Sask. government finds majority support prior consent in trespass survey

A majority of respondents to the Saskatchewan government’s Trespass Act survey supports prior consent before entering private land. The province gathered survey responses from 1,601 respondents between Aug. 9 and Oct. 2.

It is the landowner’s current responsibility to post, fence or place signage on their land indicating “no trespassing.”

Earlier this year the province began discussing reversing the onus, meaning those wanting to access private land, for purposes like hunting or snowmobiling, would have to get landowner consent.

“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.

“Respondents also said that responsible hunters and snowmobilers already seek appropriate consent and that any change would only affect the small number who do not consider landowners’ concerns.”

This compliments other government actions taken since concern around rural crime became a major talking point in the legislative building last year.

Morgan said reversing the onus of the Trespass Act will bring Saskatchewan in line with other jurisdictions like Alberta, and give police another tool if they see someone potentially trespassing on private land.

Other recently introduced actions include regional police service legislation and expanded law enforcement roles for conversation and highway officers.

Justice critic Nicole Sarauer said that if rural crime is a focus of government they are missing the mark.

“If there concern is really rural crime they would have moved as quickly on a crystal meth strategy,” Sarauer said.

Police services across the province have been linking higher crime rates to addiction and drug issues, particularly crystal meth.

The survey asked four questions:

• Should all access by members of the public to rural property require the express advance permission of the rural land owner regardless of the activity?
• Should there be a distinction between cultivated land, fenced property and open pasture land or should all land being used for agricultural purposes be treated the same?
• How should permission be sought and granted?
• Would making consent an express prerequisite in all circumstances represent an unreasonable impediment to recreational activities?

While a majority of respondents said prior permission should be given before accessing land, some detractors raised concern about numbered companies owning farmland. This makes it difficult to determine who owns the land for the sake of getting permission.

By and large, respondents did not drawn a distinction between fenced or unfenced land for question two. Snowmobilers generally supported a legal distinction between fenced and unfenced land.

There was less clarity in how permission to access land should be granted. Ideas submitted in the survey include written permission, oral consent or having landowners saying activities like snowmobiling are welcome.

In the fourth question, a majority of respondents said that most hunters and snowmobilers get landowner permission already. A “significant minority” said that making consent mandatory would have a detrimental effect on these activities.

Morgan said that the province plans on holding further discussions with agriculture and hunting groups before introducing any trespass legislation. The minister is also working on setting up a meeting with Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations Chief Bobby Cameron to talk about the issue.

The province plans to introduce revised trespassing legislation during the fall sitting of the legislative assembly.