RCMP offer nuanced view of what NWT trespass law would actually do

The NWT government says its proposed Trespass Act is a key part of a new suite of public safety measures to help communities hit by crime. RCMP, though, offer a more measured take.

At a hearing this week, a committee of regular MLAs heard from a senior NWT RCMP officer who thinks the Trespass Act fills a gap, but added its likely impact on crime and enforcement isn’t clear.

While many parts of Canada already have trespass legislation, the NWT doesn’t. If it passes, Bill 34 would make trespass on private property an offence.

The GNWT has said it hopes the Trespass Act will:

• deter criminal behaviour by legally preventing people from being on property without permission;
• help businesses remove people from their property who “have caused damage or stolen goods in the past;” and
• allow the arrest of drug dealers who try to access property where “they do not have the permission of a lawful occupier.”

Supt Chris Romanchych, NWT RCMP’s criminal operations officer, said police can see how the Trespass Act slots into an existing hole in the options available to them.

“At the current moment, without this legislation, we can either do nothing or go right to a criminal offence,” Romanchych told MLAs.

“A criminal offence obviously is not the most appropriate mechanism to deal with some of these types of behaviours.”

RCMP in the NWT most often charge trespass-like offences as mischief, he suggested, but those charges could give someone a criminal record. Romanchych likes the idea of an option that avoids that outcome.

“When I think about people who are looking for work, right? They’re trying to get hired, they’re trying to make ends meet. You know, sometimes people make poor decisions when they’re younger, and as they mature and life circumstances change for them, then they’re burdened by some of those previous decisions, including a criminal record,” he said.

“If we’re looking at a measured approach, and we’re looking at a continuum of applicable measures … to fill that gap from do-nothing or verbal compliance to the criminal side, that’s where I believe this is the right fit.”

Will this make a difference?

The GNWT has not promoted the Trespass Act as a means of giving people who made poor life choices at a young age a better chance of employment.

The territory has instead said the act will give RCMP additional authority to tackle things residents have said they care about, like unwanted people in apartment blocks or incidents that appear connected to drug crime.

“Many times the RCMP get a call, there’s someone who’s causing a disturbance in an apartment, but they have no authority to remove that person because we don’t have a Trespass Act here,” NWT Premier RJ Simpson has said.

Romanchych suggested the Trespass Act might not have much of an overall effect on how police handle crime in the NWT. If anything, he said, the impact is unclear, while stressing that RCMP support the legislation.

“From the RCMP perspective, this isn’t going to be one that’s at the very top of our toolbox. We have lots of tools in the tool belt,” he said.

“If we have somebody who is a constant problem, is an epicentre of crime in one of our communities, whether a large one or a smaller one, that could be a tool we could use to change the trajectory of that behaviour into compliance.

“RCMP are already receiving these calls for service. So do I see a significant increase in calls? Not necessarily.”

Asked by Range Lake MLA Kieron Testart if he thought the legislation would make “an appreciable difference,” Romanchych replied: “If I had a magic crystal ball, I’d probably be able to answer that with any amount of accuracy. And unfortunately, I don’t.” (Testart said he understood that to mean he should “temper expectations.”)

Romanchych did question about how workable some elements of the proposed law might be.

For example, he wondered how readily people charged with trespassing might actually show up in court, how that could suck up police and court time, and how it might lead to a “cycle that really isn’t hitting the objective of the legislation.”

The superintendent also said the definition of an “occupier” of a property could cause problems.

“If we had drug dealers that have bullied their way into a residence and now they occupy it, but are they the owner? Are they the lessee? Are they on some form of a document? Likely not, and that, I believe, is where we might have some complications and need to really dig in further,” he said.

Lastly, Romanchych wasn’t sure that the legislation would help police get inside residences where drug dealing is suspected unless certain criteria were met.

“Is this something that could potentially be used as a tool to gain access to the residence to disrupt that criminal behaviour? I’m going to be candid and say not necessarily,” he told Monfwi MLA Jane Weyallon Armstrong.

“We need to be cautious that we’re not using tools that are looking to circumvent other legislative pieces, and specifically the charter, to get inside a residence to conduct the operations. There are no charter-free zones within Canada.

“If we have somebody in the residence who is on the lease, and they call the RCMP to say, ‘Hey, I’ve got people who are in here who I want out,’ yeah, we will certainly respond. It won’t be with the intention of disrupting drug trafficking within a residence. But if we go inside there and we’re responding to the call for service, and we see what we see, we will respond to that accord.”

No effect on commissioner’s land

Some debate remains about who should be enforcing the Trespass Act.

Police and some MLAs think bylaw officers and security guards could be doing that. At the moment, RCMP are the ones named in the legislation.

Testart also thinks there should be some scope for residents to carry out a citizen’s arrest if trespassing is suspected.

RCMP worry about what that might mean if someone gets hurt, or if a citizen’s arrest occurs in one of the more than a dozen communities with no detachment.

Meanwhile, the NWT’s justice minister was clear this week that the Trespass Act would have no effect on encampments on commissioner’s land.

Asked by MLAs, Jay Macdonald said separate legislation already makes clear that the public has the right to camp on commissioner’s land and Bill 34 would not alter that.

The bill could, however, allow the owners of some private winter roads to more readily enforce no-trespassing rules.

MLAs are still seeking feedback on the bill’s contents. A public meeting about the bill will take place at Hay River’s Ptarmigan Inn from 6pm on Monday, January 26.