In June, the Department of Community Services issued a warning to Yukoners about an unlicensed home security company operating in the territory.
It wasn’t some kind of fraudulent scheme though, simply a licensing oversight.
The company, Liberty Security Systems, is now licensed and legally operating the territory.
“It wasn’t a scam, we’re a legitimate company,” said Russell Keddie, a managing partner at Liberty Security.
The Alberta based company had been working for months to set up operations in the territory.
“We were doing licensing for probably since March,” he said. “We talked to the government to get permission to register, we went through WCB, we sent criminal checks on to the City of Whitehorse but, somehow, we missed the agency bit.”
Every jurisdiction has different requirements for security companies and their employees.
The province of Alberta requires the company to have an agency license, but those operating in Calgary need a separate Burglar Alarm License as well.
The Yukon has similar regulations.
The Yukon government requires security companies to be licensed under the Private Investigators and Security Guard Act.
The company needs an agency license and all the technicians need clearance from the Department of Community Services.
Any technician installing or maintaining a security system has to have a Burglar Alarm Identification Card issued by the department.
Sales staff don’t need a special ID, but they should have a copy of their company’s agency license on hand.
In the week it was operating, Liberty Security signed up about 80 customers.
When it found out about the special licensing requirements, it had to suspend operations and send its sales staff back to Edmonton.
It took a few weeks to sort everything out, but they’re now back in business.
While the mix up did have a bit of a “negative impact” on their business, Keddie said he remains optimistic about operating in the territory.
“It was just a short term hiccup,” he said.
Contact Josh Kerr at joshk@yukon-news.com