Saskatoon police chief speaks at rally against carding

Saskatoon police chief Clive Weighill asked to address protesters who rallied outside of a public meeting Wednesdayevening, and after a show of hands in the crowd, hewas handed the loudspeaker.

Roughly 40protestersgatheredoutside of TCU Place, where a public consultation on policing was happening,toprotest the controversial practice of "carding."

"Anybody that's listened to me talk before knows I certainly believe in social justice," Weighill said. "I've talked many times about the systemic issues our aboriginal population is facing: of poverty, of poor housing, of racism, of disadvantage. Those are the issues we've got to work on."

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Weighillacknowledged the controversy about carding. He said the issue came up at a meeting Wednesdayof the Saskatchewan Association of Chiefs of Police and the Saskatchewan Police Commission.

"We're looking at the policy on street checks and how they'reimplemented," the police chief said, adding that they will review how the carding issue is unfolding in Ontario. But he said carding should continue as a police practice.

Prior toWeighillspeaking, filmmaker and activistTashaHubbardspoke to the crowd giving examples of people who say they were stopped by police without having done anything wrong.

"What is the message when indigenous people and othermarginalizedpeoples areincessantly carded? The message is that indigenous people,people of colour, people who are poor, do not belong,that they are not welcome in certain spaces," she said.

When asked about Clive Weighillspeaking to the crowd,Hubbardsaid, "I think it's good that the police chief is responding to it, I'm just not sure this was the right space."