City shelter guards say they weren’t paid in December

A private security company that has won more than $40 million in contracts from city hall since 2020 did not pay its Toronto staff for December, employees have told the Toronto Sun.

The company, One Community Solutions, sends squads of private guards called community safety teams to patrol around city shelters, parks and other spots associated with homelessness. (OCS declined to comment on this story.)

But some of OCS’s guards — which are often referred to as CSTs — say the company didn’t pay them at all in December.

One of those CSTs, Alexander — not his real name — said it’s been a struggle to pay the rent. He said some of his colleagues had no money for Christmas gifts for their families or to send back home to loved ones to mark the new year. (The Sun has agreed to let OCS’s guards speak anonymously to protect them from reprisals by their employer.)

Paycheques for late November were delayed into early December, Alexander said, and the two cheques expected for December haven’t arrived yet. The Sun has also been told the first paycheques for January didn’t go out on Friday.

“It makes life be too tight,” Alexander told the Sun over the phone in a lengthy interview.

“I know a couple of colleagues of mine who left an email” with the company’s senior staff, “and we are just sitting on ice,” he added.

‘Company does not care’

Alexander often works at a city park that has been used as an encampment site and at a subway station, but said he’ll also pick up shifts elsewhere. He’s in his 20s, which he said most CSTs are.

Alexander said CSTs don’t feel valued by their employer, and discipline can seem arbitrary or unfair. Two other CSTs reached out to the Sun via email to complain about OCS, and neither would agree to an interview. One, who insisted on anonymity to protect his job, told the Sun that CSTs had been warned against asking about late pay. A third said CSTs had been told not to speak to reporters.

“Basically, anything that happens to you on the job, it’s all your fault. The company does not care,” Alexander said.

According to screenshots taken from a security workforce app used by OCS, paycheques have been late before. In his messages, HR chief Mitchell Cawley isn’t specific about what is causing the “payment issues throughout 2025,” but at one point speaks vaguely about the “growing pains” of a small company.

In a Dec. 18 message through the app, Cawley told OCS’s Toronto employees that pay would be “slightly delayed.” (The message said OCS staff based in Barrie aren’t affected, and a representative for Simcoe County told the Sun they aren’t aware of any pay issues there.)

“We do sincerely apologize for this inconvenience so close to the holidays. As you all know, we have been here before and will continue to get through this,” Cawley wrote.

Another image, also provided via email by a CST, shows Cawley warned on April 30, 2025, that pay would go out the next week.

“We would ask that you please plan accordingly and continue (sic) that you leave yourself enough funds for the essentials while we face these slight delays in our processing times,” Cawley wrote on April 30. (Alexander said he was insulted that his employer would tell him how to budget his money.)

Even when paycheques come on time, there are issues, according to Alexander. He said CSTs like him don’t get overtime pay, even if he works 60 hours in a week — which he said isn’t uncommon. While a recent job posting on the OCS website listed hourly pay as high as $21, Alexander said that’s beyond what most CSTs make, even those with years at the company.

Alexander said the issues go beyond money. CSTs largely work outside, even in winter, and can interact with people in poor health. Picking up used syringes is routine. Despite all that, Alexander said, CSTs are not provided regular sick days, and if they’re ill, OCS expects workers to find someone to cover their shifts.

It’s also potentially dangerous work, since it involves exposure to drug use and mental illness. Alexander said he knows of an incident in which a colleague suffered a serious hand injury during an assault on the job, and said OCS wouldn’t pay for an ambulance. (OCS did not answer a question about its policies regarding paying for ambulances in case of injury. The Sun was not able to confirm Alexander’s allegation as the man is no longer with the company.)

Still, the job market is tough, so men like Alexander stick with it. He told the Sun that while he has no affection for OCS, working with Toronto’s vulnerable homeless population can be rewarding.

“I feel sorry for their stories. I just feel like helping them,” he said. “Giving someone some food or talking to them, like 10 minutes a day, I’ve seen a lot of them, it brightens up their day …

“A lot of them, they don’t have no one to talk to.”

The two other CSTs who reached out to the Sun each confirmed what Alexander said about working conditions, such as paycheque delays, long hours, no overtime and no sick days.

More money – more problems?

Toronto’s leaders have continuously expanded the municipality’s contract with OCS, deepening a relationship that started with two sole-sourced deals in 2020 — mere months after founder Damion Dunston registered the company.

Despite that, OCS has been close to controversies.

OCS guards were brought on at the South Riverdale Community Health Centre the same month the facility was the site of the fatal shooting of a bystander, Karolina Huebner-Makurat, and their work was lambasted in a review done for Ontario’s Health Ministry that claimed OCTs CSTs were poorly trained “bullies.” (When the Sun reported on that report, the City of Toronto responded that OCS has “been one important tool in the city’s work in resolving encampment issues” and “have been effective contributors to the city’s homelessness work.”)

More recently, OCS guards helped out at evacuation centres after a Barrie encampment, which was linked to two dismemberment murders, was broken up. The CSTs did not work at the encampment itself.

While Dunston told the Sun last year that Cawley would act as the company’s PR representative, when contacted about the payroll matter, he said in an email he doesn’t “handle media relations” and asked to be removed from the Sun’s “contact list.”

After a request for comment, OCS requested a list of questions via email. The Sun asked about late paycheques, OT policies and other matters, but Dunston ultimately declined to comment.

In a brief statement, the City of Toronto told the Sun it made its payments to OCS in November and December with another invoice in the system on Friday. It directed questions about payroll to the contractor.

Andrew Scavarelli, director of Simcoe County’s homelessness services, told the Sun in an email that OCS “continues to be a committed partner” in the county.

jholmes@postmedia.com

RECOMMENDED VIDEO