“They are trying to make money off the death of my nephew.”
Those were the comments by Alvin Baptiste in response to a book deal that is currently being pitched by representatives of Gerald Stanley.
Last month, Stanley was acquitted in the shooting death of 22-year-old Colten Boushie from the Red Pheasant First Nation.
On Thursday, a Toronto-based publishing firm announced it had rejected a book proposal on the matter.
The entire court case and incident has garnered national interest, but Alvin Baptiste, Boushie’s uncle, says he was glad the book deal was rejected.
“They are just trying to make money off my nephew and (Stanley) refuses to man up and be accountable for his actions,” said Baptiste.
“It is not right what he is doing,” he added in regard to a book pitch.
In its statement, the publishing firm Between The Lines encouraged other publishing companies to reject this book deal, as well.
“We recognized the great deal of power and privilege we have as publishers to decide who is heard and who is not heard,” read the statement. “If there’s one story that we ought to publish, it’s that of the one person who’s no longer with us and that’s Colten Boushie.”
“To publish Mr. Stanley’s side of the story would only serve to perpetuate our unequal justice system.”
(PHOTO: Alvin Baptiste, along with other members of Colten Boushie’s family. Photo by Joel Willick.)