Trespass to Property Act permits any occupier of a premises to make an unannounced arrest and deliver the offender to the authorities. A trespasser may be detained without a warrant under Section 9(1) of the R.S.O. 1990 if the occupier of the property or a person approved by the owner can demonstrate that the offender has violated Section 2 of the Act. (Ontario, 2016). I, therefore, do not believe that any amendment to the Trespass to Property Act is necessary since the provisions of the Act already give room for the arrest of any offender by the occupier who can then deliver him or her to the authority.
In addition, if a person enters a specific premise despite the knowledge that entry is prohibited, performs prohibited activities in the premise or refuses to leave the premise when ordered to do so, the occupier has a right under the laws of Ontario to arrest the individual and hand him over to the police (Ontario, 2016). The three stated offenses are clearly outlined in the Act under sections 2, 6 and 9 (Federation of Law Societies of Canada, 2015). The Act also allows for compensation of the complainant by the offender in the form of awarding of damages including costs incurred in the prosecution (Ontario, 2016). I do not see any urgency in proposing an amendment to the Act since as it stands, it gives reasonable freedom and the right to any occupier of a premise to act in circumstances where s/he feels that the offender has contravened Section 2 of the Trespass to Property Act. Also, given the fact that the occupier can arrest the trespasser without any warrant proves that the Act has already taken care of any loopholes in the implementation of the Act (Batchelor, 2013; Walby, & Lippert, 2015). For instance, it means that if a person trespasses on another's property with or without the knowledge that the property is private and entry is prohibited is liable of arresting and charged in a court of law.
References
Ontario (June 2016). Trespass to Property Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. T.21. Queen's Printer for Ontario. Retrieved June 10, 2017 from https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/90t21
Walby, K., & Lippert, R. K. (2015). Municipal Corporate Security in international context. New York, Routledge.
Batchelor, D. (2013). How to be a good private investigator. Ontarion, Canada: Xlibris Corporation.
Federation of Law Societies of Canada (2015). The Trespass to Property Act, SS 2009, c T-20.2. Retrieved June 10, 2017 from https://www.canlii.org/en/sk/laws/stat/ss-2009-c-t-20.2/latest/ss-2009-c-t-20.2.html
