Saskatoon StarPhoenix

Farm trespassin­g legislatio­n still not enacted

Two years have gone by as government waits for phone app to be developed

- EVAN RADFORD eradford@postmedia.com Evan Radford is the Leader-post's reporter under the Local Journalism

Developmen­t delays for a mobile phone app geared to land owners is causing a legislativ­e delay for a controvers­ial Saskatchew­an law regulating how people can access farmers' privately owned lands.

Almost two years after it received first reading in the legislatur­e, the Trespass to Property Act has yet to be enforced as law.

First sponsored by Justice Minister Don Morgan in November 2018, the act's intent was to slow or stop rural crime on farmers' lands. It requires anyone wanting to go on a farmer's land to first get permission from the owner.

“A reasonable delay” is what Ray Orb, the president of the Saskatchew­an Associatio­n Rural Municipali­ties (SARM), calls it.

“We would have hoped it would have been in place for this hunting season, 2020, … ( but) we need to get this right,” he said, referencin­g the app's current developmen­t stage.

Western Heritage, a data and geotechnic­al company with offices from Alberta to Ontario and one in Chile, pitched the app to Innovation Saskatchew­an in June 2019.

Now its startup company, SaskLander, is piloting the app (with the same name) in the RM of Shellbrook, west of Prince Albert.

Sasklander co-founders Aldo Scribante and Sauvelm Mcclean said they aim to introduce a live version, provincewi­de in the spring.

Right now, the pilot version allows owners to identify their land in the app, “and put and specify your access permission­s,” they said. The pair is now building the request side of the app for “recreation­al land access and we intend to expand to more RMS.”

The proposed law change emerged out of the shooting death of Colten Boushie in 2016. Farmer Gerald Stanley was charged and acquitted at a jury trial.

The case also sparked a discussion around rural crime and small-town RCMP detachment­s' response times.

As the government took the law through its paces in the legislatur­e, hunters, lobby groups and the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations (FSIN) said they disagreed with or had concerns about it.

Arcola-area farmer Clint Brownridge has his feet in both worlds, hunting and allowing hunters onto his farmland.

“I'm still for the old-school way, that if you really don't want people on your land, you should post it as No Trespassin­g,” he said. “I'm a hunter; I phone lots of people for permission, I get phoned for permission.”

Once enacted, the law would remove the requiremen­t for a property owner to post signs indicating if their land is open or closed.

Brownridge said he does understand the need to protect land from potential damage caused by vehicles.

Blair Mitchell, who farms north of Yorkton and works as an outfitter guide for hunters near Hudson Bay, says online discussion forums show people are confused about the law change.

“(They) still think it went through, but it actually hasn't so it's not enforceabl­e … It's kind of not a good thing, because a lot of land owners think they don't have to post their land anymore (as No Trespassin­g),” he said.

He and Brownridge questioned the need for the Sasklander app, when hunters already use the ihunter app, available on Apple devices. It's free to use, but its developer charges users for downloadin­g maps and landowners' contact info in each wildlife management zone (WMZ).

Scribante and Mcclean said their app is owner-focused and hence more applicable to a wider range of recreation­al uses beyond hunting, such as snowmobili­ng, hiking and Atv-driving.

 ?? BRANDON HARDER ?? A no hunting sign sits on the edge of a rural property near Regina. The Trespass to Property Act introduced in 2018 has yet to be passed in the legislatur­e.
BRANDON HARDER A no hunting sign sits on the edge of a rural property near Regina. The Trespass to Property Act introduced in 2018 has yet to be passed in the legislatur­e.

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