#colten boushie

[newsakd]

[ad_1] The RCMP braced for backlash across rural Saskatchewan and kept a close eye on Indigenous groups after the not guilty verdict of a farmer charged in the death of Colten Boushie, emails show. The former top Mountie in the province also warned officers to watch their opinions, and police carefully watched and weighed in on testimony in the highly charged murder trial that exposed racial divides.This week marks seven years since Boushie, a 22-year-old Cree man from Red Pheasant First Nation, was shot and killed in a rural area near the town of Biggar, about 95 kilometres west of Saskatoon.Gerald Stanley was acquitted of second-degree murder in 2018, after testifying at trial that his gun accidentally went off.After a five-year wait, The Canadian Press recently obtained RCMP emails sent during and immediately after the trial. Story continues below advertisement Partially redacted documents indicate that Mounties monitored threats and were bracing for backlash, particularly after the verdict was read out Feb. 9, 2018.“Please be diligent on rural patrols in your areas,” one commander wrote in an email that evening to colleagues. “As you can all appreciate, the not guilty verdict will produce some backlash in all of our communities.”One day earlier, the commanding officer of the province’s RCMP division encouraged members to pay “close attention” to what was unfolding in their communities. “Carefully consider the associated risks and responsibilities of engaging in the ongoing public debate around this case,” wrote Curtis Zablocki, who now oversees the Alberta RCMP.From the time Boushie was shot, social media lit up with users making derogatory comments, prompting then-premier Brad Wall to call for “racist and hate-filled” comments to stop.During the trial, Mounties sent daily updates about testimony and which high-profile Indigenous leaders were in attendance. There were conversations about Indigenous demonstrators and their supporters outside.“It was really one-sided right from the moment Colten was killed to the moment of the decision not to appeal,” Eleanore Sunchild, co-counsel to Boushie’s family, said in an interview.“I��m not surprised at all — this is Saskatchewan.” Story continues below advertisement Saskatchewan RCMP said in an emailed statement the force routinely monitors trials and that employee messaging at the time reminded staff “there could be amplified interest in any public dialogue about this investigation and trial.”Zablocki also said in a statement that the debate was significant, and it was his responsibility “to remind employees of the risks associated with engaging in this public debate.”The RCMP added the force continues to work toward reconciliation with Indigenous people.Sunchild said Boushie’s family members were aware they were being monitored by RCMP, but it didn’t feel like it was intended to keep them safe. Any offers for assistance from Mounties felt insincere, she added.“There could be no relationship between the RCMP and the Boushie-Baptiste family during the trial because of all the mishandling and racism that the family observed and felt from them from the moment Colten was killed,” Sunchild said.A Civilian Review and Complaints Commission report in 2021 found RCMP racially discriminated against Boushie’s mother during their investigation.It found the way she was informed of his death to be insensitive, with officers smelling the grieving woman’s breath for alcohol and looking in a microwave to verify she had made her son food.That report also found officers mishandled witnesses and crucial evidence. It said an early RCMP media release about the shooting could have left people under the impression “the young man’s death was deserved.” Story continues below advertisement Emails during the trial detail what happened when court heard that officers had left open a door on Boushie’s vehicle, allowing rain to wash away blood evidence.“Surprisingly, the defence did not dwell on this issue,” one officer wrote.RCMP also kept detailed notes about evidence presented at the trial, including a firearms expert who testified for the defence that the shooting could have been the result of a “hang fire,” or a delay between when a gun’s trigger is pulled, and a bullet is fired. Trending Now Elon Musk may need surgery — and it could delay his fight with Zuckerberg Sandra Bullock’s partner Bryan Randall dies at 57 after private ALS battle “If I’m comparing the effectiveness of experts to the jury,” one officer wrote, the “(Crown’s expert) was the easiest to follow and make sense of things.”“(Defence expert) talked a lot about measurements and it made … it really hard to follow.”One week after the verdict, Zablocki emailed officers thanking them for their work during a “challenging and emotional” time. He noted it had generated many rallies, media attention and other commentary, “including the quality of the RCMP’s investigation and our relationships with Indigenous communities.”The emails show police monitored the social media accounts of some Indigenous groups about protests after the trial.Sunchild remembers pickup trucks revving their motors outside court and questions if the same effort was put toward monitoring Stanley supporters. Story continues below advertisement She also wonders why more resources weren’t put into the actual investigation of the shooting.“Those same resources were not placed towards the Boushie family and those resources were not put towards a fulsome and fair investigation,” she said.Ken Coates, chair of Yukon University’s Indigenous Governance program, said the case created one of the most volatile legal situations in recent Canadian history.“First Nations in Saskatchewan and further afield were angry about the investigation, the trial and the judgment,” Coates said in an email. “Politicians, government officials, and police across the country were worried about the potential for protests and violence.”Coates said the emails show RCMP prepared for upheaval that never happened.But, he said, the emails also demonstrate restraint by Boushie’s family, Indigenous leaders and their supporters after the verdict.“The manner in which the Boushie family and First Nations leaders across Saskatchewan managed their response … and the not guilty verdict is one of the most remarkable, decent and restrained in recent memory, made more impressive by the volatile nature of the death of Colten Boushie and the complaints made about the police investigation and the trial.” 1:55 Backlash over verdict in Gerald Stanley murder trial [ad_2] Source link

