RCMP watchdog to probe Boushie investigation

of second-degree murder in Boushie’s death on an August afternoon in 2016. Boushie was shot in the back of the head after an SUV he was riding in pulled into Stanley’s farm.

Stanley told the jury he fired two shots to scare off the five youth in the SUV and believed his gun was empty when it misfired and killed Boushie. The verdict, from a jury without an Indigenous member, set off nationwide protests and prompted the prime minister and the justice minister to pledge to change the way juries are selected.

Boushie’s family, including his mother Debbie Baptiste, have been critical of the RCMP’s actions in the case. On the evening of her son’s death, Baptiste said officers were insensitive when they showed up to notify her, subsequently searching her house without permission and asking her if she had been drinking.

The family filed a complaint with the RCMP and was unsatisfied with the internal investigation that cleared the force. They asked the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission for the RCMP to review how their complaint was handled.

After monitoring the case, acting commission chairman Guy Bujold filed a complaint of his own and launched the public interest review announced Tuesday.

“It has become apparent that additional matters related to the conduct of RCMP members involved need to be examined,” Bujold said.

By initiating the complaint himself, Bujold can look at the issues raised in the family’s complaint while also considering broader aspects of the case, a commission spokeswoman said.

Part of the investigation will look at how Boushie’s mother was notified of her son’s death as well as the search of her home and the RCMP news releases put out after the shooting. It will also look more broadly at the RCMP’s investigation, its overall policies and procedures and whether or not officers’ conduct “amounted to discrimination on the basis of race or perceived race.”

“I think it’s what was called for right from the very beginning,” said Clint Wuttunee, chief of the Red Pheasant First Nation, of which Boushie was a member. “Their handling of that whole situation doesn’t seem right.”

Sgt. Colin Sawrenko, from the RCMP detachment in Biggar, Sask., where Boushie was shot, referred questions to RCMP media relations. “I don’t know anything about it,” he said.

In a statement, the RCMP welcomed the probe. “The RCMP supports this independent, civilian review process and is committed to co-operating fully with the investigation,” the statement said. “Maintaining public trust and confidence is critical to providing an effective police service. We look forward to the process addressing any uncertainty or outstanding questions regarding our role in this matter.”

It’s not clear when any findings or recommendations will be released. It’s too soon to tell, said commission spokeswoman Kate McDerby.

“He could look at them and say, ‘Nope, they actually did conduct a reasonable investigation,’” she said. “The chair hasn’t made a decision in advance. He has to be that independent body that looks at it and says reasonable, not reasonable.”

Murphy, the Boushie family lawyer, said he expects the recommendations will “change the way policing is conducted in this country.”

But, he added, the family’s campaign for reform in the justice system won’t end with the probe.

“I’m not satisfied. Not even close.” and experiences,” originally had her name by the piece, but then removed it over the weekend.

Several other pieces — the show includes at least one full-frontal nude, of a male — had no artist statement.

“We didn’t feel we could put up the work without any information,” Waldburger told the National Post.

She said the artist wants to provide an artist’s statement — such statements can range from the direct to the hopelessly oblique — and that “we’ve been working with her the last couple of days. We’ve been in discussion.” Waldburger said she hopes it can be re-installed.

Some sort of authorship, whether the artist’s name or statement, is required, she said. “So for her, no name and no statement means the work has to come down.”

Waldburger said she’s aware of the controversy raging around the work, but “that doesn’t mean we’re shutting the dialogue down. The university supports the right to artistic expression.”

Christine Crosbie, OCAD’s media and communications manager, said the school is aware that freedom of speech issues are controversial on campus at the moment.

“We respect the Muslim Student Association has their opinions, and this is an important dialogue around this piece. It’s a matter of looking at both sides.”

Interestingly, one of the mandatory art history courses at the school covers an infamous piece of art called Immersion (Piss Christ).

A 1987 photograph by American photographer Andres Serrano, Piss Christ is a photo of a plastic crucifix submerged in a tank of Serrano’s own urine.

Just about every time it has been exhibited over the