The Council of Canadians is calling for justice for Colten Boushie, a 22-year-old man from the Red Pheasant First Nation who was killed earlier this month.
We extend our condolences to his family and mourn the loss of this young man. Boushie had recently earned his firefighting certificate, was a volunteer firefighter, and was planning to attend university next month. He also volunteered his time doing yard work and chopping wood for elders.
CBC reports, “[Boushie] was killed on August 9 on a rural property near Biggar, Sask. Boushie, an Indigenous man, was a passenger in a car with four other people when he was shot. His family says the group was going to ask for help with a flat tire. On [August 18], 54-year-old Gerald Stanley pleaded not guilty to a charge of second-degree murder in Boushie’s death.”
The Canadian Press adds, “Eric Meechance says he was in the car with his cousin, Colten Boushie, and three other friends when a tire blew out as they headed home to the Red Pheasant First Nation near North Battleford on [August 9]. But Meechance says when they drove onto a farm for help, a man ‘came out of nowhere’ and attacked the car, smashing the window. Meechance says they tried to drive away, but ended up colliding with a parked car and then he ran for safety as gunshots rang out.”
The Saskatoon Star Phoenix notes, “RCMP said the people in the car with Boushie were taken into custody as part of a related theft investigation, but no charges were laid. The Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations has publicly criticized the RCMP for the way it presented the shooting in a news release the day after the incident and has called the shooting a ‘crime based on race’.”
FSIN Chief Bobby Cameron says, “The news release the RCMP issued the following day provided just enough prejudicial information for the average reader to draw their own conclusions that the shooting was somehow justified.”
Another CBC article highlights, “Following the events, hateful conversations emerged online about the people in the vehicle, with some comments making accusations about why the group was at the farmyard.” Saskatchewan premier Brad Wall has called for an end to the hateful online comments being posted about this shooting.
But University of Regina professor Michael Cappello says, “When the premier says this isn’t part of Saskatchewan… that’s a wish but that’s not the truth. This is the fabric of our society. This is the history.” University of Regina professor Shauneen Pete, who is from the Little Pine First Nation, adds, “Racism is the air we breathe. It shapes every interaction that we have. To deny that? That’s a form of white privilege.”
Community organizer Erica Violet Lee has commented that she hasn’t been reading the online comments because, “I know exactly what settlers think of Indigenous people. …I don’t need to be reminded ’cause I know. …As Indigenous people of Saskatchewan, we’re immediately looked at as criminals, as people who are trespassers.”
And lawyer Eleanore Sunchild says, “I’m sorry to say it’s getting worse. There’s been more than 100 years of stereotypes and racism building, and the Battlefords here has a particular history. Our peoples are not equal. They have never been equal.”
About 200 people – including members of Boushie’s family – gathered for a rally on Thursday in North Battleford before going to the Court of Queen’s Bench in Battleford for Stanley’s bail hearing (he was released on $10,000 bail). A rally also took place in Saskatoon. The Council of Canadians Regina chapter participated in another rally calling for #JusticeForColten that took place in Regina.
