REGINA - The provincial government is cracking down on benefits to at-large prolific offenders who are getting government assistance.
In the legislature Thursday, the government introduced The Warrant Compliance Act which will authorize a Warrant Intelligence Team.
Minister of Corrections and Police Christine Tell explained this legislation “creates an intelligence team, which will be comprised of a number of people from government or enforcement, probably Social Services, gathering information with respect to individuals who may be on social assistance and are also a serious prolific offender with outstanding Criminal Code warrants.”
The Warrant Intelligence Team is being developed within the Ministry of Corrections, Policing and Public Safety. According to the province, this team will have authority to recommend the government suspend benefits such as income support and social housing, and also work with Crown corporations and other ministries to request and collect information which then can be provided to police to apprehend those offenders.
The creation of this team comes in the aftermath of the massacre on James Smith Cree Nation and Weldon, Saskatchewan in early September. In the aftermath, there was much controversy over the fact that Myles Sanderson, the killer in the massacre, had been out on outstanding warrants.
Tell confirmed to reporters Thursday that Sanderson had indeed been receiving financial assistance from the province of Saskatchewan.
Regarding how the Warrant Intelligence Team will proceed, Social Services will have the discretion on each situation. The plan is for Warrant Intelligence Team staff to work with Social Services to reduce any “unintended consequences”, as Tell put it, that a suspension of benefits might have on a spouse or their children.
Minister Tell made clear the intention is to specifically target offenders, not family members.
“There’s always dynamics that we may not be aware of, like there could be families involved. We don’t want to negatively impact anyone else.”
But Tell made it known she didn’t believe people of the province wanted the government funding violent offenders.
“We are talking about people who are on criminal code warrant, prolific serious offenders that are out, and they should not be out in the community living off of the taxpayers dime. I don’t believe taxpayers want those individuals to further the criminal lifestyle with taxpayers dollars.”
The Warrant Intelligence Team is expected to be operational in fiscal 2023-24, after the legislation takes effect. Final passage is not expected until the spring sitting.
In response to the legislation, Opposition critic Nicole Sarauer said her party does have some questions about it.
“If this is another tool that could apprehend these individuals we would be supportive of that,” said Sarauer. But she added “we want to make sure there aren’t unintended consequences on families, in particular children.”
In addition to that legislation, the Saskatchewan government has also introduced The Saskatchewan Firearms Act, which the government says is aimed at protecting rights of lawful firearms owners.
According to the province’s news release the Act is to establish licensing requirements for businesses or individuals involved in firearms expropriation, require and oversee fair compensation for any firearms being seized and require forensic and ballistic testing of seized firearms. It will also establish a provincial firearms regulatory system that will promote the safe and responsible use of firearms. Minister Tell pointed to the latter as particularly important.
“Currently, the only option for enforcement agencies is to lay a criminal charges against the individual who may be in violation of the safe storage rules under the criminal code,” said Tell. “What this Firearms Act in part does is provide a provincial statue option.”
This would allow the Chief Firearms Officer to engage with the individual who may receive a provincial statute violation ticket, and make sure they understand what they need to do to keep their firearms safe.