[allthecanadianpolitics]

The RCMP destroyed records of police communications from the night Colten Boushie died and conducted a parallel internal probe into the handling of the case without notifying the civilian watchdog, according to a report from the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission.

The CRCC expressed “disappointment and frustration” with the police decision to destroy recordings and transcripts of radio traffic between officers who responded to the fatal shooting of Mr. Boushie, a 22-year-old Cree man, in August, 2016.

The CRCC also said it has “serious concerns” that it wasn’t told about a separate, simultaneous RCMP internal investigation into the handling of the case.

[...]

When the CRCC requested records of police communications such as radio and telephone calls on the night Mr. Boushie died, the RCMP said the records had already been destroyed. They were deemed to have no evidentiary value to the criminal investigation, the RCMP said, and were disposed of in August, 2018, two years after the events in question, in keeping with records retention policy.

The CRCC investigation, however, was announced in March, 2018, less than two years after Mr. Boushie’s death. Mr. Boushie’s family also began a civil action against the RCMP before two years had elapsed. Recordings of police communications would have been relevant to both of those cases and should have been preserved, said counsel for Mr. Boushie’s mother, Debbie Baptiste.

“They knew there was a civil case. They knew there was an investigation by the CRCC. They knew the family was calling for an inquiry and yet they go and destroy the communications from that day,” said Eleanore Sunchild, Ms. Baptiste’s lawyer. “That is unacceptable.”

The recordings would have particular relevance to aspects of the investigation that dealt with how police notified Ms. Baptiste of her son’s death. The police maintain they took a tactical approach to encircle her home and then search the premises because they believed that one of Mr. Boushie’s companions may have been inside and armed.

The CRCC found that surrounding the house with officers carrying carbines wasn’t in keeping with a reasonable risk assessment, nor was it appropriate or compassionate in the circumstances. After Ms. Baptiste collapsed in tears on hearing the news of her son’s death, an officer asked if she’d been drinking. One or more officers smelled her breath. The CRCC said those actions were insensitive and linked to a stereotypical understanding of Indigenous peoples, which led to the finding of racial discrimination.

The RCMP also proceeded to search the family home, which the CRCC said was unreasonable and unlawful.

Continue Reading.

Tagging: @politicsofcanada

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

No firearms expert has been able to fully explain or reproduce the “freak accident” that Gerald Stanley claims caused his gun to fire unexpectedly into the head of Colten Boushie.

The result is what David Tanovich, co-editor of Canadian Bar Review, said was a case of a “magical gun.”

Stanley’s acquittal hinged on a claim of hangfire, an extremely rare scenario in which a cartridge discharges several seconds after it is struck by the firing pin.

Even then, Boushie should still have survived if not for a second extremely specific malfunction that could not be replicated by experts testing Stanley’s gun.

