Provincial Legislation, Trespass and Powers of Arrest
Provincial Legislation
The SSIA is the backbone
The Security Services and Investigators Act and its Regulation set licensing, conduct and discipline for the industry: individual and business licences, licence classes, training and criminal record requirements, identification while on duty, and the Director's power to inspect, suspend or cancel. Working without a licence is an offence.
Other Alberta statutes a guard must know
- Trespass to Premises Act - occupier's authority, notice, and removal of trespassers.
- Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis Act - liquor-licensed premises, minors, intoxicated patrons and the rules a licensee must enforce.
- Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA) - private-sector privacy: personal information collected for security purposes must be limited, reasonable and secured; CCTV must be justified and signage posted. FOIP covers public bodies instead.
- Alberta Human Rights Act - no discrimination in services on protected grounds; duty to accommodate to the point of undue hardship.
- Occupational Health and Safety Act - employer and worker duties, hazard reporting.
- Provincial Offences Procedure Act - how provincial offences are charged and ticketed; these are not Criminal Code charges.
- Also relevant: Mental Health Act, Residential Tenancies Act, Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods Act, Alberta Fire Code and Emergency Management Act.
Traps: a provincial offence is not a crime; guards cannot write tickets or enforce municipal bylaws unless specifically authorized; PIPA, not FOIP, governs a private security company's records.
Rule of thumb: if the rule is about property, liquor, privacy, safety or licensing it is provincial; if it is about theft, assault or arrest it is federal.
Worked example: a client asks for CCTV over a public sidewalk. That is a privacy question under PIPA plus a possible municipal and trespass issue - document the purpose, minimize the coverage, post notice and get supervisor approval.
Trespass and Powers of Arrest
Trespass in Alberta
The Trespass to Premises Act is the modern Alberta statute (it replaced the Petty Trespass Act). It defines premises broadly, makes entering or remaining without the occupier's authorization an offence, and lets the occupier - or an agent such as a security guard - ask a person to leave and, if they refuse, use reasonable force to remove them. Notice may be express (signs, verbal) or implied. Once permission is withdrawn, refusing to leave makes a person a trespasser even if they entered lawfully.
Powers of arrest
Under s. 494(1) any person may arrest without warrant:
- a person who, on reasonable grounds, is believed to have committed an indictable offence; or
- a person found committing a criminal offence.
Under s. 494(2) an owner, a person in lawful possession, or their agent may arrest a person found committing a criminal offence in relation to the property. Under s. 494(3), force may be used only if the arrest is lawful and the person resists or tries to escape, and only to the extent necessary; s. 25 sets the same reasonableness limit. The person must be delivered to a peace officer forthwith - promptly, not after a tour of the site or a long interrogation.
What you must not do
There is no power to detain for investigation, no power to search a person or their belongings, no power to demand identification, and no power to confine someone in a room as a substitute for arrest. Doing so risks false imprisonment, assault and criminal charges. On arrest, Charter s. 10 rights apply.
Traps: suspicion is not reasonable grounds; 'found committing' requires personal observation; trespass is a provincial offence, not a criminal one; a shoplifter must be seen selecting and concealing, with continuous observation, to be 'found committing'.
Rule of thumb: observe, confirm the offence, arrest only if lawful, call police immediately, use no more force than necessary.