Starlight tours: The chilling history of police abandoning Indigenous people in the Canadian winter

Cultures · Published 10 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: For decades, Indigenous people in Saskatoon were allegedly driven to the city's outskirts by police and abandoned in sub-zero temperatures. These incidents, known as starlight tours, resulted in multiple deaths from hypothermia. While often dismissed as isolated, the practice reveals a dark, systemic history of police misconduct and institutional denial.

The term starlight tours refers to a series of incidents spanning from at least 1976 to 2018 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. In these encounters, police officers allegedly arrested Indigenous individuals—often for supposed intoxication or disorderly conduct—and transported them to the city's periphery at night. There, they were left exposed to extreme cold, frequently without adequate winter clothing. At least seven such incidents have been reported, three of which ended in death, though only one case resulted in criminal convictions.

The deaths of Neil Stonechild, Rodney Naistus, and Lawrence Wegner are central to this history. Stonechild was found dead on November 29, 1990, in a field; he had died on a night when temperatures plummeted to −28.1 °C. Naistus and Wegner were found in 2000, with inquests into their deaths proving inconclusive regarding the specific circumstances. In contrast, Darrell Night survived his 2000 encounter by seeking help at a power station in −22 °C weather. His testimony led to the conviction of two officers for unlawful confinement, resulting in eight-month prison sentences.

Institutional accountability has been fraught. While the Saskatoon Police Service (SPS) initially framed these as isolated events, Police Chief Russell Sabo admitted in 2003 that the practice may have persisted for years, citing a 1976 disciplinary case involving an officer who abandoned an Indigenous woman. The legacy of these events has permeated Canadian culture, inspiring documentaries like Two Worlds Colliding, various musical works, and academic scrutiny. Even as recently as 2016, the SPS faced controversy when internal investigations confirmed that someone within the department had repeatedly deleted references to starlight tours from the force's Wikipedia page.

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