CANASA - Québec Chapter: Bill 88 - Draft Legislation Presented To The National Assembly
For Immediate Release
Québec, January 21, 2005 - On December 15, 2004, the Public Security Minister, Mr. Jacques Chagnon, presented Bill 88 to the National Assembly. The purpose of Bill 88 is to regulate private security practices: guard services, monitoring, life safety, goods and sites protection, investigation, locksmiths, electronic security systems, armoured car services and security consultant services. This legislation will setup a Private Security Bureau. The mission of the Bureau will be to insure the protection of the public with regard to the targeted activities namely by issuing and managing permits and by processing complaints filed against permit holders.
The following people have participated in the Minister's sectoral committee on electronic security and locksmithing: Normand Fiset - Panavidéo, Robert Branchaud - Microtec Securi-T, Daniel Ladouceur - Sécurité Concept, Alain Noreau - Protectron, Denis Bouchard - ADT, Pierre Dussault - Coté et Fleury and Robert Robillard - Groupe Sécurité Robillard. All of them agree that the draft legislation is only a framework for the private security sector, and that later on it will be the responsibility of the Private Security Bureau to define the regulations for each of the activity fields. The Québec chapter of CANASA is in a very good position to get one of the seven seats reserved for industry representatives on the Board of Directors of the Private Security Bureau, and will continue to engage the required resources to make sure it gets that seat.
Overall, the Québec chapter of CANASA is pleased with the draft legislation. The regulation of our industry has been anticipated for about 10 years. On each occasion, CANASA presented its recommendations in order for the people of our industry to be recognised as professionals that want to practice their trade with ethic and pride. In May 2004, as part of its presentation to the national assembly to the Institutions Commission private consultations on the Private security white paper "Partnering for internal security", the Québec chapter of the Canadian Security Association (CANASA) advocated that encouraging partnership between public and private security would enhance the security of the citizens.
Next February, the Québec chapter of CANASA will present a new memorandum as an answer to Bill 88. Many of the recommendations we made in the first memorandum were included or at least provided for in the draft legislation. On the next parliamentary committee, we will need to make sure that the Private Security Bureau gets the power it needs to regulate our activity sector so that our members can professionally practice their trade and consequently improve the security of the citizens. We will also need to clarify a few provisions of the draft legislation in order to avoid their interpretation to the disadvantage of our industry.
The Québec chapter of CANASA also believes that the future Private Security Bureau will need to consider the following elements that are unique to the security system industry : a uniformed regulation maintaining direct access numbers for emergency services, allowing for the implementation of a false alarm reduction policy and allowing the control of emergency call systems to promote a public-private partnership, banning the use of outdoor sirens in residential areas, negotiation with the CCQ (Commission de la Construction du Québec) that would allow the adaptation of a number of regulations to the reality of our industry and ULC listing for every central station.
The Québec chapter of CANASA intends to play a key role in future consultations, the same way it has done so since 1996 as part of the Québec advisory committee on private security.
Copy of the draft legislation 88: Law on private security:
http://www.assnat.qc.ca/eng/37legislature1/Projets-loi/Publics/04-a088.htm
Sylvie Laflamme
Administrative Manager
CANASA Québec
T. 514.990.2349
Toll-Free 1.800.537.0774
F. 514.990.2349
E. slaflamme@canasa.org