Let’s talk: Adding new contraventions to various marine security regulations

Transport Canada wants your thoughts on adding new contraventions to the Marine Transportation Security Act, the Marine Transportation Security Regulations and the Domestic Ferries Security Regulations.

Our proposal

Transport Canada wants to make sure we have the best tools to oversee and enforce Canada’s marine security framework, which includes being able to deal with some legal and regulatory offences by issuing tickets. For this, we want to designate some legal and regulatory violations as “contraventions” in the Contraventions Regulations.

The Marine Transportation Security Regulations is one of the tools we use to keep Canada’s marine transportation system secure. The regulations apply to any vessel in Canada, and to any Canadian vessels outside of Canada that are travelling between a port in one country and a port in another country. The vessels must also:

• carry more than 12 passengers, or
• be more than 100 tons gross tonnage, but not a towing vessel, or
• be a towing vessel that’s towing a barge carrying dangerous cargo either astern, alongside or pushing ahead.

The regulations also apply to any marine facility that works with these vessels.

The Domestic Ferries Security Regulations is another tool we use to keep Canada’s marine transportation system secure. The regulations set the framework we use to detect security threats and prevent security incidents on domestic ferries and at facilities. The regulations help manage the risks to domestic ferry services in regions where losing ferry service would have a major impact.

Allowing Transportation Security Inspectors to respond to some violations by issuing a ticket will help us enforce these regulations. A ticket could be paid voluntarily or challenged in provincial court where the offence was committed.

Compared to criminal proceedings, offenders who plead guilty won’t have to appear in court. Tickets reduce the number of cases that go through the courts, which saves both time and money. Tickets can also be issued quickly, which would help law enforcement officers continue with their day and focus on other duties.

Proposed fines

The proposed fine amounts for these new contraventions range between $125 and $500. These amounts are based on existing fines for similar contraventions already listed in Schedule I of the Contraventions Regulations.

We want to hear from you

We want to hear from stakeholders and the Canadian public. Your opinion and feedback are important!

To learn more about our proposal, please read our background document and examples of proposed contraventions.

We’re especially interested in hearing from:

• marine security stakeholders, including stakeholders from Canada’s port system
• law enforcement
• the Canadian public

To get involved

1. Choose “Register” at the top of the page, and join the discussion under the “Have Your Say” tab.
2. You can also submit your comments in a Word or PDF document through the “Submissions” tab. You can upload more than one document.
3. Or you can email us your comments at: marinesafety-securitemaritime@tc.gc.ca