Archive for the 'Canada' Category

Page 3 of 7

Ontario PI Training & Testing

Published on November 12, 2010 in Canada, News and Private Investigator. 0 Comments Tags: .

Private Security & Investigative Services – Training and Testing Working Group

November 10, 2010

Training and Testing Working Group

Anyone seeking a licence as a private security guard and/or private investigator has been subject to mandatory training and testing requirements under the Private Security and Investigative Services Act, 2005 as of April 15, 2010.

Since then, the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services has been monitoring the effectiveness of the basic training and testing program, and has recently set up a working group with participants from the Ontario private security industry. The overall objective of the working group is to ensure the basic training and testing program supports the government’s commitment to professionalize the industry and to protect public safety. The key areas of focus for this group are:

  • To review, and if necessary update, the ministry’s training and testing program to ensure the testing component is appropriate and relevant for the industry.
  • To provide a ministry-endorsed test preparation document to complement the curricula for security guard and private investigator training.

As well as participants from the private security industry, the working group also includes the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services, and the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities. The group has been put together to ensure a province-wide perspective that includes representatives from the security guard, private investigation and loss prevention disciplines.

The ministry expects to report on the findings of the working group early in 2011.

PI’s Hired to Dumpster Dive

Published on November 9, 2010 in Canada, Identity Theft, News and Private Investigator. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

Personal data at risk, study found

Some doctors’ offices and car dealers in the Greater Toronto Area got a failing grade after private investigators found easily accessible personal records in their dumpsters.

Good Intentions Gone Bad

Published on October 20, 2010 in Canada, Legislation and Private Investigator. 5 Comments Tags: , , , , .

The Law Times reports that 50% fail the new Ontario PI Exam

Since April 15, private investigators have been subject to a new basic training and testing requirement. Recent estimates at some agencies put failure rates at about 50 per cent.

Criticisms of the new system include the fact that there’s no approved curriculum for the training component; that those who design the courses don’t get to see the exam beforehand; and that the test is too broad and not necessarily relevant to the work private investigators do.

As well, people have complained that there’s no handbook to help prepare for the test. “There were questions on it that I will never come across in my area of expertise,” one commentator identifying as a private investigator recently wrote on lawtimesnews.com.

It’s obvious, then, that there are flaws. Once again, good intentions at ensuring and raising proficiency standards are having unintended consequences.

We have to ask why the Ontario government is testing for useless knowledge? The simple answer is, because they can. Continue reading ‘Good Intentions Gone Bad’

Division of Powers – Vital Statistics

Published on October 15, 2010 in Canada, Courts, Private Investigator and Sources. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

Vital Statistics – Birth, Death, and Marriage certificates

These bits of paper define our identity in today’s society.

The Solemnization of Marriage is a provincial matter according to S 92(12) of The Constitution Act of 1867. Birth and Death records are generally held to be a provincial matter under S.92(16) which reads, “Generally all Matters of a merely local or private Nature in the Province.” For the purposes of proper administration, the territories have been granted the power to record vital statistics.

One must be an authorised person to request these records, and most provinces, in most cases, are very careful to ensure that a person requesting such documentation is entitled to receive the document.  The Investigator will require a letter authorising such a search for these records from the person or estate involved.

Court dismisses claim that investigation was abuse of process and conspiracy

Published on October 13, 2010 in Canada, Courts and Private Investigator. 0 Comments

Ontario Superior Court dismisses claim that insurer’s investigation constituted abuse of process and conspiracy

The Ontario Superior Court ruled that a plaintiff’s claim that an insurer’s investigation constituted abuse of process and conspiracy was scandalous, frivolous and vexatious… Continue reading ‘Court dismisses claim that investigation was abuse of process and conspiracy’

Division of Powers — Divorce Actions

Published on October 11, 2010 in Canada, Courts, Private Investigator and Sources. 2 Comments Tags: , , , , .

Divorce Registry

The Divorce Registry maintained by the Federal government was designed to prevent both spouses from proceeding with separate divorce actions in separate jurisdictions.

The divorce actions recorded in the Registry cover all of  Canada and go back to 1978.

Division of Powers – Criminal Law

Published on October 6, 2010 in Canada, Courts, How to Become a Professional Private Investigator, Legislation, Private Investigator and Sources. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , .

Under the division of powers, the federal government has exclusive jurisdiction over criminal law and procedure (section 91(27) of the Constition Act of 1867) the provinces have jurisdiction over the administration of justice, including criminal matters (section 92(14)) and penal matters (section 92(15)) regarding any laws made within provincial jurisdiction. Thus Canada has a single Criminal Code but many provincial laws that can result in incarceration or penalty.

Criminal and Civil Courts

This means that the Administration of Justice in the Province, including the Constitution, Maintenance, and Organization of Provincial Courts, both of Civil and of Criminal Jurisdiction, and including Procedure in Civil Matters in those Courts are matters handled by the Province. It also means that the Province handles the Imposition of Punishment by Fine, Penalty, or Imprisonment for enforcing any Law of the Province made in relation to any Matter coming within any of the Classes of Subjects enumerated in  Section 92 of the Constitution Act of 1867.

