COMMUNICATION VITAL

RMs, First Nations must talk: SARM

The president of the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities is disappointed with a rural councillor from southeast Saskatchewan who made inflammatory comments online in the wake of the killing of a First Nations man and subsequent second-degree murder charge against a farmer.

“It’s disappointing to SARM because we think our members should be better than that — and they are,” Ray Orb said Tuesday.

Colten Boushie was shot earlier this month north of Biggar after he and four friends allegedly pulled into a farmyard seeking help for a flat tire.

Landowner Gerald Stanley was charged with second-degree murder.

In the raucous aftermath, Ben Kautz, a second-term councillor for the Rural Municipality of Browning, posted to the Saskatchewan Farmer’s Group on Facebook, “In my mind, his only mistake was leaving witnesses.”

“It wasn’t serious, (but) the damage is done. I’ve got to live with it,” Kautz told the Saskatoon StarPhoenix last weekend.

Orb, who’s unsure if Kautz has either offered to, or will resign, has heard that this matter “will be dealt with” at the next meeting of the RM’s council.

The SARM leader would not say anything else about the Stanley case because the matter is before the courts — but he’s got plenty of other things to get on the record.

It starts with his hopes for a new code of ethics for RMs and councillors that should moderate their language.

Orb is also keen on better communications between RMs and First Nations, which already cooperate on subjects like pest control, but need to talk more about mutual fire protection and rural infrastructure.

Even before the current controversy erupted, SARM had sought a meeting with the new chief of the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations, Bobby Cameron, though their schedules have failed to mesh so far.

“Will it (the Stanley murder charge) slow things down? If it does happen, I’d be concerned. I don’t think it will, though.”

Orb said SARM also wants a meeting about rural policing — another issue raised by this case — with the senior RCMP ofcer who replaces Assistant Commissioner Brenda Butterworth-Carr as head of the RCMP’s F Division, which covers Saskatchewan.

Orb said rural security is “a big issue” for those whom SARM represents, though unevenly distributed.

“In some parts of the province, it’s really hot; in some parts, it’s not.”

“We’re saying we need more of an RCMP presence.”

He acknowledged money is a challenge, along with spotty cellphone coverage for reporting crime and high-speed Internet for security systems.

To supplement the RCMP, he said some RMs have hired community safety ofcers who are peace ofcers or special constables who are trained to handle “low- and medium-risk” issues like trafc and alcohol offences, and can supply the RCMP with information. RMs keep the money from fines they levy.

Orb also wants to see reactivation of the old rural crime watch program and more promotion of Crime Stoppers in rural areas.

But he comes back to one word: Communication.

“It’s a constant theme,” he says. “It’s part of collaboration, of being able to sit down and talk with people.”