Province privatizing some security jobs in Saskatchewan courts

Saskatchewan is eliminating 16 jobs at courthouses across the province, a cost-saving move that critics say will affect safety and security.

According to the province, the positions include 14 deputy sheriffs in the Regina, Saskatoon, North Battleford and Prince Albert Provincial Courts. The province is also closing the registry office at the Court of Queen's Bench in Weyburn, affecting two positions.

This is the fallout of government wasting millions of dollars.- Bob Bymoen

According to the province, the affected deputy sheriff positions did what was described as perimeter security, such as screening people as they entered the courthouse.

The government said that work will continue but will be contracted out.

"We decided to go [with] an alternative delivery of the perimeter security people that are located in the courthouses," Gordon Wyant, Saskatchewan's Minister of Justice, said Wednesday. "We believe it can be done in a more cost-effective way."

The positions affected are represented by SGEU, the Saskatchewan Government and General Employees' Union. According to a news release, notice of the cuts was provided on Tuesday.

"This is the fallout of government wasting millions of dollars," Bob Bymoen, president of the SGEU, said in a statement Wednesday. "It's having real-life consequences on people's lives."

Bymoen said cuts to frontline staff put the safety and security of the public in jeopardy.

"The new contracts come at a cost," he said. "We either pay for quality or accept lesser security in our courts."

The minister said the government will set very stringent terms for the type of service they expect. Wyant said the change is meant to provide the service at a lower cost than with government employees.

"We look at efficiencies all the time within our ministry," he said, adding it was not immediately known how much money will be saved.

Unarmed security jobs affected

Wyant noted the positions involved are not armed.

"The individuals that are doing the perimeter screening and that's what we're dealing with are not armed," Wyant said. "We're going to be looking for the replacement of those individuals with competent security that's going to provide the type of security that we're going to need at the front of those courthouses. Certainly those people aren't armed now and we don't expect them to be armed."