Until the End of Crime

72. The Starlight Tours


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For decades, Indigenous communities in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan whispered about a police practice called a "starlight tour" — officers detaining First Nations men and abandoning them on the frozen outskirts of the city in sub-zero temperatures. In this episode, we trace the story from the 1990 death of seventeen-year-old Neil Stonechild, found frozen with handcuff marks on his wrists, to the harrowing winter of 2000, when two more frozen bodies were discovered near the same power station where survivor Darrell Night had barely escaped with his life days earlier. Night's courage in coming forward shattered decades of denial, triggered a landmark public inquiry, and forced a nation to confront a truth it had long refused to hear.

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Sources: 

CBC News. "RCMP Investigate Two Freezing Deaths." CBC, 16 Feb. 2000. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/rcmp-investigate-two-freezing-deaths-1.227672

CBC News. "Sask. Man at Centre of Historic ‘Starlight Tours’ Police Misconduct Case Has Died." CBC, 23 Apr. 2023. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatoon/darrell-night-died-starlight-tour-1.6818232

CBC News. "Saskatoon Police Removed ‘Starlight Tours’ Section from Wikipedia, Student Says." CBC, 31 Mar. 2016. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatoon/saskatoon-police-starlight-tours-wikipedia-delete-1.3512586

Commission of Inquiry into Matters Relating to the Death of Neil Stonechild. "Background Information." Government of Saskatchewan. https://www.stonechildinquiry.ca/backgrounder.shtml

Commission of Inquiry into Matters Relating to the Death of Neil Stonechild. Report of the Commission of Inquiry into Matters Relating to the Death of Neil Stonechild. Government of Saskatchewan, Oct. 2004. http://www.publications.gov.sk.ca/freelaw/Publications_Centre/Justice/Stonechild/Stonechild-FinalReport.pdf

Flyn, Corinne L. "Freezing Deaths: The Starlight Tours." Gladue Rights Research Database, University of Saskatchewan. https://gladue.usask.ca/node/2860

Globe and Mail. "RCMP Add 1990 Death to Saskatoon Police Probe." The Globe and Mail, 24 Feb. 2000. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/rcmp-add-1990-death-to-saskatoon-police-probe/article1037160/

Historical Dictionary of Canadianisms on Historical Principles (DCHP-3). "Starlight Tour." University of British Columbia. https://dchp.arts.ubc.ca/entries/starlight%20tour

Hubbard, Tasha, dir. Two Worlds Colliding. National Film Board of Canada, 2004.

Hutchinson, Brian. "Frozen Ghosts: Saturday Night’s Starlight Tour." Saturday Night Magazine, 19 Aug. 2000. Archived at https://injusticebusters.org/index.htm/frozenghosts.htm

InjusticeBusters. "Dustyhorn: Native Dies After Police ‘Drive Him Home.’" https://injusticebusters.org/index.htm/Dustyhorn.htm

InjusticeBusters. "Lawrence Wegner Death: Questions Remain." https://injusticebusters.org/index.htm/Wegner.htm

InjusticeBusters. "Darrell Night Story: Washington Post." https://injusticebusters.org/2003/Night.htm

Chicken, Priscilla. "Starlight Tours Show Anti-Indigenous Racism in Canadian Policing." The Manitoban, Mar. 2024. https://themanitoban.com/2024/03/starlight-tours-show-anti-indigenous-racism-in-canadian-policing/46968/

Maclean’s. "New Light on Saskatoon’s ‘Starlight Tours.’" Maclean’s, 8 Apr. 2016. https://macleans.ca/news/canada/new-light-on-saskatoons-starlight-tours/

Palmater, Pamela. "Remembering Neil Stonechild and Exposing Systemic Racism in Policing." The Conversation, 28 Aug. 2020. https://theconversation.com/remembering-neil-stonechild-and-exposing-systemic-racism-in-policing-128436

Reber, Susanne, and Robert Renaud. Starlight Tour: The Last, Lonely Night of Neil Stonechild. Random House Canada, 2005.

Sillito, David. "Starlight Tours Whistle Blower Darrell Night Passes Away." APTN National News, 26 Apr. 2023. https://www.aptnnews.ca/national-news/starlight-tours-whistle-blower-darrell-night-passes-away/

Spheres of Influence. "Canada’s Best-Kept Secret: Starlight Tours." Apr. 2025. https://spheresofinfluence.ca/canadas-best-kept-secret-starlight-tours/

University of Saskatchewan, Indigenous Saskatchewan Encyclopedia. "Stonechild, Neil." https://teaching.usask.ca/indigenoussk/import/stonechild_neil.php

University of Regina, Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan. "Stonechild, Neil." https://www.esask.uregina.ca/entry/stonechild_neil.html

Wikipedia. "Neil Stonechild." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_Stonechild

Wikipedia. "Saskatoon Freezing Deaths." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saskatoon_freezing_deaths

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