Saskatoon set to scrap outdated bylaws on milk sales, curfews and ‘blasting’

(Dale Cooper / CTV News)

From restricting early-morning milk sales to fining parents a few dollars if their children stayed out past 10:30 p.m., several long-forgotten Saskatoon bylaws are set to be scrapped.

City councillors on the governance and priorities committee unanimously supported a recommendation Tuesday to repeal 10 bylaws, most dating back nearly a century, deemed outdated or redundant by newer legislation or policies and no longer enforced.

• Download the CTV News app to get breaking news alerts sent to your device

One of the bylaws on the chopping block is Bylaw No. 2887, which prohibits the sale of milk to homes before 7 a.m. It was enacted in 1944.

Another bylaw slated for repeal is Bylaw No. 2533, which prohibits children under 15 from being in public places after 10:30 p.m. without supervision. Under the bylaw, children found in violation may be taken to a children’s shelter, and parents could face fines ranging from $1 to $5 depending on the number of offences. A report to the committee said the fines are too low to deter violations and there are concerns it may be unconstitutional or discriminatory.

“There are problems with enforcing it and whether it really solves a problem or not,” Cindy Yelland, the city’s solicitor, told reporters after the committee meeting. “So it is a complex issue that I don’t think you can just solve by passing a bylaw.”

The list also includes Bylaw No. 1791, enacted in 1928, which prohibits blasting by means of gunpowder, dynamite and other explosives.

“I think that was probably related to construction, and of course, since that bylaw was enacted, there are lots of different regulations,” Yelland said.

A bylaw enacted in 1925 prohibits bathing in the South Saskatchewan River within city limits. A later bylaw governing swimming in the river makes it unnecessary, the report said.

“Bathing in the river has long since been replaced with swimming in the river,” Yelland said.

She said the bylaw review was prompted by upcoming amendments to The Cities Act, provincial legislation that governs how cities operate, which will require municipalities to publish all bylaws online.

“Most of the city’s bylaws are already on our website, so this isn’t going to be a big change for the City of Saskatoon, but it just caused us to do one more historical sweep,” she said.

Yelland said the review offered a glimpse into the city’s past.

“It was super interesting for me to look back and see what was important to citizens at different periods of time,” she said.

“A lot of these bylaws date back to the late 1920s. Saskatoon would have only been a city for about 10 years. The population was significantly different than it is now.”

The recommendations will now go before city council for a final decision.

RELATED STORIES

• Bare it, don’t pair it: Saskatchewan’s weird strip-and-sip rule has a little-known loophole