory obtained three different male profiles from the bus shelter evidence:

• one from a candy
• one from a tissue paper
• one from a cigarette butt

The Laboratoire de sciences judiciaires et de médecine légale submitted all three profiles to the National DNA Data Bank for comparison with profiles contained in the Convicted Offenders Index. The DNA profile obtained from the candy resulted in a match to a convicted offender. Unfortunately, the investigators found no other evidence to link that potential suspect to the attack.

In January 2018, a second victim was attacked from behind, punched repeatedly in the face, and strangled. While the suspect tried to undress the victim, her screams alerted neighbours and their shouts drove the suspect away. The victim was badly injured and her clothing was submitted for DNA analysis. Given the urgent need to identify the suspect to prevent further assaults, the LSJML activated its emergency protocol to get DNA results from the evidence within 24 hours.

Using new software technology that greatly assists in the interpretation of DNA mixtures, the laboratory was able to link the male DNA profile from the candy in the first assault to a mixed DNA profile obtained from the coat of the victim in the second assault. The association between the two profiles was a critical element linking the suspect to the two assaults.

With the new evidence from the second assault, police arrested the suspect. There is no doubt that the information provided by the DNA match to a convicted offender was crucial in helping this investigation. The offender pled guilty, was sentenced to seven years in prison and was declared a dangerous offender in the summer of 2019.

All it takes is a tiny, carefully collected sample following a complete, thorough examination of the crime scene for the National DNA Data Bank to prove its effectiveness in supporting charges against a violent sexual predator identified through DNA.

National Missing Persons DNA Program's first match

In October 2017, a cyclist found a man deceased in a tent at a homeless encampment along Nose Creek Pathway in Calgary.

The medical investigator determined the death was not suspicious and that the man had been in the tent between five and six months. The man was 5'4" tall, and somewhere between 25 and 50 years old. Because of how long he had been deceased, he could not be identified through traditional methods such as fingerprinting. The only items the man had on him were a heavily damaged cell phone and SIM card. Some emails stored on the damaged phone were recovered, and seemed to indicate that the phone probably belonged to the man found in the tent.

While officers worked on piecing together the identity of the deceased, a DNA sample from the body was sent for processing. Due to the condition of the remains, three different samples had to be sent for analysis to a private laboratory before a suitable DNA profile could be developed. This process took about one year.

Once a suitable profile was developed, it was submitted to the National DNA Data Bank.

In October 2019, a DNA match came back with a name that matched the name used in the emails found on the phone with the deceased. This confirmed that the phone belonged to the man who had been found in the tent. He was originally from eastern Canada and had not been reported missing.

This was the first time DNA submitted to the National Missing Person DNA Program had been successfully used to identify human remains in Canada. As a result, police were able to notify the man's estranged family of his death, and the circumstances around it.

This was someone's son, someone's brother. Even though his death wasn't criminal in nature, it was extremely important to the investigators that we identified him so that we could let his family know what happened to him.

This case illustrates the value of the National Missing Persons DNA Program in assisting missing persons and unidentified remains investigations. It can provide closure to families and link cases that span provinces and jurisdictions. The more profiles we get, the greater our chances of making an identification and bringing more people home

Explanatory notes

Offender "hit"

A DNA profile developed from crime scene evidence and entered into the National DNA Data Bank's Crime Scene Index matches a DNA profile in the Convicted Offenders Index.

Forensic "hit"

A DNA profile developed from crime scene evidence and entered into the National DNA Data Bank's Crime Scene Index matches another crime scene DNA profile in the Crime Scene Index.

Victim "hit"

A DNA profile developed from a victim and entered into the National DNA Data Bank's Victims Index matches a DNA profile in another index.

Offender duplicate

Cases where two biological samples from the same person were submitted to the National DNA Data Bank.

Identical DNA profiles

DNA profiles of identical twins.

Convicted offender's profile

A DNA profile from an offender convicted of a designated offence.

Crime scene profile

A DNA profile developed from biological evidence found at a crime scene.

Retroactive authorizations

This is a biological sample taken from an offender who was found guilty of certain designated Criminal Code offences before June 30, 2000. The authorization is granted as per qualifying criteria set out in s.487.055 of the Criminal Code. Under this provision, the National DNA Data Bank has received 5,035 submissions.

Rejection of National DNA Data Bank submissions

The National DNA Data Bank has rejected only 6,743 (1.5%) of the biological samples and 2,623 (1.5%) of the endorsements it has received to date. Reasons for rejection include: the offender was convicted of a non-designated offence, the biological sample was inadequate, the collection kit used was inappropriate (sample), the offender's DNA profile was not contained in the Convicted Offenders Index (endorsement), or the DNA order was missing or invalid.

Collection of additinal bodily substances

If a biological sample is rejected because the quality of the sample is deemed inadequate for DNA analysis, or if it was not submitted in accordance with the DNA Identification Regulations, an application for resampling can be authorized by a judge. Since June 30, 2000, the National DNA Data Bank has received 1,728 samples taken under this provision.