Ontario condo associations call for changes over safety of board members

Ontario’s three largest condo associations are sounding the alarm over safety and privacy concerns in the wake of the one year anniversary of the Vaughan condo shooting.

In an open letter to Premier Doug Ford, Ontario’s Attorney General and the Minister of Public and Business Service Delivery representatives from the Association of Condominium Managers of Ontario, the Toronto & Area Chapter of the Canadian Condominium Institute, and the Community Associations Institute, Canadian Chapter say they have very serious concerns about the safety and privacy rights of condo board members and would like to see legislative changes.

“Condominium board directors, managers and owners are expressing very real and serious concerns about their safety and privacy rights. Some board directors are resigning, not running for re-election, or failing to enforce condominium rules because they fear for their personal safety,” reads the letter.

“When there’s a dispute, two people are mad at each other in a bar, the police settle them down and send them home but when we’re in a condominium and people are mad at each other police settle them down and send them home and they’re right next door,” explains Sally Thompson, the vice-president of the Canadian chapter of Community Associations Institute. “So it is a totally different setting than any other dispute resolution setting in the province so we really have to come up with custom solutions that suit condominiums.”

The letter speaks of heightened tensions between board members and residents, mainly due to increasing financial burdens from rising interest rates and condo fees.

“Condo boards are made up of volunteers who are elected by their fellow owners. So they’re owners they do not have any particular expertise other than they’re willing to step up and volunteer and so they don’t want to put themselves at risk,” Thompson adds.

The call for legislative change comes one year after a shooting at a Vaughan condo building that left five people dead including three current and past condo board members. The 73-year-old gunman, who was also killed in the shooting, lived in the building and had a years-long dispute with the condo board regarding vibrations coming from the electrical room under his unit.

“The neighbourhood is still rebuilding. It’s not something that will ever go away,” said Bellaria Residences board member John Di Nino, whose wife was critically injured in the attack. While he says he isn’t sure changes to the legislation would make a difference, he stands by the condo associations’ request.

“Not everyone is always going to like the decisions we make but the community is our home and we’re not going to make decisions that are going to affect us personally or the residents of any building,” said Di Nino.

Under the current Condominium Act, any unit owner can request a copy of the condo corporation’s information which includes the addresses of condo residents. The condo associations are calling for this right to be removed or give owners the option to have this information removed and for a third party to oversee general communication.