Rural crime frustration palpable, but don't take law into own hands: minister

REGINA – Saskatchewan’s justice minister says he knows there’s frustration about rural crime, but Gord Wyant says people shouldn’t take the law into their own hands.

A resolution introduced at the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities convention says rural crime has increased and people don’t have sufficient rights to protect themselves and property.

The resolution calls for the association to lobby the federal government to expand the rights and justification for an individual to defend or protect himself, herself, and person under their care and their property.

Wyant says the resolution is not surprising because the frustration is palpable.

But he says the answer is to work with the RCMP and to see what recommendations come from a Saskatchewan government committee tasked with examining how to reduce crime.

SARM president Ray Orb told the committee last December that people would especially like to see more RCMP officers.

FSIN ‘shocked and disgusted’ with resolution

The Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations (FSIN) sent out a media release after the SARM resolution passed with 93 per cent in favour.

“We at the FSIN believe that this resolution propels and encourages violence,” wrote vice-chief Kim Jonathan. “Any strengthening of the rights of individuals to defend their property will result in an increase in violent confrontation and the deaths of more innocent people.”

-with files from 650 CKOM