Quebec Security Law and Trespass Course: Lessons 2026

Lesson 1: The Private Security Act and the BSP

Private security in Quebec is regulated by the Private Security Act (Loi sur la sécurité privée, chapter S-3.5). The Act creates the Bureau de la sécurité privée (BSP), which issues licences and oversees the industry.

The Act covers six private security activities: security guarding (gardiennage), investigation, locksmithing, electronic security systems, transport of valuables, and security consulting.

Two kinds of licence

Licence	Who needs it
Agency licence	Any business that carries on a private security activity. It must be displayed in a conspicuous place in each establishment.
Agent licence	Each person who carries on a private security activity, and that person's immediate superior. It is issued by class, such as security guarding.

Working without the required agent licence is an offence, and so is employing a person who does not hold one.

Getting and keeping an agent licence

Be at least 18 years old and of good moral character.
Have no conviction for an offence related to the activity, unless a pardon was obtained.
Have the required training. For security guarding, the regulation asks for at least 70 hours in a private security guarding program, with a training certificate from a school service centre or school board, or training the BSP finds equivalent or the Minister recognizes. A person who holds an agent licence from a regulatory body elsewhere in Canada does not have to meet this training rule.
The BSP sends information to the Sûreté du Québec, which checks whether the applicant meets the conditions.
An agent licence is issued or renewed for five years. The BSP may issue a temporary licence for up to 120 days in cases set by regulation.

Lesson 2: Your duties as a licence holder

The Act and the Regulation respecting standards of conduct of agent licence holders (S-3.5, r. 3) set out what you must and must not do.

Under the Act

Tell the BSP without delay of any change that may affect your licence, for example a conviction.
Do not hold a job that is incompatible with private security. The Act names employment with a police force as one example.
If your licence is cancelled or not renewed, return it within 15 days of the decision.
If the BSP refuses, suspends, cancels or does not renew your licence, you may contest the decision before the Administrative Tribunal of Québec.

Under the standards of conduct

Act in a way that keeps the public's trust. No obscene, offensive or discriminatory language, no rudeness, and never work while impaired by alcohol or drugs.
Present your licence when asked to identify yourself, and wear any identification mark the regulation requires.
Never use more force than is necessary. Do not threaten, intimidate or harass anyone, make false accusations, or hold a person without arresting them or having the authority to do so.
Give reasonable help to the BSP and to peace officers. Never hide or hold back evidence.
Work with integrity, competence and care. Never present yourself as having the authority or powers of a peace officer, and do only the activities your licence class covers.
Avoid conflicts of interest, and do not accept payments or favours you are not allowed to take.
Keep what you learn on the job confidential.

Lesson 3: Trespass in Quebec

Several provinces have a trespass act, such as Ontario's Trespass to Property Act. Quebec has no provincial trespass act. Instead, trespass is handled through civil law, municipal bylaws and, for serious cases, the Criminal Code.

Civil law and the Charter

Article 947 of the Civil Code of Québec: ownership is the right to use, enjoy and dispose of property fully and freely, within the limits set by law. The owner, or someone acting for the owner, can decide who may stay.
Section 6 of the Charter of human rights and freedoms: every person has a right to the peaceful enjoyment and free disposition of their property.
The same Charter protects everyone's private life (section 5) and says no one may be deprived of their liberty except on grounds provided by law (section 24). Your actions must respect these rights too.

Municipal bylaws

Many Quebec cities have peace and order bylaws. For example, Blainville's Bylaw 1571 forbids entering or staying on private land without a valid reason or the owner's or occupant's permission (article 11), and forbids refusing to leave a private place when the person in charge asks (article 25). Tickets (constats d'infraction) are issued by the city's competent authority, such as its police service, and cases go to municipal court. Your role is to ask the person to leave, observe and report, and call police if needed.

Criminal Code

Section 177: it is an offence to loiter or prowl at night on another person's property near a dwelling-house without lawful excuse.
Section 35: a person in peaceable possession of property, or someone lawfully helping them, may do what is reasonable in the circumstances to stop a person entering without right or to remove them.

Lesson 4: Arrest and use of force

Because Quebec has no trespass act, a guard's arrest powers come from section 494 of the Criminal Code:

494(1): anyone may arrest without warrant a person they find committing an indictable offence, or a person they believe on reasonable grounds has committed a criminal offence and is escaping and freshly pursued by persons with lawful authority to arrest.
494(2): the owner or a person in lawful possession of property, or a person they authorize, may arrest a person found committing a criminal offence on or in relation to that property, at that time or within a reasonable time after if police cannot make the arrest.
494(3): anyone other than a peace officer who arrests must deliver the person to a peace officer forthwith (right away).

A breach of a municipal bylaw is not a criminal offence. Staying on private land against a bylaw does not, by itself, give you a power of arrest under section 494.

Force

Section 25: a person authorized by law to do something, acting on reasonable grounds, may use as much force as is necessary for that purpose. Section 494(4) confirms that a lawful arrest under section 494 counts.
Section 26: anyone authorized to use force is criminally responsible for any excess.
The standards of conduct also forbid using more force than is necessary.

Force must always be judged against the situation.

The threat you are facing
Whether force was needed at that moment
Whether the force was in proportion to the threat
Other options you could have used, such as stepping back or calling police
The aftermath: first aid and care for the person once control is gained

Lesson 5: Putting it together

Here is how these rules fit together in a common Quebec situation: a person is in a closed parking garage at night and will not leave.

Identify yourself, show your licence if asked, and explain that you act for the owner.
Ask the person clearly to leave, and say which exit to use.
If they refuse, do not touch them. Step back and call police, who can enforce the city's bylaw.
If they start to damage property or commit another criminal offence in front of you, you may consider an arrest under section 494(2), using only necessary force.
If you arrest, call police right away and hand the person over as soon as they arrive.
Write a full report: times, words used, witnesses and what police did.