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A Saskatoon police officer who was fired over a friendship with a Hells Angels associate is still trying to get his job back.
Former sergeant Robbie Taylor is appealing to the Saskatchewan Police Commission, after an independent hearing officer upheld his dismissal in a decision issued earlier this year.
Police Chief Cam McBride fired Taylor in March 2025 after deciding Taylor was “unsuitable” to be a police officer due to his friendship with a man who was an associate of the Hells Angels biker gang.
At an appeal hearing in front of a three-member panel of the police commission on Friday in Saskatoon, Taylor’s lawyers Scott Hopley and Brian Pfefferle argued the hearing officer’s decision should be overturned.
“She may find something that was worthy of discipline, that was worthy of correction, but this is somebody who was not, in our submission, incapable of continuing to work as a police officer,” Pfefferle said.
One of the main issues raised on appeal is an allegation of abuse of process, which was also raised during the weeklong hearing in September 2025.
It relates to the fact that then-police chief Troy Cooper received a complaint in 2023 about Taylor interfering in a traffic stop of his friend, whose name is subject to a publication ban.
The complaint was passed up the chain of command through then-deputy-chief McBride, and Cooper ultimately decided not to pursue any disciplinary action.
However, the first time Taylor’s lawyers learned that Cooper had decided to take no action was when McBride testified about it at the hearing last September.
That was “unfair” to the lawyers while they prepared for the hearing, Hopley argued.
“Worse, this kind of tactical, strategic approach to hide critical information, that strikes at the heart of the administration of justice,” Hopley said.
“This is an outrageous abuse of process.”
Ashley Smith, the lawyer for the Saskatoon Police Service, argued there was no actual document to share with Taylor’s lawyers regarding the decision to take no action.
Under persistent questioning from police commission chair Aaron Fox, Smith acknowledged it was “relevant” information, but maintained it didn’t exist in a form that could be disclosed.
She said the disclosure that was shared clearly showed there had been a concern that went up the chain of command, and wasn’t investigated.
Smith also argued that Taylor should have known a friendship with someone associated with an organized crime group was not OK.
She said nothing short of dismissal was appropriate, because of the loss of trust between McBride and Taylor, and the need to maintain the public’s trust in the police service.
The Saskatchewan Police Commission panel — consisting of Fox, Leanne Lang and John Ajioritis — reserved its decision.
