Imagine you’re home on your farm, minding your own business, maybe working in your shop.
You see a vehicle pull up down the road and stop. What would you do?
Do you grab your gun?
That’s exactly what Gerald Stanley did on his farm near Biggar, Sask. in August 2016 when he shot and killed 22-year-old Colton Boushie from the nearby Red Pheasant First Nation. It happened in Saskatchewan but it could easily take place on any rural property across the country. With so many break-ins and so much recent rural crime in our area, it could easily happen here.
Stanley was found not guilty of second-degree murder by a jury of his peers in a North Battleford courtroom Feb. 9. Seven white women and five white men from rural Saskatchewan didn’t even find him guilty of a lesser charge, even though he admitted to shooting Boushie in the back of the head.
It may not have been intentional, but it happened. Stanley may be the salt of the Earth, but where is the justice? The Aboriginal community in Saskatchewan definitely has the right to ask.
Stanley testified he and his son thought the people in the SUV were stealing an ATV from the property and chased it down. As he was reaching for the keys inside the vehicle his gun went off.
He had previously fired three warning shots and thought the handgun was empty. He also thought his wife had been run over.
Does any of that matter?
One of Boushie’s friends testified they had been drinking that day and had tried to steal a vehicle from a nearby farm, but were on the Stanley property seeking help with a flat tire. Many locals are concerned with the rates of rural crime in their area, and some blame the indigenous population for much of it.
But does any of that matter?
Apparently it does.
In the eyes of the law Stanley is not a murderer. He shot and killed a man, but in the eyes of the law, he is not a murderer.
Wrap your head around that.
While the killing of Boushie may have indeed been accidental and his race may have had nothing to do with the act itself, the decision that found Stanley completely and utterly not guilty is drenched in racism, and frankly, it’s disgusting.
