The Ottawa Police Service may need to change its administrative process for staffing special events such as professional sports games, festivals and construction sites following a change in provincial legislation.
On July 7, the Ottawa Police Service Board’s policy and governance committee received an update on which body has the authority to oversee the staffing of these shifts, which are voluntarily picked up by officers and paid as overtime, also known as “paid duty.”
Currently, for special events, the OPS enters into contracts with external clients such as the City of Ottawa, Bluesfest and the Ottawa Senators under the now-repealed Police Services Act.
The Community Safety and Policing Act, which came into force on April 1, 2024, only gives police boards in Ontario the authority to enter into agreements with event organizers, making the OPS’s current process non-compliant.
This comes at the busiest time of the year for paid duty, due to the demand for officers to take shifts on construction sites, said OPS Insp. John Svab, who delivered a presentation on the issue to members of the police board committee.
Last August, Capital Pride’s parade route was significantly reduced due to a shortage of paid duty officers.
Svab said that OPS currently has a paid duty unit that’s supported by two full-time coordinators who process paid duty requests.
If the board was urgently required to take on the administrative burden of entering contracts with event organizers, it could “grind construction in the city to a halt, including several large infrastructure projects . . . (and) result in the cancellation of Bluesfest,” Svab said.
According to Svab, the OPS processed just over 3,000 paid duty contracts in 2024.
He also emphasized that this is an Ontario-wide issue, and other police services are facing the same question of how to comply with the new legislation regarding paid duty.
Ottawa’s board is expecting a memo from Ontario’s Inspectorate of Policing soon, explaining how the changes are being interpreted. In the meantime, some were left scratching their heads.
Unclear motive for the change
OPSB member Michael Polowin, also a practicing lawyer, urged others not to rule out the possibility that the change was an error in legislation.
However, Habib Sayah, the OPSB’s executive director, said the change is likely an attempt to standardize the process of administering paid duty.
Deputy Chief Steve Bell agreed.
“Part of it might come from the fact that paid duty and the administration of it across the province was just absolutely a dog’s breakfast,” said Bell. “(In) some places, the officers used to, up until very recently, get paid cash on the scene for doing a paid duty, whereas others had very different systems, like us.”
Board chair Salim Fakirani suggested the option of umbrella contracts as a potential solution. For example, the board could oversee a paid duty contract with an event organizer, and the OPS could handle individual paid duty requests.
Committee member Kanata North Coun. Cathy Curry said she hoped for a solution of that nature.
“I really hope that it’s something that we simply just have to approve at the end of the year, oversee a process or something that might be less cumbersome,” Curry said.
