In Edson, Alberta, a mosque is set ablaze a day after Eid al-Fitr, a celebration marking the end of the holy fasting month, Ramadan. Security cameras captured the suspect leaving the property in a dark hoodie.

In Edmonton, Alberta, a suspicious fire broke out at a United Church just before preschoolers were to arrive. Employees saw someone unfamiliar leaving the church but did not pursue them for safety reasons.

With 2019 finally here, many business owners across Western Canada will have already made their New Year’s Resolution - whether it be striving for a better work-life balance, driving up profits or hiring additional employees.

However there’s one New Year’s resolution that every business owner should be ensuring they achieve this year - improving the security of their business. 

As a business owner in Canada, you have more to worry about than securing your premises against burglars in the middle of the night. You need to protect personal and identifiable information on the people you work with and work for.

Like many companies, security is important to you, which is why you made sure your business had a security system installed. But time has passed, and the security landscape has changed – criminals have become more sophisticated and so has the technology that should be protecting your business from them.

Organizations often become complacent, and only realize that their security system is no longer enough after a security breach.

Have you ever been the victim of a crime and wondered why your security system didn’t work? Perhaps you are just constantly wondering whether your conventional security alarm is enough to deter criminals? It’s more than likely that you need to do more to secure your business.

If your business is like most in Western Canada, then you probably need to invest in new technology and implement a smarter plan to properly protect your assets. 

Christmas represents a happy time of the year, where family and friends get together and spirits are high all around. However, if you’re a property owner or manager with multiple tenants, don’t let that bring you into a false sense of security.

While Christmas can be one of the most joyous times of the year and a time to celebrate with those you love, criminals are known to take advantage of businesses throughout the festive months. 

The restaurant industry is highly competitive and fast-paced, but while you are focusing on keeping ahead of your competitor down the road you probably haven’t realized that there is a much greater threat to your business.

The holiday season is fast approaching which means many professional businesses are getting ready for reduced office hours and time off.

Whether you run a small business, a law firm, an accountant practice, or a general business operation, your business is vulnerable to crime, especially at this time of year when employees are away and you have closed up shop for some well-deserved time with friends and family. 

At first thought it would be easy to understand why most people would have the impression that a government building is safe from crime - surely a criminal would assume that the government employs the best security solution they can find?

Unfortunately, this isn’t true, and criminals know it. In fact, many government buildings still do not possess security systems that are specifically designed for each individual location. 

While the rules surrounding cannabis cultivation, processing and sales vary from province to province, now that marijuana is legal in Canada, one thing remains the same – your cannabis based business requires top level security to keep your product and employees safe, as well as to ensure you meet regulated security requirements.

Owning and operating a business is no easy task, and business owners are constantly asking themselves a plethora of questions from how much profit they are making, how they can grow the company and what’s changed in the market.

But have you ever stopped to ask yourself this - is my business safe from criminals and do I have a robust security solution in place? 

The time between Thanksgiving and New Years is a time for celebration, delicious meals and catching up with the people who are most important to you. However, with the good comes the bad and the holiday season also means an increased need for security at your retail store. 

Technology has changed many aspects of our lives in recent years, and that’s no different for the security of your business. Remote video monitoring provides huge benefits for business and property owners when compared with conventional alarm systems.

Conventional CCTV cameras, which are still used widely across Western Canada, merely record what’s going on. Sometimes these cameras are even watched by expensive on-site security guards that can barely keep their eyes open during their shift. 

“There is no place for these illegal and disturbing acts in our communities or anywhere else in Alberta.”

These were the words spoken by Member of the Legislative Assembly, Lorne Dach, after a series of vandalizations, which demonstrated hatred and intolerance, were perpetrated in various communities across Edmonton - including a school basketball court. 

Construction sites are often the target of break-ins, vandalism and theft. This is because there are a number of factors that make construction sites attractive to criminals, such as possessing numerous assets that can be easily flipped or used on a different site, limited security, valuable scrap, useful (and costly) materials, and many other things. 

As a result, construction crimes can be perpetrated by all levels of criminals from small thefts that aim at personal gain, to organized gangs and criminals who have a ready market for your equipment and materials. 

From October 17, every Canadian adult will be able to purchase cannabis on the internet and in bricks-and-mortar retail locations across the country. However, the experience will be vastly different across Canada, with every province introducing its own regulations on who can sell marijuana in physical locations.

Across western Canada, most provinces will have licensed marijuana dispensaries that can sell cannabis. Here is a quick break down of how each territory in western Canada is planning on handling legal marijuana sales. 

Do you own a rural farm? Then you have probably invested thousands upon thousands of dollars in your facilities, equipment, crops and products. With rural crime rising across Western Canada, security solutions that actually work are becoming increasingly more important for rural farm owners. 

With conventional alarm systems, you are unable to verify what is causing your alarm to go off without first going to the property. As a result, you will not know what level of attention is needed to correct the issue.

Conventional alarms are simply nowhere near as good as a verified security solution. 

The marijuana industry is set to boom over the next couple of years. In fact, huge corporations such as beverage makers Diageo PLC and Molson Coors Canada are already investing, or at least planning to, in the sector.

A 2018 Deloitte report estimates Canadians will spend as much $7.17 billion on cannabis products in 2019.

While this is all great news for those within the licensed marijuana production industry, it does mean just one thing - securing your facility is absolutely essential. It will protect your revenues and ensure your business continues to run efficiently. 

A large portion of Western Canada is currently under threat from a vast number of wildfires, with a thick blanket of smoke covering the air as far east as Saskatchewan and even Winnipeg, Manitoba.

There are more than 540 active fires in British Columbia (BC) alone, and the wildfire season has already burned over 6,000 square kilometres of land - making it already the third worst wildfire season on record in the province.