Aboriginal lives matter
The path to reconciliation with Aboriginal Peoples is proving to be a long and difficult journey. Terrible injustices — past and present — continue to surface. Two disturbing examples over the past week demand changes in our criminal justice system. They show why Indigenous Peoples believe there is a double standard in this country — one set of laws for aboriginals and another for everyone else.
The two cases suggest that an indigenous person’s life is treated as disposable and that their lives don’t have value or don’t matter.
A verdict last week in Saskatchewan shook Canada’s First Nations to the core. An all-white jury acquitted a white farmer in the death of a young aboriginal man. The farmer shot and killed 22-year-old Colten Boushie during an incident on his farm. Instead of calling the police, the farmer grabbed his gun.
People expect that when a serious case goes to trial, the jury selected to render an impartial and fair verdict is representative of that area. That wasn’t the case in Saskatchewan.
Equally as disturbing were details presented Wednesday in Moncton before the National Inquiry on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. The family of a P.E.I. aboriginal woman, who died under suspicious circumstances more than 40 years ago, gave testimony to hammer home the message that her life mattered, that a mother matters and First Nations women matter.
The family never got much co-operation about the death of Mary Francis Paul, who was found on the Charlottetown waterfront in 1977. The family was told that Ms. Paul had been found dead near the water, after falling and had a broken neck. Police said there was no suggestion of foul play. It was 12 years later before the family found out the body had been in a metal bin, which certainly raises serious suspicions.
Police should give the family a full account of the investigation. If the evidence warrants, the case should be re-opened and perhaps the family might finally get justice, some answers or closure.
Boushie’s family members were in Ottawa last week to meet with the prime minister and justice minister. The PM later addressed the Commons to outline pending legislation changes to ensure that justice might finally come to Canada’s Aboriginal Peoples. He vowed that going forward, recognition of rights will guide all government relations with Indigenous Peoples.
The Boushie family, despite their grief and anger, focused not on themselves in Ottawa, but on how to work together to make the system and our institutions better, such as reforming juryselection rules and bail processes.
Indigenous Peoples are getting impatient with federal promises. It’s time to go from words to action. Tragedy has sparked the national consciousness; now change might finally happen.
Indigenous Peoples have long been over-represented in the criminal justice system, whether as victims of crime or in jails. It’s time for juries, verdicts and court benches to be well represented with them as well.
Here’s a look at what was making the news 25 and 50 years ago in the Hants Journal.
25 years ago (Feb. 17 and 24, 1993 editions)
• The groundwood division of Minas Basin Pulp and Power Company was set to close in Hantsport, with the company laying off between 10-15 employees.
The sector spent 64 years grinding pulpwood into groundwood pulp to be converted into paper and molded into paper products and purchased supplies from Hants, Kings, Cumberland and Lunenburg counties.
• Windsor firefighters responded to two house fires that were deemed accidental and likely caused by human error. One fire occurred at a house nearing construction on Clifton Avenue; the other was in the basement of a home in Newport Station.
• Four people were hurt in a two-vehicle collision on Highway 101 on a Friday afternoon in February. Windsor firefighters used the jaws of life to free the victims, who were taken to the hospital.
• Heavy rains resulted in severe flooding problems across Hants County.
• No cutbacks were planned for the West Hants District School Board after an increase in education funding for the 1993-1994 term was announced.
School superintendent Colin Purdy said most of the additional funds will be taken up by the six per cent increase in teacher salaries.
• Windsor’s pumpkin king, Howard Dill, launched legal action against unauthorized pumpkin seed sales by a large British seed company and some private American growers.
The problems first arose after some U.S. Growers advertised Atlantic Giant pumpkin seeds for sale following the world pumpkin championships. Then, a seed company advertised the Titan in its catalogue and used a picture Heavy rain and melting snow caused problems throughout Hants County in February 1993. Aside from many basements flooding, so too were some streets, including Garlands Crossing. Pictured is Cameron Maynard standing outside his father’s Garland Crossing service station.
of an Atlantic Giant pumpkin. They eventually removed the Titan from the market. Lawyers were saying Dill’s copyright under the U.S. Plant Variety Protection Act had been violated.
