The Province is reviewing the current trespass legislation to see if any changes need to be made.

Justice Minister Don Morgan says they currently have a number of pieces of legislation that affect rights for property owners and for people that wanted to have access to the land.

He says an example under the current legislation allows hunters to have access to the land unless it is signed.

“We heard from farmers that that was a difficult ownest to go through to do the signing, people didn’t always see the signs. So, the suggestion that came from a lot of the farm community was they’d like to see the default position be that you couldn’t go on their land without getting consent from the owners. So we thought well why don’t we have a discussion. We’ll put forward a discussion paper with a few options and look for some public input.”

Morgan says trespassing is an issue for many rural landowners, farmers, and ranchers who are concerned about theft, invasive weeds and disease issues like clubroot entering their land.

“What we’re asking people is what changes if any, would they like to see on the existing legislation. So we’re looking for input from farmers and ranchers; as well as from snowmobilers, hunters, and people that would ordinarily have had more or less unfettered access.”

The public especially those directly affected by the legislation – farmers, ranchers, hunters, snowmobile and ATV enthusiasts are encouraged to go on the governments' website and fill out the questionnaire giving their feedback.

The deadline for the public consultation review is October 1st.

The Government’s Questionnaire is available here