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Stanley verdict protest draws crowd

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Gail Cyr, left Melaw Nakehk'o and Deneze Nakehk'o hold up a Justice For Colten sign outside of the Legislative Assembly of the NWT on Monday. Michael Hugall/NNSL photo

More than 100 people came the legislative assembly Monday to protest the not guilty verdict of Gerald Stanley, a white farmer in Saskatchewan who shot and killed Colten Boushie, an Indigenous man, outside the farmer's home.

Gail Cyr, left Melaw Nakehk'o and Deneze Nakehk'o hold up a Justice For Colten sign outside of the Legislative Assembly of the NWT on Monday.
Michael Hugall/NNSL photo

The protest sought to condemn flaws in the judicial system and to educate people on the racism still dividing the country, according to organizer Sandra Lockhart.

“All of the systems that lawmakers make and policies don’t speak to who we are as Indigenous people,” said Lockhart.

“It’s been a dehumanizing of us as a people pretty well since contact. As we mobilize more and more there is a consciousness of white supremacy and it’s all over the world. Canada has been called on it a long time and the (United Nations) is starting to call people out too.”

Lockhart invited MLAs to attend Monday's protest, which included prayers offered by the Yellowknives Dene and Our Tlicho drummers. Guest speakers Gail Cyr, Dene National Chief Bill Erasmus and Deneze Nakehk'o addressed the crowd during the protest.

“It goes to show there is certainly a lot of work that needs to be done when it comes to finding truth,” said Yellowknife North MLA Cory Vanthuyne at the protest. “Certainly it will become incumbent upon myself as a legislator to have a focus on those things that might affect our laws, regulations and policies that help drive our society.”

Vanthuyne went on to voice his displeasure with the verdict in the trial.

"Had that been the white farmer who got shot and the aboriginal man was the one who shot him, with an all-white jury you can predict the circumstances would have been reversed," he said.

Boushie's family met with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and other federal government representatives on Monday.

Conversation needed

Cyr, who has been following the case since the Aug. 9, 2016 shooting, said she was not surprised by the verdict. She said as bad as it sounds, she anticipated Stanley would be acquitted after it appeared the chosen jury had no Indigenous members on it.

“The whole conversation that people need to have with each other is to appreciate and understand that racism in Canada is alive and well,” said Cyr.

“It only takes a few good people to support and help and stop racism in its tracks.”

Indigenous people across the country have been expressing anger and frustration since Friday's verdict. On Saturday, Indigenous community members held a smudging ceremony outside the Canada Post office. The ceremony was organized by Denendeh Against the Dakota Access Pipeline, which arose in 2016 in response to a decision in the U.S. to build an oil pipeline near the Standing Rock Indian Reservation in North and South Dakota.

For many Indigenous communities a smudging ceremony is a form of spiritual cleansing. The process begins with smoke rising from a small bowl. People stand in front of it to absorb the smoke. As the smoke reaches the air, negative energy, feelings and emotions are said to be lifted away.

Jiah Dzentu, a member of Denendeh Against DAPL said many of her friends and family shared similar reactions to the verdict.

“When I first heard of the verdict I was doing some running around ... I needed to processed it,” said Dzentu.

“When I got home later that day I had some friends come over and I just broke down crying.”

Dzentu, who in 2016 also travelled to North Dakota to protest against the pipeline, said she doesn't think it should take a case like Boushie's shooting to understand the reality Canadians are living in.

“I don’t think it should a take a high profile case like this with a verdict that came out (Friday) to make people realize that we are still in a racist country. That there are still racist policies, lawmakers and that systematically we are not OK.”

Boushie was with four other young people from the Red Pheasant First Nation who drove on to Stanley’s farm in North Battleford, Sask., on Aug. 9, 2016, when an altercation occurred between them, Stanley, his son, and Stanley’s wife.

Stanley claimed during the trial that the hand gun he was holding accidentally discharged while trying to turn the ignition off of the vehicle Boushie was sitting in. Boushie was unarmed and sitting in the driver’s seat when he was shot.

A gofundme page for Colton Boushie’s family was created in September 2017. More than 3,000 people have contributed to the page, raising $145,454 as of Feb. 13.