Boushie was killed with a Tokarev TT33, a semi-automatic pistol originally manufactured for the Soviet Red Army.

After a confrontation with an SUV filled with trespassers on his Saskatchewan farm, Stanley testified that he retrieved the Tokarev from a shed, loaded it with three cartridges and then stepped outside to fire into the air. He said he pulled the trigger three or four times.

The defence’s case is that while two bullets were shot into the sky, the third bullet did not immediately fire.

Instead, after Stanley had approached a stationary SUV containing Boushie, Stanley testified that the round suddenly discharged, striking Boushie in the head. The shot killed him instantly.

“Boom, the thing just went off,” Stanley told the court.

Hangfire is the reason why the mandatory Canadian Firearms Safety Course instructs shooters to always wait 60 seconds after encountering a misfired round.

Even among habitual shooters, though, hangfires are a phenomenon that will typically only occur once or twice in a lifetime, if at all. Additionally, the typical hangfire only lasts a split second.

Eric Hung, founder of the U.S. firearms blog Pew Pew Tactical, told the National Post that he was recently attending an advanced National Rifle Association course when the instructor asked attendees whether they had ever experienced a hangfire.

“Only two out of the dozen or so present raised their hands. And these are people that shoot a lot,” he said.

Wayne Bush, a veteran U.S. firearms instructor in southern Pennsylvania, similarly told the Post that throughout a long police and military career that has included shooting tens of thousands of rounds (and being present around the firing of tens of thousands more), he has never experienced a hangfire.

On CanLii.org, a searchable database of thousands of Canadian legal decisions, there is only one mention of the term “hangfire.” Contained in a 1989 negligence case against the Remington Arms Company, it involved a .22 cartridge that exploded roughly 10 seconds after being fired.

When Stanley’s lawyer was calling up witnesses to prove the existence of long-delayed hangfires, the defence team relied heavily on the testimony of a random citizen who approached them with a hunting story.

Wayne Popowich called up Stanley’s legal team after reading about the trial in the media, and was soon placed on the stand to describe an event from 40 years ago in which he fired an unmaintained rifle and had it behave exactly the same as the Tokarev in Stanley’s testimony.

However, a clear point in Stanley’s favour is that he was using ammunition that was particularly prone to hangfires. The Tokarev was loaded with 64-year-old cartridges originally manufactured in communist Czechoslovakia — and stored in an uninsulated shed subject to the extremes of the Saskatchewan climate.

“Hangfires are most common among old military surplus ammunition such as that used in this case,” Tom Givens, co-founder of Tennessee’s Rangemaster Firearms Training Services, told the Post.

Nevertheless, even with a hangfire, one more unlikely event needed to occur to ensure Stanley’s version of events.

Before approaching the vehicle containing Boushie, Stanley testified that the slide on the Tokarev was pushed back, indicating that the gun was out of ammunition.

Under normal conditions, the slide of a Tokarev will indeed snap back into a locked position once the gun is out of ammunition.

However, the slide cannot snap open if the last round fired was malfunctioning, as Stanley’s testimony claims.

The slide needs the recoil of a fired round to snap into a locked position. Thus, even if he was out of ammunition, the only way the slide of the Tokarev could have been in a locked position would be if Stanley had done it manually.

Here’s the important part: Doing that should have safely cleared the gun’s chamber of the misfired round.

A properly functioning Tokarev would have ejected the malfunctioning round when Stanley racked back the slide. Then, when the round suddenly discharged, it would have done so relatively harmlessly on the ground, instead of into Boushie’s head.

So, for Stanley’s account to be credible, his gun loaded with malfunctioning ammunition also had to be malfunctioning itself.

The Tokarev would have needed to have a faulty extractor that failed to expel the cartridge, allowing the round to sit unnoticed in the gun’s chamber.

Notably, this would have needed to happen just once, as tests conducted after the shooting found the pistol to be in perfect working order.

“I simply don’t know what caused that firearm to discharge,” testified John Ervin, an RCMP Chief Firearms Officer called by the defence.

