The Ministry of the Solicitor General (; formerly known as the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services) is the ministry in the Government of Ontario responsible for public security, law enforcement and policing, emergency management, correctional and detention centres/jails and organizations such as the Ontario Provincial Police, Emergency Management Ontario, and the Office of the Fire Marshal.

The minister responsible is Michael Kerzner, Solicitor General of Ontario.

History

Law enforcement and public safety

Prior to 1972, the Attorney General and the Department of Justice had carriage of the responsibility for policing and public safety in the province.

The Ministry of the Solicitor General was established in 1972. Although there was no solicitor general of Ontario prior to 1972, one did exist for both the Province of Upper Canada (1791–1840) and the Province of Canada (1841–1867). With the re-organization of the Government of Ontario in 1972, however, this long-dormant office was re-established.

Correctional services

The Board of Inspectors of Asylums and Prisons, first appointed in 1859, was charged with general superintendence of the United Provinces' (i.e. Canada East/Quebec and Canada West/Ontario) 61 public institutions. These included 52 common gaols, the largest single type of institution, 4 lunatic asylums, 2 hospitals, 2 reformatory prisons, and one large penitentiary. Five inspectors were appointed and each one assigned an inspection district.

After Confederation, the Prisons and Asylums Inspection Act was passed on March 4, 1868. It vested control of all the above types of institutions located in Ontario, 49 in total, in the Office of the Inspector of Prisons and Asylums in the Department of the Provincial Secretary. On June 20, 1868, J.W. Langmuir was appointed first incumbent of the office.

In 1876, this office was renamed the Office of the Inspector of Prisons and Public Charities, and it became part of the Treasury Department. It was reverted to the Department of the Provincial Secretary in 1883. In addition to prisons, the office was also responsible for the superintendence of various public institutions that served social service functions, such as orphanages, houses of refuge, asylums for the insane, and hospitals. By 1925, the Inspector and his staff were responsible for superintending 380 institutions. Between 1927 and 1934, the provincial government gradually reduced the inspectorial functions and reassigned them to more specialized departments. For example, administration of charitable institutions was transferred to the newly created Department of Public Welfare in September 1930, and the responsibility for hospitals and sanatoria was transferred to the Department of Health in October 1930.

In 1934, the former Inspection Branch of the Provincial Secretary's Department became the Reformatory and Prisons Branch, the only Branch from the former inspectorate to remain in the Provincial Secretary's Department.

In 1946, the branch was elevated to department status, becoming the Department of Reform Institutions in the cabinet of Premier George Drew. The first minister was George Dunbar, whose first act was to create six work farms around the province. In the following decade, the development of its administrative structure reflected the evolution from punitive custody to correctional services. In 1954, a director of rehabilitation, chief parole and rehabilitation officer, and a chief psychologist were added, followed by a director of neurology and psychiatry in 1955. Other offices and services created within the department included the director of social work and the chaplaincy services.

On July 1, 1968, the department was renamed the Department of Correctional Services. The first minister was Allan Grossman, who said the change was made to update the service to reflect changes in attitudes to penal institutions. Prison guards were issued new uniforms that removed aspects of militarism from their appearance.

With the April 1972 reorganization of the Ontario government, the Department of Correctional Services was renamed the Ministry of Correctional Services. It took over the responsibility for probation services in 1972 from the Ministry of the Attorney General. In 1977, the Children's Services Division was transferred to the Ministry of Community and Social Services. In 1984, with the passage of the federal Young Offenders Act, the ministry assumed responsibility for detention and parole of young offenders aged 16 and 17.

Merger of the two functions

The Ministry of the Solicitor General and Correctional Services was formed on February 3, 1993, from the merger of the Ministry of the Solicitor General with the Ministry of Correctional Services. The two functions were separated again between 1999 and 2002.

In April 2002, the two functions merged again, and the newly created ministry was renamed as the Ministry of Public Safety and Security. This was done in the aftermath of the 2001 terrorist attacks. The new ministry encompassed correctional services as well as a new emphasis on border security. In 2003, the ministry was renamed to the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services. In April 2019, the solicitor general role was re-introduced, and the ministry's name was reverted to the Ministry of the Solicitor General."Statement by Premier Doug Ford as Minister Sylvia Jones is Sworn in as the Solicitor General", Ontario Newsroom, April 4, 2019

Security guard and private investigator licensing In 2010, the ministry began to administer tests for new applicants and existing security guard or private investigator cardholders. Prior to 2010, any individual (as long as they were free, or pardoned, of a criminal charge) could obtain one or both licences just by paying 80 dollars for each. The new requirements came after a coroner's inquest into the death of Patrick Shand, who died from asphyxiation while in the custody of an untrained private security guard and staff at a Loblaws store in Scarborough. Despite the store chain's policy of prohibiting use of force against shoplifters, Shand was restrained and handcuffed. Shand remained handcuffed when staff had to perform CPR after the former went into respiratory arrest. The handcuffs were not removed until Shand was placed in an ambulance 18 minutes after the 911 call was made.Man died from accidental suffocation during arrest: inquest, CBC News, April 23, 2004

In response to the inquest's recommendations, applicants for security guard or private investigator licences must pass a 40-hour training course before writing a test. 62.5% is a passing grade for security guards and 77% for private investigators.

