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The Government of Saskatchewan has passed new regulations in an effort to help police enforce trespassing laws in businesses and public spaces like parks or libraries.
Under the new regulations, anyone engaged in certain activities – including public intoxication, using a controlled substance, threatening to cause harm to people or property, public urination or defecation, causing damage to premises or personal property, or any Criminal Code offence – will automatically be considered a trespasser in public spaces or businesses.
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“This will allow police to immediately enforce the Act against individuals who are causing public disturbance or threatening public safety without seeking further information from owners and occupants of the premises,” the Saskatchewan Ministry of Justice explained in a statement.
“These changes are part of the province’s ongoing work to protect communities from the impact of illicit fentanyl and methamphetamine production, transportation, trafficking and street use.”
Tim McLeod, Saskatchewan’s justice minister, said the new rules will ensure that police can act quickly when it comes to individuals who are posing a threat to themselves or others.
“We continue to explore avenues that will provide police with additional legal tools to address harmful items and activities in public spaces, creating safer communities across the province,” McLeod said in a statement.
The ministry said fentanyl and methamphetamine are “increasingly the cause of overdose deaths, violent crime and community instability” in the province, and the new regulations are another step in the government’s efforts to address the negative impacts of addictions “and protect businesses and public spaces from illicit drug use and other dangerous activities.”
Two library branches in Saskatoon were closed to the public last month due to a large number of drug overdoses both inside and outside the libraries. Meanwhile, the city is in the midst of an overdose crisis, which has been attributed to fentanyl.