For the Investigator, this means that the majority of the criminal prosecutions occur in courts administered by the provinces and that most civil actions are issued in provincial courts.

Division of Powers

Published on October 4, 2010 in Canada, How to Become a Professional Private Investigator, Legislation and Private Investigator. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

This is the first in a series about how Canada works. An Investigator must know these things about his country in order to know who is responsible for creating and maintaining the information that he may need.

The Canadian Federation

Canada is a federation with two distinct jurisdictions of political authority: the country-wide federal government and ten provincial governments.  Presently, the three territories are creations of the Federal Parliament and exercise delegated power and not sovereign power.

The federal nature of Canadian constitution was a reaction to the range of colonial diversities of the different regions of Canada. Federalism was also considered essential to the co-existence of the French and English Canada.

The division of powers between the federal and provincial governments was initially outlined in the British North America Act, 1867 (now the Constitution Act, 1867), which, with amendments to both, form the Constitution of Canada. The federal-provincial distribution of legislative powers (also known as the division of powers) defines the scope of the power of the federal parliament of Canada and the powers of each individual provincial legislature or assembly.

PIPEDA & The PI

Published on September 29, 2010 in Canada, Courts, Legislation, Privacy and Private Investigator. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

This year, two events indicate the federal privacy commissioner’s attempts to control private investigations in Canada may soon end. Continue reading ‘PIPEDA & The PI’

Charged with Operating Without a Licence

Published on June 4, 2010 in Canada and News. 0 Comments Tags: , .

Animal cruelty officer faces additional charges

A former senior animal cruelty officer at the Toronto Humane Society (THS) is facing a slew of additional charges in connection with the alleged operation of an unlicensed security guard services business.

Smith, 39, of Thornhill, and Protective Security Consultants has been charged with operating a business entity without a license under the Private Security and Investigative Services Act. He has also been charged under this legislation with acting as an unlicensed security guard.

Smith and his company are further charged with engaging in the business of providing security guards, no agency license and holding out as an agency with no agency license under the Private Investigators and Security Guards Act.

The new charges are reportedly not linked to a probe involving allegations of animal cruelty at the THS, which had its River Street shelter raided on Nov. 26, 2009.

He was charged then with two counts of impersonating a peace officer and one count of perjury in connection with accusations he continued investigating animal cruelty cases at the shelter despite being suspended last June.

Earlier, during June 2007, the OSPCA suspended Smith after he rescued a Rottweiler from a overheated vehicle and left the dog’s owner unattended and handcuffed to a car door while he left the scene with the dog. The handcuffed and defenseless dog owner was then assaulted by onlookers.

Professional Licencing Verification

Published on February 24, 2010 in Canada, Due Diligence and Search Strategies. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

The Council on Licensure, Enforcement and Regulation (CLEAR) listings of online license verification databases maintained by state agencies/provincial regulatory bodies provides links to sites where you can verify a professional license.

The Canada Revenue Agency warns Canadians of mail scam

Published on February 8, 2010 in Canada and Fraud. 1 Comment Tags: , .

The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) is warning taxpayers to beware of a recent scam where some Canadians are receiving a letter fraudulently identified as coming from the CRA and asking for personal information. The letter is not from the CRA. A PDF version of the letter is available on the CRA Web site at www.cra.gc.ca/alert.

Ontario Small Claims Court

Published on February 1, 2010 in Canada and Courts. 1 Comment Tags: , .

Beginning 1 January 2010, the new limit for claims has increased from $10,000 to $25,000. This makes it worth searching for Small Claims Court actions when doing due diligence research. However, the Small Claims Court is often in a building some distance from the Superior Court.

Remembrance Day

Published on November 11, 2009 in Canada. 0 Comments

Fake Bank Record Scam

Published on November 9, 2009 in Canada, Fraud, News and Private Investigator. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

Ex-cop, wife accused of faking bank records

Police say duo reeled in clients by claiming ex-spouses, relatives stashed money offshore

Cullen Johnson was a top Toronto cop.

Elaine White was a dogged investigator at a downtown accounting firm.

Now the husband and wife team of private detectives are accused of forging and selling bank records that make clients believe an ex-spouse, friend or employee has millions of dollars stashed offshore…

This is a case where the victims should have known what was on offer was too good to be true.

Secret sources always introduce reliability problems into an investigation or research project.

For example, is the source lying; does the source even know what he’s talking about; is the information old; and is this a trick of some kind? Is the secret source doing something illegal to obtain the information? Is the data fabricated?

Open sources, on the other hand, can be fact-checked in real-time through multiple sources. Open sources can be properly identified and the collection method can be explained fully.

Twyman’s Law

Remember, Twyman’s Law states:

Any piece of data or evidence that looks interesting or unusual is probably wrong!