APTN NewsA young indigenous man out for a joy ride with his friends. An old white farmer with a gun collection large enough to equip a small army.
A gun that goes off "accidentally" and an "accidental bullet" that hits Colten Boushie in the back of the head.
An all-white jury that acquits Gerald Stanley of second-degree murder.
How cheap is aboriginal life.
And welcome to Saskatchewan.
No, the province isn't the home of all the anti-native bigots in this country. But it has far too many, and more than its share.
For where else would a local councillor dare say this?
"Stanley's only mistake was leaving three witnesses."
Where else would this freak in Regina feel free to post this threat?
Where else would the Premier of Saskatchewan have to beg for an end to a torrent of online abuse aimed at those mourning the death of one of their own?
And while we're at it, what kind of country do we live in where so much hatred is directed at its poorest and most marginalized people?
So much hatred in fact that the CBC doesn't dare run comments after any story about indigenous issues.
And yes, Perry Bellegarde, the National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations is right.
The decent people of this country expect more, the First Nations deserve better, and enough is enough.
Thank goodness we have a decent Prime Minister who isn't afraid to speak up.
Just spoke with @Puglaas. I can't imagine the grief and sorrow the Boushie family is feeling tonight. Sending love to them from the US.— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) February 10, 2018
And the first aboriginal Justice Minster.
Thank you PM @JustinTrudeau. My thoughts are with the family of Colton Boushie tonight. I truly feel your pain and I hear all of your voices. As a country we can and must do better - I am committed to working everyday to ensure justice for all Canadians. https://t.co/HvjV0bofrQ— Jody Wilson-Raybould (@Puglaas) February 10, 2018
But what can we do when the problem has been with us for so long?
I honestly don't know the answer, but this seems like a good idea. Help fix Canada's broken justice system, by eliminating the system of peremptory challenges.
Peremptory challenges allow the Crown or defence to reject potential jurors without giving reasons. In this case, the Boushie family says the Stanley defence team used its 14 peremptory challenges to reject any potential jurors who appeared Indigenous. It is often cited as a reason for Indigenous underrepresentation on juries.
And in the meantime, what we all can and must do is let our aboriginal brothers and sisters know that we hate racists.
And that we believe that their lives are just as precious as the lives of any other people in this country.
— Robert Anson Smith (@kingcomeVJ) February 10, 2018
Let them hear our solidarity.
Let them know that we are with them
Let there be justice for Colten Boushie...
Colten was drunk and tried to break into a truck on a nearby property. Nothing of value was lost.
ReplyDeleteExhibit A: The racism the author was talking about.
Delete"Nothing of value was lost."
DeleteYeah, I'm so sure you'd still say that if the guy was white.
You also forgot to precede your statement with "I'm not racist, but.."
Or has Donny Tiny Hands made white supremacy so acceptable that such disclaimer is no longer necessary?
Go spew your hate and intolerance somewhere else. I agree 100% with Simon.
DeleteHi anon@ 9:34AM...Are you suggesting that white kids, or any other kids don't get drunk and do dumb things? And are you also suggesting that they also deserve to die, or only native kids? Colten Bouchie and his friends stole nothing and threatened nobody, and something of value was lost: a young human life. If you can't see that you must be a racist, and there is nothing of less value, or anything Canada needs less...
DeleteHi Mark...I don't know if this kind of racism is increasing or whether people like Trump, or Kellie Leitch or Ezra Levant have emboldened bigots to think they can spout off unchallenged. But one thing is for sure, racists like anon @9:34AM only prove one thing, anti-native racism in this country is a real problem...
DeleteHi anon@10:38... Exactly. I would normally delete that kind of callous and offensive comment as soon as it arrived. And I almost did. But then I thought as you did. Give the racists enough rope and they will hang themselves...
DeleteHI Yvonne...thank you for your support, and for standing up for decency. and why am I not surprised? I apologize for exposing readers to such garbage, but I thought it might be useful to let racists condemn themselves...
DeleteHere's a link to the little criminal's FB page. https://www.facebook.com/colten.boushie
ReplyDeleteRead some of his posts. He talks about his prior court dates, getting drunk, popping pills etc.
