Family of Fatally Shot Cree Man to Meet With Trudeau Cabinet Members

OTTAWA, Ontario — After widespread protests over the acquittal on murder charges of a Saskatchewan farmer who shot and killed a 22-year-old Cree man, members of the victim’s family were scheduled to began a series of meetings Monday with senior members of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Cabinet.

Indigenous leaders and supporters across the country had expressed anger and disbelief Friday night over the verdict in the case involving the death of Colten Boushie, who was killed in 2016.

Many of them, including Boushie’s family, said the case revealed significant flaws in how Canada’s legal system deals with cases involving indigenous people.

The trial of Gerald Stanley, the farmer, was also marred by ugly, often racist online messages by supporters of the farmer, who testified in court that he had unintentionally shot Boushie in the back of the head because of a rare mechanical malfunction of his semi-automatic pistol. Experts were unable to replicate the failure.

Breaking with the usual practice of not commenting on criminal cases, the prime minister and several members of his Cabinet posted messages of support for Boushie’s family after the verdict.

“I can’t imagine the grief and sorrow the Boushie family is feeling tonight,” Trudeau wrote on Twitter on Friday while winding up an official visit to California. “Sending love to them from the U.S.”

Family members were scheduled to meet Monday with the two ministers responsible for indigenous affairs. Chris Murphy, a lawyer who represents the family, said they would also meet Tuesday with the public safety minister and justice minister. Trudeau’s office could not confirm whether he would meet with the family.

Jade Tootoosis, Boushie’s cousin, told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. on Sunday night, “We’re hoping that we have these meetings and our concerns are heard and not just listened to, but taken into action.”

“We want to start talking about what do we do to address this, so that no other families go through what we went through,” she added, after arriving in Ottawa that night along with Debbie Baptiste, Boushie’s mother, and Alvin Baptiste, his uncle.

Rallies condemning the verdict and calling for legal reforms were held in several Canadian cities over the weekend.

“It is outrageous that Colten Boushie was shot dead and no one will be held accountable,” Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler of the Nishnawbe Aski Nation in northern Ontario said in a statement. “This tragedy has exposed systemic racism in the justice system from the day Colten was shot.”

Almost from the time of the August 2016 shooting, Boushie’s family has complained that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police appeared more concerned about what Boushie and four other young Cree people were doing on Stanley’s farm than investigating his death.

The police searched Baptiste’s mobile home and its surrounding property on the Red Pheasant First Nation for one of the men who had traveled to the Stanley farm. But forensic experts were not brought to the Stanley farm, and evidence was washed away when the vehicle in which Boushie died was left exposed to rain for two days.

Murphy, the lawyer, said the family had filed a formal complaint to an independent body that reviews the actions of the Mounties.

Stanley testified that he and his son had confronted the group because some of them appeared to be trying to steal an all-terrain vehicle. Evidence at the trial indicated that the group, whose small truck had a flat tire, tried to steal a car at another farm.

A toxicology report supported evidence that Boushie had an unusually high level of alcohol in his system at the time and was most likely unconscious during most of the two episodes.

No theft charges were ever made.

The family was particularly dismayed by the jury selection process. Under Canada’s system, defense lawyers can reject up to 14 potential jurors without giving any reason. Murphy and Tootoosis, who were present for the jury selection, said five people who appeared to be indigenous were rejected.

The backgrounds of the seven women and five men selected are not known, and their deliberations will remain secret under Canadian law.