InFocus
There are high hopes for change following the acquittal of Gerald Stanley in the shooting death of 22-year-old Colten Boushie.
Cree activist Erica Violet Lee hopes the reaction will be different this time but says “Saskatchewan has to grapple with its own history and so does the rest of Canada.
“I’d like to be able to walk to school. I want to be able to walk down 20th street in Saskatoon and not be afraid of going missing. I want us to be able to not worry about getting shot in the head going for a drive through our lands.”
Violet Lee, columnist Doug Cuthand, University of Winnipeg’s Chair of Indigenous Studies Jacqueline Romanow and a representative from the group Farmers with Firearms joined host Dennis Ward on InFocus to discuss the Stanley verdict and calls for justice for Colten Boushie.
Cuthand, who attended the trial daily in Battleford, Saskatchewan feels this is a watershed moment for the country.
“The wheels are in motion. We can’t be ignored anymore.”
“We have to deal with the jury system right away. That’s a quick fix,” says Cuthand. “Longer term, we need to look at the justice system and what can be done to improve it. Our people are way overrepresented.”
