HALIFAX, N.S. — Ten years ago, Anita and Cyril Giffin’s son died after a scuffle with a 300-pound bouncer outside a Halifax bar.
On Friday, the couple was at the provincial legislature when Nova Scotia’s justice minister introduced a bill that will require all bouncers and private security guards who interact with the public to receive training and follow a code of conduct.
”I think it’s a positive step after we suffered this tragedy – the loss of our son – and I just hope that no other family has to go through what our family has suffered in the last 10 years,” Anita Giffin said afterwards.
The proposed law calls for mandatory training standards and licensing of bouncers, bodyguards, private investigators, security guards and the Canadian Corps of Commissionaires.
In the early hours of Dec. 23, 1999, Stephen Giffin was hauled out of Captain Eli’s Restaurant and Lounge by bouncer George Joseph MacDonald after a dispute erupted over the girlfriend of bar manager Roni Peter Laba.
Stephen Giffin, a former paramedic and father of three, was later found unconscious in the bar’s parking lot.
The 38-year-old was taken off life support two days later, Christmas Day.
Laba and MacDonald were charged with manslaughter, but a jury acquitted them in 2001. Each man testified that the other was holding Giffin when he passed out in the parking lot.
Court heard that a mixture of alcohol and the antidepressant clomipramine was a factor in Giffin’s death.
However, one pathologist testified that she believed Giffin died when the carotid artery in his neck was stimulated by a neck hold, stopping his heart and depriving his brain of oxygen.
His father has said he believes a choke hold caused his son’s death.
The acquittal of the two men left Cyril Giffin seething with anger and determined to do something to prevent similar deaths in the future.
In 2001, Laba and MacDonald agreed to pay Stephen Giffin’s three daughters $90,000 in a out-of-court settlement to compensate them for the loss of their father’s financial support, care and guidance.
Three years later, Cyril Giffin walked from Sydney, N.S., to Halifax to protest the Crown’s handling of his son’s case and he continued to push for new rules that would require bouncers to be trained and registered.
In 2006, he helped compile a 547-name petition that was presented to the legislature.
On Friday, Justice Minister Ross Landry said the regulatory changes were long overdue. The bill represents the first significant change governing the province’s security industry in 35 years.
”The current … legislation is outdated and does not address public safety issues,” he said.
The legislation would bring Nova Scotia in line with other provinces, including Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec.
Cyril Giffin said the proposed law could have saved his son’s life.
”I don’t think a person who was trained properly would have done what was done there. I think they would have had more confidence in themselves … and that wouldn’t have taken place,” he said.
”I believe it’s a step in the right direction. … People are starting to get the point that no matter where you are there’s no reason to do harm to someone.”
Mike Brownlow, director of business for Commissionaires Nova Scotia, said his organization welcomed the new rules.
”It’s another level of accountability to ensure that security in the province is delivering its final outcome, which is safety to Nova Scotians,” he said.
