What an NCAA rule change might mean for junior hockey in Sask.
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“Tickets will be laid.”
Those were the words of Saskatoon Police Deputy Chief Randy Huisman on the Brent Loucks Show, in respect to roughly 300 people in attendance at an election night party held by the People’s Party of Canada (PPC).
The event was held at the Saskatoon Inn on Sept. 20, and police were aware of the gathering, Huisman said.
“We learned about (the) event (around) the 17th of September,” he said, adding police initially learned about it from an inquiry by a national television outlet.
“They were sending a national news crew to cover the Maxime Bernier election night event.”
Discussions then began, with the SPS asking the hotel to bulk up its own security.
“(The media) were bringing their own security,” Husiman added. “(The PPC) were having a large outdoor stage at a park, just on the north side of the Saskatoon Inn. They brought in a big flat deck trailer as a stage. There was going to be music and, for the most part, the event outside.”
On the inside, a room and a stage were set up for the media, Huisman said.
“We had told (the media) at that point in time that unless there’s a public safety event going on, we weren’t about to break up a group of 300 people not complying with that if it was just in one wing,” he continued.
Police didn’t just have their eyes on this event. They had members there, Huisman said.
“We had covert resources there, which for the most part, the general public would have never known that we were in attendance there. We were gathering intelligence and identifying violations,” he said.
Huisman continued, mentioning police wanted to help out the already-tasked public health inspectors in regards to enforcement of the current public health orders.
He said the police didn’t want to overwhelm the inspectors, so they offered them help.
“We are continuing on with this investigation. Things that we look at … there’s different factors we consider (when looking at breaking up an event). Those factors are being the dynamic of the crowd. Are people inside being injured? Is there an active disturbance going on? Whether our presence will escalate the crowd into a disturbance? Or is it just contained to a specific area?” Huisman said.
In Huisman’s experience, he believes the PPC members are quick to challenge authority when there are cameras around.
“We just felt that it would not be the best thing to do to go in and break it up that night,” he said.
“Rest assured, the investigation is going on. There’s a number of people that will be identified and in consultation with the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency, the Public Health Inspectors and the Crown Prosecutors Office, tickets will be laid. We just need to make sure they’ll be fully supported in court as well.”
Huisman said if there are people caught on video, or witnessed, walking around, shaking hands and hugging people, carrying on conversations, that would be a case.
“We get ahold of the Crown and say, ‘Are you willing to support this?’ And we’ve gotten green lights all the way,” he said.
“We will have charges ready to go in a couple weeks.”
Huisman said if the police did move in, it would have “changed the narrative of the story,” and it would have “been a black eye for Saskatoon, again.”
The People‘s Party of Canada rally at the Saskatoon Inn on Sept. 20, 2021. (Libby Giesbrecht/650 CKOM)
‘Shutting off all the lights and power:’ Clark expresses PPC frustration
An enraging experience.
That’s how Saskatoon Mayor Charlie Clark described his take on the PPC rally on election night.
Also speaking on the Brent Loucks Morning Show on Tuesday morning, Clark didn’t hold back his feelings.
“I think it was a black eye on our city, in many ways,” he said.
“I know there’s a review underway. I understand the argument that has been put forward. The police are always in a tough spot trying to figure out how to navigate these situations … It’s worth looking at what steps could have been taken.
“Even just shutting off all the lights and power, something along those lines. It’s always easy to try and quarterback these after the fact.”
Clark said televising the event, and showing how it was portrayed, undermines the potential for other people to hold similar events unmasked without worry of enforcement.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is a corrected version of this story after the Saskatoon Police Service notified 650 CKOM of errors in the original copy.