Pictures of him with a ski mask on. Pictures with the middle finger up. Holding up a stack of money.
Another Trayvon Martin case, Native edition.
You wanna play gangsta, you get what you deserve.
Exactly anon. Trayvon Martin was an innocent man murdered by a racist sociopath.
DeleteHi anon@10:41AM...I don't care whether Colten Boushie was a wild kid or not, and your bringing up the case of Trayvon Martin is something only low racists or Trumpkins would do. And none of this changes the fact that Coulten was executed for no sane reason. If the same thing was done to other kids in this country who sometimes get into trouble there would be mountains of bodies everywhere. I don't condone that kind of behaviour, but in this country if we have a problem, we call the police. We don't take justice into our own hands and we don't kill people for nothing. Racism is a far greater evil than anything those kids did. And if you don't understand that you are the one who has a problem. Finally, I would just say to you what I said to anon 9:34AM, I would normally delete a comment like this, but in this case you are actually helping me prove my point. Racism is out of control in this country and we need to do more to fight it. So thank you...
DeleteSo bloody vigalante style "justice" murder is what this kid should have received if he committed a crime? I do not know all the details of what preceded the gun being drawn, but would the poor kid not even have the right to due legal process if he even had committed a crime in your mind?
DeleteYou seem to have jumped straight past the court systems,even if racism is embedded in some of them, and claim Coulton Boushie should be killed not only for the crimes people alledge he committed that fateful day, but simply for LOOKING and speaking a particular way on Facebook.
Consider the actual gravity of what you are saying...
This is about a crime that was in process and the Bouchie family seem to think that this farmer should have simply allowed this group of drunken thugs to do what every they please. I do not give a damn what color they are, any group has no right to trespass on the property of others with weapons and attempt to steal. They were in the process of threatening a farmer, his family and property. The witnesses all had several stories each as to what actually happened and what they were doing at the farm. They had absolutely no respect for others or property either. Yet the First Nations people think that this kind of criminal behavior is acceptable and they should all get special treatment under the law. There has been numerous times in the courts when First Nations people get extremely preferential treatment. The McKay case is only one of them. She slaughtered an entire family including 2 children under 5 in a DUI. She only spent a few weeks in prison and was release to a healing lodge. Exactly where is the justice for the entire family she killed with her years of alcohol addiction.
DeleteI suggest you get some of the FACTS straight before you start spewing nonsense. There was no vigalantism at all. Is this group of drunken thugs had respected other prople and their property, left when they were told to several times, NONE of this would have happened.
DeleteColten Boushie
ReplyDeleteApril 29, 2016 ·
Back in the saddle again throw my middle finger up to the law ain't gotta rob nobody tonight but I do it just because I'm a nut i get bored did some pills but I want more fuck this world fuck this town
Here's one of the young scholar's FB posts.
Hi anon@10:47...so what does this prove? If I spent a couple of days combing through the Facebook posts of young people in this country, I'm sure I could come up with thousands of posts exactly like that one. But as I said above, we don't kill people for writing stuff like that. And by suggesting that we should you reveal who you are, and you should be ashamed of yourself...
DeleteYou know what started this whole tragedy? Booze. Two of the witnesses were even drunk when giving their statements the next day.
ReplyDeleteWe need policies more like Australia. No alcohol for natives whatsoever and only dry reserves.
We know that NO white Aussie EVER gets shitfaced.
DeleteHi anon@11:40 AM...I don't drink myself, but I have seen close-up what alcohol can do to people of all ages and races and backgrounds. As I have seen close up the results of gun violence. So while I wish alcohol use could be discouraged not celebrated, singling out native people is just racist. And as Lagatta points out, knowing a little bit about Australia, I hardly think that their white people are the best example...
DeleteI'd like to point out that a lot of substance abuse on reserves and other Indigenous communities (including urban ones) is because of cultural loss and other effects of colonisation and racism. Many communities are trying to heal now.
DeleteI'm not as against the fruit of the vine as you are, as family members made their own vino, but obviously against misuse of any substance. (Strongly discouraged in Mediterranean societies, seen as boorish).