Greg Williams, an RCMP firearm specialist called by the Crown, was similarly baffled, offering at one point that the strange series of events described were caused by an “obstruction” in the barrel, even though no obstruction was later found.

While there is no physical evidence for Stanley’s ammunition experiencing a hangfire, the casing from the bullet that killed Boushie was found to have an unusual bulge when found by RCMP investigators.

At trial, Ervin offered the explanation that the round could have discharged “out-of-battery,” a firearms term for when a cartridge detonates in the wrong place within a gun.

When a cartridge goes off “out-of-battery,” it’s simply exploding, rather than undergoing a controlled discharge within a chamber.

An “out-of-battery” firing would be consistent with Stanley’s testimony, but even then, it’s still not a given that the cartridge would have been able to propel a bullet down the gun barrel with enough velocity to kill Boushie.

If a cartridge is floating freely in a gun’s chamber and isn’t braced against anything, it could just as easily expel its explosive force out the rear of the gun, leaving a bullet harmless rattling around inside.

Ron Flowers, with the Pennsylvania-based Citizens Defense Training, told the Post that when bullets discharge in irregular circumstances they often become far less lethal.

“I’ve ejected (live) rounds out of a gun and let them fall to the ground and they’ve hit a rock and gone ‘bang’,” he said. “It scared the snot out of me, but it didn’t do anything.”

David Dyson, a firearms consultant based in the U.K., raised similar questions. “If a round was somehow in the chamber when the slide was ‘back’, then there would be no support … if that is correct, then it would be (fired) with much reduced energy,” he told the Post.

- Tristin Hopper, “Gerald Stanley’s 'magical gun’: The extremely unlikely defence that secured his acquittal,” National Post. February 14, 2018.

[tepkunset]

A sister of Colten Boushie hopes the award-winning documentary that chronicles Boushie’s 2016 death and the acquittal of his killer Gerald Stanley will raise awareness and encourage others to stand up and speak out.

Jade Tootoosis wants those who watch nîpawistamâsowin: We Will Stand Up to do so with an open mind.

“We want people to be more aware, we want them to be educated about what is happening in this country, what continues to happen to Indigenous peoples and Indigenous families,” said Tootoosis in an interview with APTN.

“And then reflect on your place in this world, reflect on your abilities and the gifts that you have that contribute to this world, to this society. And knowing that we all have a responsibility and that we all have a voice that can contribute to the changes that we see need to happen.”

The documentary follows the family as they proceed through the trial, and the journey after as they fight for justice.

In August 2016, Boushie, 22, from Red Pheasant First Nation was shot and killed after he and some friends entered the property of Gerald Stanley in rural Saskatchewan.

Directed by Tasha Hubbard, the documentary follows the Stanley trial and the aftermath in the Boushie family’s pursuit of justice.

Early 2018, the man who murdered Colten Boushie, Gerald Stanley, was acquitted of all charges by testifying that his gun simply went off accidentally. The Crown then refused to appeal the verdict. 

[torontopoli]

Hot Docs kicks off its latest edition in Toronto on Thursday by shining a light on inequity and systemic racism in the Canadian legal system and efforts of Colten Boushie's family to push for change.

Tasha Hubbard's nîpawistamâsowin: We Will Stand Up is opening North America's largest documentary film festival, the first time an Indigenous director has landed the high-profile slot.

Making its world premiere, nîpawistamâsowin: We Will Stand Up paints a stark portrait of the landscape surrounding the 2016 death of Boushie, a young Saskatchewan man from Red Pheasant First Nation, and the acquittal of Gerald Stanley, the white farmer who fatally shot him. The case sparked a massive outcry and captured international attention.

In the doc, which Hubbard also narrates, the filmmaker weaves her own personal history into a larger examination of colonialism and racism in the Prairie provinces along with how Boushie's family continues to pursue landmark changes in our justice system. nîpawistamâsowin: We Will Stand Up is slated for theatrical release later this year.

Members of Boushie's family, their legal advisers and other supporters will join Hubbard in Toronto Thursday night to help unveil the film.

