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Apply By: Friday, November 13, 2026 11:59 pm EST

Staff Sergeant

Job ID:

249458

Posting status:

Open

Organization:

Ministry of the Solicitor General

Division:

Fort Frances Jail

City:

Fort Frances

Position(s) language:

English

Job term:

1 Permanent

Job code:

R08155 - Management Correctional 8

Salary:

$80,041.00 - $115,335.00 Per year

Fort Frances Jail is looking for experienced leaders who can manage complex operations when it matters most. As a Staff Sergeant, you are responsible for the day-to-day operation of a correctional institution, supervising Sergeants and Correctional Officers, and ensuring the institution remains safe, secure, and operational at all times. This is a hands-on leadership role with significant accountability, requiring sound judgment, strong operational leadership, and the ability to respond effectively to dynamic situations in a custodial environment.

You will be expected to make timely decisions under pressure, manage incidents and emergencies, lead reviews and investigations into critical events or conduct issues, and address situations that require senior level judgment and authority. You'll oversee staffing and deployment, step in during high risk or escalated situations, support staff through challenging circumstances, and hold individuals accountable when standards are not met. During after hours, nights, weekends, and statutory holidays, you may be the senior leader on site.

This role requires strong leadership experience, sound judgment, resilience, and the ability to remain calm in demanding and unpredictable environments. Leaders from other operational, enforcement, regulatory, emergency management, military, or similarly high accountability settings bring valuable, transferable skills to this work. The environment is fast paced and high stress, but you will have real authority, real responsibility, and a direct impact on staff safety, organizational order, and public safety.

If you're ready to step up and lead from the front, this role is for you.

As this is a frontline essential position, your physical presence at the institution is crucial to this role and this position will be fully onsite. Shift work will include evenings, nights, weekends, and statutory holidays in a 24/7 operational environment.

Northern Attraction Incentive Program (NAIP)

This position qualifies for the Northern Attraction Incentive Program (NAIP). NAIP is a pilot recruitment program that offers financial incentives to new hires in specific positions in designated institutions and probation and parole offices in Northern Ontario. This includes both external candidates to the Ontario Public Service and existing employees who agree to work for a term of three years.

All applicants will receive more information on the program once the job advertisement closes. If you would like this information prior to applying, you may contact: COR-ETU@ontario.ca.

Leadership That Makes a Difference

At its core, leadership in the Ontario Public Service (OPS) is about creating positive change for people and communities across Ontario. We're looking for leaders who are authentic, accountable, and courageous. People who bring others together, ask bold questions, and lead with purpose.

About the job

Leadership at Fort Frances Jail is about setting clear standards and supporting staff in a challenging environment. It means being present on the floor, acting with integrity, and making fair, consistent decisions — especially when situations are complex or high-pressure. Your leadership shows in how you handle issues, support your team, and maintain professionalism in a custody setting.

As a leader, you shape the culture of the institution. You set expectations for respectful conduct, inclusion, and accountability, and you address issues directly when they arise. You help create a workplace where staff feel supported, treated fairly, and able to do their jobs safely, while ensuring operational and security standards are always maintained.

You won't be expected to do this alone. The OPS provides leadership training, mentorship, and access to networks across Corrections to support your development. This role offers the opportunity to make a meaningful impact — on staff morale, institutional safety, and the effective operation of the institution. You will:

• Provide leadership, guidance and direction to staff in a correctional unionized environment.
  
• Manage overall programs of the institution to ensure public safety and the care, custody and control of inmates.
  
• Coordinate the review, formulation and implementation of institutional standing orders and local operating policies and procedures and ensure compliance with policies and legislation.
  
• Assume overall responsibility for the administration and operations of the institution in the absence of senior administrators.
  
• Manage internal and stakeholder relationships with a high level of political acuity.
  
• Conduct thorough investigations into a range of sensitive and contentious issues, determining resolutions and maintaining internal accountability.
  
• Be a quick thinker with the ability to manage crisis situations, instilling the confidence in staff to do the same.
  
• Bring an innovative mindset to your work, enabling you to incorporate new tools, technology and practices to achieve results.
  
• Represent the Ministry and the Institution by appearing and providing accurate testimony at various levels of court and tribunal proceedings as required.

Meet Your New Team

Located in Fort Frances, Northwestern Ontario, approximately 350 kilometres west of Thunder Bay and more than 1,500 kilometres from Toronto, Fort Frances Jail serves a unique and important role within Ontario's correctional system. Situated on the Canada-U.S. border and surrounded by vast forests, lakes, and remote communities, the facility supports the safe and secure custody of individuals while contributing to public safety across a large geographic region. This opportunity is ideal for those seeking a true Northern Ontario lifestyle, where community connections are strong, commutes are short, and world-class outdoor recreation is right outside your door. Nestled along the shores of beautiful Rainy Lake, Fort Frances offers exceptional fishing, boating, hiking, and year-round outdoor activities, making it an attractive destination for candidates looking to combine meaningful public service work with an unmatched quality of life in Northwestern Ontario.

