Article content

After more than a dozen years as chair of the Saskatoon board of police commissioners, Mayor Don Atchison has been replaced by a member of the public-at-large.

Darlene Brander has been elected chair of the board, bumping Atchison from the position he held since Nov. 20, 2003, one month after being elected to his first term as mayor. The change was announced Thursday during a board meeting at City Hall.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Darlene Brander replaces Mayor Atchison as Saskatoon board of police commissioners chair Back to video

Brander, who received an education degree at the University of Saskatchewan, currently works as chief human resources officer with Athabasca Catering Limited Partnership, and previously worked at Saskatchewan Indian Gaming Authority. A band member of Red Earth Cree Nation, she sits on numerous other boards, including the Children’s Discovery Museum of Saskatchewan and the Saskatoon Aboriginal Professional Association.

Photo by Richard Marjan / Saskatoon StarPhoenix

When Atchison first ran for mayor in the 2003 election, one of his policing goals was winning city council’s support to reduce citizens’ influence on the board by shrinking the number non-elected citizens. Atchison, in November 2003, said the realignment of the commission to give elected officials more clout was “very significant.”