"We hope that nîpawistamâsowin: We Will Stand Up shines a light on the significant barriers the Canadian legal system presents to Indigenous peoples and families seeking justice for their loved ones. What Indigenous peoples experience within this system is unacceptable," the family said Thursday morning in a statement.

Over the next 10 days, Hot Docs will showcase more than 230 films from 56 countries, plus virtual reality and interactive experiences. According to organizers, 54 per cent of this year's films are directed by women.

Prey, about a Canadian sexual abuse survivor's legal battle against the Catholic Church, the devastating Your Last Walk in the Mosque, which gives voice to survivors of the Quebec City mosque shooting, cosmetics industry exposé Toxic Beauty and climate change doc The Hottest August are just a few examples of the wide-ranging, topical films screening at this year's edition.

This year's Hot Docs also includes films exploring fascinating personalities such as singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot, sex therapist Dr. Ruth Westheimer, pioneering NHLer Willie O'Ree, activist journalist and author Stieg Larsson and Gaëtan Dugas, the Canadian man demonized as "patient zero" in the early years of the AIDS epidemic.

[more-juice-than-zeus]

https://www.gofundme.com/justice4colten

GeraldStanley was acquitted last night of murdering Colten Boushie. Yet another slain native person who has received no justice. Who in being a victim was posthumously painted as a villain in order for the all-white jury to let his white murderer get away with it.

[thatfeministkilljoy]

(x)

[youthincare]

[ image description is photograph of woman in full view from her right side, and a man to the left of her. The woman has long dark black hair that is straight and is wearing a blue denim jacket and a bag with a light beige shoulder strap. They are outside and is it bright out. The woman’s face show’s unamusement or sombreness. ]

“The family of Colten Boushie is seeking a resolution that would call on a United Nations human rights investigator to independently examine the Canadian justice system.

Boushie, a Cree man from Red Pheasant First Nation, was 22 years old on Aug. 9, 2016 when he was fatally shot by Saskatchewan farmer Gerald Stanley on Stanley’s farm north of Biggar in the Rural Municipality of Glenside. A jury subsequently acquitted Stanley of second-degree murder after more than a day of deliberating.

Boushie’s family members travelled this week to Gatineau, Que., for the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) special chiefs assembly on Tuesday and Wednesday. 

They urged the AFN to implore the Canadian government to invite the UN special rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous peoples to meet the Boushie family and investigate what the family calls “racism and systemic bias in the Canadian justice system.”

[swagloids]

Life > Property

Even if Colten Boushie and friends were at his farm to steal it doesn’t matter. Last I checked the punishment for stealing isn’t death.

We live in Canada not the Wild West; If someone is trespassing on your property you call the police and hide. You do not approach them with a gun and try and “scare them off” Stop making these tired excuses because I don’t want to hear them.

Justice for Colten Boushie

[firsteveningstar]

It’s been a couple days since the Gerald Stanley verdict, and, it still feels pretty raw.

If you’ve been online you’ve likely seen articles about the case. What you aren’t necessarily seeing is the hate that is coming with them. The comments are abhorrent - laced with incorrect information about the case, racism towards Indigenous people and plain ignorance. We’ve seen a lot of generalized hate about our people, been compared to dogs, and implied that we don’t deserve the same rights as “true Canadians”. Many Indigenous activists have been taking a lot of online abuse, myself included. In fact, I have personally been told that...

* It’s really too bad that his ancestors didn’t wipe out mine like they should have because then I would have never been born.

* That I should just cease to exist or be dead already. Which is hard to swallow as an Indigenous woman when in Canada there are thousands of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women.

* That it’s too bad I didn’t attend residential school then they wouldn’t have to deal with me being such a problem because I’d act like a “real Canadian”.

* That if the Government had just sterilized me like they should’ve continued to do to Indigenous women I wouldn’t have had to worry about my son’s life because I wouldn’t have one.

* And if I want to keep him safe he should just stay on the Reservation (which btw we don’t live on) and off peoples land. And, I find the irony in that last statement is astounding.

