Is the Colten Boushie case a tipping point for race relations in Canada?

This story originally aired on January 8, 2017

For Connie Walker, the Colten Boushie story shows how we need to expose the true relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in Canada.

"This case illustrates how much more we need to be having these conversations," she said.

Walker is a CBC reporter in Toronto. She grew up in the Okanese First Nation, in Saskatchewan, and has focused her work on Indigenous stories including on the podcast Missing & Murdered: Who Killed Alberta Williams?

She sees the Boushie case within a lineage of stories in the area that have drummed up racial tensions, including the murder of Pamela George in Regina by two white university students, and the so-called "Starlight Tours" in Saskatoon, where police were alleged to have taken Indigenous men outside the city during winter and left them there to walk back.

"The difference between those other tragedies and the Colten Boushie case is that Indigenous issues and stories in Canada are starting to gain a lot of traction in mainstream media," said Walker. "Perhaps with the Colten Boushie case happening at this time, that will ignite these important conversations that really need to be had, not just in Saskatchewan but across the country."