The minister says NS cannot take action against the bar’s security staff over allegations of bodily harm
The minister, who oversees Nova Scotia’s Liquor Control Act, says there is nothing in the legislation that allows the province to intervene in situations where security guards at bars are allegedly engaged in dangerous behavior towards patrons.
“My part of the Liquor Control Act is to monitor the safe consumption of alcohol at licensed liquor establishments … anything beyond that is currently outside the scope of the act,” said Colton LeBlanc, Secretary of the Interior, whose branch oversees the department alcohol, gambling, fuel and tobacco.
LeBlanc made the comments Thursday in Cabinet in response to a question about alleged incidents involving security personnel at the Halifax Alehouse.
In the early hours of December 24, 2022, 31-year-old Ryan Sawyer was found lifeless on the street outside the bar. A witness told CBC News that he had just seen an altercation in which a bouncer put Sawyer in a chokehold.
Sawyer’s death was later ruled a homicide and police have not pressed charges.
Police will not say if Halifax Alehouse employees were involved in Sawyer’s death or if they are suspects in their murder investigation.
Two months before Sawyer was killed, police charged two men with assault after an Alehouse customer said he was assaulted and held in a chokehold by security guards outside the bar.
A man who was allegedly attacked in a third incident last year said he was put in a chokehold when he was attacked by security at the Alehouse, resulting in serious injuries, according to court documents.
CBC News had previously reached out to the Halifax Alehouse’s owners for comment several times and received no response.
According to LeBlanc, bars must notify the Alcohol, Gambling, Tobacco and Fuel Department if charges are brought against them.
In 2010, the then NDP government introduced the Security and Investigative Services Act. It passed all three readings but was never made law. It would have required internal security personnel to be licensed and trained in a number of areas.
Stephen Cyril Giffin died on Christmas Day 1999 after being beaten by bouncers at a former Halifax bar, Captain Eli’s. Two men charged with manslaughter were acquitted of the charge.
Giffin’s father, Cyril Giffin, lobbied the government for mandatory training for bar security personnel.
The 2010 law was never promulgated
Attorney General Brad Johns said it was unclear why the Security and Investigative Services Act never went into effect. He has asked staff to look into it and said he has only limited comment on the matter until then.
In 2010 he was a councilman for the Halifax Regional Municipality.
“I thought it was good legislation at the time,” he said.
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