And, that’s just the highlight reel. And, what I’ve received is mild in comparison as I’ve seen friends receive a lot worse.

In fact, two hashtags were created #SettlerCollector and #TrollCollector for us to use so allies would step in and take on some of the emotional labour on this - more on allies in a moment. And, one of our media sites was hacked- taking it offline after an article was posted criticizing the case.

It’s all meant to silence us. If we are berated enough, if we are scared enough, the we might be silent and things can go back to the status quo because we will stop pushing for change.

Unfortunately unfollowing/ignoring this case isn’t an option. Not if we want change. We’re finding comfort in one another - in our collective grief/mourning; anger and desire for change; as well as love, support and hope in each other’s words. We’re driven by the fact that this case impacts our lives and our future generations lives.

Systematic racism and a judicial system that is failing Indigenous people is nothing new. It’s not a system built for us. And we’ve seen that time and time again even just recently with Tina Fontaine and Barb Kentner. We’re accustomed to it, and Colten sadly won’t be the last without real action.

We’re trying to survive. We’re trying to ensure basic human rights are bestowed upon us. We’re seeking to improve a judicial system that isn’t biased against us whether that be as a defendant or as a victim seeking justice.

Now during all this, please remember we’re trying to live our lives while this impacts our lives. I’ve been going to work and going through the motions, albeit a little less “myself”. I’ve been closely guarding over my son, as I’m cognizant of the fact that some of what I’ve been hearing might get to him and I need to counteract every ounce of that with love, and praise. And, I’ve been showing up for my community.

Which brings me back to allies. I’ve noted a lot of silence from so called allies which is a tough pill to swallow and hard not take personally. Some mean well but haven’t quite figured out the role quite yet. Some want praise for being a good ally. Alternatively, some inadvertently make the situation about them. Some ask invasive questions in trying to understand. And some are downright amazing using their privilege without overshadowing any voices, checking in but not pushing boundaries as they’re aware that we’re on edge. With everything going on above, it’s important that allies do their own work and don’t put any more of a burden on Indigenous individuals right now.

We’re trying to survive. We’re trying to heal. We’re demanding change.

[newsakd]

