The Paleo-DNA Laboratory is accredited under the following standards:

1. Standards Council of Canada CAN-P-4D and ISO/IEC 17025, the General Requirements for the Competence of Testing and Calibration Laboratories.

2. Standards Council of Canada CAN-P-1578, the Guidelines for the Accreditation of Forensic Testing Laboratories.

View our Scope of Accreditation

Our Laboratory is also ASCLD compliant.

About the Standards Council of Canada

“The Standards Council of Canada ("Council") is a crown corporation established by an Act of the Canadian Federal Parliament in 1970 to foster and promote voluntary standardization in Canada. It is independent of government in its policies and operations, although it is financed partially by Parliamentary appropriation. The Council consists of members from the government and private sectors.

The mandate of the Council is to promote the participation of Canadians in voluntary standards activities, promote public-private sector cooperation in relation to voluntary standardization in Canada, coordinate and oversee the efforts of the persons and organizations involved in the National Standards System, foster quality, performance and technological innovation in Canadian goods and services through standards-related activities, and develop standards-related strategies and long-term objectives.

In essence, the Council promotes efficient and effective voluntary standardization in Canada in order to advance the national economy, support sustainable development, benefit the health, safety and welfare of workers and the public, assist and protect consumers, facilitate domestic and international trade and further international cooperation in relation to standardization.” (SCC Guidelines for The Accreditation of Forensic Testing Laboratories)

History of Forensic Accreditation in Canada

Forensic Science is the application of science to the law, without distinction between civil and criminal proceedings. The Canadian Society of Forensic Science (CSFS) is incorporated to promote the study, raise the standards, and to enhance the status of forensic science as a distinct discipline. In pursuit of these goals, in March, 1994, the CSFS approved the formation of a committee to study accreditation processes available to Canadian forensic laboratories and identify the best means for them to become accredited. The SCC's primary interest is to accredit laboratories that provide analytical results of documented quality to the Canadian Courts of Law in both criminal and civil proceedings. The assurance that a laboratory adheres to recognized practices and standards can be achieved through accreditation in the Program Specialty Area - Forensic Testing (PSAFT) using the Guidelines for the Accreditation of Forensic Testing Laboratories (CAN-P-1578), which can be applied to all types of testing performed in Canadian forensic science laboratories. The ultimate goal of an accreditation program is to enhance the reliability and the comparability of test data generated from individual laboratories. The members of this committee worked with the Standards Council of Canada (SCC) to develop the following document as a framework for accreditation of forensic laboratories within Canada under the auspices of the Standards Council of Canada.

In September of 1994, the Canadian Department of Justice released a consultation paper entitled "Obtaining and Banking DNA Forensic Evidence". This document, which mentioned that the Canadian government was investigating various aspects of forensic deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) analysis with a view to developing legislation, asked the question "should forensic laboratories conducting DNA analysis be accredited?" Despite its high profile, forensic DNA analysis constitutes only one part of the broad field of forensic science; most Canadian forensic laboratories are multidisciplinary in nature. The CSFS accreditation committee strove to ensure that the guidelines in the following document embraced the entire Canadian forensic science community and that they were in place prior to passage of legislation demanding accreditation. To ensure that they were complementary with the legislation under consideration, the CSFS Accreditation Committee augmented its membership with representatives from the CSFS DNA Advisory Committee and the Department of Justice Working Group on DNA Legislation.

How Forensic Laboratories are Classified

The services of forensic testing laboratories in Canada are generally organized into the following divisions or sections: toxicology (drugs, alcohol and poisons), firearms and tool mark identification, questioned documents and counterfeit examinations, biology (serology and DNA), and chemistry/trace evidence analysis.

These divisions of work are often referred to as forensic science "specialty areas" or "disciplines." Within a forensic testing laboratory, they may be organized as sections. The activities of forensic testing laboratories generally take place within the laboratory itself. There are, however, occasions when attendance at a (crime) scene is necessary in order to best provide the services required. In most instances, scene attendance and any evidence recognition and collection are carried out by specially trained personnel who also deal with other forms of evidence such as fingerprints, footprints, and tire prints. These evidence types may not be directly included in a Forensic Testing Laboratory.

How Canadian Standards Relate to International Standards

Rather than creating its own “stand-alone” standards, the Standards Council of Canada designed its standards to harmonize with and complement International Standards. The Standards Council of Canada CAN-P-4D, "General Requirements for the Accreditation of Calibration and Testing Laboratories", which is ISO 17025. In the development of these standards, the committee relied on the International Laboratory Accreditation Co-operation (ILAC) Forensic Working Group document.

(Click here to visit the ISO website).

What Achieving Accreditation Entails

Accreditation requires on-site assessment of the laboratory and continued participation in proficiency testing programs, where available. The accreditation program is operated and managed by the SCC through its Program for Accreditation of Laboratories - Canada (PALCAN). PALCAN is operating in accordance with ISO/IEC Guide 58 Calibration and Testing Laboratory Accreditation Systems - General Requirements for Operation and Recognition.

What Accreditation Means

The Standards Council of Canada offers accreditation to laboratories that undertake forensic testing. Forensic labs are involved in the testing of physical evidence from potential crime scenes. In addition to testing the evidence, forensic scientists often issue reports and give expert court testimony on the test results obtained and the conclusions that might be made based on this information.

To ensure that this evidence stands up to scrutiny in court, it is imperative that the testing methods used by the laboratory have proven and documented credibility. Accreditation provides an assurance that a forensic laboratory has adhered to recognized practices and standards.

Accreditation under the CAN-P-1578 program is the formal recognition by the Standards Council of Canada of the competence of a forensic testing laboratory to manage and perform this type of activity. It is not a guarantee that test results will conform to standards or agreements between a testing laboratory and its clients; business transactions between an accredited testing laboratory and its clients are legal matters between the two parties.