Nova Scotia reviewed bar-bouncer law shortly after man’s death, but left it inactive, documents show

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Within weeks of a man’s violent death outside a Halifax bar, Nova Scotia’s Justice Department conducted a review into why a 13-year-old law that would have regulated the province’s bar bouncers never went into effect, newly released documents show.

But Premier Tim Houston’s government ultimately decided to follow previous governments in leaving the law in stasis, after learning that the province’s bar industry has opposed stricter regulations on security staff at bars and nightclubs, and that alternative, less stringent restrictions could be imposed through existing liquor-licensing legislation.

The law in question calls for Nova’s Scotia’s bouncers, who currently don’t require licences, to be trained, screened and licensed by a government security registrar within the Justice Department. Although the law was passed in 2010 and never went into force, it has returned to public attention over the past year as a result of 31-year-old Ryan Sawyer’s death in Halifax last Christmas Eve, allegedly at the hands of a bouncer.

The newly released records consist of more than 150 pages of government documents, including e-mails and briefing notes, obtained by The Globe and Mail through freedom of information requests. They show that Mr. Houston’s cabinet, soon after the bar patron’s death, tasked officials with finding out why the law, called the Security and Investigative Services Act, had stalled. The law had received royal assent, but previous NDP and Liberal governments had not officially proclaimed the legislation – a necessary step in bringing it into effect.

The documents identify a potential reason for the holdup: industry pushback. “Industry consultations raised concerns over the regulatory burden on businesses,” a Nova Scotia Justice Department memo to the government says. Mr. Houston’s Progressive Conservative government was also told that the continuing impasse means Nova Scotia’s entire framework for regulating thousands of security professionals is severely outdated.

The use of force by unlicensed security professionals has long been an issue in the province. In 1999, when a bar patron died during an altercation with bouncers, politicians vowed such a tragedy would not be allowed to happen again. Years later, the provincial legislature passed the Security and Investigative Services Act.

On the morning of Dec. 24, 2022, more than a decade after the passing of the law, Mr. Sawyer was found unresponsive outside the Halifax Alehouse. A bar bouncer now faces manslaughter and criminal negligence charges in connection with his death. A trial is pending.

Wayne MacKay, a professor emeritus at the Schulich School of Law, said Mr. Sawyer’s case highlights troubling problems in the province’s governance. He noted that officials have never publicly explained why the security law has been in limbo for 13 years.

“Whatever happened here seems to have happened behind closed doors. That’s not consistent with a proper democratic process,” Prof. MacKay said. “Are there any good reasons to not have regulation and standards and education applied to bouncers? What are those reasons?”

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The records obtained by The Globe show that, after Mr. Sawyer died, Progressive Conservative politicians were under pressure to explain the state of bouncer regulations in the province. But, having only formed government in 2021, they themselves didn’t know the full story.

In January, Justice Minister Brad Johns tasked his officials with conducting a formal review of the 2010 security law and why it had stalled.

Weeks later, he was told that previous governments had encountered roadblocks as civil servants talked to stakeholders about developing the law’s regulations.

“During consultations, members of the lounge and beverage industry expressed concerns as they did not believe their door staff (bouncers) required the same amount of training as other security personnel,” a memo to the minister says.

When exactly those consultations happened, and what happened next, is not clear. The law was passed by the NDP government of premier Darrell Dexter, which was replaced by the first of two consecutive Liberal governments in 2013. Government memos circulated to the security industry suggest that Nova Scotia civil servants were actively laying groundwork for the security-licensing law as recently as 2015, but later abandoned those efforts without explaining why.

Deborah Bayer, a spokesperson for the Justice Department, said she couldn’t arrange any interviews about the fate of the law, or answer detailed questions about the newly released documents.

“Neither the department, nor civil servants, made the decision to not proclaim this legislation,” she said, adding that only elected politicians can be considered accountable for bringing a law into force or leaving it inactive.

She said the current government has been clear about why it is not bringing the 2010 law into force: “It is 13 years old and had not been moved forward by the administration that introduced it, nor the two governments that followed.”

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The documents show that within weeks of Mr. Sawyer’s death, government officials began looking at alternative ways of setting standards for security guards at bars and nightclubs. A briefing note that circulated months later says training and oversight for bouncers “is more appropriately aligned” with Nova Scotia’s Alcohol, Gaming, Fuel and Tobacco Division’s existing authorities under the province’s Liquor Control Act.

In May, the Nova Scotia government used liquor-licensing laws to impose new training and screening requirements on some bouncers. But those requirements apply only to dozens of people working at five late-night bars designated as cabarets, including the Alehouse.

The 2010 law envisioned a much more sweeping regulatory regime. Not only does it call for the Justice Department to regulate bouncers at bars across the entire province, it tells the department’s registrar to heighten scrutiny of thousands of other security professionals.

Currently, that department licenses about 4,000 security contractors, private detectives and armoured car drivers under the auspices of a law passed in the 1970s. But this older legislation exempts other kinds of security guards, such as bouncers.

This legal framework “is outdated and has not been amended in 45 years,” says a government briefing note stamped “confidential – not for circulation.”

In response to questions from The Globe, provincial Justice Department officials said their registrar has revoked four security licences over the past 15 years. But they said no details about these cases can be made publicly available.

The Christmas Eve anniversary of Mr. Sawyer’s death has now passed and his family still has many unanswered questions. His parents, Scott and Lee Sawyer, said in an interview that one thing they do know is that the Nova Scotia government is decades behind in its regulations on security professionals.

“The other provinces have done this,” Scott said. “Why are we dragging our feet in Nova Scotia?”