Justice, community safety and emergency services
This guide is for school and school board staff who are planning and delivering SHSM programs.
Overview
The Specialist High Skills Major in Justice, Community Safety and Emergency Services (SHSM–Justice, Community Safety and Emergency Services) helps students build a foundation of sector-focused knowledge and skills before graduating and entering apprenticeship training, college, university or an entry-level position in the workplace.
This SHSM program has 5 required components:
- bundle of 8 credits
- certifications and training recognized by the justice, community safety and emergency services sector
- experiential learning and career exploration activities
- reach ahead experiences
- sector-partnered experiences (SPEs)
Find a list of some of the careers that this SHSM can lead to.
Variants of this SHSM
The SHSM–Justice, Community Safety and Emergency Services can focus on a specific area (for example, legal services, policing and private security services, the armed forces or correctional services) by varying the mix of its 4 major credits.
Where local circumstances allow, your school board may offer 1 or more variants of this SHSM.
Bundle of 8 credits
The SHSM–Justice, Community Safety and Emergency Services requires students to complete a bundle of 8 Grade 11 and Grade 12 credits, made up of 4 major credits, 2 other required credits and 2 cooperative education (co-op) credits.
These credits are required for all students, regardless of the pathway a student chooses after graduation:
- apprenticeship training
- college
- university
- the workplace
Four major credits
These credits provide justice, community safety and emergency services-specific knowledge and skills.
These 4 credits:
- can be any combination of Grade 11 and Grade 12 credits
- may include up to 3 justice, community safety and emergency services-related co-op credits (these are additional to the 2 required co-op credits in the bundle)
We (the Ministry of Education) maintain an SHSM-approved course list for the justice, community safety and emergency services sector. Contact the SHSM lead at your school board to get the list.
Two other required credits
These are required credits from the Ontario curriculum.
These 2 credits must include:
- one English credit (a compulsory English credit is required in Grade 11 and Grade 12 to graduate)
- one mathematics credit
Your school may commit to including a contextualized learning activity (CLA) for the justice, community safety and emergency services sector in each of these 2 credits. If your school offers this, then:
- some of the course expectations for these credits are met through the CLA
- your school decides if the CLA for English is completed in Grade 11 or in Grade 12
Even if your school does not formally commit to including CLAs, it can still offer them in 1 or more of these credits.
Two cooperative education (co-op) credits
Co-op credits in the justice, community safety and emergency services SHSM provide students with real learning experiences in a justice, community safety and emergency services workplace setting. This lets students refine, extend, apply and practice:
- knowledge and skills they learned in the cooperative education curriculum
- justice, community safety and emergency services-specific knowledge and skills learned through their SHSM program
| Credits | Apprenticeship training Grades 11–12 | College Grades 11–12 | University Grades 11–12 | Workplace Grades 11–12 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Major credits May include up to 3 co-op credits related to the sector (this is in addition to the 2 required co-op credits) | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| English may include a CLA | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Mathematics may include a CLA | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Cooperative education | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Total number of credits | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 |
Certifications and training
Students must complete 4 compulsory and 3 elective certifications and/or training courses/programs that are recognized by the justice, community safety and emergency services sector.
Compulsory certifications and training
Students must complete:
- Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) – Level C or Health Care Provider (HCP); both include automated external defibrillation (AED)
- conflict resolution
- Standard First Aid
- Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System (WHMIS) — generic, not site-specific, instruction
These are the proper names of the specific certifications or training courses/programs for this SHSM.
Elective certifications and training
These are names of an area, type or category of training. In these cases, your school board selects the specific certifications or training courses and programs.
Students must complete any 3 of the following electives:
- advanced training in a technique (such as climbing)
- advanced training in a technology
- ambulation, lifting and transfer
- animal first aid
- anti-oppression and allyship training
- basic electrical safety
- compass/map/global positioning system (GPS)
- concussion awareness
- confined space awareness
- customer service
- defensive driving
- emergency preparedness – basic
- emergency response techniques
- emergency services tools (such as fire hose)
- ethical considerations
- fall protection
- fire safety and fire extinguisher use
- first aid/CPR/AED awareness
- geographic information system (GIS)
- group dynamics
- health and safety – basic
- incident management
- infection control
- ladder safety training
- leadership skills
- legal terminology/ language of law
- legal/administrative procedures (such as handling subpoenas)
- life-saving (Bronze Cross or higher)
- lockout/tagging
- mental health awareness (approved by and delivered under the direction of the school board's Mental Health Leader)
- military – basic
- marine safety/marine first aid
- Mental Health First Aid
- non-violent crisis intervention
- personality inventory
- Pleasure Craft Operator
- portfolio development
- project management
- radio operator
- safe weapon handling
- search and rescue
- sector-specific software 1
- self-defence
- wilderness first aid
- wilderness survival
- working at heights
Learn more about certification and training in SHSM programs.
Experiential learning and career exploration activities
Experiential learning and career exploration opportunities relevant to the justice, community safety and emergency services sector might include instances where an SHSM student:
- observes a co-op student one-on-one at a placement in the justice, community safety and emergency services sector (an example of job twinning)
- shadows a justice, community safety and emergency services skilled tradesperson for a day (an example of job shadowing)
- works with a municipal government official or professional for 1 or 2 weeks (an example of work experience)
- has a leadership experience in a school related to drug-use awareness
- visits a detention centre
- has a monitoring experience in a traffic court or in a courtroom of a trial, which is open to the public
- visits a fire hall or a military base
- attends an emergency services career fair
Learn more about SHSM program experiential learning and career exploration opportunities.
Reach ahead experiences
The SHSM-Justice, Community Safety and Emergency Services must provide students with 1 or more reach ahead experiences. These are opportunities to take the next steps along their chosen pathway – as shown in the following examples:
- apprenticeship: visiting an approved apprenticeship delivery agent in the justice, community safety and emergency services sector
- college: interviewing a college student enrolled in a justice, community safety and emergency services-specific program
- university: observing a university class in a justice, community safety and emergency services-related program
- workplace: interviewing an employee in the justice, community safety and emergency services sector
Learn more about reach ahead experiences.
Sector-partnered experiences (SPEs)
Students engage with a sector partner to learn about justice, community safety and emergency services and how it connects with ICE (innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship), coding and/or math literacy skills.
Learn more about SPEs in SHSM programs.
Careers in the justice, community safety and emergency services sector
These are examples of careers in the justice, community safety and emergency services sector, sorted by the type of postsecondary education or training the careers usually require.
Apprenticeship training
- this sector does not currently offer apprenticeship training opportunities
College
- air traffic controllers and related occupations
- commissioned police officers
- court reporters, medical transcriptionists and related occupations
- employment insurance, immigration, border services and revenue officers
- firefighters
- forest fire officers
- other administrative services managers
University
- commissioned officers of the Canadian armed forces
- lawyers and Quebec notaries
- other managers in public administration
- other professional occupations in social science
- probation and parole officers and related occupations
- security guards and related security service occupations
- social policy researchers, consultants and program officers
Workplace
- by-law enforcement and other regulatory officers
- court clerks
- court services officers
- probation and parole officers and related occupations
- security guards and related security service occupations
- supervisors, general office and administrative support workers
Information and resources
Partnership opportunities
For local labour market opportunities in justice, community safety and emergency services, please contact your school board’s SHSM lead.
The SHSM model
This SHSM’s requirements are unique and geared to the justice, community safety and emergency services sector. However, the design of all SHSM programs follows a consistent model with 5 required components.
Find more information about the components of an SHSM.