Streamline and Improve the SIP program

The Security Infrastructure Program (SIP) is a key initiative that provides essential funding for institutions to enhance their security infrastructure. The SIP provides funding to private and non-profit organizations at risk of hate-motivated crime to mitigate the costs of security infrastructure improvements such as alarm systems and bollards. The efficacy and importance of this program are clear. For example, a security guard at Congregation Shaar Hashomayim in Montreal thwarted an arson attack on the synagogue thanks to the surveillance cameras partly financed by the program.  

While the SIP provides essential infrastructure funding, it is only half of the solution. It is essential to empower, equip, and train community members to be aware, identify, and deter threats and to have the capacity to partner effectively with law enforcement for deterrence and information-sharing purposes.  

Currently, only the organization that is directly threatened itself may apply for SIP funding, such as a synagogue or community centre. The SIP funding is then used by the organization to pay for security training as well as physical infrastructure.   

However, this means each individual organization in a community must apply for SIP funding, then contract security training and advice. Smaller and more vulnerable organizations in a community may not have the resources or capacity to maximize the benefits SIP provides.  

A more streamlined use of SIP’s security training funding would allow non-profit organizations from those same vulnerable communities to also apply for SIP funding to provide culturally-sensitive security training to their communities.  

The Community Security Trust model used in the United Kingdom is a valuable model to increase SIP’s effectiveness in protecting affected communities. CST lets communities provide training for volunteers on how to provide non-armed patrols, promote situational awareness and threat prevention, and liaise with local law enforcement.  

Recommendation

• Create a new channel of the Security Infrastructure Program funding for non-profit organizations from targeted communities to provide security resources and use funding for pooled security training and collective security hubs.   
• Update the terms of the SIP, so that institutions already undertaking security updates, using their own funding, can apply for SIP funding retroactively.  
• Update the terms of the Severe Hate-Motivated Incident Support (SHMIS) Stream of SIP, so that organizations can apply for SIP funding under severe threat of hate-motivated incidents before the violence occurs.    
• Ensure any expansion and improvement of SIP includes consultation with security professionals from affected communities.