Police Foundations, Community and Justice Services Frequently Asked Questions

Applicants initially apply for one of the three programs (CJS, PF, or PSI) and because the program has a common first year a student can switch programs prior to starting second year.

Please contact Tracey Richardson, our department's Student Success Advisor at tracey.richardson [at] mohawkcollege.ca (tracey[dot]richardson[at]mohawkcollege[dot]ca) for assistance with this matter.

All courses should appear on the student’s schedule when they select a block unless one of the following has occurred.

There are a number of reasons why the course(s) is not appearing on your schedule. Please see if one/more of the following applies to you:

1. If you failed a course in a previous semester that is a pre-requisite course for your upcoming semester, you are not allowed to take the course until the pre-requisite course has been completed; therefore, the needed course will not appear on your schedule
2. You may have accidentally de-selected the course that is not appearing on your schedule
3. If you are trying to add a failed/required course(s) to your current schedule there may be a scheduling conflict. In this case, a conflicting course(s) would automatically be dropped from your schedule. Check to see if you received an error message indicating the scheduling conflict

There are a number of reasons why you received this message. Please see if one/more of the following applies to you:

1. You may have outstanding tuition fees, parking tickets, etc., that will prevent you from registering (your account is on hold)
2. Your status may be probation or compulsory withdraw. Check your MyMohawk account for an email/message regarding your current status. If your status is probation please contact Tracey Richardson, our department's Student Success Advisor at tracey.richardson [at] mohawkcollege.ca (tracey[dot]richardson[at]mohawkcollege[dot]ca) for assistance with this matter. If your status is compulsory withdraw please contact your program coordinator for assistance.
3. If none of the above apply to you – please attend The Registrar's Office for assistance

Find all the information you need to register for classes and select your timetable.

College staff are unable to switch your block. You can however, monitor the block schedules for openings, especially during the add/drop period which is the first 10 business days after the start of the semester.

Our Justice Studies Program has no control over the elective courses. Please contact gened [at] mohawkcollege.ca (gened[at]mohawkcollege[dot]ca) to arrange a meeting to discuss your situation; or attend room A111.
 

Please contact the Fitness Coordinator shelley.lang [at] mohawkcollege.ca (Shelley Lang )to arrange a meeting to discuss your situation.

Our Justice Studies Program has no control over these courses. All inquiries regarding your Communications course should be directed to communication [at] mohawkcollege.ca (communication[at]mohawkcollege[dot]ca); or attend room A111.

Students have to switch into co-op within the first 10 business days of semester 2 or they cannot opt into the co-op program. As long as they have been promoted in good standing from semester 1, they contact SSA. If their status is probation or compulsory withdraw, they contact program coordinator. If you are trying to switch out of co-op after the first 10 business days you must contact trent.jarvis [at] mohawkcollege.ca (Trent Jarvis) for assistance with this matter.

After you have successfully completed one of the Justice Studies diploma programs (Police Foundations; Protection, Security and Investigation; or Community and Justice Services) you can complete the second year of another diploma. Students must apply via OCAS and can do this through our student success advisor. Students need to apply via OCAS to semester/level 3 of the program in which you would like to complete. Make sure you use the same contact information (student number, name and birthdate) you used to create your initial OCAS application/account.

Note: if you don’t use your original name and student number, you will be issued a second Mohawk student number, which causes confusion later on.

You would apply via the Ontario Universities Application Centre (OUAC), but we recommend you consult Laurier’s college transfer credit policies for further information and direction.

Please contact debbie.kendall [at] mohawkcollege.ca (Debbie Kendall) for assistance with this matter.

All of our programs accept mature students, read more about the mature student admission requirements, the application process, etc.

All of our programs accept international students, read more about admission requirements, the application process, fees, etc. for international students. 

Direct hiring out of our program into the graduate’s “dream job” remains a challenge. Many of our graduates lack the life and work experience needed to meet the essential competencies to becoming a police officer or similar related careers. The average age of a police recruit at the Ontario Police College is currently 27 years of age. We are very realistic with our students in our Justice Studies programs about the pathways to careers. We constantly message students that they will need to obtain the additional life and work experience before applying to their justice careers. Students are told that they need to obtain work experience in related fields such as private security, private investigation, event security, half way houses, victim services, etc to make them the best candidates for their chosen career. Coupled with this is the need to ensure the graduate has volunteer experience and other life experience.

We recommend you do your own research before you make the decision of what career you want to pursue. Justice studies careers will always be competitive careers to obtain and the process of obtaining education, work and life experience is a long one. Further education is also a consideration as many of our graduates realize that much of their competition for these jobs have obtained additional education such as university degrees or post graduate college diplomas like Advanced Police Studies or Advanced Security Management.

Below several links to the most commonly asked career path:

• Policing in Ontario
• Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services - Corrections
• Probation and Parole
• CSIS - Canadian Security Intelligence Service
• RCMP – Royal Canadian Mounted Police (Federal Policing)
• OPP – Ontario Provincial Police
• Ministry of Community and Youth Services
• Ministry of Community and Social Services

Mohawk College offers our students the opportunity to obtain many licenses and industry recognized certifications while attending our program. Please refer to your Professional Development or Law Enforcement Industry Trends Course for complete details on course offerings. Also refer to the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services website for security guard and private investigator training requirements, licence procedures/cost, etc.

Please see the Royal Canadian Mounted Police website for firearms laws, courses, etc.