In the News

News articles feature Commissionaires and our staff as they appeared in local or national newspapers or websites.

New training centre for Commissionaires Nova Scotia opens in Burnside

Burnside, NS (August 1, 2008) - Commissionaires Nova Scotia officially opened a modern 10-room training centre in Burnside on July 18 in the former Precision BioLogic location at 900 Windmill Rd. Read more

Base Borden to start manning the gates
Say increase in traffic have forced authorities to take action

Barrie, ON (July 7, 2008) - If you drive through Base Borden on a regular basis, you may have to find a new route in the coming weeks.

Starting mid-July, the Canadian Corps of Commissionaires will be manning all entry gates to the base, in an attempt to curb the number of accidents involving vehicles and pedestrians that take place on site. Read more

New project a lifesaver

June 7, 2008 - Search and Rescue B.C., along with a handful of local organizations, are helping launch B.C.'s first Project Life Saver program that is designed to locate persons who may wander off frequently due to Alzheimer’s, autism, dementia or other similar illnesses. Read more

Security standard raised in Okanagan

May 16, 2008 - Since 9/11 the demand for highly skilled security providers has gone way up worldwide, and Kelowna and the south Okanagan are not immune to this trend.

This, combined with the Okanagan’s growing business scene, led a local security company to raise the bar and train their managers to the highest international standards. Read more

Run for military families nets $32K

May 12, 2008 - Members of Petawawa's military family community had 32,000 reasons to smile a little brighter on Saturday afternoon - all of it in dollars. This was the result of efforts from Commissionaires Ottawa, who, in their first- ever 'Run for Military Families' raised $32,000 to help the Petawawa Military Family Resource Centre with its programs. Read more

Runners Hit Highway to Aid Military Families

May 9, 2008 - The inaugural Run for Military Families set off from Parliament Hill this morning, bound for CFB Petawawa. Approximately 40 runners are taking part in the trek, to raise funds and awareness for the Petawawa Family Resource Centre, a non-profit agency on the base designed to support the families of those serving overseas. Read more

Fair introduces 5,000 people to their prospective bosses; Stenberg College hosts event

May 9, 2008 - The students of Stenberg College did more than train for their future careers - they had a chance to meet with prospective employers. Read more

Running for military families

May 6, 2008 - Military families will be honoured with an inaugural event next weekend. The Run for Military Families will see 20 commissionaires joining 20 local soldiers for a marathon between Ottawa and CFB Petawawa. Read more

Security solution | Highly qualified professional security guards for every situation

April 12, 2008 - One would be hard pressed to get anything past the watchful eyes of Frank Gimpel. If you walk in the RCMP building on Regent Street, Gimpel will know about it.
If you leave the building, Gimpel will know about that too. If you’re some place you’re not supposed to be, you can be sure he’ll know about that as well.

That’s because Gimpel is a member of the Corps of Commissionaires; a private, not-for-profit organization of security personnel that are continuing a tradition which started over 150 years ago. Read more

Cam Smith Recognized for Outstanding Service

April 03, 2008 - On March 25, 2008, RCMP attended the Princeton General Hospital to present Cam Smith with a certificate of appreciation for some forty three years of dedicated service to Royal Canadian Mounted Police as a guard. Cam commenced working with the RCMP in April of 1964, subsequently making the transition to the Core of Commissionaires. Cam faithfully reported for duty until October of 2007 when illness prevented him from continuing the call for duty. Read more

Commissionaire Robert Cummings Receives Award

From Global TV (March, 2008) – Commissionaire Robert Cummings, 73 year old veteran, was recognized for his brave actions, dedication to duty and commitment to the City of Surrey at the third annual Surrey RCMP ‘Officer in Charge’ awards ceremony. Cummings, working at a Surrey bank, noticed a man demanding money from one of the tellers, he came to the rescue and, with the help of fellow commissionaire and bank manager, took down the would be thief and held him until help came. His efforts earned him a commendation.

