| Agency Name: | Ministry of the Solicitor General |
| Type: | Government ministry |
| Formed: | 1972 |
| Jurisdiction: | Government of Ontario |
| Headquarters: | 18th Floor, 25 Grosvenor Street, Toronto, Ontario |
| Minister1 Name: | Michael Kerzner |
| Minister1 Pfo: | Solicitor General |
| Minister3 Name: | Christine Hogarth |
| Minister3 Pfo: | Parliamentary Assistant to the Solicitor General (Community Safety) |
The Ministry of the Solicitor General (French: Ministère du Solliciteur général; 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.
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.
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.[1] 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.[2]
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.
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.[3] 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.[4]
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.[5]
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.
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.
| Name | Term of office | Name | Term of office | Political 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 Grossman | ||||||||
| Minister of Correctional Services | ||||||||
| Allan Grossman | ||||||||
| Syl Apps | Solicitor General | PC (Davis) | ||||||
| John Yaremko | ||||||||
| Richard Potter | George Albert Kerr | Kerr resigned pending investigation of bribery allegation. Kerr later returned to cabinet as the investigation found no grounds to warrant charges. | ||||||
| John Clement (interim) | ||||||||
| John Smith | John Palmer MacBeth | MacBeth concurrently served as Provincial Secretary for Justice (October 7, 1975 – January 21, 1978) while being Solicitor General. | ||||||
| Arthur Meen | ||||||||
| John MacBeth (interim) | ||||||||
| Frank Drea | ||||||||
| George Albert Kerr | Kerr concurrently served as Provincial Secretary for Justice. | |||||||
| Roy McMurtry | McMurtry concurrently served as Attorney General. | |||||||
| Gordon Walker | Walker concurrently served as Provincial Secretary for Justice (August 30, 1979 – February 13, 1982) | |||||||
| Nick Leluk | ||||||||
| George William Taylor | ||||||||
| John Reesor Williams | PC (Miller) | |||||||
| Don Cousens | Bud Gregory | |||||||
| Solicitor General and Minister of Correctional Services | Liberal (Peterson) | |||||||
| Ken Keyes | Keyes stepped down as Solicitor General during investigation of an instance of him sharing an alcoholic drink with police officers on a police boat. | |||||||
| Minister of Correctional Services | Solicitor General | |||||||
| Ken Keyes | 3 December 1986 | 9 January 1987 | Ian Scott (interim) | |||||
| Solicitor General and Minister of Correctional Services | ||||||||
| Ken Keyes | ||||||||
| Minister of Correctional Services | Solicitor General | |||||||
| David Ramsay | Joan Smith | Smith resigned due to allegation of improper contact to the police while Solicitor General. | ||||||
| Richard Patten | Ian Scott (interim) | |||||||
| Steven Offer | ||||||||
| Solicitor General and Minister of Correctional Services | NDP (Rae) | |||||||
| Mike Farnan | ||||||||
| Allan Pilkey | ||||||||
| Minister of Correctional Services | Solicitor General | |||||||
| David Christopherson | Allan Pilkey | |||||||
| Solicitor General and Minister of Correctional Services | ||||||||
| David Christopherson | ||||||||
| Bob Runciman | PC (Harris) | Runciman resigned for ministerial responsibility after a young offender's name was inappropriately revealed in the Speech from the Throne. | ||||||
| Jim Flaherty (interim) | ||||||||
| Bob Runciman | ||||||||
| Minister of Correctional Services | Solicitor General | |||||||
| Rob Sampson | David Tsubouchi | Sampson resigned for ministerial responsibility after a government backbencher improperly revealed names of several young offenders in the legislature. | ||||||
| Norm Sterling (interim) | ||||||||
| Rob Sampson | David Turnbull | |||||||
| Minister of Public Safety and Security | PC (Eves) | |||||||
| Bob Runciman | ||||||||
| Minister 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 Jones | ||||||||
| Solicitor General | ||||||||
| Sylvia Jones | ||||||||
| Michael Kerzner | Present | |||||||