Two MLAs and the Ka’a’gee Tu First Nation chief say they welcome the territory’s new trespassing legislation because they believe it will help address concerns about uninvited guests intruding in people’s homes and refusing to leave.

The Trespass Act, which passed unanimously in the assembly March 6, makes it an offence for a person to remain in a building after the “lawful” occupant of a building, like a renter or property owner, asks them to leave.

Forthcoming regulations will spell out penalties and allow peace officers and private security guards to arrest trespassers, according to a government report. 

Tu Nedhé-Wiilideh MLA Richard Edjericon said he hopes the law will help address complaints from people in his constituency about people taking over homes and dealing illegal drugs. 

“The drug dealers are coming right into their homes,” said Edjericon.

“It’s just gotten worse. It’s impacting our whole community throughout the North,” he said.

Edjericon also said the trespass law could help improve child welfare. When there is drug activity in a home, that puts children at a greater risk of being apprehended by social services, he said.

The legislation is one of three bills the government is putting forth to disincentivize drug dealers from coercing their way into housing units.

The government received nearly 700 public submissions on the act. A majority of people said trespassers are a problem in their community, and that they need more tools to remove them.

Ka’a’gee Tu First Nation Chief Lloyd Chicot said people in Kakisa have called on him to remove uninvited guests from their homes, which he said is risky and dangerous.

Hay River South MLA Vince McKay said he has one elderly constituent who contacted him about her grandchildren bringing uninvited guests into her home.

The woman told McKay that she lived in fear of confronting them, even though they are not on the lease.

He said he’s aware of another case in which a potential tenant entered a home for a viewing, refused to leave, and is squatting in that dwelling to this day.

A lawyer with the Canadian Civil Liberties Association said property crime legislation needs to be carefully designed so as not to undermine rights and freedoms or disproportionately impact vulnerable communities.

Harini Sivalingam, a lawyer and director of equality with the association, said giving arrest powers to non-police authorities raises the risk of racial profiling, especially if the arresting agent is untrained.

Range Lake MLA Kieron Testart said the legislation puts a “clear ban on someone being in a particular place and that ban being able to be enforced by the police.”

Testart chairs the committee that recommended that private security be given arrest powers under the Trespass Act regulations.

Testart said with recent reports of alleged excessive force by private security, nobody should be making arrests without adequate training.

The government is not considering regulations allowing citizens’ arrests because they are too dangerous, he said. 

Its priority is regulating arrest powers for peace officers first, which will take four to six months, said Testart.