BOUSHIE FAMILY MEETS PM,
On Tuesday afternoon, OTTAWA surrounded by reporters in the foyer of Parliament’s Centre Block, Colten Boushie’s mother spoke just a couple of sentences to sum up a day of meetings with the most powerful politicians in the country.
“I am very honoured to be here and I’m happy that we got to meet the prime minister,” said Debbie Baptiste, holding a photo of her son, who was shot and killed in August 2016. Boushie’s family and other supporters are in Ottawa to urge better treatment for Indigenous people in Canada’s criminal justice system.
“We continue praying that something is done, that we can go home and tell the people that we tried hard and we’re still going to keep trying,” Baptiste said. “And we’re going to keep going. And this ain’t going to stop until something changes for the better.”
Boushie was killed after he and four friends drove onto Gerald Stanley’s farm, about an hour west of Saskatoon. Stanley said he fired two warning shots from a semi-automatic handgun, before a third shot was fired into the back of Boushie’s head. Stanley’s lawyers argued that he believed the gun was empty when he approached the vehicle, and that shooting Boushie was a “freak accident.”
On Friday, a jury acquitted Stanley. The acquittal sparked heated debate across Canada, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government is using it as an opportunity to discuss the challenges of reconciliation and to promise reforms to the justice system.
The public commentary by cabinet ministers has prompted criticism that they ’re interfering in the case, but Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould insists they’re only discussing the justice system as a whole, not this specific verdict.
Speaking to reporters earlier, Trudeau thanked the Boushie family for their “thoughtful sharing of the story” during the meeting.
“They are very much focused on making sure that we have improvements to our system, so that no family has to go through the kinds of things they went through,” he said. “There’s very much a desire to work together on the path of reconciliation, on improving the system that is failing far too many Canadians.”
Earlier on Tuesday, Boushie family members met with WilsonRaybould and Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale, where they shared their experience of rough treatment — first at the hands of the police, and then through the trial process, where they say the defence team purposely blocked Indigenous jurors, leaving a jury that looked entirely white.
The focus is now on WilsonRaybould’s ministry, which has been working on broad reforms to the criminal justice system. The reforms are expected to be announced this spring and will likely include changes to how juries are selected, but Wilson-Raybould didn’t make any concrete promises.
“Those reforms are coming,” she said Tuesday. “The reality of the Boushie family coming here and the elevation of the national consciousness on the challenges and systemic barriers that marginalized people face in the criminal justice system is very welcome.”
The family’s lawyer, Chris Murphy, said they have lodged a complaint with the RCMP Civilian Review and Complaints Commission over how they were treated by police officers on the day Boushie was shot. They allege the officers were callous in how they informed the family of Boushie’s death and then immediately searched the home.
The family has more meetings in Ottawa planned, and was also expected to meet with NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh on Tuesday.