The National DNA Data Bank of Canada (NDDB) became operational on June 30, 2000, when the DNA Identification Act was proclaimed law. Since then, the NDDB has helped to revolutionize the way crimes are being investigated and has been a major asset in solving some of Canada's most challenging and older criminal cases. The NDDB contains DNA profiles in two indexes: the Crime Scene Index (CSI) and the Convicted Offender Index (COI). The CSI profiles are received directly from all forensic laboratories across Canada. The CSI DNA profiles are first developed from crime scene evidence sent to the regional laboratories by investigators across Canada. The COI profiles are developed at the NDDB from biological samples collected from offenders who have been convicted of specific designated offenses. Since its opening, the NDDB has made over 452 matches between crime scenes and convicted offender samples; and more than 29 crime scene-to-crime scene matches. In its second year of operation, the total number of hits has increased almost tenfold. The effectiveness and usefulness of the NDDB would be significantly improved if every offender convicted of a primary offense and the majority of secondary offenses were ordered to provide a biological sample. Police have demonstrated with casework data that the inclusion of DNA profiles from less serious offenses helps solve many of the most serious and challenging cases.