The City of Saskatoon continues to deal with graffiti as an ongoing form of vandalism and this summer has been no exception. The numbers so far this year are consistent with previous years, but there have been some unique instances getting a closer look. In the Briarwood neighbourhood, multiple tags covering a masonry wall on 8th Street have recently caught the community’s attention. Ward 8 City Councillor Scott Ford says the graffiti appeared earlier this summer for a short period of time and generated plenty of concern from residents. “It all happened in one weekend or one day. I’ve received tons of calls about this, tons of emails with regards to Briarwood specifically,” Ford told CTV News. That single event led to more than 30 tags stretching from the Boychuk Drive corner east to the Briargate entrance – including a few into the community. According to the city, that doesn’t necessarily mean there is more graffiti overall this year, but it is something officials take seriously. “More graffiti welcomes more graffiti and more crime and more of everything, so if we can reduce that, we should have less crime going on in those areas,” said Shane McKechney, facility manager of maintenance. McKechney says there have been 289 graffiti reports from Jan. 1 until June, a figure that’s been in line with previous years. In 2025 there were 489 for the whole year. Those numbers only include incidents that were reported and addressed. The responsibility for removing graffiti falls mostly on the property owner if it’s private property. If graffiti is on private or commercial property, owners have about 30 days to remove it. The city does remove specific types of graffiti, when considered urgent. “Priority one is hate, vulgar and offensive graffiti. And so that’s done within one day. If it’s gang-related, high-visibility locations, and repeat graffiti, that’s within one to three days,” McKechney said. The city told CTV News that the graffiti on the Briarwood wall does not meet the criteria for hate speech or gang-related graffiti. However, it does meet the city’s criteria for a special and unique removal. Ford says the response came after widespread reports from the Briarwood community. “Basically the whole Briarwood community probably reported it to the city, and so it’s fairly extensive,” Ford said. “And there was a precedent where some areas of a masonry wall [were tagged] with graffiti, and the city looked after it.” Ford added that he’s pleased with how graffiti cleanup has been handled so far this season. How you can step up The city says residents play a big role, especially when tags keep coming back. McKechney says residents should continue reporting graffiti when they see it, even if the same tag has already been reported. “When these tags are redone, continue to put them in because we know there could be duplicates … Some of the tags get put on within hours after cleaning it up,” he said. Targeted areas for graffiti in Saskatoon include River Landing and Rotary Park. Reports can be made through the City of Saskatoon’s website or by phone at 306-975-2828.