View video (Length: 2:12)

Minister threatened; Man charged after threats made at Community Services office

March 6, 2008 - The children of Community Services Minister Judy Streatch first learned from news reports Wednesday that someone had threatened to kill their mother.

"They were very good when I discussed it with them," the Chester-St. Margarets MLA said of her four children.

She told them that "I wasn't in any danger. But you can imagine for teenagers who know that their mother is in the newspaper and know that their mother is in public life, it's upsetting." Read more

Fingerprinting going digital in Mississauga

February 22, 2008 - Just because you've never been arrested, that doesn't mean you won't have to give up your fingerprints.

"That's what most people think, that fingerprints are for catching criminals," said James Watts, president and CEO of Commissionaires, a security firm whose Mississauga office on Dixie Rd. now offers digital fingerprinting services. Read more

Taking their routine to a far away place

January 30, 2008 - Their uniform is familiar to anyone who works in a federal building—so is their presence. Commissionaires systematically scan building passes and chat with visitors or those who have forgotten their cards as they issue temporary ones. Whether in a building in Ottawa or Calgary, this repetitive action may seem routine. However, imagine being a commissionaire at the Kandahar Airfield, where over 500 people may pass through in a four-hour period, in a security zone where the least mistake can have catastrophic consequences, and suddenly, the task doesn’t seem quite as routine. Read more

Commissionaires Report for Afghanistan Tour of Duty

January 15, 2008 - They’re a familiar sight in federal government offices throughout Ottawa and in other locations across the country, but now members of the Canadian Corps of Commissionaires are shipping out for duty in Afghanistan. The organization has signed a deal for six of its employees to work at Kandahar Airfield screening NATO military personnel as they arrive there. Read more

Victoria commissionaires go to Afghanistan

January 12, 2008 - For the past five years, Paul Crilly has been guarding history. Now he gets to be part of it. The 55-year-old security sergeant at the Royal B.C. Museum departs Sunday morning for Afghanistan, where he and fellow Victoria commissionaire Howard Eames, 62, will help control access to the NATO airfield at Kandahar. Read more

Parking Enforcers Want Policing Role

January 11, 2008 - Victoria’s hyper-vigilant parking enforcers want to take over some policing duties from the Victoria Police Department. The Commissionaires, a private security firm best known locally for dispensing parking tickets for the City of Victoria, has suggested it assume some non-essential police duties, like downtown patrols, from over worked cops. Read more

Commissionaires Celebrates 80 Years of Service

CHBC-TV, KELOWNA, November 23, 2007 – Anchor Adrienne Skinner, CHBC News at Noon reports on a milestone birthday for Canada’s Commissionaires. The private security company is celebrating 80 years of service. To mark the occasion, member of the Kelowna Commissionaires gathered to unveil the company’s new national image.

View video (Note: excerpt starts a few seconds into this clip, please be patient. Length: 00:01:19, 2.7 meg, wmv format)

Commissionaires’ New Image

November 22, 2007 - The Commissionaires – the biggest security company in Kelowna and BC – is celebrating its 20th anniversary in the city with a new look and a new outlook, what is known as rebranding. Read more

Getting Employees to Come to You With the Right Branding Strategy, Jobseekers Will Line up to Apply for Jobs

November 19, 2007 - With unemployment hitting historic lows - the national rate dipped to 5.8 per cent in October, the lowest it has been since 1974 - it's more important than ever for organizations to distinguish themselves in order to attract top talent. Read more

Commissionaire’s Lifesaving Action Hits the Headlines in BC

Awards, Medals For Local Jail Guards

November 14, 2007 - An Ucluelet jail guard who intervened in an attempted suicide, and a Tofino guard who has served with the Commissionaires for 12 years were recognized during brief ceremonies Tuesday. Harry Elliott, employee relations advisor for the Commissionaires, travelled to Ucluelet, where he awarded Marva Chandler a Commandant’s Commendation, and to Tofino, where he presented Randy Fielder with a long-service medal. Read more

Commissionaires Celebrates Their 80th Year in BC

CKWX-AM, Vancouver, November 10, 2007 – Anchor Russell Bythe of CKWX-AM radio interviews Allen Bachelor, President and CEO of Commissionaires BC.

