History

Securitas Canada, Canada’s leading security provider, was created in 2001, but its history goes back more than 150 years ago with two Security firms, Pinkerton and Burns International.

Alan Pinkerton, “the original private eye”, founded his agency in 1850 in Chicago, Illinois. His agency prospers with successful strikebreaking assignments as well as his pursuit of infamous desperadoes such as Jesse James, the Younger and Dalton gangs and the Wild Bunch. He expands his agency to Canada in 1899.

William Burns started his detective agency in 1909, before he led the National Bureau of Fingerprint Investigation in 1921, known today as the FBI. The William J. Burns Detective Agency grows to become one of America’s largest security providers, Burns International.

In 2001, Pinkerton and Burns merged, creating a new company, Securitas Canada. The acquisition of Pinkerton and Burns International elevated the Securitas Group to the world's largest security company. With over 8,000 employees operating in 10 provinces, Securitas has the most comprehensive network in Canada. Its parent company, founded in 1934, has more than 250,000 employees in 30 countries worldwide.