Woman with no fingerprints can finally volunteer
The woman without fingerprints has finally proven she has no criminal record.
André Leger-Cormier discovered she had lost her fingerprints in April, when she tried to get a criminal record check to volunteer at her grandschilden's school.
After four months of calling politicians and talking to the RCMP, she finally got a letter certifying she's never been convicted of a crime.
"I'm clear, but I still don't have any fingerprints," she told Information Morning in the Summer.
The Moncton woman, who is in her 60s and retired, had not gotten a background check in a while, so she does not know exactly when her fingers lost their identifiable pattern.
What made her case more complicated is that she shared a name with someone with a criminal record.
Leger-Cormier said she just couldn't just give up.
"I was thinking 'OK, I can't really accept that. There is somebody, somewhere that can help me.'"
She has a little notebook where she noted every phone call she made and every person she talked to. She contacted provincial and federal representatives, and "that didn't really help," so she went directly to the source.
"What I need to do is go directly to the RCMP and fight about it," she said. "I went back to them and said, you know, I don't think it's fair. What can we do?"
That's what ultimately helped her get a letter in lieu of a traditional criminal record check.
She said this it was important for her to speak publicly about her experience, to see if somebody had an answer and to show people that this can happen.
"I have to do something about it for people that want to work, people that want to volunteer," she said. "If I was starting my career, I don't know what I would have done."
Still looking for answers
This September, she's starting her volunteering hours at her grandson's school. She's looking forward to working with the children, she said.
She also got a referral to a dermatologist to find out actually what caused her to lose her fingerprints. Her family doctor said fingerprints can fade for people who have eczema.
"But I don't have that," she said.
Despite not yet having an answer for why she has no fingerprints, she said she is happy this issue has been resolved.
"That took a big weight from my shoulder for sure. It's been it had been a long process, but it's done and I've got this letter and it's perfect for now," she said.
