Sask. government revising gang colour ban

Off the Wire
Biker Rights Issues

The Saskatchewan government is amending a law that prohibits the displaying of gang colours in bars.

The move follows a Dec. 17, 2009 court decision where a charge under The Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods Act was dismissed.

A man whom police said wore a Hells Angels vest to a Saskatoon bar in 2007 was ticketed, but the provincial court judge said the section of the law covering gang colours was vague, flawed in various ways and unconstitutional. The judge dismissed the charge.

The provincial government could have appealed the decision, but has opted instead to change its legislation to make it more specific.

Corrections, Public Safety and Policing Minister Yogi Huyghebaert said Monday the government will now name the specific gangs which cannot display their colours or symbols — on anything from a coat to a tattoo.

Those gangs have not yet been listed, but the government says it will put together that list soon, in regulations that will be attached to the amended law.

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