There are even RUSSIANS who natter about alcohol misuse among Indigenous people in Siberia. While it is possible that those peoples made something akin to beer (as many if not most human cultures do) distilled VODKA was obviously brought by European Russians. In many places, even places that had milder inebriants (alcohol, herbal and others), hard liquor was DELIBERATELY brought to undermine Indigenous peoples and in many cases contribute to actual genocide, in the same way the British forced opium misuse on the Chinese.
Should there be a death sentence for young guys who get drunk and do stupid things? Lots of such misbehaviour among young white guys too. He was shot in the back of the head; it wasn't self-defence.
ReplyDeletehttps://edmonton.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=1324083&binId=1.1203428
ReplyDeleteCTV news Edmonton had a surprisingly good report. One thing we observe nowadays is to what extent Indigenous women are taking the lead - Idle no more has led that transformation of Indigenous movements here, but it can also be observed in Central America and elsewhere.
Hi Lagatta...that is good news. It's a lot like the role black women have played in their embattled communities. And if we need more of anything we need more Idle No More...
DeleteIt's so insane and pathetic that people think he deserved to die because he got drunk and was with a group who tried to steal farm equipment. If it were a bunch of drunk white hicks trespassing on a reserve, the narrative would be much much different.
ReplyDeleteHi anon@1:34PM....It is indeed insane and pathetic. And yes, I can only imagine what would happen if the roles had been reversed. Ezra Levant and his scumbags would have been broadcasting from the reserve, and screaming for revenge, as if the people who lived there were Muslims. Racism of any kind is evil and disgusting, and it must be fought as hard as possible...
DeleteWhat pure ignorance. It does not matter what color the drunken thugs are. They were in the process of committing a crime. The forced the farmer to defend his family and property. The farmer did NOT start it, the thugs did.
DeleteYou should also see that the racism in this care is on BOTH sides and equally vicious. The First Nations groups are not calling for the murder of the farmers.
Wow, Simon. So much anti-Indigenous racism being displayed by nonos even on your blog. I can't begin to imagine what it must look like on Twitter and Facebook. As for Sasquatchestan, that's Android Sneer's province too, isn't it? I know, #NotAllSaskers -- Elon Musk's mom is from there too -- but it seems backwards conservative bigotry is very concentrated out in the prairies, as after all Harper, Levant, and Ted Cruz were from Y'all 'Berta, and that's where Jason Kenney is getting traction for his anti-gay hate campaign. The prairie provinces always seem to be the ones who skew those polls for the cons too. Minus the oil patch, the rest of the country has moved into the 21st century. Just like the USA, they're being held back by a lot of old white rednecks and their brainwashed young'uns.
ReplyDeleteThis poor family. Whenever I read that the folks out there are begging for "stand your ground" laws like the Republicans have introduced in the third-world red states, my jaw dropped. The last thing any civilized society should ever want is to do anything like the United States. We're number one or close to it in the most deplorable metrics any "developed" nation can be measured by: incarceration rates, maternal deaths (both of mother and infant), healthcare and education costs (with an inversely successful outcome), childhood hunger, financial disparities, suicides, gun violence, domestic abuse, alcoholism, drug overdoses, mental illness... you name it, America's the best at being the worst. So to think that there are people in Canada who want to imitate us tells me they either haven't been paying attention -- or worse, that they have, and want to secede to the Fourth Reich because they support what we're doing here.
If they want to be ugly Americans so much, then I propose a land swap. We'll take the stand-your-ground bigots off your hands to become part of Montana, and in exchange, you can have New England, and we'll work together on a system to pay to resettle the sane people out west in a better place back east. (Or nearby out west if you take Cascadia and California too, please.) Minus New Hampshire, maybe, and Maine. Lot of gun-crazy racists and selfish "live free or die" free-marketeers there too, unfortunately. But Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut are pretty sensible. Our "Harvard Pilgrim" governor Charlie Baker is what you might call a Red Tory or even a purple premier. Plus, you'd get a Kennedy and Elizabeth Warren as MLAs! Bernie Sanders can finally cross public healthcare off his bucket list, and Tim Horton's can sell Ben & Jerry's ice cream, Del's Lemonade and Friendly Fribbles. Rhode Island's Italian voting bloc is dwindling, and it's highly likely that nobody will mark Columbus Day in the future, favoring instead Indigenous Memorial Day (particularly as the Hispanic population grows) -- which happens to be held on Canada's version of Thanksgiving Day. So while we don't have a great record with our native peoples either, at least there are parts who are trying to make amends -- and who would be just as horrified by these stand-your-ground morons and prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law.
