Video "Allow the Ontario Ombudsman into Municipalities!" Please click here to go directly YouTube
Yesterday when I saw this editorial in the Toronto Star, I had high hopes because of the title, "Security industry cleanup overdue".
"Ah," I thought, "The Star finally gets it."
But no. And for the life of me I can't understand why.
True, we should all hail the passing of Bill 159, "Private Investigations and Security Guards Act." To its credit, the Toronto Star saw holes. For example, the editorial laments just how long it will take The Province to implement this bill.
The Star concludes:
"Clearly, too much is at stake to needlessly delay implementing the new regulations. That's why the province should do everything possible to put training and testing programs in place immediately"
and clearly misses the point. Like Bill 130 before it, Bill 159 dupes the citizens of Ontario. Here's why.
In its editorial The Star states:
"Once the new regulations are fully implemented, everyone in the [security] industry will have to be licensed and private security guards will not be allowed to dress like police or drive cars that look like police cars."
Seems they never bothered to look at the bill itself. This part:
"Non-application
(7) This Act does not apply to,
....(c) a person who is acting as a peace officer;"
Reading further, Bill 159 defines "peace officer" as:
"Peace officer"
(9) For the purposes of clause (7) (c),
"peace officer" means a person or a member of a class of persons set out in the definition of "peace officer" in section 2 of the Criminal Code (Canada).
AH! So now the citizens of Ontario have to go to section 2 of the Criminal Code of Canada. Let's do that, shall we?
Now you'd be amazed at all the types of people defined by the Criminal Code as a "peace officer". But the relevant one here is:
"peace officer" includes:
"( c) a police officer, police constable, bailiff, constable, or other person employed for the preservation and maintenance of the public peace or for the service or execution of civil process,"
There's the key.
"...or other person employed for the preservation and maintenance of the public peace or for the service or execution of civil process,"
Municipal enforcement officers (security guards) because they are "employed for the preservation and maintenance of the public peace or for the service or execution of civil process" are exempt from Bill 159.
Municipal Big Brother who patrols our public places and keeps an eye on us with state-of-the-art video surveillance cameras... well, the perceptive reader gets the picture.
Back in December 2006 I wrote John Gerretsen, Minister of Municipal Affairs, expressing concerns regarding the lack of accountability of municipal officers and guards. I posed this simple question: "Is it even possible to hold municipal enforcement personnel accountable to the public?"
In his email response, Mr. Gerretsen stated that municipal officers/guards are "expected to abide by the policies and rules (such as codes of conduct) the municipality has put in place as a condition of their employment. In addition to an employee’s statutory duties, a municipality has the ability to establish its own accountability framework and to determine the policies they have in place for employees."
That means that even with Bill 159 now in place, the Province has left standards, training, certification, policies and procedures for municipal "security forces" entirely in the hands of each city government. If the city doesn't bother, what then?
What then? Nothin'. Ya can't get there from here.
I know, I know. I keep goin' back to Ontario Ombudsman, Andre Marin. This warning from his June 2007 report:
Millions of Ontarians are at the mercy of a special kind of 'Big Brother' that is "deemed off-limits to proper checks and balances."
The Province is to blame for this loathsome state of affairs.
Mr. Marin states:
"Big Brother has his hand firmly planted in our back pocket – government revenues his lifeline; unaccountability his refuge."
Bill 159, Private Investigations and Security Guards Act fails to protect us from Municipal "Big Brother" --as does The Province.
Now you know.
Anyway. That was yesterday's Star. Today, Carol Goar appeared in the Comment section with "Fresh election, same stale tricks"
Ms Goar concludes:
Bill 130 allowing municipalities to choose their "ombudsmen/investigators".
Bill 159 Private Investigations and Security Guards Act exempting municipal security.
Duped again, Dupes!
Signed,
The Mississauga Muse
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"We must employ every possible tactic to dissuade those who try to silence us with fear"
---The Mississauga News Editorial (2007-03-24)
"Edward R. Murrow --My Hero". To Go Directly to the clip on YouTube or Google Video)
"Mississauga Saga". To Go Directly to the clip on YouTube or Google Video)
"A Flag named The Andre Marin". To Go Directly to the clip on YouTube or Google Video)
FURTHER READING
Click here for John Stewart's Blog, RANDOM ACCESS
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