'Stop using the racial card': Checkup callers react to Stanley verdict

by Jason Vermes

A 'good man' is how Jade Tootoosis described Colten Boushie Sunday on Cross Country Checkup.

As the phone lines opened to Canadians, the Saskatchewan woman shared an emotional response to the verdict that found Gerald Stanley not guilty in the killing of her 22-year-old cousin.

"He was a man of the community ... he just didn't deserve this," she told Checkup host Duncan McCue.

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​​The verdict has divided people across the country. While some see the decision as proof of systemic discrimination against Indigenous peoples within the justice system, others see it as a fair outcome in a case that examined a property owner's response to trespassers.

Divided by race

Melissa Primeau, who identified herself as Indigenous, believes that the conversation surrounding Boushie's death and the subsequent trial are focused too heavily on race.

"If it was a white man who shot another white individual, we wouldn't even be having this conversation right now," said Primeau from Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.

"We need to stop using the racial card," she said.

That was a sentiment shared by some callers and on social media: Boushie's Indigenous heritage didn't play a role in the verdict. The case was fairly tried on facts.

"I … know how the justice system tends to work," said Jason Bermiller. "I really have a hard time believing ... that an entire jury would be swayed 100 per cent into making a decision that was ostensibly based on race."

Bermiller, who called from Kamloops, B.C., told McCue that he served on a jury within the last year. While he believes there is discrimination against Indigenous communities in policing, he doesn't think those issues played a role in this case.

McCue asked Bermiller what he thinks about about the criticism that the jury was apparently all-white. Bermiller was unequivocal:

"I just don't think anything of it. … and I know that may sound like it flies in the face of everything that people want to decry right now but just because a jury happens to be all-white doesn't mean by necessity that it's racist."

'It's very easy to see somebody … as less'

Caller Robert Hall pushed back on the criticism.

According to the Saskatoon man, the problem stems from a lack of understanding and connection with Indigenous peoples. A federal electoral officer, Hall said he works closely with Indigenous communities across Western Canada.

"When people come to know my business, the commentary will overwhelmingly reveal their attitude towards the First Nations people," said Hall.

"They use these terms, 'Well, we've got to put up with them. We've got to tolerate First Nations people. We've got to accommodate them.'"

The perception, said Hall, comes from a lack of interaction with Indigenous peoples. He believes the media also plays a role, only showing Indigenous people in a negative light — often as victims or perpetrators of crimes. He wants to see more personal connections between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in Canada.

"It's very easy to see somebody … who you don't see in person but you hear bad things about as less," he told McCue. "Once you meet people in person then that reduces."

Private property

While discussions about race dominated Sunday's call-in, the fact that Boushie and the four others involved were caught on Stanley's property was a point of contention. Rural areas, many callers told Checkup, experience high crime rates and police response times are often too long.

Some callers argued property owners like Stanley are justified in doing all they can to protect their property.

"I live in the country," Sheila Bork, a Terrace, B.C., resident told Checkup. "We have people who come out here and walk their dogs — their dogs kill my chickens." She told McCue she once threatened to shoot a dog when its owner couldn't control it.

The concerns from rural property owners varied from fear of trespassers to worry about their livelihood.

"Mushroom pickers will pick in my backyard and say, 'You don't own the bush,' and I'm like, 'Actually I do and that's my income you're taking,'" she said.

She recalled a recent call to RCMP about a trespasser on her property. Her security camera recorded a person removing tools from a shed on the property and "harrassing" livestock.

"The RCMP came a day and a half later," she said. "What am I to do?"

Like others, she doesn't believe that race plays a role in situations like this. "It's a criminal issue," Bork told Checkup.

Changes needed

For Tootoosis, these concerns are unfounded.

"To look at this notion of property crime and to compare property or material things to a life … and to try to say that there is some sort of competition … I don't understand these people."

Similarly, Tootoosis rejects the idea that Stanley's verdict wasn't influenced by race. She told Checkup that her and Boushie's family remain committed to fighting against these ideas and changing the justice system for Indigenous people. The system, Tootoosis argues, is stacked against Indigenous communities.

"Throughout this entire process we have seen no Indigenous representation to even signify that that we have a chance, that we are ... seen as valued and important and that we are represented in the system," she said.

"Seeing an all white jury is just another element that showed us that we are not represented — that Colten is not represented — in the system."

To hear our entire conversation on the Gerald Stanley trial, download our podcast or click here to listen to the episode.