Shame on that jury and shame on these killers. Haven't the First Nations suffered already enough?
This is about a crime that was in process and the Bouchie family seem to think that this farmer should have simply allowed this group of drunken thugs to do what every they please. I do not give a damn what color they are, any group has no right to trespass on the property of others with weapons and attempt to steal. They were in the process of threatening a farmer, his family and property.
DeleteIf the family had any insight into this case at all, they should understand that it was PROVEN by forensic research that the cartridge in the gun was defective from the manufacturer. It fired by itself, the farmer did not pull the trigger. Sadly, they want justice for their drunken child who was in the process of committing a crime and they refuse to even look at his involvement in the way things played out.
The witnesses all had several stories each as to what actually happened and what they were doing at the farm. They had absolutely no respect for others or property either. Yet the First Nations people think that this kind of criminal behavior is acceptable and they should all get special treatment under the law. There has been numerous times in the courts when First Nations people get extremely preferential treatment.
The McKay case is only one of them. She slaughtered an entire family including 2 children under 5 in a DUI. She only spent a few weeks in prison and was release to a healing lodge. Exactly where is the justice for the entire family she killed with her years of alcohol addiction.
Send all natives to the reserves. Cut off all the white man's aid. No computers, cell phones, booze, guns, or cars etc. Let nature take it's course. Then they can have their traditional lifestyle (for as long as it lasts) and no racist white man to deal with.
ReplyDeleteHi Jackie...I know, the sight of all those hideous racist comments on my blog is sickening. And it's many many times worse on Twitter and Facebook. But as I said above, it serves a purpose. Let the racists reveal themselves so we know what we're up against. I do feel a bit guilty about singling out Saskatchewan when there are racists all over Canada. But I think when it comes to anti-native racism there is something definitely wrong there. As for sending our bigots to a place like Montana in exchange for New England it's a deal. I love that part of America, and the lobster rolls!!! 😉
ReplyDeleteMaine, Vermont and New Hampshire have very liberal firearm laws, in Vermont one does not even need a permit for open carry. But you knew all that right?
DeleteYes, I did, and it is stupid. Québécois go hunting just as much as their cousins in Vermont. Registering your guns means that the police know if there are guns in a household, which can be very important if it is a matter of family violence. Don't you register your car?
DeleteAnd why should the state need to know what one has in one’s house. Driving on public roads, that’s different.
DeleteBut don’t worry, the new Quebec registry is going to meet the same fate as the federal one....after all just look at who supports it.
Hi anon@9:12...I could tell you what my police and paramedic friends have to say about having to turn up at the scene of a violent disturbance without knowing if there are any guns in the house. But I won't bother because the the Colten Boushie story has nothing to do with the gun registry...
DeleteFascinating that people like you are totally ignoring the fact that there is vicious racism on BOTH sides and always has been. First Nations people are never happy unless they get more than others in Canada, they are exactly like the French demanding much that the rest of us will never get. yet some of them always think they are underprivileged.
DeleteIn the COlten Boushie story, both sides had guns also
Ah Simon, spoken like a true White urban liberal riddled with white urban guilt.
ReplyDeleteWhat would you do if a group of drunken young people suddenly arrived on your property?
What would you do if they began to steal and act aggressively towards your family?
What would you do if the police are 30 mins or more away?
What would you do if you thought they ran over your spouse.
It’s pretty easy to judge sitting in Toronto and claiming to know everything about the rest of the country, when in fact you know very little.
I agree Simon is a cuck.
DeleteAs a fellow Torontonian, I rise and sleep on land stolen from the Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nation, to which due recompense was only paid in 2010. If you don't feel a bit of guilt armed with that knowledge, you're not human.
DeleteAs for your "what would you do" scenario, I can't answer what I'd do. But whatever it is, it wouldn't involve guns. Because those only escalate a situation you want to de-escalate.