[ad_1] The RCMP braced for backlash across rural Saskatchewan and kept a close eye on Indigenous groups after the not guilty verdict of a farmer charged in the death of Colten Boushie, emails show. The former top Mountie in the province also warned officers towatch their opinions, and police carefully watched and weighed in on testimony in the highly charged murder trial that exposed racial divides. This week marks seven years since Boushie, a 22-year-old Cree man from Red Pheasant First Nation, was shot and killed on in a rural area near the town of Biggar, about 95 kilometres west of Saskatoon. Gerald Stanley was acquitted of second-degree murder in 2018, after testifying at trial that his gun accidentally went off. After a five-year wait, The Canadian Press recently obtained RCMP emails sent during and immediately after the trial. Partially redacted documents indicate that Mounties monitored threats and were bracing for backlash, particularly after the verdict was read out Feb. 9, 2018. "Please be diligent on rural patrols in your areas," one commander wrote in an email that evening to colleagues. "As you can all appreciate, the not guilty verdict will produce some backlash in all of our communities." One day earlier, the commanding officer of the province's RCMP division encouraged members to pay "close attention" to what was unfolding in their communities. "Carefully consider the associated risks and responsibilities of engaging in the ongoing public debate around this case," wrote Curtis Zablocki, who now oversees the Alberta RCMP. From the time Boushie was shot, social media lit up with users making derogatory comments, prompting then-premier Brad Wall to call for "racist and hate-filled" comments to stop. During the trial, Mounties sent daily updates about testimony and which high-profile Indigenous leaders were in attendance. There were conversations about Indigenous demonstrators and their supporters outside. "It was really one-sided right from the moment Colten was killed to the moment of the decision not to appeal," Eleanore Sunchild, co-counsel to Boushie's family, said in an interview. "I'm not surprised at all — this is Saskatchewan." Saskatchewan RCMP said in an emailed statement the force routinely monitors trials and that employee messaging at the time reminded staff "there could be amplified interest in any public dialogue about this investigation and trial." Zablocki also said in a statement that the debate was significant and it was his responsibility "to remind employees of the risks associated with engaging in this public debate." The RCMP added the force continues to work toward reconciliation with Indigenous people. Sunchild said Boushie's family members were aware they were being monitored by RCMP, but it didn't feel like it was intended to keep them safe. Any offers for assistance from Mounties felt insincere, she added. "There could be no relationship between the RCMP and the Boushie-Baptiste family during the trial because of all the mishandling and racism that the family observed and felt from them from the moment Colten was killed," Sunchild said. A Civilian Review and Complaints Commission report in 2021 found RCMP racially discriminated against Boushie's mother during their investigation. It found the way she was informed of his death to be insensitive, with officers smelling the grieving woman's breath for alcohol and looking in a microwave to verify she had made her son food. That report also found officers mishandled witnesses and crucial evidence. It said an early RCMP media release about the shooting could have left people under the impression "the young man's death was deserved."' Emails during the trial detail what happened when court heard that officers had left open a door on Boushie's vehicle, allowing rain to wash away blood evidence. "Surprisingly, the defence did not dwell on this issue," one officer wrote. RCMP also kept detailed notes about evidence presented at the trial, including a firearms expert who testified for the defence that the shooting could have been the result of a "hang fire," or a delay between when a gun's trigger is pulled and a bullet is fired. "If I'm comparing the effectiveness of experts to the jury," one officer wrote, the "(Crown's expert) was the easiest to follow and make sense of things." "(Defence expert) talked a lot about measurements and it made it really hard to follow." One week after the verdict, Zablocki emailed officers thanking them for their work during a "challenging and emotional" time. He noted it had generated many rallies, media attention and other commentary, "including the quality of the RCMP's investigation and our relationships with Indigenous communities." The emails show police monitored the social media accounts of some Indigenous groups about protests after the trial. Sunchild remembers pickup trucks revving their motors outside court and questions if the same effort was put toward monitoring Stanley supporters. She also wonders why more resources weren't put into the actual investigation of the shooting. "Those same resources were not placed towards the Boushie family and those resources were not put towards a fulsome and fair investigation," she said. Ken Coates, chair of Yukon University's Indigenous Governance program, said the case created one of the most volatile legal situations in recent Canadian history. "First Nations in Saskatchewan and further afield were angry about the investigation, the trial and the judgment," Coates said in an email. "Politicians, government officials, and police across the country were worried about the potential for protests and violence." Coates said the emails show RCMP prepared for upheaval that never happened. But, he said, the emails also demonstrate restraint by Boushie's family, Indigenous leaders and their supporters after the verdict. "The manner in which the Boushie family and First Nations leaders across Saskatchewan managed their response and the not guilty verdict is one of the most remarkable, decent and restrained in recent memory, made more impressive by the volatile nature of the death of Colten Boushie and the complaints made about the police investigation and the trial." This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 8, 2023. [ad_2] Source link

[allthecanadianpolitics]

Another NDP motion passed unanimously today, this time to condemn the Racism within the RCMP in regards to the RCMP deleting evidence and being racist in general in the Colton Boushie case.

See here:

RCMP destroyed police records from the night Colten Boushie died

RCMP racially discriminated against mother, mishandled witnesses, evidence in Colten Boushie case: watchdog

Tagging: @politicsofcanada

[yegactivist]

Solidarity with Colten Boushie's Family by Paula Kirman

[quasi-normalcy]

I'd love to say that this isn't my Canada, but given the number of otherwise respectable white people I know who are unable to talk about First Nations in any context without sounding like KKK members, it kind of definitely 100% is.

[bryanharryrombough]

Last week I watched the Hollywood film Hostiles.

The opening scene features a group of Indians quietly arriving on a farm, savagely killing a farmer and his children, and attempting to kidnap (to likely rape) the farmer’s wife.

The Indians are later killed, with the widow emptying bullets into a corpse as a kind of retribution.