List of solicitors-general

The position of Solicitor-General dates back to the foundation of Upper Canada, and also Canada West in the Province of Ontario, the predecessors to the current province of Ontario.

Upper Canada Robert Isaac Dey Gray 1795–1804 G. D'Arcy Boulton 1804–1814 Sir John Beverley Robinson 1815–1818 Henry John Boulton 1818–1829 Christopher Alexander Hagerman 1829–1837 William Henry Draper 1837–1839

Canada West in the Province of Canada The office was formally Solicitor for Upper Canada, eventhough the area was referred to as Canada West after the unification of Upper and Lower Canadas in 1840.J.O. Côté Political Appointments and Elections in the Province of Canada, 2nd ed. (Ottawa: G.E. Desbarats, 1866) p. 6. Minister Term of office Political party(Ministry) Note Robert Baldwin February 10, 1841 June 14, 1841 Governor Sydenham Henry Sherwood July 23, 1842 September 16, 1842 Governor Bagot James Edward Small September 26, 1842 December 11, 1843 Reform(Baldwin) Henry Sherwood October 7, 1844 June 30, 1846 Tory(Draper) John Hillyard Cameron July 1, 1846 March 10, 1848 William Hume Blake April 22, 1848 September 30, 1849 Reform(Baldwin) John Sandfield Macdonald December 14, 1849 November 11, 1851 John Ross November 12, 1851 June 21, 1853 Reform(Hincks) Joseph Curran Morrison June 22, 1853 September 10, 1854 Henry Smith September 11, 1854 February 24, 1858 Coalition(MacNab) George Skeffington Connor August 2, 1858 August 6, 1858 Reform (Clear Grits)(Brown) Joseph Curran Morrison February 22, 1860 March 17, 1862 Liberal-Conservative(J.A. Macdonald) James Patton March 27, 1862 May 23, 1862 Adam Wilson May 24, 1862 May 10, 1863 Reform/Liberal(J.S. Macdonald) Lewis Wallbridge May 16, 1863 August 12, 1863 Albert Norton Richards December 26, 1863 January 30, 1863 James Cockburn March 30, 1864 June 30, 1867 Liberal-Conservative(J.A. Macdonald) Ontario

MinisterTerm of office MinisterTerm of officePolitical party(Ministry)Note Ministers of Reform Institutions(Public safety/policing was part of the portfolio of the Attorney General and the Department of Justice prior to 1972.) PC(Drew) George Dunbar PC(Kennedy) PC(Frost) William Hamilton John Foote Matthew Dymond Ray Connell George Wardrope Irwin Haskett PC(Robarts) Allan GrossmanMinister of Correctional ServicesSolicitor General Allan Grossman Syl Apps PC(Davis)   John Yaremko Richard Potter George Albert Kerr John Clement (interim) George Albert Kerr John Smith John Palmer MacBeth Arthur Meen John MacBeth (interim) Frank Drea George Albert Kerr Roy McMurtry Gordon Walker Nick Leluk  George William Taylor John Reesor Williams PC(Miller) Don Cousens Bud GregorySolicitor General and Minister of Correctional Services Liberal(Peterson) Ken KeyesMinister of Correctional ServicesSolicitor General Ken Keyes3 December 19869 January 1987 Ian Scott (interim)Solicitor General and Minister of Correctional Services Ken KeyesMinister of Correctional ServicesSolicitor General David Ramsay Joan Smith Ian Scott (interim) Richard Patten Steven OfferSolicitor General and Minister of Correctional Services NDP(Rae) Mike Farnan Allan PilkeyMinister of Correctional ServicesSolicitor General David Christopherson Allan PilkeySolicitor General and Minister of Correctional Services David Christopherson Bob Runciman PC(Harris) Jim Flaherty (interim) Bob RuncimanMinister of Correctional ServicesSolicitor General Rob Sampson David Tsubouchi Norm Sterling (interim) Rob Sampson David TurnbullMinister of Public Safety and Security PC(Eves) Bob RuncimanMinister of Community Safety and Correctional Services Liberal(McGuinty) Monte Kwinter Rick Bartolucci Jim Bradley Madeleine Meilleur Liberal(Wynne) Yasir Naqvi David Orazietti Kevin Flynn (acting) Marie-France Lalonde Michael Tibollo PC(Ford) Sylvia JonesSolicitor General Sylvia Jones Michael KerznerPresent

See also

List of provincial correctional facilities in Ontario

References