Saskatoon police using bicycle bylaw as 'a ruse' to stop, search and catalogue Indigenous men, lawyer says

A Saskatoon defence lawyer says internal police records show officers are using the city’s bicycle bylaw ‘as a ruse’ to stop and search Indigenous men downtown.

The city’s police force has fought at two levels of court to have those records suppressed, including what a judge said about them in open court.

“Judge Monar Enweani made some very important findings,” Chris Murphy said.

“Upon initial inspection, their records appear to suggest that the vast majority of people who are ticketed under the bylaw are Indigenous and the tickets are primarily issued in the Central District [downtown].”

It all began when Murphy was defending an Indigenous man