Catholic leaders explore reconciliation after Boushie verdict

OTTAWA (CCN)—Churches can help bring reconciliation after the verdict in the Colten Boushie case by reaching out to both families and communities involved, says an Indigenous Catholic leader.

Since Gerald Stanley was found not guilty of second degree murder in Boushie’s Aug. 2016 death, the focus has been on the Indigenous youth’s family, said Harry Lafond, a member of the Canadian Catholic Aboriginal Council (CCAC) and a member of the Muskeg Lake Cree Nation.

“If we’re going to think and feel this in terms of Christ’s message, the churches, the faith communities need to reach out to both of these families,” said Lafond. He commended the extended family of Colten Boushie, whose message “was not about revenge, or getting even or anything like that.”

Their message was “we can’t allow Colten Boushie’s life to be without meaning, and the meaning should be about bringing about change where there is injustice in Canada,” said Lafond. “They focused attention on the justice system in Canada, because it is so blatantly inappropriate to the lives of indigenous peoples.”

“It just does not work for the general Indigenous population,” he said. “The evidence is very very blatant when you go to the jails, to the penitentiaries.”

“I feel great hope from that,” Lafond said. “This family’s gone through a lot and still going through a lot, with social media, almost people feel they are allowed to say whatever they like on social media, and some of it is pretty brutal.”

“For them to come out, expressing that sentiment, they really were showing an amazing leadership for Saskatchewan people and for Canadians.”

Boushie, 22, was shot by Stanley’s pistol after he and four others drove onto Stanley's cattle farm in August 2016. Stanley told the court that after he fired two warning shots the gun went off accidentally as he was holding it near Boushie's head. The farmer was charged with second-degree murder, but was acquitted by an all-white jury, sparking accusations of racism.

The Boushie family went to Ottawa to speak to the Prime Minister and to ministers, and “continued to provide that leadership,” Lafond said. “I think the Church needs to pay attention to that. If we don’t pay attention to that kind of leadership, we’re going to continue to wallow in this racist environment that’s bubbled to the surface since that young man was killed.”

Churches can also find a way for both communities – the Red Pheasant Cree Nation and the surrounding farming community in the Biggar, Saskatchewan area – to “walk into the same room and begin to have a relationship not based on hatred, suspicion, and stereotyping.”

“It needs to be something more in keeping with the legacy we inherited: this land is made for everybody and we’re intended to live on it,” Lafond said. 

The faith communities of the region need to come together to create an environment for the two communities to “come together in a way that they feel safe and yet can put their realities on the table,” Lafond said.

The Catholic, Anglican and Lutheran bishops of Saskatchewan issued a joint-statement Feb. 15 making a “renewed commitment to pursue meaningful, respectful dialogue and the building of positive relationships between all peoples,” so as to “reject the evils of racism and division.”

"The path of peace is more than simply avoiding conflict – it is a call to active engagement and to concrete action that builds right relationships,” the statement said. “Our biblical tradition highlights that violence breeds violence; that the path forward encompasses acting honourably and seeking mutual respect as we address difficult issues together.”

“We acknowledge the message many of us are already hearing from Indigenous people across this province and beyond: ‘Be the change you want to see,’” the statement said.

In a CBC News report, Regina Archbishop Don Bolen said he doesn't think the verdict will have a direct impact on reconciliation efforts, but that the case illuminated systemic issues in society.  “I don't think there's a direct impact. I think what's more important right now, is that this case and the verdict have shone a light on the systemic problems that we have in Saskatchewan and in other parts of Canada as well,” Archbishop Bolen said.  

“The racism that has come out on all quarters, on the other side of the trial, outside of the trial itself, point us to the need to work on relations with our Indigenous people and to learn to walk in solidarity.”

He told CBC the bigger story is “a history of colonization, of residential schools where our Indigenous people have been marginalized," he said.

With files from Kiply Lukan Yaworski.