What’s the difference between trespassing and home invasion in Canada?

A teenager cuts across your lawn, that’s trespassing. A person breaks into your home wearing a mask with intent to commit an indictable offense, steal your goods or beat you up. That’s a home invasion, there’s a pretty significant difference between them, like trespassing and home invasion. They sound similar to some people, but there’s a totally different opposite ends of the spectrum.

So what’s the difference between trespassing and a home invasion? Well, let’s take trespassing first of all. Well, trespassing is a very minor offense. I mean, you’re not supposed to go on someone’s private property, particularly when they tell you to leave, of course, that’s under the trespass to Property Act. It’s a very minor offense. If you’re told to leave someone’s property, you don’t, you could be fined. I mean, the police show up, give you a ticket, etc. It’s pretty minor. The basic trespass of say, you’re at a store, for example, and you’re causing a ruckus, you’re told to leave. You don’t, police show up. Very minor situation. Home Invasion, on the other hand, is really serious. I mean, under our Criminal Code, typically a home invasion. One of the charges that can be charged, for example, is section 348, and the Criminal Code, which is a break and enter.

Now, break and enter is defined when you break into a home with the intent to commit an indictable offense. That might be to steal goods, it might be to rob, it might be to beat people up, all sorts of things, or steal or do intimidation. That’s an extremely serious criminal offense, and unfortunately, it goes on far too often in Canada these days, we’re reading a lot in the press and on the news about it.

So, under that type of scenario, just on a straightforward section, 348, break and enter, the maximum sentence is life in prison. Of course, most situations don’t require that, but you’re definitely facing a jail term for a break and enter, your typical break and enter, and home invasions get real serious after that.

I mean, there’s other offenses as well, where you go in and you beat a person up, etc., and you get charged with the aggregate assault, robbery, the break and enter, you name it. That’s your classic home invasion.

So you’ve got a regulatory, low level, non-criminal offense, just for minor trespassing. Home invasion, Criminal Code, very serious, other end of the spectrum, ball of wax. So using that example, say we have the cutting across the lawn or someone not leaving your home when they’re told to. You have a right as a homeowner, If you get into an argument, even with a friend, you can say leave, and at that point, if they don’t leave, their trespassing or you could have the police call to remove them. I don’t recommend you get involved with your friend removing yourself, but you could gently put your hands on the same you have to leave. You’re entitled to do that. You can’t use excessive force, of course, to remove a trespasser.

Home Invasion, completely opposite end of the spectrum. I’m doing some videos. I’ve done videos on home invasion. I’m doing them, and it’s a very topical, trending situation going on. And the most perplexing thing about it is when the homeowner defends himself from a home invasion, then winds up getting charged. It’s a very perplexing situation. It’s a conundrum there as well. So, there you have it. There’s the basic difference between a minor trespass regulatory offense under the Trespasser Property Act versus all the whole penalty of charges that you could face as a home invader, break and enter, robbery, aggravate assault, assault situations in that and there you have it. Thank you for joining us today.