Law360 Canada (May 7, 2026, 12:34 PM EDT) --

Harini Sivalingam

There may be a new sheriff in town. The provincial government in Ontario plans to introduce regulations designating transit special constables as “officers” under the Restricting Public Consumption of Illegal Substances Act, 2025 (RPCISA). This move will grant them sweeping powers to arrest and detain individuals and to search, seize and even destroy property.

This is not a minor regulatory tweak. It is a significant expansion of coercive state power into public transit systems — spaces that millions of Ontarians rely on every day, including some of the most vulnerable people in our communities.

A sweeping expansion of power

The RPCISA was created through Bill 6, the Safer Municipalities Act, passed last year. The Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA), along with other civil society advocates, vehemently opposed its passage. It prohibits the use of illegal substances in public places and allows designated officers to order individuals to stop or leave. Failure to comply can result in arrest, fines of up to $10,000 or even jail time of six months.

The new regulations proposed would extend these powers to transit special constables. CCLA wrote to the solicitor general outlining our concerns with expanding the law enforcement powers of transit special constables. The Ontario government is going ahead with these measures regardless. If implemented, transit special constables would be able to direct individuals to stop using substances or leave transit property, demand identification to initiate proceedings, arrest those who do not comply promptly and seize or destroy substances without judicial oversight.

This is not a narrow or carefully calibrated policy response. It is a wholesale transfer of police-equivalent enforcement power to agents who were never designed to wield it, without sufficient training and lack independent oversight.

Displacement, not safety

The government has framed this expansion as necessary to improve public safety. In practice, it is unlikely to enhance safety — and to the contrary will likely undermine safety in transit spaces.

What it does is authorize enforcement officers to target and arrest some of the most vulnerable members of our communities — unhoused individuals, people who use substances and those experiencing mental health crises.

That is not a solution. It is displacement.

Transit spaces are among the last public spaces where vulnerable community members can stay warm, dry and connected to vital support services.

What makes this approach even more troubling is that it comes alongside the province’s decision to defund and close supervised consumption sites — one of the most rigorously studied and effective harm reduction tools available. These sites save lives, reduce overdose deaths, decrease emergency room visits and connect people to treatment and support. They also reduce public drug use in surrounding areas.

Shutting down these services while expanding enforcement powers is not a coincidence. It is a policy choice: replacing health care with punishment.

Rather than funding supervised consumption sites, expanding mental health services or creating new shelter beds or supportive housing, the Ontario government is doubling down on criminalizing poverty.

Charter rights at stake

This expansion of enforcement powers to transit special constables also raises serious constitutional concerns.

The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms protects everyone from arbitrary detention, unreasonable search and seizure, and discriminatory treatment by the state. The RPCISA, as applied to transit spaces, engages each of these protections.

Consider the arrest power. Individuals can now be arrested not only for consuming substances, but for failing to comply “promptly” with an order. That introduces a troubling level of discretion and risks violating the Charter’s protection against arbitrary detention.

Then there is the power to seize and destroy property without a warrant, charges or court oversight. The idea that the state can permanently destroy someone’s belongings without judicial authorization should concern anyone who values basic legal safeguards.

And there are also valid concerns that these powers will not be applied evenly. Decades of evidence show that transit enforcement disproportionately impacts Black and Indigenous people, racialized communities, unhoused individuals and people with mental health conditions. Yet the regulations include no requirements for data collection, no anti-profiling safeguards and no new independent oversight mechanisms.

The province is asking the public to trust that these powers will be used fairly — despite a long track record suggesting otherwise.

The wrong tool for enhancing transit safety

There are reasons why transit enforcement and policing have historically been separate. They serve different functions and require different forms of training, accountability and public trust.

Police officers, for all the legitimate concerns about policing in Ontario, are subject to the jurisdiction of an independent body for complaints, the Law Enforcement Complaints Agency (LECA). Transit special constables are not.

Extending police-like powers without extending equivalent safeguards is not a reasonable compromise. It is a structural imbalance that increases the risk of rights violations.

It is also unfair to transit workers themselves. These regulations place them in complex, high-stakes situations — deciding whether someone is using substances and whether arrest is justified.

Transit special constables were not hired to be front-line enforcers of drug policy. Placing them in that role without adequate training or support puts both them and the public at risk.

A better path forward

The government’s approach reflects a broader choice: to treat public substance use as a law enforcement issue rather than a public health challenge.

There is a better way.

Harm reduction services — including supervised consumption sites, needle exchanges and naloxone distribution — save lives and reduce public drug use. Mobile crisis response teams, staffed by health care professionals and social workers, can de-escalate situations without resorting to arrest. Outreach workers can build relationships and connect people to services in ways enforcement cannot.

These solutions require investment and political will. But the evidence is clear: health-centred approaches produce better outcomes for individuals, communities and public spaces alike.

Public transit should be safe spaces for all

Expanding the number of people authorized to arrest and detain is not an evidence-based strategy for improving safety. It is a punitive response to a health crisis — one that will disproportionately harm those already pushed to the margins.

Ontario’s decision to extend the enforcement powers to transit special constables is constitutionally risky, policy-wise unsound, unlikely to improve safety and likely to deepen existing inequalities.

Public transit should be a space of safety, dignity and accessibility for all. Turning it into another site of expanded policing moves us further away from that goal — not closer. Ontario transit spaces may soon have a new sheriff in town — but more enforcement without care won’t make our communities any safer.

Harini Sivalingam (she/her) is a lawyer and the director of the Equality Program at the Canadian Civil Liberties Association.

The opinions expressed are those of the author and do not reflect the views of the author’s firm, its clients, Law360 Canada, LexisNexis Canada or any of its or their respective affiliates. This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal advice.

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