LINES OF FIRE
Special Report: An exploration of gun culture on the Prairies
A shot fired on the Gerald Stanley farm on Aug. 9, 2016, divided a province and ignited a debate on gun use.
The not-guilty verdict in Stanley’s murder trial in connection with the death of Colten Boushie, a 22-yearold Cree man, revealed deep splits on many fronts in Saskatchewan. The population is divided by race, age and background.
The depth of mistrust and anger found in the province is overwhelming. The divisions between people from rural backgrounds and those who were born and raised in the city hit very close to home for me.
I grew up on a farm south of Weyburn, where my father and brother also operate a hunting outfitter business that focuses on upland game.
Guns are part of daily life. They bring in food, take care of animals that threatened our livelihood and offered an income during some tough years for farming.
Gun safety was drilled into us. Strict rules and horror stories of mishandled weapons scared me from getting into hunting. A distant family member had accidentally shot his mother through the front seat of a vehicle, a tale that I thought about all the time.
My brother, however, followed in my dad’s footsteps.
Together, they still enjoy hunts, as well as the conservation efforts that so many outdoorsmen also promote.
For them, guns create community, and activities that are not just for fun, but have purpose and meaning.
Stories — mostly written by journalists out of the east — painted a picture of gun-toting farmers, willing to shoot anyone who might cross a line with them.
This deeply frustrates me. I know this is a terrible misrepresentation of both rural residents and gun owners.
I also, however, know the urban side of life in Saskatchewan. I live in a loft in the middle of downtown Saskatoon, where there has been gun violence in close proximity of my building.
I got up to walk my dog one summer day and was soon confronted with police tape, and the aftermath of a shooting.
Of course, my role as editor of the daily newspapers in Saskatchewan’s biggest cities ensures I am aware of every gun crime and death that takes place.
I am highly conscious of the fact that guns can have a deadly role in our society, creating a very different reality than the one I saw growing up.
These worlds are colliding. It is for this reason that the Regina Leader-Post and the Saskatoon StarPhoenix embarked upon the Lines of Fire project. There is a need to get behind the stereotypes to examine how guns currently fit into our culture, and how they might in the future.
A story that most sticks with me is the death of Matthew Wells, a Regina man who was hanging out with his family when a spray of bullets hit the front window of his home.
The assailants had picked the wrong house and hit an unintended target. Wells’ death at age 49 was a profound tragedy. The gun involved in that crime was not smuggled into the country by gangs. It was stolen — shortly before the killing — from a truck parked on the street.
This is an example of the collision of worlds I am talking about. Gun owners probably can’t imagine their weapons being used in this way, but this is now a real possibility.
The makeup of our province has been slowly, quietly, changing from one where country life was the norm to one where the majority of us live in the city. Compared to 1996, Statistics Canada says there are 12,666 fewer farms in operation, or a decrease of 12.4 per cent. The national average for the decrease in farming operations was 7.1 per cent.
Urbanization is also moving out into the countryside. Farmers and ranchers are seeing increased crime. They mourn the loss of a way of life where doors were left unlocked and theft was an anomaly.
Facing up to the crime problem in our province is not easy, but it must be acknowledged. We must tackle it together.
Saskatchewan’s major cities are producing more victims of violent gun crime than they used to, and more per capita than nearly any others across Canada.
I am very attached to my rural roots; they have shaped my ideas and my vision of my home province. Many Saskatchewanians may live in the city, but we are still connected to country life.
A question I am asking myself is whether we need to adjust our thinking about how guns fit into Saskatchewan life?