Communication Challenges & Bias Awareness

Communication Barriers

A security guard in Alberta will interact with people whose first language is not English, whose cultural norms differ from their own, and who may have a hearing, vision, or cognitive disability. These are barriers to be managed, not excuses to disengage. The guard's job is to get the message across — the legal and professional standard does not drop because communication is harder.

Language Barriers

When the person does not share the guard's language:

• Use plain language — short, common words, simple sentences.
• Slow your pace and allow extra time.
• Use gestures and pointing to support words where appropriate.
• Arrange a qualified interpreter when the matter is serious (an incident report, an eviction notice, a refusal of entry). Do not rely on a bystander or a family member to interpret, especially for a complainant or witness — their account may be filtered or coloured.
• Carry a translation card or use a phone-based translation service if your site provides one.

Cultural Differences

Cultural norms affect eye contact, personal space, gender interaction, and how directly a person will disagree with an authority figure. A guard should not assume their own norm is universal. For example, in some cultures prolonged direct eye contact with an authority figure is disrespectful; in others it is expected. Adapt without abandoning professional standards.

Disabilities

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Bias, Discrimination, and Harassment

Recognising Personal Bias

Everyone has biases — assumptions formed from experience, upbringing, media, or stereotype. A professional security guard does not pretend to have none; they recognise their own biases and deliberately set them aside so every person receives the same standard of communication and service.

Signs a bias may be affecting your communication:

• You speak more sharply to people of one background than another for the same behaviour.
• You assume guilt or innocence based on appearance before you have the facts.
• You avoid eye contact or physical proximity with certain groups.
• You interpret the same gesture as "aggressive" from one person and "normal" from another.

Catching these patterns in yourself is the core skill. Once noticed, they can be corrected.

The Alberta Human Rights Act

The Alberta Human Rights Act protects people from discrimination on specified grounds in public interactions, including services customarily available to the public. The protected grounds include:

• Race, colour
• Ancestry, place of origin
• Religious beliefs
• Gender, gender identity, gender expression
• Physical disability, mental disability
• Age (18+ in services)
• Sexual orientation
• Family status, marital status
• Source of income

A security guard who communicates differently — who is ruder, more suspicious, or more forceful — because of any of these grounds is discriminating. Discrimination can lead to a human rights complaint against the guard, the security company, and the client site, and to discipline under the Security Services and Investigators Act licensing regime.

Harassment

Harassment is conduct that is unwelcome, demeaning, or intimidating — including sexual comments, slurs about a protected ground, or persistent unwanted attention. A guard must not harass, and must also recognise when a member of the public is being harassed on the site and respond per site policy.

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The Professional Standard

The rule is simple to state and demanding to live by: communicate with every person in the same calm, professional, plain-language way, regardless of who they are. The guard who manages barriers, recognises their own bias, and knows the protected grounds is meeting that standard and is far less likely to face a complaint.

Practical Strategies for Common Barriers

Beyond the per-barrier adaptations above, a few habits make hard conversations manageable across every barrier type:

• Slow down deliberately. When a barrier is present, your default pace is too fast. Pause an extra beat before replying.
• Confirm understanding two ways. Ask the person to restate what you said, and restate what they said. With a language or cognitive barrier, one direction is not enough.
• Move to a quieter spot. Noise and crowds amplify every other barrier.
• Use written or pictured aids. A site map, a translated card, or a handwritten note can carry the message when speech cannot.
• Know when to arrange an interpreter. For a serious matter — refusal of entry, eviction notice, witness statement — gestures are not enough.

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When Bias Becomes Discrimination — Worked Scenarios

Scenario 1. A guard sees two groups of teens in a mall food court, both equally loud. The guard asks only the group whose members are visibly of a different background to "move along," while telling the other group to "have a good night." Same behaviour, different treatment on the basis of race and colour — discrimination under the Alberta Human Rights Act.

Scenario 2. A tenant who uses a wheelchair asks a concierge guard to hold the accessible door. The guard waves toward the manual door and says, "Use that one." A non-disabled tenant asking the same favour gets the door held. Different service on the basis of physical disability — discrimination, regardless of intent. Intent is not a defence; the effect on the person is what counts.

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Exam Traps on Communication and Human Rights

• A question that frames bias as "natural, so it's fine to act on it." Recognising bias is required; acting on it is not.
• "Rely on a family member to interpret a serious witness statement" is always wrong — arrange a qualified interpreter.
• "Treat everyone exactly the same" is a trap where a disability accommodation is needed. The Act requires accommodation to the point of undue hardship, which sometimes means treating someone differently.
• Protected grounds are fixed. If an option lists "employment history" or "dress style" as a protected ground, it is wrong.
• "The guard didn't mean it, so it isn't discrimination" is a trap. In services, discrimination turns on effect, not intent.