Photo: John E Deacon
Testimony continued this week in provincial court in the trial of two men charged with a series of wildlife offenses following a lengthy undercover investigation in central Saskatchewan.
Cousins Wyatt and Brody Sinclair are now up against dozens of charges under the province’s Wildlife Act in connection with an incident that took place on Oct. 8, 2024, and other alleged offenses documented between March 2023 and November 2024.
An undercover conservation officer, whose identity is covered by a publication ban, told the court this week that Wyatt Sinclair shot a young deer at night from a parked vehicle, using moonlight and the truck’s headlights. The officer said Sinclair later told him it was the first time he had hunted illegally on his family’s land and that the animal was taken so the meat could be sold to an East Indian family for Ramadan.
In an effort to sell the kill as strictly Halal, the court was treated to after-the-kill footage where Wyatt Sinclair is seen leaning over the animal and pretending to cut its throat after realizing he did not have a knife. Meanwhile, Brody Sinclair can be heard in the background offering what was described as a half-assed attempt at an Islamic prayer. The officer went on to testify that the men believed windy conditions would prevent the buyer from noticing they were faking the whole thing.
According to the testimony, Sinclair had agreed to sell the meat for a $200 payday, but later accepted $150 because of damage to the deer’s neck and shoulder. The carcass was taken to a family farm before being turned over, along with other evidence, to the officer’s supervisor.
Brody Sinclair is jointly charged, but the officer said his involvement in the October incident was limited to helping locate the deer, loading it into the truck, and wiping blood from the bumper.
The investigation began after public tips alerted officers to the cousin’s bad habits, prompting an investigation that continued for more than a year. The officer testified that he developed an undercover hunting relationship with Wyatt Sinclair and later recounted other conversations and outings. Those included allegations of hunting without a license, failing to wear hunter orange, hunting under another person’s treaty rights, shooting a moose from a vehicle, taking an elk on private land near One Arrow First Nation, and killing a bear away from a trapline.
The officer said Sinclair showed photographs of the illegally killed bear and discussed his plans of moving the animal’s gallbladder on the black market for gobs of cash (more than heroin, according to the officer). Unfortunately for the officer, the sale did not take place, and the organ was left to spoil.
In a trial that has been dragging on since March, the Crown dumped the majority of its evidence and testimony on the court this week and now defense lawyers are expected to argue that the investigation amounted to entrapment. Given that the officer spent many months in the company of the accused, the court will now have to weigh how that relationship bears on the evidence that’s been gathered. The trial is expected to finish today, with a decision likely reserved until later this fall.
