Boushie fundraiser eclipses $200K goal

An online fundraising campaign to support Colten Boushie’s family has surpassed its $200,000 goal.

By Monday afternoon, 4,044 people had donated $200,110.

Saskatchewan Indigenous activist Erica Lee, who launched the GoFundMe campaign, said she was “really happy” to see all the support for Boushie’s family. When she started the fundraiser last year, her initial goal was $1,000, but she increased that when she realized how many people wanted to help, she said.

She started the fundraiser after attending a feast on Red Pheasant First Nation in August 2017 that marked the one-year anniversary of the day Boushie died, Lee said.

She was struck by how much Boushie’s family members were doing for the people of Red Pheasant First Nation and the wider Indigenous community. Even though they had lost a loved one, they were using Boushie’s death as a platform to advocate for Indigenous rights and to draw attention to the way Indigenous people are treated by the justice system. Lee said she wanted to make sure they had the financial support they needed to continue their activism and to continue healing.

Boushie was 22 on Aug. 9, 2016, when he was fatally shot after driving onto Gerald Stanley’s farm in the Rural Municipality of Glenside. During his trial, Stanley told the jury he was afraid for his safety and had grabbed a gun to fire warning shots in the air. He said the gun discharged by accident when he approached the vehicle Boushie was in.

Stanley was acquitted of seconddegree murder.

The Crown has said it will not appeal the case.