By Ian Gustafson

New trespassing legislation raises questions

Jan 10, 2022 | 2:52 PM

PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. — The new trespassing legislation that came into force on Jan. 1 in Saskatchewan has raised some concerns to those it impacts.

The Trespass to Property Amendment Act, 2019, and The Trespass to Property Consequential Amendments Act, 2019 came into affect in the new year.

The new law means those who want to access rural landowners’ property for recreational purposes will need consent from the owner, which can be given in writing, orally, through signage, or electronically.

“This government has worked hard to balance the rights of landowners in rural Saskatchewan with those of recreational land users,” Justice Minister and Attorney General Gordon Wyant said in a media release. “I’m pleased to see the legislation come into force and I want to thank everyone who has worked and consulted with us in its development.”

The legislation gives landowners protection from those who trespass on their property but also allows those doing outdoor activities such as hunting and snowmobiling the opportunity to do so.

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When asked how the law will be enforced the director of the Ministry of Corrections, Policing and Public Safety Marieka Andrew said in an email the police will be responsible for laying charges under the act, however, these charges can then be enforced under The Summary Offences Procedures Act, 1990.

“The changes to the consent requirements in the trespass legislation mean that, in many cases, it will be easier to establish that an offence against the Act has been committed,” Andrew said.

Landowners should not be enforcing the law themselves and should call police if someone is trespassing. She said any evidence of trespass, as with any evidence of illegal activity, may be of assistance to the police in their investigation of a trespass offence.

Sean Dieno, a property owner north of Prince Albert said he was torn on his thoughts about the law as he sees it from the perspective of both hunters and landowners’ perspective.

“I see the side of the argument where hopefully it helps control the trespassing and property theft and just unwanted people on your land,” he said. “As a hunter I can see how it’s going to be quite the headache and the nuisance just trying to go about getting permissions and tracking down landowners properly.”

As a landowner he said they’re keen on keeping an eye on what’s going on their land but do have a stretch of property that is hard to monitor. He added they’ve noticed a lot of traffic on that part of their land.

“A lot of people know that it’s out of the way, it’s kind of unsupervised, and they take advantage of that unfortunately,” he said. “This would be the first year that I’ve actually actively setup no hunting signs prior to the legislation coming through and I did notice that people were fairly respectful on [the signs]. As for when there’s no snow on the ground it’s a little harder to detect whether people are actually abiding by that law.”

As a hunter he explained in the past it hasn’t been as easy to contact landowners to get their permission as it seems. He noted the RM maps are not as accessible as they should be. You have to pay for the map and at times the names on the list are outdated.

But added although the legislation helps, it won’t be easy for landowners.

“I think it’s still going to land on the property owner having to enforce it. Obviously [law enforcement] can pursue action when they’re there and present and they’ve witnessed it. But in terms of catching them in the act it’s basically you got to be there, or you see nothing. It falls on the landowner to have cameras or trail cameras and try and catch a license plate number or something so that you can ID these people who are crossing onto your property,” he said adding it’s hard to always have a full view of your property without being costly.

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Ian.Gustafson@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @IanGustafson12