It has been three-years since Biggar-area farmer Gerald Stanley was acquitted by an all-white jury of second-degree murder of Colten Boushie.
While Colten’s family were not satisfied with the verdict, at least wanting a manslaughter conviction, the wheels of change were in motion.
During a panel presentation featuring Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, Eleanor Sunchild-lawyer for the family and Colten’s mother Debbie Baptiste pre-emptive jury selection was discussed.
This tactic was used to object to a potential juror without explanation and excluded any Indigenous jurors.
Since the acquittal, the federal government eliminated pre-emptive jury challenges.
“It’s a system full of systemic racism,” said Sunchild, referencing criminal justice system. “We’re overrepresented in the courtroom, in jails. We’re the one’s being charged, but we’re the one’s not participating in the justice system as jurors.”
Boushie from the Red Pheasant Cree Nation was shot and killed in August 2016.
“Saskatchewan had failed it’s Indigenous People with that verdict,” stated Sunchild.
Saskatchewan declined to appeal that verdict and quickly faced questions of whether the province was racist. For its part the Sask. Party government introduced new trespassing measures, which formally required individuals seek permission to enter private property.
This angered First Nations who contemplated banning all non-First Nations citizens from entering reserve land, which may have included road blockades.
Former Justice Minister Don Morgan called for calm from Indigenous leaders and implored for a different working relationship.
Some First Nations experienced non-citizens entering their lands without permission, putting the fairness of enforcement of the legislation into question.
“We just continue to keep fighting for the justice we deserve,” Baptiste said. “There was no fairness in that courtroom.”
Sunchild said she continues to call for a Royal Commission or public inquiry into the mishandling of Boushie’s case.
The Public Complaints Commission into the RCMP is expected soon to issue a report into officers conduct in evidence collect, and how they communicated with Baptiste and the Boushie family.