HI anon...please don't be absurd, I have no "white urban guilt" whatever that means. In fact I'm not guilty about anything because I've really done nothing to be guilty about. Unlike you Cons. But never mind that, let's review the facts of the case. As far as I can determine the drunken young people did not act aggressively towards anyone. I realize that Cons have larger than normal fear glands. But the fact is the kids were trying to back out and leave when Stanley's son ran up and smashed their windshield with a hammer. Then old pappy came running out firing what he called warning shots. Which only made the kids want to leave his place even more. But crazy old pappy wasn't finished. He runs up to the car and shoots Colten Boushie in the head, claiming that it was just an accident. His other claim that he thought his wife had been run over was thoroughly discredited during the trial, which left him in my opinion looking like a liar and a murderer. But let's set the trial aside. Do you also defend the torrent of racism that the Premier of Saskatchewan had to beg people in his province to stop? If you do I'm afraid like pappy Stanley you are guilty as charged...
ReplyDeleteWhat if not "white urban guilt" attempts to explain away drunken, armed criminals, who in a court of law, recanted previous testimony; and cast them as harmless victims who were merely lost and subsequently discriminated against?
DeleteI'm not saying I agree with the outcome of the trial, but I do loathe the continual stigamtization of self-defense, compounded by virtue signalling from a trustfund baby with an (in)famous last name, who is now attempting to undermine the judicial branch with a tweet.
I guess it's easy to hold an opinion when you're so far removed from reality and dependant on the system. Fact is, in rural parts of Saskatchewan, RCMP reponse time is 45 minutes to an hour, in most cases. The fact that you would deny people the ability to defend themselves is beyond reprehensible.
If you're relying on firearms as your means of "self-defense" rather than safety planning and de-escalation of a threat, then you deserve all the stigmatization you get.
DeleteHi anon@4:15PM....oh great, how many times have I told you Cons to speak English not Trumpkin. I realize your Great Senile Leader needs to communicate with simple words and gestures. According to a report in the papers yesterday he can't even read his daily security briefing, he has to have somebody read it to him like a child or a big baby. Try to escape that cuck cult before it's too late...😱
ReplyDeleteIts not just limited to Saskatchewan. Recently watched a news clip of few of Montreal's finest execute a troubled black person. He had a screw driver and was aimlessly walking towards them refusing to obey commands. They shot him once .. possibly justified at the extreme although they could have easily retreated and bought some time to defuse the issue. The shot brought him to his knees, several seconds later a cop approaches and executes him with two more shots sending the victim into convulsions. That is not good enough as one of the finest mercilessly wacks the victims head with a billy stick as his partner cuffs the withering soon to be corpse. So far it does not appear as if any charges were laid so the family has resorted to a law suit. The public outcry would have been deafening if a troubled caleche horse was treated in this manner.
ReplyDeleteRT
This is not the first time they have proven unable to properly deal with a person who was a) of colour and b) suffering some kind of mental issues. Alain Magloire was a man of Haitian descent, the "upstanding citizen" type until he suffered a psychotic episode and was shot. Also not long ago, an asylum seeker of Iranian origin, also freaking out, was also shot by the police.
DeleteThough I'd also be upset by a troubled calèche horse being mistreated. There are no such limits on compassion.
Who owned the gun that Coulten and his friends had with them in the van? Why were they carrying a gun at all? The news states they were waving it around going bang bang? Did they have firearms permits? Isn't it illegal to carry an weapon in your vehicle in Saskatchewan if you aren't the registered owner? Just wondering.
ReplyDeleteNo one seems to know where the .22 came from.
DeleteNone of them had PALs of course.
They were plinking, an activity best done sober.
They used a loaded .22 rifle as a prybar.....frankly Stanley should have saved himself a lot of trouble and let nature take its course with this group of rocket scientists.
There are racists everywhere, but when it comes to anti-native bigotry Saskatchewan is Canada's Alabama. The province's old white farmers are still living in the 1950s, and consider natives to be no better than animals. The truth hurts, but until we accept it nothing will ever change.
