Trespass laws coming as province completes consultation
It is expected the province will introduce new trespassing legislation within weeks, following a consultation period that saw a majority of respondents say they think people should seek consent prior to going onto someone else’s land.
The new laws are likely to put the onus on anyone going onto private land to seek permission before doing so.
Of the 1,601 people who responded, 65 per cent said they were in favour of members of the public requiring the expressed advance permission of the rural land owner, regardless of the activity taking place on the land. Results of the consultation were released Thursday.
“Should always ask the land owners first before anything but only one person should come up to the door and car/truck should be left in road,” one person wrote in response.
“Yes they should ask for permission before entering someone’s property or land. Would I be allowed to enter their back yard, house, garage without permission?” wrote another.
One of the rare “no” votes warned such a law “will for the most part be the end of snowmobiling ” while others raised concern over how to identify who owns land and how they should be contacted.
In September, the province announced it was reviewing trespass laws. Existing access and posting rules vary under current laws, depending on the purpose someone has for being on the land.
“The responses show that many people see the current onus on the land owner to post their property as unfair, and that instead the onus should be on the person accessing the private property,” Justice Minister Don Morgan said. “We are now in the process of updating the legislation to clarify the consent requirements for those seeking access to privately owned land for recreational activities like hunting and snowmobiling.”
The call for the new laws comes from growing fears rural crime is getting worse, but Morgan warned Thursday, “I don’t think people should assume that this is going to cure rural crime.”
Shortly after being named premier, Scott Moe acknowledged “there is more work to do” on the issue of rural crime.
Those comments came during the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities (SARM) annual convention, where concerns over trespassing were front and centre.
At this year’s SARM convention, Norm Mcintyre, reeve of the RM of King George near Eston, said many properties in the surrounding area have had problems with trespassers. “People that I talk to, they are in favour — as I am — of, ‘If it’s my land, just ask me permission,” Mcintyre said, adding that his constituents mostly just want to know who is on their property.
SARM has an official policy position pushing for the expansion of self-defence laws, with more than 93 per cent of delegates voting in favour of the resolution in 2016, largely because they are concerned about rural crime. Morgan reiterated Thursday the province has no interest in bringing “stand your ground” laws into Saskatchewan’s trespassing legislation.
But at least some First Nations people and groups have raised concerns with the Saskatchewan Party government’s approach to the rural crime and trespassing issue.
The death of Colten Boushie, an Indigenous man fatally shot by farmer Gerald Stanley in August 2016, raised the political — and real life — stakes of the trespassing issue.
Stanley was acquitted of seconddegree murder after testifying that his gun went off accidentally. He said he was trying to scare away young people he thought were stealing from him, while others said Boushie and friends were in need of assistance.
A lawyer representing the family of Boushie said earlier this month she is worried the Saskatchewan Party government is engaged in political posturing, which could stoke racial fear.
“Indigenous people aren’t feeling safe that the authorities or the police are going to protect them or that they are not going to be shot at,” Eleanore Sunchild said from Battleford earlier this month.
“It seems like there’s more of an approval to take vigilante justice in your hands, and if you are an Indigenous victim, nothing is going to happen to the non-native that shot you.”