Canada: Selfie-crazed tourists trample farmer’s field near Toronto and destroy canola crops
“People are essentially trampling on food… what would a grocery store do if people trampled on that?” said the farmer
By Lauren O’Neil
Blog TO
July 5
Excerpt:
“Its unfortunate that people don’t see this as someone’s livelihood on private property,” they continued. “There are trespassing laws in place for this kind of violation — unfortunately they are not often enforced.”
In addition to regular trespassing laws, which can come with a penalty of up to $10,000 upon conviction, Ontario passed a farm-specific trespassing law in 2020.
The Security from Trespass and Protecting Food Safety Act was created specifically to protect farm animals from trespassers (and protect farmers against damage caused by animal rights activists.) Under this law, someone can be fined to $15,000 for trespassing on farms where animals are present.
The farm near Dundalk isn’t the first to experience problems with frantic tourists and it likely won’t be the last, but local residents want everyone to know that their “innocent” selfies are causing real harm.
“I saw this too! It made the road dangerous and it was blatant disregard for the property they trampled,” wrote one commenter on a shared version of the farmer’s original photo. “When I made the return trip I could see where they had all been, stomped down.”
