Guns divide First Nations, farmers
Relationships between Saskatchewan’s First Nations and other groups in the province have “taken a turn for the worse,” says the head of the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations.
Ever since a young Cree man was fatally shot by a white farmer in rural Saskatchewan in August 2016, racism that was once hidden is now overt.
“The tensions and the anger are at an all-time high,” FSIN Chief Bobby Cameron says.
“We hope to fix it, we hope to deescalate and find better solutions where our First Nation inherent treaty rights are being respected.”
Guns — and discussions about them — are often part of the wedge driven between First Nations, farmers and the provincial government. On Aug. 9, 2016, five young people from Red Pheasant First Nation drove onto Gerald Stanley’s farm in the Rural Municipality of Glenside.
Stanley said they tried to steal his quad. He said he grabbed his Tokarev semi-automatic pistol to fire warning shots into the air.
One bullet struck Colten Boushie in the back of the head, killing him.
Stanley said the gun fired accidentally. A jury acquitted him of murder in February.
Not long after Boushie’s death, a farm labourer reported seeing masked and armed men on a rural property. The incident spurred farmers across the province to openly declare themselves armed and prepared to protect their property.
“That was scary because any-
thing could happen,” said Doug Cuthand, a Cree journalist and filmmaker.
Even though farmers weren’t explicitly saying they were prepared to shoot First Nations people, the message was clear.
“It’s non-verbal, but when we talk about rural crime, it sort of shifts over to Indian people,” Cuthand said, noting that many Indigenous people own guns and are open about that fact, but their intent is not to intimidate.
“People still hunt for food. A lot of guys have guns in their house, will carry a gun in their truck, this type of thing,” Cuthand said. “But it’s not a gun culture in the same way.
“We don’t have automatic weapons. We don’t have pistols. It’s a hunting culture.”
CONSERVATION OFFICERS WITH GUNS A CONCERN
Earlier this year, the Saskatchewan government announced it would purchase 147 semi-automatic carbines for the province’s conservation officers.
Kevin Murphy, assistant deputy minister for the Ministry of Environment, said the move would keep officers safe and help the ministry comply with a court decision related to the deaths of four Mounties who were gunned down in New Brunswick in 2014.
But the move is of “grave” concern to the FSIN, Vice-chief Heather Bear told the Regina Leader-post last month.
She said many Indigenous people are skeptical of the justice system since Stanley’s acquittal and are apprehensive about government employees — particularly those who have run-ins with hunters exercising their treaty rights — being armed with carbines.
“I really don’t think we’re ready for someone to have that power behind the trigger yet because of the tensions,” she said.
Some First Nations are so upset by the move that they are drafting bylaws banning conservation officers from their reserve lands, Cameron said.
PROVINCIAL LAW VERSUS INHERENT TREATY RIGHTS
Another move by the provincial government that has First Nations on edge is an announcement this fall that trespassing laws will be changed to “better address the appropriate balance between the rights of rural landowners and members of the public.”
Eleanor Sunchild, a Cree lawyer in Battleford who represented Boushie’s family, told the Canadian Press this fall that the changes can be seen as a green light for farmers to take vigilante justice against First Nations people.
Cameron said the law does not respect the spirit of inherent treaty rights.
Earlier this month, the Supreme Court of Canada refused to hear a case about an Indigenous hunter who was charged with unlawful hunting after he shot a moose on private land in Saskatchewan that appeared to be unused, with no signage present.
The charge was dismissed in provincial court, reinstated by a Court of Queen’s Bench judge and then dismissed again by the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal before it was sent to the Supreme Court, which chose not to hear the appeal.
Cameron said this demonstrates that provincial laws are trumped by inherent treaty rights to hunt.
NEED FOR RESPECT AND COMMUNICATION
Despite the “ugliness and hate” toward Indigenous people evident in the province today, Cameron said he hopes things can turn around.
To start, he wants farmers and conservation officers to get educated about inherent treaty rights. He wants the province to take more steps to consult with First Nations before imposing measures that could infringe on those rights.
“We call for safety and we call for respecting communication because we live in this province together,” he said.
“It’s called respect.”