Summary#

Bill 102, the Strengthening Safety and Modernizing Justice Act, 2023, is an Ontario law that amends several existing Acts, including the Community Safety and Policing Act, 2019, the Courts of Justice Act and the Provincial Animal Welfare Services Act, 2019. Its stated goal is to strengthen safety and modernize justice. It received Royal Assent in 2023, but the supplied text says some changes require a later proclamation to take effect.

• Policing: The Minister and the Inspector General must follow any prescribed rules for de-identifying and linking personal information. A police chief must consult a Crown Attorney or prosecutor about delaying an investigation if the matter becomes a prosecution, and must delay or suspend it if advised to do so to avoid interfering with the prosecution.
• Policing oversight and appointments: The law removes the Ontario Provincial Police Governance Advisory Council and expands some Inspector General inspection and oversight powers. A secondary school diploma or equivalent is enough to meet one education option for police officer and special constable appointments; other listed education options remain.
• Courts: An action within Small Claims Court’s authority generally cannot start in the Superior Court of Justice without that court’s permission. Newly appointed provincial judges and justices of the peace must undertake to take designated courses. Their chief judicial officers may establish courses on topics including sexual assault law, intimate partner violence, coercive control and systemic discrimination.
• Animal welfare: Inspectors who are lawfully in a place may take reasonable steps to relieve an animal’s distress. Owners or custodians who transfer an animal subject to an order must collect prescribed contact details from the new owner or custodian and promptly notify an inspector.
• Animal-related costs: The Chief Animal Welfare Inspector may bill owners or custodians for a wider range of costs related to specified animal-welfare actions. Unpaid amounts can become Crown debts, subject to appeal rights.
• Other changes: The law expands the Lieutenant Governor in Council’s authority to make rules about tissue samples and body fluids, including samples kept for genetic analysis. It also allows more than one Deputy Fire Marshal and lets Fire Safety Commission hearings be heard by panels of one or more members.

What it means for you#

• People involved in animal-welfare cases: If you own or have ongoing custody of an animal under an order, you must collect prescribed contact information and immediately give written notice to an animal welfare inspector if you transfer ownership or custody. You may be billed for certain costs if inspectors take steps to relieve distress, remove the animal or provide care. You can appeal a statement of account to the Board.
• Police officers and police services: The bill changes rules for some investigations, oversight and appointments. It does not set out a general process requiring police to investigate every matter in a new way.
• People bringing court cases: If your claim is within Small Claims Court’s jurisdiction, you generally must start it there unless the Superior Court gives permission. This restriction does not apply to certain counterclaims or related claims when the main case began in Superior Court.
• New judges and justices of the peace: Appointment requires an undertaking to take courses designated for newly appointed judges or justices of the peace. The law does not require every listed course topic to be taught.
• General public: The law does not create a general public benefit, new tax or broad new front-line service.

Money#

No cost information is in the available material.

• The law allows police service boards or the Minister to make written agreements for extra policing or other specified services; the agreement must provide for the amount charged.
• The animal-welfare changes allow certain costs to be billed to an animal’s owner or custodian. Unpaid balances may be recovered by the Crown, but no cost estimates are given.
• The law requires the appointment of one or more Deputy Fire Marshals, but gives no staffing or cost estimate. No estimate is provided for judicial courses or other implementation costs.

What is unclear#

• Some provisions take effect on Royal Assent; others require proclamation. The supplied material does not say which proclamation-dependent provisions have since started.
• Several details depend on future regulations, including personal-information safeguards, animal-transfer contact information and some animal-related costs.
• The bill does not specify how often the expanded inspection powers will be used or set out a full process for them.
• It does not state how much the judicial courses will cost or how many will be offered.
• The parent Acts were not supplied, so the current-law comparison cannot be independently checked beyond the supplied explanatory note.

Case for#

• The bill appears intended to reduce the risk that police or complaints investigations interfere with criminal prosecutions.
• Allowing a claim within Small Claims Court’s jurisdiction to start in Superior Court only with permission could help direct cases to the court intended to handle them.
• Requiring training undertakings for new judges and justices of the peace, and requiring reports on certain course topics, could support training and public accountability.
• Allowing inspectors to take reasonable steps to relieve an animal’s distress, and to recover specified related costs, could give them more practical options when an animal needs help.

Case against#

• The bill gives animal-welfare inspectors broader authority to take steps to relieve distress, while leaving “reasonable steps” undefined in this text. Owners may also face a wider range of bills.
• Important safeguards and operating details depend on regulations that are not included in the supplied material.
• The expanded authority to regulate samples for genetic analysis could affect sensitive personal information; the supplied text does not explain how those samples would be handled.
• The bill does not provide cost estimates for staffing, training or implementation, making the financial effects hard to judge.