Bylawpedia
Introduction
Bylaw enforcement is the term used to refer to the personnel and methods used to enforce bylaws. Bylaws are rules or laws that are made by various bodies, such as corporations, societies, condominiums and local governments (Falcon Law Professional Corporation, 2023; Government of British Columbia, 2023a; Pacific Legal Education and Outreach Society, n.d.; People's Law School; n.d.). Therefore, when someone refers to bylaw enforcement, it is possible the individual may be referring to the personnel and practices used by any of these bodies to enforce their rules or laws. However, for the purpose of this website, we will only be dealing with the enforcement of local government bylaws, with a particular focus on British Columbia.
Bylaw Enforcement Officers
Personnel who enforce local government bylaws are commonly referred to as bylaw enforcement officers in Canada (Government of Canada, n.d.), though there are some variations in terminology. For example, in Ontario, enforcement officers employed by municipalities to enforce bylaws are also known as municipal law enforcement officers (Municipal Law Enforcement Officers' Association, n.d.) and, in Alberta, local governments often employ officers known as community peace officers (Association of Alberta Municipalities, n.d.). In the province of British Columbia, the most frequently used term is bylaw enforcement officer (Justice Institute of British Columbia, n.d.), although in recent years some communities have begun to reorganize their bylaw enforcement services and retitle their officers with designations such as community services officers (City of Kamloops, 2022) or community safety officers (Bakker, 2023).
For the sake of simplicity, throughout this website, the term bylaw enforcement officer will be used to refer to all personnel who are employed to enforce local government bylaws, regardless of what their official job title may or may not be.
Currently, there are no qualifications mandated by statute for a person to be employed as a bylaw enforcement officer in British Columbia. Despite it not being legally mandated, most local governments in the province will not consider employing a person as a bylaw enforcement officer unless they have a relevant education (Indeed Editorial Team, 2023; Justice Institute of British Columbia, n.d.). It is not uncommon to find a local government requiring that, at a minimum, a bylaw enforcement officer have successfully completed a course from the Justice Institute of British Columbia in bylaw enforcement and sometimes, in addition, they will require post-secondary education in a related field.
Job duties assigned to bylaw enforcement officers vary considerably depending on what community they work for. In some locations, officers are assigned to general enforcement duties, being responsible for essentially all bylaw enforcement from animal control to parking enforcement to zoning regulations. In others, there will be different classes of bylaw enforcement officers assigned to different types of enforcement work; i.e. animal control officers, parking enforcement officers, property inspectors, etc. (Indeed Editorial Team, 2023; Office of the Ombudsperson, 2015, pp. 4-5).
There are two methods of appointing or designating people as bylaw enforcement officers in British Columbia. One way is to appoint the employees under the Police Act, but this method is rarely used by communities in the province. Instead, most will use the authority of the Community Charter or Local Government Act to enact a bylaw which establishes the position of bylaw enforcement officer and then employ one or more persons to fill that position (Howieson, 2009, p. 1).
It must be pointed out that not all bylaw enforcement staff working on behalf of local governments are directly employed by them. Sometimes the government of a community will, due to a lack of personnel with the necessary skills, a desire to reduce a heavy caseload for their in-house officers or a need for cost-cutting, engage the services of a private company or a charity organization to perform bylaw enforcement. These contractors may be engaged to perform all bylaw enforcement or just certain types, such as animal control and parking enforcement (Canadian Corps of Commissionaires, n.d.; City of Dawson Creek, n.d.; Office of the Ombudsperson, 2015, pp. 4, 5 & 31).
In some provinces, such as Alberta, legislation clearly lays out that bylaw enforcement officers are peace officers[1]. This is not the case in British Columbia, which causes some to doubt whether bylaw enforcement officers have this status in the province. However, there have been multiple cases where the courts in British Columbia have ruled that bylaw enforcement officers meet the definition of peace officer found in section 2 of the Criminal Code, and therefore have peace officer status, and the various protections and authorities which go along with that (Criminal Code, 1985, s. 2; Howieson, 2009, p. 1-2; Local Government Compliance and Enforcement Association, n.d.; R. v. Dennis Lawrence Harrison, 2021; R. v. Turko, 2000; Woodward v. Capital Regional District, 2005).
Bylaw Enforcement Methods
As for the tactics and tools used to enforce bylaws rather than the people, there are a number of methods used by local governments. Some of the most common are quasi-criminal proceedings (such as a prosecution in Provincial Court or the issuance of a ticket), civil proceedings and direct enforcement (Howieson, 2008). Depending on how one defines 'enforcement', it is also possible that warnings and efforts to achieve voluntary compliance may also be included in the list of enforcement methods (Office of the Ombudsperson, 2015, p. 6).
Penalties that can be imposed for a bylaw violation differ depending on the enforcement method in question, as well as the province or territory. In British Columbia, local governments are allowed to set the penalties for their bylaws (which may include both fines and imprisonment), up to certain limits prescribed in provincial law (Community Charter, 2003, ss. 260-263; Local Government Act, ss. 413-416).
If a long form information is used to prosecute a bylaw violator in court in British Columbia, the maximum fine permitted is $50,000 and the maximum term of imprisonment is 6 months (Community Charter, 2003, ss. 260-263; Local Government Act, 2015, ss. 413 - 416). If a person is issued a ticket, then the only penalty that can be applied is a fine, with the maximum fine dependent on the type of ticket issued. The maximum fine for a municipal ticket information (MTI) is $3000 for an adult and $1000 for a person under 18 (Government of British Columbia, 2023b) while the maximum fine amount permissible for a bylaw notice is $500, for both adults and youth (Government of British Columbia, 2022).
It is worth mentioning that, pursuant to British Columbia statute, the minimum age for taking any quasi-criminal proceedings against a young person, whether a prosecution by long form information or the issuance of a ticket, is 12 years. Persons cannot be subject to quasi-criminal proceedings for any bylaw violations committed while younger than 12 years of age (Youth Justice Act, 2003, s. 2).
A civil action (i.e. a civil lawsuit) taken by a local government against a person who violates one of its bylaws can result in a number of orders being issued if the local government is successful. For one, the court could impose an injunction ordering the bylaw violator to cease the violation (Howieson, 2008) and find them in contempt of court if they don't comply, leading to civil or even criminal penalties (Hastings, 2021).
Direct enforcement measures that can be taken by a local government for a bylaw violation without the involvement of a court are fairly extensive. A non-exhaustive list of examples include: the seizure of an animal if it is involved in the violation of an animal control bylaw (Community Charter, 2003, s. 48; Local Government Act, 2015, s. 320), the seizure and impound of a vehicle involved in a parking bylaw violation (Community Charter, 2003, s. 46), and even the demolition of buildings and structures for certain violations (Community Charter, 2003, s. 72-74; Local Government Act, 2015, s. 305).
END NOTES:
[1] In Alberta, there are traditional bylaw enforcement officers which have authority to enforce only their local bylaws and also another category of enforcement officers known as community peace officers. The community peace officers are employed by municipalities and can be authorized to enforce both local bylaws and provincial statutes (Association of Alberta Municipalities, n.d.). It is fairly commonly known that the province has passed legislation recognizing community peace officers have peace officer status; after all, it is right there in the job title (Government of Alberta, 2022; Peace Officer Act, 2006, s. 7). Less well known is the fact that the province also has a statute which recognizes the peace officer status of traditional bylaw enforcement officers (Municipal Government Act, 2000, s. 555).
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