Listen to interview (Note: excerpt starts a few seconds into this clip, please be patient. Length: 00:01:35, 280KB, WMA format)

Security Industry Work Opens Doors to Careers in Policing

November 10, 2007 - Commissionaires, which celebrated its 80th anniversary this week, is promoting a new strategy that includes a new recruitment drive aimed at providing jobs for returning Canadian soldiers. “Our board has passed a policy that any reservist who is returning from operational duty who [lost] their job as a result of that, we guarantee them employment,” Allen Batchelar, president and CEO of Commissionaires BC, said in an interview. “We might be doing five or 10 a year. We’re here for veterans. That’s our primary purpose.” Read more

Bill 159 Becomes Official, But Falls Short, Experts Say

October 2007 - The long-awaited revised legislation for the Ontario private security industry is now in effect but the biggest and most contentious piece of the puzzle – the still unfinished training and use of force regulation – remains a sore point. Read more

Jobs That Make A Difference

September 29, 2007 - Whether it’s helping a handicapped girl who lost her wheelchair in the Sri Lanka tsunami, or feeding desperate people in east Africa, or giving hope to the underprivileged in the Downtown Eastside, the Salvation Army is all about making a difference in the lives of the marginalized all over the world. Read more

Two Commissionaires Honoured For Saving Woman From Suicide

September 11, 2007 - Two commissionaires who work for the Halifax-Dartmouth Bridge Commission received certificates of merit Monday for preventing a woman from committing suicide. Read more

Guard's Quick Action Likely Saved Man's Life

August 10, 2007 - When he saw flames shooting from a car parked across the street last December, London security guard Joe Da Silva could have easily called 911 and walked away. Read more

Change of Uniform

July 2007 - Permanently-injured firefighter finds new career. Read more

Commissionaires Should Get Priority

July 25, 2007 - Seventy years ago today, the first seven commissionaires in Nova Scotia were enrolled in Halifax. Since then, the organization has grown to more than 1,550 members - the second-largest of 17 divisions across Canada - providing security, enforcement, identification and training services.

The Canadian Corps of Commissionaires began in 1925, with divisions in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver. At the time, the government wanted to provide employment for thousands of returning veterans of the First World War. Read more

CTV News Interviews Doug Briscoe, Executive Director Commissionaires

July 17, 2007 - John Ruttle of CTV News (CTOH-TV in-studio) interviews Doug Briscoe, Executive Director, on the new brand launch for Commissionaires. View video

Consider the Canadian Corps of Commissionaires

July 11, 2007 - 2007 commemorates the 70th year of operation of the Canadian Corps of Commissionaires, Nova Scotia Division; or in our parlance, CNS (Commissionaires Nova Scotia).

Since the formation of the Nova Scotia division in 1937, CNS has grown from 20 employees to an organization that's more than 1,500 strong. CNS is the largest security organization in Atlantic Canada with worksites in every corner of the Province. That in itself makes it easier for the Corps to meet its mandate. Just what is that mandate? Read more

Commissionaires Supports our Troops

June 2007 - When General Rick Hillier, Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS), introduced the new CDS Military Families Fund April 2 in Ottawa, Commissionaires was quick to seek a way to offer its support. Read more

Consider the Commissionaires

As published in "The Western Centinel" on March 22, 2007 - Everyone knows them as the men and women who man the gates and lobbies of government and major corporate complexes. What many do not know is the Corps of Commissionaires are a not-for-profit organization whose mandate is to employ former members of the Canadian Forces and the RCMP. Read more

Veteran's Skills Drive Commissionaires' New Direction

As Published in "Trident" on March 19, 2007 and in "Petawawa Post" on March 20, 2007 - A battle-weary soldier completes his tour of duty, the experiences fresh and raw. He returns home, hoping to reclaim his former life, only to learn that things are not what they once were... Read more

 

If you have any questions, please email executivedirector@commissionaires.ca.

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