The reason why these men massacre this "innocent" family is never explained.

In fact, the reasons don’t matter. The message is one of paranoia: that savage Indians are always nearby, hidden, and ready to kill defenceless settlers and take their stuff.

Indians must be controlled is the message of Hostiles. Indians otherwise deserve to die.

In a Saskatchewan courtroom on Friday night a jury told almost the same story, finding farmer Gerald Stanley not guilty of the slaying of 22-year-old Cree man Colten Boushie.

The facts of the case are as black and white as a trial can get.

On August 9, 2016, Boushie and four friends arrived on Stanley’s farm. The young men state they came for help with a flat tire. Stanley claims they were coming to steal stuff.

Regardless, there was a confrontation. A gun was brandished. The group tried to leave. Stanley says he fired his gun to "scare" them.

Stanley claims his gun then "accidentally" went off, shooting Boushie in the back of the head at point-blank range. The third bullet, he says, was a "hang fire accident" – when a bullet lodges and launches later.

An RCMP forensics expert testified that there was no mechanical dysfunction in the gun.

Stanley’s defence, therefore, is that he aggressively fired, then approached Boushie, and the gun went off on its own.

Into the back of Boushie’s head.

At point blank range.

Even as an expert suggests otherwise.

There are many other factors in this case: of mistreated evidence, of alcohol, of the elimination of Indigenous jurors, and of racism by police telling Boushie’s mom to "get it together" as she lay weeping on the floor after hearing the news.

But in the end, a jury of Canadians condoned the fatal actions of a farmer acting on his paranoia and Colten Boushie is dead.

Indians are hostiles who must be controlled, right?

The slaying of Colten Bushie didn’t start in that Saskatchewan courtroom.

It starts with the Indian Act. The residential school system. The removal of Indigenous communities onto unsuitable reserves, locking communities there with a brutal pass system and controlling every part of our lives from clothing to how to set up our governments.

In Canada’s founding document, the 1867 British North America Act, the federal government states they will take control of "Indians and lands reserved for Indians."

What came afterwards was 150 years of paranoia.

Resulting in the shooting death of Colten Boushie.

What’s most remarkable is during these past 150 years Indigenous peoples have not only resisted all of this but acted in a completely different way.

In response to virtually every single violent act and genocidal policy in Canadian history, we have invited Canada into dialogue and ceremony. Offered a hand in partnership. Stubbornly believed in promises of a "nation to nation" relationship.

Even as we have been lied to, every single time. What we have sought – in virtually every single moment in Canadian history – is relationship. Even at the Oka conflict of 1990 activists were trying to talk to Canada about sharing lands and resources right up until the moment police were ordered to fire their guns.

Indigenous peoples are not here to take anyone’s stuff. We are here to share in the power of a beautiful land we have lived here far longer then settlers.

All we want is to live in a good way. A healthy and safe way. A place where our homes and children can live this way too.

But we don’t live in that place.

We live in a Hollywood movie.

A place where a Manitoba premier speaks of a "preponderance" of Indigenous men shooting guns at night. Where a mayoral candidate's wife tweets about how "drunk Indians" may assault you at any moment downtown. Where human beings such as J.J. Harper, Helen Betty Osborne, Matthew Dumas, Claudette Osborne, Errol Greene, Brian Sinclair and now Tina Fontaine and Colten Bushie die because a country treats them as an "Indian."

At the end of Hostiles there are almost no Indians left. Just one, a parentless child, about to be raised by non-Indians in a far-off place.

All that’s really left is settlers, riding off into the sunset to inherit the land.

The difference between film and life is Indigenous peoples are not savage Indians.

And we’re not going away. This is our home. Period.

I spend a lot of time wondering how much longer Indigenous peoples will offer peace, kindness, and generosity to a Canada that doesn’t want to change.

Friday night my belief took a massive blow.

Hope is hard to find now.

Niigaan Sinclair is an Associate Professor in the Department of Native Studies at the University of Manitoba.

[tepkunset]

You can only say the words “We need to do better” so many times before people will stop believing that “better” will come.