SCAN COULD GIVE PROVINCE POWER TO EVICT

SCAN sounds like a new piece of medical technology, but you won't
find it in any hospital.

And if women's and community groups have their way, they don't want
to have it in the provincial legislature either.

It stands for the Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods Act or Bill 9.
and it recently passed through the second reading of the House of Assembly.

But its opponents hope that it doesn't become law in October.

Under the proposed act, people can make complaints about residents in
their neighbourhoods if they suspect them of illegal activities. The
province would then have the power to evict people from their homes.

"This act allows our government to give residents a way to register
complaints and to put an end to illegal activities that adversely
affect or harm a neighbourhood," said provincial justice minister Tom
Osborne. "Our law enforcement agencies are seeing an increase in drug
and prostitution-related criminal activity, and this legislation is
necessary to ensure residents feel safe within our neighbourhoods and
communities."

Leslie MacLeod is the president of the Provincial Advisory Council on
the Status of Women. She says her organization and others have
continually expressed their concern.

"We don't like the act at all," she said. "Community groups in the
Northwest Territories have the same concerns that we do as well. And
at least one group in Manitoba (where the legislation was first
introduced) doesn't agree with it.

"They're using civil legislation to deal with criminal behaviour,
making people move from one place to another."

She says not only is there a criminal code and justice system
designed to deal with illegal activities, there is the Residential
Tenancies Act, which provides the do's and don'ts of renting properties.

The "truly scary" part about Bill 9, she says, is that it overrides
these existing pieces of legislation, along with their safeguards.

The definitions in the bill are also vague, Ms. MacLeod adds. Whereas
the Criminal Code uses the standard of "beyond a reasonable doubt,"
SCAN investigates can go by a "balance of probability" that the
property is being used for unsafe activities.

"You get people making anonymous reports that someone is doing
something harmful to the neighbourhood," said Ms. MacLeod. "These new
investigators will be hired in the fall and it's like a new
quasi-police force. They're doing surveillance to determine if
there's something illegal going on. The landlord, or whoever owns the
property, is required to go in and make the people stop. But if I'm a
landlord and I think there's a meth lab in the basement I don't want
to go down in the basement and stop."

She added that the advisory council thinks the bill is a violation
of the charter, saying that criminal activity should be dealt with
by the justice system.

"We think it can be used to harass neighbours," she said. "The
province did not do proper consultations on this. "

The legislation, developed in consultation with law enforcement
agencies and other stakeholder groups, is designed to improve
community safety by targeting and, if necessary, shutting down
residential and commercial buildings and land which are habitually
used for illegal activities such as producing, selling or using
illegal drugs, as well as prostitution, solvent abuse or the unlawful
sale and consumption of alcohol.

Budget 2007 provided $237,000 for an investigation unit within the
Department of Justice that will be in place as early as this fall.

"Manitoba adopted this legislation in 2002. Yet there's no research
that shows it works to reduce crime," said Ms. MacLeod. "The stats
only show how many houses have been shut down.

"What about people living in residences who are not involved in
questionable activities? In real terms, women and children could be
thrown out onto the streets."