Debbie Baptiste holds a photo of her son Colten Boushie. (Angela Brown/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By battlefordsNOW Staff

Seeking change

Boushie family still looking for justice

Feb 11, 2022 | 5:33 PM

The family of Colten Boushie continues to call for an end to systemic discrimination against Indigenous people in the justice system.

Boushie, 22, died from a gunshot wound to the head after he and four others drove onto Gerald Stanley’s farm near Biggar in August of 2016. A jury found Stanley, 56, not guilty of second-degree murder in February of 2018.

The Office of the Treaty Commissioner held an online panel discussion Feb. 9, 2022 with the Colten Boushie family, Boushie family lawyer Eleanore Sunchild, filmmaker Tasha Hubbard, Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations (FSIN) Chief Bobby Cameron, and the Treaty Land Sharing Network, on the documentary We Will Stand Up.

Sunchild said the discussion aimed to commemorate the life of Colten Boushie.

“It’s about remembering the injustice that happened in our community, probably one of the greatest injustices that Indigenous people have seen, that this country has seen,” she said. “We don’t want people to forget about Colten.”

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Boushie’s family is also continuing calls for a public inquiry into Colten’s shooting death and the acquittal of Gerald Stanley, related to the issues surrounding the investigation into Colten Boushie’s death.

“We are still fighting for a public inquiry, still fighting for a Royal Commission [of Inquiry]” Sunchild said. “They won’t stop fighting until they receive some sort of justice.”

Sunchild added that Debbie Baptiste, Colten’s mother, still has an active lawsuit against the RCMP, which she said is expected to see some movement this year.

An independent probe of the RCMP’s conduct during the investigation of Colten’s shooting death was released in 2021. The Civilian Review Complaints Commission (CRCC) discussed the ‘insensitive’ way Boushie’s mother was notified of his death, among other issues. The report found the RCMP discriminated against the family “because they are Indigenous, and that the RCMP fueled racial tensions in the wake of Colten’s death.”

Sunchild said more needs to be done.

“That’s the beginning of making a step forward,” she said. “That was the subject of the lawsuit we have against the RCMP. That report confirmed and validated what the family had been saying all along.”

The FSIN executive released a statement this week saying they continue to stand in support of the family of Colten Boushie in their calls for “real systemic change within the Canadian Criminal Justice System.”

“We continue to support Debbie Baptiste and her family as they walk this journey for justice for Colten Boushie and to see real systemic changes come from within a broken justice system that continues to fill their jail cells and institutions with our people…,” FSIN Chief Bobby Cameron said. “We will continue fighting alongside of Debbie Baptiste and her family in their call for a public inquiry into Colten’s death and the acquittal of Gerald Stanley.”

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Angela.Brown@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @battlefordsnow