ReplyDeleteSaskatchewan folks are so frustrated that these sort of tragedies keep happening. I think that is really the sentiment. And people say things they don't really mean being defensive. There are a few real bitter hateful people. But in general rural folks don't know what to do. They want to see everyone's kids have a decent life. We have been living together for 125 years on this harsh prairie trying our best. The past keeps haunting us all. It distorts our perceptions of today. Everyone is so quick to scream and yell and make comments.
ReplyDeleteI would bet if the kids had just come into the yard and asked for help with their tire Mr. Stanley would have helped. Thats what farm people do. They want to trust people and give a helping hand. Just makes me cry. But the poison of booze turns into a tragedy for everyone. Its prevalent all over rural Canada no matter who you are. And its caused such pain and grief. My family has had to deal with it and I know many kids in the small town i went to school had alcoholic families. I've seen suicides and family violence and spousal abuse.
hi anon@5:16 PM...Thank you for this comment. I don't doubt that there are many good people in Saskatchewan. But somehow there is a great gulf that has to be bridged. In a better world the kids in the car would have been able to pull into the Stanley's farm and ask for helping getting their tire fixed. And Gerald Stanley could have reached for a tire jack instead of a gun. But bigotry is bad and so is booze, and tragedies happen that will scar the lives of two families forever. We all need to work for reconciliation and recognize the pain and anger of our First Nations. And if we work hard enough one day we will have a better country...
DeleteThat's of course, ASSuming that all they wanted was "help".
DeleteRacism is a false god. An intrinsic component of racism is hatred. Hatred to murder. The Canadian government with the assistance of Christian clerics imprisoned young children in residential schools where they lived lives filled with toxic stress because little boys and girls were raped constantly. They were beaten. They learned lateral violence. When they emerged with were damaged. This is the legacy white people including myself have to live with. Racists are mindless. They lack feelings of love towards humanity. They are only intent on spreading their hatred. They deserve all the ridicule that will cause them to implode. In the end, Canada's NATIONAL TREASURE, the People of the First Nations will rise up and be the Spiritual vanguard. In the future, racism will be a chargeable offense deemed as crimes against humanity which will carry a long jail sentence.
ReplyDeleteYou need to smoke some more. Because anyone can be called racist at any time, including you my friend. So be careful what you wish for. Because if its thought policing thats Communist theory. Open season on everyone. And the most degenerate run the show. Anyone can be dragged off in the middle of the night never to be seen again because someone informed the authorities that someone said this or said that. Especially if the poor bastard that snitches or lies gets a bonus.
DeleteYou sound like you prefer Canada to implode and erased of most of its immigrants. You don't need to be white to be racist. I work with new immigrants. One from Vietnam and another from the Philippines. You should hear them talk about groups back home. And how they treat each other.
The residential school hell never should have happened if we had an educated bureaucracy in place that monitored these schools. Why was nothing done 60 or 70 years ago?
There is no evidence that Stanley is racist. Unless you are implying all white people are racist by nature. That is even worse racism than what you seem to be so pious about. Please spare us the fear mongering because if you want Zimbabwe or South Africa for Canada then you must see a profit in it for yourself.
funny thing for upon the beaches of scicily or Italy then Normandy I never met one native indian.albertan alongside myself moved our dead to make room.Thats where I confirmed my rights to write this note at 96yrs age.Boushie caused his own troubles.I stand for my Canada,not some jcl from Quebec .bleating something must be done?
ReplyDeleteIt is a sad day when anyone is killed by another whether accidental or intentional. There were criminal charges laid by police, a due process of a court system and a jury. Justice was done despite the anger within first nations and mistrust. If there was a reasonable ground for an appeal based on an error or a mistake with the judge in the charge of the jury then they would have appealed the verdict. Congratulations for the farmer in the ordeal he faced and now is a free man in accordance to the law. There are "no winners" in this story and we cannot morally convict to appease certain token groups to suppress their losses. The rule of law, evidence and a just process must be followed similar to the Tina Fontaine case. We cannot engage in lynch mobs or vigilante groups or convict someone to get a scapegoat or closure. First nations people need to come to terms with these outcome and to quit finger point blame on historical past injustices and more. Our sympathy goes out to any parent, community or others with such a loss and it is time to heal and move forward. The law must be applied equally to all and convictions must be based on factual evidence and we all need to accept the outcome including our PM and their ministers.
ReplyDelete