Longtime tow-truck drivers André Thibault, left, and Sean Ramsay both lost their tow-truck certificates under new rules imposed by the Ontario government.Dave Chan/The Globe and Mail
André Thibault thought he had left his past behind him. After he was caught carrying cocaine back in 1999, Mr. Thibault pleaded guilty to drug trafficking and spent 16 months in jail.
After his release, he stayed out of trouble. He drove tow trucks for the next two decades, finding refuge in an industry that gave him a stable life, allowing him to support his son and aging mother, who live with him in his Ottawa home.
But his livelihood was upended last year, when the 57-year-old lost his tow-truck certificate under new rules imposed by the Ontario government.
In a bid to crack down on escalating violence in the tow-truck industry, the Ontario government passed a law in 2021 giving it control over certifications. New screening requirements imposed in July, 2024, bar drivers with certain kinds of criminal histories from holding tow-truck certifications – including those under lifetime weapons bans.
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Under federal law, such weapons bans are routinely imposed by the courts on people convicted of drug-trafficking offences. The new certification regime doesn’t allow for exceptions or provide an avenue for appeal; anyone with a lifetime weapons ban will be screened out, regardless of the date or nature of the crime they committed.
“I think it’s not fair,” Mr. Thibault said in an interview. “There’s a lot of bad people, but I’m not one of those.”
Mr. Thibault says he believes the new rules have cast too wide a net, and is challenging the Ontario government in court.
It has been an uphill battle. In March, 2024, an Ontario Superior Court judge denied Mr. Thibault’s bid for an injunction exempting him from the new rules, finding that “the public interest in enforcing the challenged provisions” outweighed that of granting him an exemption.
Mr. Thibault then took the fight to the province’s divisional court, where he argued unsuccessfully that the new certification regime had wrongly stripped him of his livelihood, asserting that it violated his rights under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms to not be subjected to cruel and unusual punishment. He is now seeking leave to appeal the earlier rulings against him at Ontario’s Court of Appeal.
In these court filings, Mr. Thibault argues that the new certification regime “perpetuates stereotypes and prejudices about people with criminal histories,” and “assumes people subject to weapons prohibitions are inherently and permanently dangerous.”
The province is urging Ontario’s top court not to hear the case, arguing that the new certification regime is a necessary response to the continuing tow-truck turf wars.
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“The industry was wracked with unprofessional and criminal conduct that engendered widespread fraud and consumer exploitation, allowed organized crime to thrive, and threatened the well-being and lives of customers,” government lawyers Waleed Malik and Maia Stevenson assert in written arguments filed in court.
They defend the province’s decision to ban individuals with lifetime weapons bans, saying the criteria allows it to screen out anyone who “engaged in conduct that was dangerous or harmful in the past.”
The provincial Ministry of Transportation did not address questions from The Globe and Mail about Mr. Thibault’s case. In a statement, spokeswoman Julia Caslin said that the ministry had refused more than 550 applications to become tow-truck drivers or operators “as a result of disqualifying records.” This is being done because of “an increase in violence and criminal activity in Ontario’s tow truck industry” that she described as “unacceptable.”
Hannah Jensen, a spokeswoman for Ontario Premier Doug Ford, said in a e-mail on Friday that Mr. Ford would not consider altering the new tow-truck certification regime.
The violence related to the tow-truck industry has been most pronounced in the Greater Toronto Area, where police say it stems from competition for roadside wrecks, as well as insurance claims and body shop work. Police have tied gang members to shootings and arson as they try to grow their territory, comparing the tow-truck wars to drug dealers fighting over turf.
In 2020, Mr. Ford convened a task force with the aim of curbing violence, which led the Conservatives to pass the Towing and Storage Safety and Enforcement Act.
This law gave cabinet the power to create criteria for civil servants to decide who should be allowed to drive a tow truck in Ontario. Under the new rules, anyone convicted of a firearms offence during the past five years is barred from holding a tow-truck certificate. However, individuals with lifetime weapons bans are screened out no matter when their crimes took place.
“The new regime doesn’t give anyone any discretion to say ‘I know he’s got a weapons prohibition but I know he has been doing the job safely for 15 to 20 years,’” said Ottawa lawyer Gib Van Ert, who represents Mr. Thibault. “That’s a real problem in this whole regime. There’s no appeal.”
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Violence in the industry has persisted despite the new rules. In June, Toronto Police arrested 20 individuals they alleged were part of a syndicate centred in East Toronto. Police believe they tried take control of rival towing operations through alleged murder conspiracies, extortion and arson.
“The violence largely stems from territorial disputes and competition within a small segment of the tow-truck industry,” Toronto Police Chief Superintendent Joe Matthews told reporters at the time.
However, the new rules have affected drivers that are unconnected to those crimes.
Among them are Sean Ramsay, another longtime tow-truck driver in Ottawa. He joined Mr. Thibault in his action at the Court of Appeal after losing his own certificate under the new rules.
Mr. Ramsay was convicted in 2002 of drug-trafficking for growing marijuana plants. He served a 90-day sentence and received a lifetime weapons ban.
Now 58, Mr. Ramsay said the screening rules should be crafted more carefully and implemented on a “case-by-case basis.”
“You’ve got guys that you’re taking their livelihood away,” he said.