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Ministry of the Solicitor General
Ministère du Solliciteur général (French)
Government ministry overview
Formed	1972
Jurisdiction	Government of Ontario
Headquarters	18th Floor, 25 Grosvenor Street, Toronto, Ontario
Minister responsible	Michael Kerzner, Solicitor General; Christine Hogarth, Parliamentary Assistant to the Solicitor General (Community Safety);
Website	www.ontario.ca/page/ministry-solicitor-general/

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.

History

Law enforcement and public safety

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.

Correctional services

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.

Merger of the two functions

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]

Security guard and private investigator licensing

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. ^{[citation needed]}

List of solicitors-general

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.

Upper Canada

Robert Isaac Dey Gray 1795–1804^[6]
G. D'Arcy Boulton 1804–1814^[7]
Sir John Beverley Robinson 1815–1818
Henry John Boulton 1818–1829
Christopher Alexander Hagerman 1829–1837
William Henry Draper 1837–1839

Canada West

Robert Baldwin, February 10, 1841 – June 14, 1841
Henry Sherwood, July 23, 1842 – September 16, 1842
James Edward Small, September 26, 1842 – December 11, 1843
Henry Sherwood, October 7, 1844 – June 30, 1846
John Hillyard Cameron, July 1, 1846 – March 10, 1848
William Hume Blake, April 22, 1848 – September 30, 1849
John Sandfield Macdonald, December 14, 1849 – November 11, 1851
John Ross, November 12, 1851 – June 21, 1853
Joseph Curran Morrison, June 22, 1853 – September 10, 1854
Henry Smith, September 11, 1854 – February 24, 1858
George Skeffington Connor, August 2, 1858 – August 6, 1858
J.C. Morrison, February 22, 1860 – March 17, 1862
James Patton, March 27, 1862 – May 23, 1862
Adam Wilson, May 24, 1862 – May 10, 1863
Lewis Wallbridge, May 16, 1863 – August 12, 1863
Albert Norton Richards, December 26, 1863 – January 30, 1863
James Cockburn, March 30, 1864 – June 30, 1867^[8]

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	15 April 1946	19 October 1948
19 October 1948		4 May 1949	PC (Kennedy)
4 May 1949		15 July 1949	PC (Frost)
	William Hamilton	15 July 1949	16 November 1950
	John Foote	16 November 1950	18 July 1957
	Matthew Dymond	18 July 1957	28 April 1958
	Ray Connell	28 April 1958	22 December 1958
	George Wardrope	22 December 1958	8 November 1961
	Irwin Haskett	8 November 1961	14 August 1963		PC (Robarts)
	Allan Grossman	14 August 1963	1 July 1968
	Minister of Correctional Services
	Allan Grossman	1 July 1968	1 March 1971
	Syl Apps	1 March 1971	26 February 1974	Solicitor General			PC (Davis)
	Syl Apps	1 March 1971	26 February 1974	John Yaremko	7 April 1972	26 February 1974
	Richard Potter	26 February 1974	7 October 1975	George Albert Kerr	26 February 1974	18 June 1975	Kerr resigned pending investigation of bribery allegation. Kerr later returned to cabinet as the investigation found no grounds to warrant charges.
	Richard Potter	26 February 1974	7 October 1975	John Clement (interim)	18 June 1975	7 October 1975
	John Smith	7 October 1975	3 February 1977	John Palmer MacBeth	7 October 1975	21 January 1978	MacBeth concurrently served as Provincial Secretary for Justice (October 7, 1975 – January 21, 1978) while being Solicitor General.
	Arthur Meen	3 February 1977	23 June 1977
	John MacBeth (interim)	23 June 1977	21 September 1977
	Frank Drea	21 September 1977	18 October 1978
				George Albert Kerr	21 January 1978	11 September 1978	Kerr concurrently served as Provincial Secretary for Justice.
				Roy McMurtry	11 June 1978	13 February 1982	McMurtry concurrently served as Attorney General.
	Gordon Walker	18 October 1978	10 April 1981				Walker concurrently served as Provincial Secretary for Justice (August 30, 1979 – February 13, 1982)
	Nick Leluk	10 April 1981	8 February 1985
		10 April 1981	8 February 1985	George William Taylor	13 February 1982	8 February 1985
		8 February 1985	1 May 1985	John Reesor Williams	8 February 1985	17 May 1985	PC (Miller)
	Don Cousens	17 May 1985	26 June 1985	Bud Gregory	17 May 1985	26 June 1985
	Solicitor General and Minister of Correctional Services						Liberal (Peterson)
	Ken Keyes				26 June 1985	3 December 1986	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)	3 February 1986	9 January 1987
	Solicitor General and Minister of Correctional Services
	Ken Keyes				9 January 1987	29 September 1987
	Minister of Correctional Services			Solicitor General
	David Ramsay	29 September 1987	2 August 1989	Joan Smith	29 September 1987	6 June 1989	Smith resigned due to allegation of improper contact to the police while Solicitor General.
	Richard Patten	2 August 1989	1 October 1990	Ian Scott (interim)	6 June 1989	2 August 1989
	Richard Patten	2 August 1989	1 October 1990	Steven Offer	2 August 1989	1 October 1990
	Solicitor General and Minister of Correctional Services						NDP (Rae)
	Mike Farnan				1 October 1990	31 July 1991
	Allan Pilkey				31 July 1991	23 September 1992
	Minister of Correctional Services			Solicitor General
	David Christopherson	23 September 1992	3 February 1993	Allan Pilkey	23 September 1992	3 February 1993
	Solicitor General and Minister of Correctional Services
	David Christopherson				3 February 1993	26 June 1995
	Bob Runciman				26 June 1995	27 April 1998	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)				27 April 1998	27 July 1998
	Bob Runciman				27 July 1998	17 June 1999
	Minister of Correctional Services			Solicitor General
	Rob Sampson	17 June 1999	4 December 2000	David Tsubouchi	17 June 1999	8 February 2001	Sampson resigned for ministerial responsibility after a government backbencher improperly revealed names of several young offenders in the legislature.
	Norm Sterling (interim)	5 December 2000	8 March 2001	David Tsubouchi	17 June 1999	8 February 2001
	Rob Sampson	8 March 2001	14 April 2002	David Turnbull	8 February 2001	14 April 2002
	Minister of Public Safety and Security						PC (Eves)
	Bob Runciman				15 April 2002	22 October 2003
	Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services						Liberal (McGuinty)
	Monte Kwinter				23 October 2003	30 October 2007
	Rick Bartolucci				30 October 2007	18 August 2010
	Jim Bradley				18 August 2010	20 October 2011
	Madeleine Meilleur	20 October 2011	11 February 2013
	Madeleine Meilleur	11 February 2013	25 March 2014		Liberal (Wynne)
	Yasir Naqvi				25 March 2014	13 June 2016
	David Orazietti				13 June 2016	16 December 2016
	Kevin Flynn (acting)				16 December 2016	12 January 2017
	Marie-France Lalonde				12 January 2017	29 June 2018
	Michael Tibollo				29 June 2018	5 November 2018	PC (Ford)
	Sylvia Jones				5 November 2018	4 April 2019
	Solicitor General
	Sylvia Jones				4 April 2019	24 June 2022
	Michael Kerzner				24 June 2022	Present