Sault native reflects on career of protecting celebrities; had lunch with Prince, recalls Gord Downie as ‘gentle soul’

Born in Sault Ste. Marie and now based in Toronto, Steve Summerville’s resume includes a jaw-dropping list of achievements in an exciting occupation.

A former Toronto Police Service Staff Sergeant who has instructed at the Ontario Police College in Aylmer, Ontario, he has been, since 2001, President of Stay Safe Instructional Programs (SSIP), his own security business.

Steve, who holds a black belt ranking in several martial arts disciplines, provides security for large scale national and international live events and conferences (such as concerts, the Canadian National Exhibition and International AIDS Conferences), and has provided protection for a long list of popular musicians and actors.

“The phone rang and the opportunity presented itself (in 2001, having already served as a Toronto police officer since 1977),” Steve recalled, speaking to SooToday.

“The caller was looking for a person to be a security director for a national television broadcaster that went from coast to coast, and at the time they were CHUM Television.”

When asked which events and celebrities stand in the forefront of his memory as he reflects on his exciting career, Steve said “I think back to 2003, to the SARS concert in Toronto.”

That concert, officially known as Molson Canadian Rocks for Toronto, was arranged to pump money back into Toronto’s tourism sector after the SARS scare, drawing half a million people to see several bands and artists, including The Rolling Stones, Justin Timberlake, The Guess Who and Rush.

Steve worked with police at the event, assisting with crowd control.

“One great memory of that was having the chance to meet and chat with Brian Johnson, the lead singer of AC/DC, just prior to him coming on stage to do a number with The Rolling Stones.”

AC/DC asked Steve to provide security at concerts they had planned through to 2005, but he declined as he was MuchMusic security director in Toronto at the time.

Steve also worked as security director at two large shows for The Tragically Hip’s summer tour in 2012, one at Niagara-on-the-Lake, the other at Burl’s Creek, near Barrie.

“Meeting and working backstage with The Hip and having an opportunity to get to know Gord Downie (the group’s lead singer who passed away from brain cancer Oct. 17, 2017, deeply saddening the entire country) and the band, I enjoyed that immensely.”

“What a gentle soul Gord Downie was, and of course you could certainly see the affection he had for the audience. The Hip had to be one of the more endearing bands I’ve seen,” Steve said.

As security director at MuchMusic and the CNE, Steve remembers “I had the chance to have lunch with Prince (another famous musician, who died in April, 2016), got to meet and have lunch with Lou Gramm of Foreigner and hear his stories, and how he’s changed to faith and religion, I met Sting and found him a very warm and engaging human being.”

“I’ve met a number of people over the years that have made it worthwhile to be in this industry.”

Steve has also travelled the world as a security expert at International AIDS Conferences.

He recalls there were activist clashes with security and police at an International AIDS Conference in Toronto in 2004.

“We thought we needed to have a system of tolerance and understanding and empathy…so we started a mandatory sensitivity training program with security guards.”

Steve also said despite the official end to apartheid, open racism still exists in South Africa, which he witnessed at the International AIDS Conference in Durban in 2016.

“It was troubling, to say the least.”

He also delivers security training and presentations to various organizations and provides expert opinion in court cases, and has appeared on national television network programs, offering insight into security-related matters.

“A lot of the security training I do now is in Ontario hospitals, and that’s expanding.”

Steve has created a program known as Management of Resistant Behaviour (MORB), currently being taught in the health care sector, and is scheduled to be the only non-clinical presenter at an upcoming seminar at the Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre.

“I believe, as a community, we have an ethical duty to provide relevant and applicable training that can alert people to triggers that might expose them to violence and create a safer workplace for all. I’ll be speaking specifically about the areas of security and safety in a forensic setting.”

“That’s exciting to me. I think this program (MORB) is going to do it (in terms of leaving a legacy). That’ll leave me rather satisfied, to say after 40 years in the game, I made a difference.”

Steve relocated with his parents to Toronto when he was a child, but still has vivid memories of the Sault.

“I still remember going to the Algoma Theatre, going upstairs to the projection room and thought it was neat, and thinking it was surreal to go behind the screen while the movie was playing. I used to love the old Saturday matinees when I was a kid.”

“I remember going as a young lad to the Memorial Gardens and being in a hockey school…my mom has a photo of me and Phil and Tony Esposito on the ice, I played as a goalie. Tony and Phil went on to become superstars of course, and I used to always show people that picture of me and the Esposito brothers.” 

When living in the Sault, Steve’s father Murray, now deceased, was the manager of the Algoma Theatre at 664 Queen Street (which has since been demolished), back in the day when going to the movies was truly a night out on the town, with double features, intermissions and lavish promotional displays in theatre lobbies.

“Not everyone had a television, and the Algoma was the go-to place. People in the community would go there to socialize and see Hollywood’s top movies, they would dress up to go to the theatre.”

“My Dad would put on massive promotional campaigns when they showed classical movies like The Ten Commandments and Ben-Hur, and I remember him speaking to me about his meeting with Cecil B. DeMille (legendary Ten Commandments director).”

On another interesting family note, Donald Dean Summerville, Steve’s second cousin, served as Toronto mayor in the early 1960s.

Summerville passed away suddenly while in office, his funeral service held Nov. 22, 1963 (the same day of John F. Kennedy’s assassination).

“My parents were sitting right beside the Premier of the province at the time, John Robarts, at the funeral, and my Dad overheard an aide come up to the Premier and tell him President Kennedy had just been assassinated.”

Steve said his father told him Robarts, in shock, reacted with an expletive.

Steve, now 58, said despite leaving the Sault at a young age, he still has an emotional attachment to the city.

“I do definitely want to come back to visit.”