In a scene played out across the country Saturday, about 250 people gathered in front of the Victoria courthouse to protest a day after a white farmer was acquitted in the shooting death of a young Indigenous man.
In Saskatchewan on Friday, Gerald Stanley was found not guilty of second-degree murder in the 2016 death of Colten Boushie, a 22-year-old resident of the Red Pheasant First Nation.
Those at the Victoria rally played drums, held signs and called for action to change what they consider a legal system that doesn’t treat First Nations people fairly. Their numbers filled the sidewalk and spilled onto Blanshard Street.
Boushie was shot in the back of the head during an August 2016 incident in rural Saskatchewan. Boushie was in an SUV that had been driven onto Stanley’s farm.
Stanley, 56, testified that he fired warning shots to scare the people in the SUV away. He said his gun “just went off” when he reached into the vehicle to take the keys out of the ignition, killing Boushie.
Lisa Dewit said she came to the Victoria event with a message.
“Love brought me out today,” she said. “I really needed to express our love and support to [Boushie’s] family, who didn’t feel that they had justice served.”
She urged members of the crowd “to choose love over fear” and make their voices heard.
The Boushie verdict was hard to take as a First Nations person, Dewit said.
“I think for those of us who have had the chance to be able to try and influence policy at all different levels, this was disappointing.”
She said First Nations people are active in all walks of life, including education, law and government, trying to make things better.
“We are everywhere in this society and the work that we’re doing just wasn’t enough for Colten,” Dewit said. “But that’s going to spur us on, to keep doing the good work that we need to do.”
Change has to happen, she said.
“This country has to have a different conversation with my children than they’re having with me.”
Nikki Sanchez, a University of Victoria PhD student studying Indigenous governance, said the Boushie family wanted people joining together after the verdict to have “peace in their hearts.”
She said the family described their son as “an optimist who brought joy to their family, who brought them pride and who was taken from them too soon.”
Sanchez urged people in the crowd to share their thoughts with one another.
“I invite you to connect with one another so that we can organize more events in solidarity,” she said. “Please hold the family in your hearts, hold Colten in your hearts and be here in a good way.”
