(Queen’s Park) – Garfield Dunlop, P.C. Critic for Community Safety and Correctional Services, today criticized Minister Kwinter for introducing a toothless bill to replace the Private Investigators and Security Guards Act.

“I’m concerned that Minister Kwinter’s bill doesn’t go far enough to immediately address the 22 recommendations of the Shand Inquest,” said Dunlop. “Too many of the most important recommendations from the inquest – for example, around the use of force and mandatory training – have been left up to regulations for implementation at a later date, if at all.”

Regulations that accompany legislation are developed after the legislation is passed and require only Cabinet approval.

Patrick Shand died of injuries received during an altercation with store employees and security guards outside a Scarborough grocery store on September 14, 1999. On April 23, 2004, the Coroner’s Inquest into the death of Patrick Shand came up with 22 recommendations dealing with a broad range of issues.

On June 1, 2004, Dunlop introduced Bill 88, the Private Investigators and Security Guards Amendment Act, 2004. Three days later, Bill 88 passed Second Reading in the Ontario legislature in a vote of 48-0, including support from Minister Kwinter.

If it had passed, Bill 88 would have brought about the following and other changes to the private security industry:

· Mandatory, multi-level training and standards for use of force, firearms and making arrests;

· Different classes and portability of licences;

· One-year term on all licences;

· Restrictions on the equipment that licensees are authorized to use or prohibited from using;

· Prohibitions for licensees on uniforms, and markings and colours of security vehicles that resemble those of police officers;

· Prohibitions on licensees on use of badges or other insignia that resemble those of police officers;

· Record-keeping of use of force that is required to be reported annually;

· A code of conduct with which licensees are required to comply when acting as a private investigator or security guard;

· The creation of the Private Investigators and Security Guards Complaints Commission to investigate public complaints; and

· An increase in fines for corporations that are convicted of an offence under the Act.

“My bill addressed each and every one of the Shand Inquiry recommendations,” said Dunlop. “It was ready to go to Committee on June 4 and would have probably already been passed in the legislature. Instead, the Minister wasted six months to come up with a watered-down bill that relies on even more consultations.”

Contacts:
Garfield Dunlop
(705) 327-4500 (cell)