What you bring to the team

Mandatory

• First Aid, CPR, and Use of Force (defensive tactics and chemical munitions) is required (training provided in accordance to provincial standards).

Leadership and Supervisory Skills

• You can lead and support staff in a unionized correctional setting, providing clear direction, coaching, and follow up while ensuring compliance with policies, legislation, and correctional standards.
  
• You can manage institutional resources, including budgets, staffing, and equipment, and make decisions that balance operational needs with fiscal responsibility.
  
• You understand HR policies and collective agreements and can recruit, onboard, train, and manage staff, including addressing complex employee relations matters.
  
• You demonstrate integrity and consistency in decision making, even in difficult or high pressure situations.

Technical Knowledge

• You bring a strong understanding of how complex operations are managed in secure or high consequence environments, prioritizing and maintaining safety, security, services, program delivery, and day-to day administrative and institutional operations
  
• You bring experience operating within a secure or high consequence environment where accountability, consistency and structured oversight are critical,
  
• An understanding of how legal obligations policies and procedures, safety equipment, technology, relationship custody, and supervision models work together to manage, mitigate risk and maintain order.
  
• You can clearly communicate, interpret and apply legislation, policies and procedures to ensure staff fully understand their legal obligations, employer expectations and any changes that may impact the daily operations.

Communication and Relationship Management Skills

• You can communicate effectively with front line staff, management, regional offices, and external partners, ensuring information is clear, timely, and appropriate.
  
• You can prepare clear and accurate documentation, including reports, investigation findings, operational plans, and procedural materials.
  
• You can build and maintain effective working relationships with police, courts, and community partners to support institutional operations.

Analytical and Investigative Skills

• You remain calm and decisive when dealing with incidents, emergencies, and sensitive situations.
  
• You can conduct and review local investigations and fact findings, assess risk, and ensure accountability is maintained.
  
• You are able to manage competing priorities, workload pressures, and operational stress in a 24/7 correctional environment.

Don't meet every qualification?

If you are excited about this position and meet most, but not all, of the listed qualifications, please still consider applying. We recognize that no one person might have every qualification in this job ad, and you just might be the right candidate!

Think this role could be right for you?

We're here to support you every step of the way. These short videos can help you feel confident and prepared:

• Navigating Our Hiring Process (2 min) – Get a clear overview of each stage in our structured hiring process so you know what to expect and how to prepare.

• Application Preparation Tips (4 min) – Learn how to showcase your leadership experience in ways that align with how we evaluate applications during the screening stage.

Take a few minutes to explore these resources. They're designed to set you up for success.

How we support diversity, inclusion and accessibility

We are building an inclusive workforce that reflects the communities we serve. We encourage everyone interested in working with us to apply, including people with disabilities, Indigenous, Black and racialized individuals, as well as people from all ethnicities, cultures, sexual orientations, gender identities and gender expressions.

Our hiring process is accessible, consistent with Ontario's Human Rights Code and the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005. We are working to prevent and remove barriers in our hiring processes and can offer accommodation to address specific needs related to Code-protected grounds such as disability, family status and religion. For more information about accommodation during the hiring process please contact us.

Learn more about the work the OPS is doing to create an inclusive, anti-racist, accessible and diverse workplace:

• diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives
• accessibility
• Anti-Racism Policy

Additional information:

Apply by:

Friday, November 13, 2026 11:59 pm EST

Position details:

• 1 English Permanent, 310 Nelson St, Fort Frances, North Region, Vulnerable Sector Check, Credit History Check, Driver's License History, Local Police Databases Search, PIP/NICHE/RMS, Social Networking Search

Compensation group:

Management Compensation Plan

Work hours:

Schedule 5

Category:

Management and General

Posted on:

Monday, October 19, 2026

Note:

• About security checks:
  A criminal or other federal offence record does not automatically disqualify you from the position. We consider each situation based on the position's responsibilities.
  If a check is needed and you've lived outside of Canada in the past 5 years for 6 or more months in a row, or if you are not a Canadian resident, you'll need to provide an out-of-country police clearance certificate from the country you lived in.
  Employment screening checks are only reviewed and evaluated by the Transition and Security Office, which also maintains them and keeps them strictly confidential.

How to apply:

Language requirements and assessment:
All external Ontario Public Service (OPS) job ads are posted in English and French. Check the "position(s) language" section at the top of each job ad for the language requirements. For all roles, candidates are assessed in English, the business language of the OPS. If the position is bilingual (English/French), you'll also need to pass a French-language proficiency test.

Exigences en matière de langue et évaluation:
Toutes les offres d'emploi externes de la fonction publique de l'Ontario (FPO) sont affichées en français et en anglais. Consultez la section « Langue du ou des postes » en haut de chaque offre d'emploi pour connaître les exigences linguistiques. Pour tous les postes, les candidats sont évalués en anglais, la langue d'affaires de la FPO. Si le poste est bilingue (anglais/français), vous devrez également passer un test de compétences linguistiques en français.

Strengthening Ontario, together