Agencies

As representative of your agency, you must send us the documents and pay certain fees.

Documents

You need to send us the following documents:

1- Le The form to Request an Agency Licence completed correctly;

2- Proof of your identity (as acting representative of the agency) :

• If you were born in Canada, you must send your birth certificate.
• If you were born outside of Canada and are unable to supply a birth certificate in either French or English, you must send three (3) pieces of valid identity among the following :
  • Passport
  • Canadian Citizen Card
  • Permanent Residence Card
  • Attestation of Refugee Status
  • Driver’s Licence
  • Social Insurance Card

In all of the cases, you must send colour copies that have been authenticated by your respondent or a Commissioner of Oaths.

• Two (2) identical photographs that meet the following criteria:
  • in colour;
  • passport format (5cm x 7cm);
  • taken on a white background;
  • facing front, from shoulder up;
  • taken during the 6 preceding months.
• In addition :
  • your head must be uncovered (no hat, cap, etc.);
  • the date must be stamped on the back; and
  • the photographs must be identified and authenticated by your respondent or a Commissioner of Oaths.

3- A clear and legible copy of one of the following documents, according to the legal structure of your agency :


After having analyzed these documents, we will send you a letter requesting the following documents :

4- proof that your agency possesses a civil liability insurance policy with at least $1,000,000 in coverage, per incident.

This insurance, that serves principally to protect the public, must cover the financial liability arising from bodily injury and moral and material damage that could result from the agency’s actions. Your agency must keep this insurance for as much and as long as it holds a valid licence. You must, therefore, send us, each time if necessary, the proof that your civil liability has been renewed or replaced.

5- Proof in the form of a pledge of money or bond of $10,000 to guarantee the agency’s obligations. This pledge must remain valid for as much and as long as your agency holds a valid licence. You must, therefore, send us, each time if necessary, the proof that your pledge has been renewed or replaced.

For more details on civil liability insurance and the pledge, you can consult the Guide for Annual Payment Fees.

Fees

1- To make an agency licence request, you must pay the fees of $107 for each of the people verified by the Verification of Security Conditions.

Attention! No verification is necessary for people to be verified who have already been verified to obtain another agent or agency licence that’s still valid. In that case, the fees would be $40 for each of these individuals.

2- To obtain an agency licence, you must pay annual fees. These fees are the same that you must pay each year to conserve the validity of your licence :

These fees will be reimbursed to you if your licence request is refused.

Attention! If your agency wishes to engage in private security activities in more than one category, it must obtain a different licence for each category.

As such, your agency must pay the annual fees for each licence it requests, and this, even if all the requests are submitted simultaneously.

The date when you deposit your licence request determines the start of the period of validity for the licence. The annual fees that you pay for the first year will, therefore, cover the period of 12 months that follow the deposit of the request ,and not the day when you receive the licence.

Proof of Receipt

To confirm that we did receive your Licence Request, we will send you a proof of receipt by e-mail.

You will not receive a proof of receipt by mail. It is, therefore, important to supply us with your e-mail address in the Form to Request an Agent Licence and ensure that it is clearly legible.

Attention! Your proof of receipt will only prove that you have made a licence request. You must wait to receive your licence before engaging in private security activities.

Before granting an agency licence, we must verify that :

1- Your agency respects the following conditions:

• It possesses at least one institution in Quebec;
• The company is solvent;
• It possesses civil liability insurance in the amount of at least $1,000 000 per incident.
• This insurance must cover bodily injury, and moral and material damage that could result from the agency’s actions; and
• It must provide a pledge of $10,000 to guarantee its obligations.

2- You are solvent (as acting representative of the agency).

3- The people verified by the Verifications of Security Conditions respect the conditions in accordance with the law.

We will send you our decision within a period of 4 to 8 weeks after having received your payment and all the documents listed in the « Documents » section above. Our response could be delayed if your payment or your documents do not meet specifications.

Request Refusal

We could refuse your agency licence request if :

• You or your agency do not respect the conditions; or
• if, over the course of the five past years, we have refused, not renewed, suspended or revoked the licence of an agent or agency of one of the people verified by the Verification of Security Conditions.

