CTV Saskatoon's most-read stories of 2024: Part One

As 2024 comes to a close, we’re taking a look back at some of the stories that made an impact on our readers. To be blunt — it’s been a year.

Saskatchewan residents finally learned how Myles Sanderson came to die, surrounded by RCMP constables after a wrong-way chase down Highway 11 in September 2022, ending a three-day manhunt after Sanderson killed 11 people in a drug-addled spree in James Smith Cree Nation and Weldon.

Through two heart-wrenching inquests, James Smith community members grieved the losses and grilled police and corrections officials for insights into why Sanderson wasn’t caught sooner when he skipped out on his parole, and what can be done to prevent a similar tragedy from happening again.

We participated in two consequential elections, bringing major gains for the NDP in the legislature and significant changes to Saskatoon’s city council. Former councillor Cynthia Block became the first woman elected mayor of Saskatoon, and six first-time councillors were elected out of the city’s 10 wards.

Labour was hot again in 2024. Teachers, railroaders, library staff and of course, postal workers, all hit the picket lines this year seeking better wages and improvements to their working conditions.

These stories marked events that had a real impact in our community, but they weren’t the stories that readers engaged with the most — really sunk their teeth into.

In two parts, here are CTV Saskatoon’s top 10 most-read stories of 2024:

 

10: 'Outright Fraud'

Sask. customers say they lost thousands after paying deposits and receiving no work

Hiring a contractor often comes down to a handshake agreement, based on trust. You find an ad on social media, and the price is right, so you meet in person. They seem competent, so you shake hands and send a down payment.

For customers of Saskatoon builder Jason Pacik, this is just where the trouble started. Clients from across western Canada who spoke with CTV News say they paid him thousands for bunkhouses and cabin renos and have nothing to show for it.

 

9: LEGACY CHRISTIAN ACADEMY

Victim scoffs as former Saskatoon gym teacher offers her cash during sexual assault sentencing

(Laura Woodward/CTV News)

This story marked a major turning point in the ongoing saga of the private Saskatoon school once known as Christian Centre Academy, then Legacy Christian Academy, and now called Valour Academy.

Former students came forward in 2022 with a class-action lawsuit alleging years of physical, sexual and psychological abuse at the hands of staff and teachers at the school and affiliated Mile Two Church. A number of criminal charges followed for some school officials. The subject of this story, Aaron Benneweis, is the first Legacy official to be found guilty of their criminal charge.

In this story Benneweis, a former gym teacher who sexually exploited and assaulted a 13-year-old student, offers to pay his victim $10,000 during a sentencing hearing.

 

8: DOWN THE DRAIN

Bathroom break nearly derails $22-million project at city council meeting

(Keenan Sorokan/CTV News)

This story offers a fine example of how, sometimes, an ordinary bodily function has the potential to alter the course of history.

 

 

7: HUMBOLDT BRONCOS

Driver responsible for deadly crash given deportation order

Truck driver Jaskirat Sidhu walks out of provincial court after appearing for charges due to the Humboldt Broncos bus crash in Melfort, Sask., on Tuesday, July 10, 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Kayle Neis

The fate of the semi driver responsible for the devastating Humboldt Broncos bus crash has hung in the balance for years, as he fought to stay in the country with his Canadian wife and family.

In 2019, Jaskirat Singh Sidhu was sentenced to eight years after pleading guilty to dangerous driving causing death and bodily harm in the April 2018 collision that killed 16 people and injured 13. Since then, Sidhu, a permanent resident at the time of the crash, has been in immigration limbo, exhausting a series of appeals to prevent his deportation.

Canada’s immigration laws dictate that a criminal conviction with a sentence more than six months renders a permanent resident ineligible to stay in the country.

Families of the Humboldt Broncos crash victims have expressed mixed feelings about the process. Some have shown empathy for Sidhu and his young family, while others felt he should be deported, as the law dictates.

At this point, Sidhu is running out of options for appeal.

 

6: 'MACKENZIE IS HOME'

Mackenzie Trottier’s body located in Saskatoon’s landfill: police

Mackenzie Lee Trottier. (Saskatoon Police Service)

This story marked the end of a father’s years-long search for his missing daughter, and the true beginning of his grief over her death.

Using evidence recovered from the cell phone of an acquaintance of Mackenzie Trottier following his overdose death, Saskatoon police were able to deduce that Trottier’s remains were likely in the city landfill. Using information from GPS situated on the garbage trucks, they homed in on a potential location.

After a grueling 93-day search, her body was finally found. Trottier had been missing since Dec. 21, 2020.