The provincial government introduced the legislation nearly three years after the death of Ryan Sawyer, who died in hospital on Christmas Eve, 2022, after police found him unconscious outside the Halifax Alehouse, a late-night bar that has since closed.Darren Calabrese/The Globe and Mail
The Nova Scotia government is expanding and strengthening rules for bar bouncers, including by making background checks and training mandatory for all private security guards working at licensed liquor establishments in the province.
Nova Scotia’s new rules will require dozens of drinking establishments across the province to train bouncers and screen out those with criminal records. If they don’t comply, they could have their liquor licences revoked or face stiff fines.
The governing Progressive Conservatives introduced the legislation to bring in those changes on Tuesday, nearly three years after the death of Ryan Sawyer, whose parents have pleaded with the government to bring into force a law they say could have saved their son’s life. But the new rules fall short of the measures they wanted.
Mr. Sawyer, 31, died in hospital on Christmas Eve in 2022 after police found him unconscious outside the Halifax Alehouse, a late-night bar that has since closed.
Alex Pishori Levy, the former bouncer accused of Mr. Sawyer’s homicide, goes to trial next week on charges of manslaughter and criminal negligence causing death. His month-long trial in Nova Scotia Supreme Court begins Oct. 1.
After Mr. Sawyer’s death, the province introduced similar rules but they were limited to only a handful of late-night bars. The new legislation makes the regulations mandatory for all bars in Nova Scotia.
A fatal night out in Halifax: Bar patron’s death puts bouncer rules under spotlight
Kyle Robar, a policy manager with Nova Scotia’s alcohol and gaming division, said the Progressive Conservative bar-bouncer legislation tabled this week aims to better protect people at bars. He said the legislation is broadly worded for now, but the training and background checks will be part of the regulations added to the law in the near future.
“We’ve investigated several incidents since the death of Ryan Sawyer involving altercations between bouncers and patrons,” Mr. Robar said in an interview. “We thought it was appropriate to introduce these requirements at this time.”
The new measures will be enforced by liquor inspectors, who will periodically check in with drinking establishments to ensure they are compliant, Mr. Robar said.
Family members of Mr. Sawyer and the Official Opposition, however, say the new rules are half measures that won’t keep the public safe.
At the time of Mr. Sawyer’s death, bouncers had no training and there was no licensing system in place. A law that might have protected Mr. Sawyer was drawn up in 2010, after the death of bar patron Stephen Giffin under similar circumstances, but it was never proclaimed into law, despite having passed in the legislature. Subsequent governments of all political stripes have also declined to push the law forward.
If the law to regulate bouncers had been brought into force, the man accused of Mr. Sawyer’s homicide would not have been allowed to be working as a bouncer because of another criminal charge he was facing at the time, a Globe and Mail investigation previously revealed.
Earlier this year, family members implored lawmakers to bring that law, the Security and Investigative Services Act, into force. It would have regulated all bouncers, bringing Nova Scotia in line with other provinces, including British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Quebec.
Families of Nova Scotia men who died outside bars push to save bouncer law facing repeal
Progressive Conservative officials have previously cited the length of time that has passed since the law was introduced as their reason for not bringing it into force and also said they couldn’t speak for other political parties in power that had failed to do so.
Mr. Sawyer’s mother, Lee Sawyer, said she’s encouraged by the expansion of the rules for bouncers, which put the responsibility of ensuring training and criminal background checks on licensed liquor establishments. But she said the Progressive Conservative government is still overlooking the need to regulate and license bouncers.
“You’re missing the biggest piece of the puzzle,” said Ms. Sawyer, who said she has shared this opinion with provincial officials.
“Why do other provinces have this and not Nova Scotia?”
In Question Period, Official Opposition justice critic Lina Hamid called for stronger, provincewide oversight of private security and reintroduced the Security and Investigative Services Act on Wednesday, saying it would ensure consistent protections for the public.
“Half measures will not keep people safe,” Ms. Hamid said.
In an interview, Justice Minister Becky Druhan insisted the safety measures that her government is instituting are sufficient.
“It’s a different path I know than what was originally presented over 10 years ago, but it is a path that will address the gaps and the challenges and the circumstances that led to the tragedies,” she said.
Government officials said there are no plans to proclaim into force the Security and Investigative Services Act, which has been in limbo since it was passed 15 years ago. Nova Scotia Justice Department spokesperson Lynette MacLeod said it could die off under a new legislative housekeeping law passed earlier this year that aims to repeal the province’s unproclaimed statutes.