Displaying the Licence

Your agency must display its licence or one of the official copies provided to you by us in each of its establishments. The licence or an official copy must be displayed in a place where it is easy to see and to read.

Payment of Annual Fees

Your agency must pay fees every year to conserve the validity of its licence. These fees are the same as those you paid for the licence request.

You must make the payment before the due date inscribed in your agency licence.

For example, if it is inscribed : « valid: 2010-07-22 to 2015-07-21 » on your licence, you must pay the annual fees by July 21st, the latest, every year.

In all cases, we will send you a letter 30 days before the expiry date to remind you and explain how to pay. You will receive a proof of receipt as soon as we receive your payment.

Advise us of Any Changes

You must advise us, by writing, of all changes that could affect the validity of your agency licence. For example:

• agency coordinates (address, phone number, etc.)
• names used by the agency
• addition or closure of branches
• addition or retirement of administrators
• affiliation or fusion with another
• agency
• nature of activities
• change of shareholders
• etc.

You must send us a notice, in writing, detailing all the changes. You must include the date and the coordinates of your agency in your notice, and it must be signed.

If you change your address, you can also complete the pertinent sections in the Form to Request an Agency Licence.

You can send us your notice by mail, by e-mail, or by fax.

You can request an additional licence for each of the categories of security activities where your agency does not yet have a licence. To do so, you must complete the pertinent sections of the Form to Request an Agency Licence.

As soon as you make your request, you must pay the annual fees for each licence category that you wish to add.

You can also pay the applicable fees for the Verification of Security Conditions:

• $107 for each person verified who has not yet been verified; and
• $40 for each person verified who has already been verified to obtain another agent or agency licence that’s still valid.

The licence will be granted to your agency for a period of 3 years. You must, therefore, submit a request to renew your licence every 3 years by filling out the pertinent sections in the Form to Request an Agency Licence.

This request must be sent to us at least 60 days before the expiry date of your agency’s licence. We will send you a letter to remind you.

At the moment that you submit your request, you must pay the annual fees for each or all of the licence categories you wish to renew.

You must also pay the applicable fees for the Verification of Security Conditions:

• $107 for each person verified who has not yet been verified; and
• $40 for each person verified who has already been verified to obtain another agent or agency licence that’s still valid.

You can replace your agency’s licence if it is lost or stolen. To do so, you must complete the pertinent sections in the Form to Request an Agency Licence and we will send it to you.

Replacement costs are $25 plus taxes.

The information we keep in your agency file is confidential. If your agency would like to licence someone to have access to it, your representative must give us authorization, in writing, by sending us a Form to Authorize the Communication of Personal Information.

This form could, for example, licence someone to access the company file in place of the representative if they are on vacation or not available for a period of 45 days or less.

If your agency foresees ceasing its security activities, you must advise us by writing, specifying the exact date. Your agency licence will be revoked as of the date that you specify. No money will be reimbursed.

Your agency can hire agents on a temporary basis for an exceptional event or for the specific needs of an investigation.

An exceptional event could be:

• a sporting activity;
• a cultural activity;
• a labour dispute;
• a pandemic;
• a disaster.

Although the temporary agent must make a temporary licence request for themselves, your agency has certain obligations as well :

it must provide us with a written declaration that explains why and how it will temporarily require the services of the agent.
This declaration must also outline :

• the nature of the activities the temporary agent will engage in;
• the date of the event or the investigation; and
• the name and licence number of the person who will be supervising the temporary agent.

Once the licence is granted, the agency must ensure that the temporary agent remains under the supervision of a person who possesses an agent licence in the same category; and
As soon as the agency no longer requires the services of the temporary agent, they must advise us in writing. This notice must be sent to us by mail or e-mail.

Guarding: Surveying or protecting people, things or valuables in order to protect and prevent.

Investigation : Searching for people, information or things.

Locksmith work: Installation, upkeep and reparation of locking devices

Transport of Valuables: Transporting money, securities or objects of value.

Electronic Security Systems: Installation, maintenance and surveillance of alarm systems, video surveillance or access control.

