Increasing instances of fentanyl use and an alarming rash of overdose calls have sparked the provincial government to pass new regulations empowering police to enforce trespass laws in businesses and public spaces. Those include libraries and public parks.
A government release states the activities such as public intoxication and drug use will now be automatically considered trespassing in public spaces or businesses under the Trespass to Property Amendment Regulations.
"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,” Justice Minister and Attorney General Tim McLeod said. "These regulations will ensure that police can act quickly to remove individuals who pose a threat to themselves and others, ensuring our public spaces and businesses remain safe and accessible."
The statement goes on to say that Fentanyl and methamphetamine are increasingly the cause of overdose deaths, violent crime and community instability. The new measures are designed to protect businesses and public spaces from illicit drug use in an effort to stem the negative impact of addictions.
A joint statement by the Opposition NDP’s shadow ministers Betty Nippi-Albright and Nicole Sarauer call out the government on failing to provide the numbers of health professionals to help stem the tide of addictions issues in the province. They are critical of the direction the dollars are heading and the failure to focus on the issue.
“Every dollar the Sask. Party puts into the Marshals bureaucracy is effectively a dollar cut from local police services and frontline workers like the Saskatoon Fire Department,” the statement elaborates. “Our police and frontline workers are completely run off their feet and need much more help than this. In Saskatoon, the Fire Department reports responding to 935 overdose calls so far this year. The whole reason that bus drivers and library workers are being forced to deal with drugs and addictions is because the Sask. Party is essentially defunding frontline services and local police.”