REGINA – The Sask Party government has once again introduced legislation that is in line with commitments made in the Speech from the Throne.
There were three sets of legislative amendments introduced Wednesday. The first are to The Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods (SCAN) Act.
Minister of Justice and Attorney General Tim McLeod took to social media to outline the changes, which he said are aimed at “increasing the safety, health and well-being of communities across our province.”
“Under the new amendments, SCAN officers will be empowered to actively identify and target nuisance or dilapidated properties that create unsafe living conditions for residents, rather than waiting for a complaint to be submitted,” McLeod said on the X platform. “Providing increased response to the challenges posed by these properties will in turn help eliminate vandalism, unauthorized occupation, drug use and other illegal activities.”
To support the implementation of the amendments, McLeod said the government will invest $2.7 million in 2025-26 to hire 14 new SCAN officers, and $2.5 million will go to the Saskatchewan Police College to assist in training.
According to the province’s news release, under these new amendments SCAN will be able to submit court applications for rehabilitation or forfeiture orders to address nuisance properties, and also deal with graffiti and trafficking of stolen property through the community safety order process.
McLeod spoke some more to reporters about what the legislation would be aimed at. The idea is to allow for greater enforcement, but he indicated there will be supports available for the homeless population in situations of unauthorized occupation.
“If a property does have unauthorized occupation, the purpose of the legislation is to deal with the dangerous property. And we want to make sure that anyone exposed to the dangerous property, including somebody who might be homeless, has a safe place to go,” McLeod said.
“And our government certainly has introduced a variety of measures to address homelessness through the provincial approach to homelessness with social services. If they have mental health or addictions issues, expanding the number of treatment facilities that we have across the province, adding 500 new treatment spaces for mental health and addictions. And so we want to make sure that we have the supports in place to help the people that need them, but then also have the necessary resources to deal with the property that is posing a risk.”
There are also amendments coming to two other pieces of legislation. One is to the Workers’ Compensation Act, 2013.
Minister of Finance Jim Reiter indicated to reporters there are three main components. One is to extend coverage for a number of situations to wildland firefighters, for presumptive cancer coverage. There is also a component of offering coverage on a voluntary basis to workers working for a Saskatchewan-based company that are working out of the province. There are some housekeeping amendments as well, he said.
Reiter also introduced amendments to the Saskatchewan Employment Act covering a wide variety of situations.
“The ones I would particularly highlight, there’s one prohibiting employers from withholding tips from their employees,” said Reiter. “There’s a section limiting when employers can request sick notes. And there’s also extending leave provisions that are related to a number of different leaves: sick leave, maternity leave, interpersonal violence leave, and bereavement leave.”
Reiter noted that the impetus for this bill comes from a requirement in the statute to do consultation every five years. “My understanding was that consultation was done about a year ago, the fall of ‘23. And you see the aftermath of that now,” Reiter said.
Regarding sick notes, the new requirement would be that employers can’t require sick notes unless it’s for a period of longer than five days.
“There’s been some issues. It’s cumbersome administratively. It’s difficult for employees to get doctors to sign a sick leave,” Reiter said. “And it just seems like a more reasonable time period.”
Regarding prohibiting employers from withholding tips, Reiter said there was also public consultation, as well as discussion with labour and employers.
“I think most reasonable people would feel that tip is for the employees,” Reiter said. “And that’s where it should go.”