Security Consulting Services: Consulting in methods of protection against theft, intrusion or vandalism.

Should you require it, we invite you to consult the legal definitions of the different categories of private security protection in Article 1 of the Private Security Act.

The Private Security Act obliges us to make certain verifications with the Sûreté du Québec before granting an agency licence.

For an agency to be granted their licence, therefore, the people who have been verified must :

• not be judged guilty of a criminal infraction or another infraction that is associated with the private security activity you are requesting an agency licence for, and
• be of good moral character, which means they must conduct themselves according to society’s morally acceptable mores.

People to be Verified

The people verified in the verification of security conditions are the following :

• If the agency is an individual enterprise:

The representative of the agency; and
the owner of the agency.

• If the agency is a partnership or a moral person :

The representative of the agency;
the administrators of the agency; and
the associates or stockholders who have a significant share in the agency, which means :

associates who hold 10% or more shares in the company, or
any shareholder who, directly or indirectly, holds 10% or more of the voting shares in the agency.

If addition, if one of the shareholders or associates holding a significant share of the agency is a company or a moral person, you must provide us with information on:

the administrators of this company or moral person; and
the associates who have a significant amount of shares in this society or moral person, which means:

associates who hold 10% or more shares in this company; or
the associates who hold, directly or indirectly, 10% or more voting shares of this moral person.

Commissioner of Oaths: A person who is authorized by the government and who has the power to vouch for another person. This endorsement is helpful in making a signature or testimony appear more official or more credible.

To find a Commissioner of Oaths, you can :

• consult the Search for a Commissioner of Oaths available on the Justice Québec web site; or
• call the Commissioner of Oaths Customer Service at :

514 -864-5761 (Montréal and surroundings)
418-528-5761 (Québec and surroundings)
1-855-297-5761 (toll-free in Canada).

Individual Enterprise: Company run by a sole person that is referred to as a «freelancer » or « independent worker ». This person works for themselves, and it’s that person who reaps all the benefits and incurs all the debts.

The enterprise numbers in Québec (« NEQ ») that a person obtains when they register their individual enterprise at Registre des entreprises du Québec always start with the number « 22 ».

Moral Person: Legal entity that is distinct from the people who run the company or are members within it. It is called a « corporation » or « company ». This entity is « incorporated» and bears the abbreviation « Inc. » in its name (ex : 9111-1212 Québec Inc.).

Like an individual, a moral person possess what we call a « legal personality ». It has its own rights and responsibilities. It can, for example, sign contracts, own property, and pay its employees.

A moral person possesses what we call a « constitutional act», which is a document that it submits to the government to confirm its creation.
The constitutional act of a moral person most notably corresponds with its « charter » or its «Certificate of Constitution».

A moral person also possesses « constitutional status», which is also sometimes referred to as « incorporation documents».

The enterprise numbers in Quebec (« NEQ ») that a moral person obtains when they register at the Registre des entreprises du Québec always begin with the number «11».

Respondent: A person who can confirm the name, approximate age and physical appearance of the person who is making the agent licence request. To confirm to the requirements of the Private Security Bureau, the respondent must :

• be 18 years and older;
• be a Canadian citizen ;
• know the person making the request for the agent licence for at least 2 years;
• be available to answer questions at the Bureau; and
• belong to one of the following groups:

judge, lawyer, police officer, fireman
dentist, nurse, doctor, veterinarian, ambulance technician
engineer or architect
accountant (CA, CGA, CMA)
notary
optomotrist, parmacist, chiropractor
professor in college (Cégep) or university
customs officer, bailiff, detective.

Representative: Person authorized by the agency to represent it and communicate with the Private Security Bureau. The representative must be a full-time member of the agency.

Company: Grouping of people (called « associates») that have united to engage in a common activity. They could also be referred to as a firm, society, or partnership.

Generally, associates sign a «Company Contract » to get their company up and running.
The enterprise number (« NEQ ») that they receive when they register at the Registre des entreprises du Québec always start with the number « 33 ».

 - Download the Agency License Application form