• Ruth Brison was named the first president of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals’ West Hants branch.
• After a water pipe burst in the Windsor Food Bank building and destroyed some of the food, the public was being asked to check their cupboards and help provide donations.
• The Windsor Royals were crowned the 1992-93 regular season Nova Scotia Junior B Hockey League champions.
The league stats indicated Windsor players Jeff Burbidge and Mark Robinson acquired the most amount of points. Burbidge scored 23 goals and 30 assists for 53 points while Robinson was close behind with 29 goals and 20 assists for 49 points. Of the top 15 players listed in the league in terms of points, the Royals had seven.
• Pitcher Steve Johnson, of Newport Corner, was on the gold medal winning Team Canada squad that won the World Junior Softball Championships in New Zealand.
• The Women’s Institute was celebrating its 80th anniversary in Nova Scotia, and the Martock/Windsor Forks branch was celebrating the same milestone. It was reported that the local branch
was very active with 25 members.
• Windsor’s annual heritage banquet was held and the organization celebrated black heritage.
• Winter carnival royalty abounded. Windsor Regional High School named Jens Brock and Lisa VanZoost senior king and queen at the school, while Shilo Withenshaw and Tiffany Rodgers picked up the junior royalty honours.
Hants West senior king and queen honours went to Danny Caldwell, of Sweets Corner, and Claire Sprague, of Mount Uniacke, while junior titles went to Suzanne Shaw, of Poplar Grove, and Craig Gavel, of Cambridge.
50 years ago (Feb. 14 and 21,1968 editions)
• The community was in mourning after a tragic fire struck the community of Woodville.
A devastating fire destroyed the Carver family home and with it, three of their five children. Two children escaped the blaze with their mother, and another child at the home was rescued by firefighters.
• The Dresser Minerals barites plant in Walton was extensively damaged by fire. The loss of the transfer house, main ore washing shed, and a loading bin with contents, was estimated to be $300,000.
• Although Windsor firefighters quickly doused a barn fire in Three Mile Plains, the building was considered a complete loss.
• Mrs. John F. Daniels announced she was collecting the histories of the 80-plus century farm homes that received plaques by the Hants County Rural Beautification Committee in 1967.
• Susan Turner, the 15-yearold daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Harry Turner of Hantsport, was crowned queen of the Hantsport Winter Carnival.
• Berna Stevens, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Stevens, of Windsor, was crowned the town’s winter carnival queen for 1968.
• The Imperial Theatre in Windsor was showing a variety of movies, including The Flim Flam Man, Jack the Giant Killer, the High Bright Sun and The Comedians, which starred Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor. The next week, the popular movie destination was showing Blake Edwards’ Waterhole #3, the western Shaggy, Weekend at Dunkirk, and Rosie! starring Rosalind Russell and Sandra Dee.
• In the Hants History column dating back to 1943, it was reported that nursing sister Mabel Lucy Clark, RCAMC, was awarded the Royal Red Cross for her devotion and duty in Newfoundland after an explosion killed four soldiers and wounded 19.
Gasoline was rationed, and motorists could only use 120 gallons per car per month.
Windsor was hit by an epidemic of the mumps, with 85 cases reported.
In military news of 1943, it was noted that Pte. Earl Freeman Tanner, initially reported missing, was killed in action during the Dieppe raid.
In 1918, a Lakelands home built in 1815 and owned by C.H. McClare was destroyed by fire. In other news, Newport Station farmer John Whitehead imported several purebred Giant Bronze turkeys.
In wartime news from 1918, local police were seeking men who failed to report under the Military Service Act, and driver J. Wiley Reid, of Hantsport, received the Military Medal.