Irreconcilable Identities and Challenging Credulity

"[The lawsuits are intended to] hold the person responsible for Colten's wrongful death accountable [and in the process to] force the RCMP to look deeply within itself [to examine how it] interacts with the Indigenous citizens of Canada."
"The search officers who attended the home deliberately engaged in discrimination by subjecting three proud members of the Red Pheasant First Nation to ridicule, unlawful searches and humiliating breath tests."
"While the loss of Colten [Boushie] has devastated the plaintiffs, it has been the unending memory of the defendants' high-handed and egregious conduct that has caused the plaintiffs' injuries."
Lawyers for the Red Pheasant First Nation Reserve Boushie Family

"[There] can be no true reconciliation until the RCMP, itself, acknowledges that the callous manner [in which officers treated the Boushie family] was due -- at least in part -- to the fact that they were proud members of the Red Pheasant First Nation."
Chris Murphy, lawyer, Boushie family

Debbie Baptiste, mother of Colten Boushie, speaks during a press conference on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Feb. 14, 2018

Rural communities in Western Canada have a problem with the presence of First Nations reservation young people's obstreperous behaviour and flouting of the law. Many rural properties and farms owned by white farmers whom Canada's Indigenous nations now characterize as "settler" farms are being plagued with criminal entry and theft of all manner of farm equipment. Homes are frequently illegally entered and the occupants made concerned and wary over the presence of young men often inebriated and frequently up to no good.

Such was the case on August 9, 2015 when five young men and women drove a grey Ford Escape SUV from Red Pheasant First Nation over to a popular swimming area by a nearby river. They spend a fun afternoon together, drinking all the while. When they decided to return home they discovered a flat tire on the vehicle. The SUV was steered onto a farm where later evidence made it clear that someone among the five had made an unsuccessful effort to steal a truck parked there, smashing a window with a .22-calibre rifle they had with them.

The attempt unsuccessful, they drove on to a farm 15 kilometres further up the road belonging to a farmer by the name of Gerald Stanley who was making some fence repairs on his property, with his grown son. Both heard a wild commotion in the distance, around their house, and hurriedly went over to see what was happening. Someone among the inebriated five that arrived in the SUV had tried to start a quad on the property and when the Stanleys drove up all got in the SUV and tried to drive off, hitting a parked vehicle in the melee.

Mr. Stanley, fearful for the safety of his wife who was on the scene mowing the lawn, but whom he was unable to see, told his son to enter their house and retrieve a firearm. He went himself to the nearby garage and took possession of a firearm he had stored there. In the heated atmosphere and excitement and fear, Boushie, seated in the driver's seat, alone, because his companions had run off in a panic, was shot in the head, and killed by a single gunshot. At trial, Mr. Stanley testified that his gun had gone off accidentally and he was found not guilty of the charge of second-degree murder.

William Boushie, brother of Colten Boushie, speaks to media during a rally outside of the Saskatchewan Provincial Court in North Battleford, Thursday, August 18, 2016. People rally outside a Saskatchewan courthouse Thursday where a farmer accused of fatally shooting a First Nations man is to make an appearance. Liam Richards/THE CANADIAN PRESS

The verdict by jury which had excluded the presence of any Indigenous representatives, had infuriated the First Nations communities who charged that Canada was racist and its policies and laws injured and dishonoured First Nations. Numerous protests took place, but eventually the issue quieted down, as other similar events continued to take place. Now, the mother of the young man who had lost his life, along with her two remaining children are suing those involved in her son's death; the farmer Gerald Stanley and the RCMP. Two lawsuits totalling $2-million.

Colten Boushie's mother Debbie Baptiste faults Mr. Stanley for acting with "excessive force" against her then-22-year-old son. She seeks $60,000 compensation for grief counselling, $100,000 in lost wages, and $200,000 "in aggravated, exemplary and punitive damages to be proven at trial". The attorney general of Canada and several RCMP officers are named in a separate suit. Her son's death, states his mother is "a direct result of the negligent, reckless or intentional acts of the defendant, Gerald Stanley" who failed to assess potential risk, shot her son at "point blank range" and failed to administer assistance to her son.

Ms. Baptise is also claiming over $400,000 in damages for her suffering following her son's death; the grief she was caused, the loss of his "care and companionship" and past and future income (on a reserve with a 74% unemployment rate). As for the statement of claim against the RCMP, another $550,000 is sought in damages while her sons each seek $450,000 for damages as well. She stated that RCMP officers asked if she had been drinking and told her to "get herself together", on their arrival and the delivery of the message that her son was dead.

She had, the lawsuit states, along with her sons, suffered depression, anxiety, nervous shock, interference with normal sleeping patterns, loss of enjoyment of life and suicidal ideation -- all linked to the harsh manner she contends the RCMP officers confronted her with while delivering their message and looking to find evidence in her home. In grieving and continuing to grieve the loss of her son, this poor woman and her son's siblings would find life's cruel consequences of sociopathic tendencies much easier to deal with once in possession of two million dollars that would help to ease their way to dealing with the past and finding peace and harmony in their deprived lives.

And no, no one on either side of this horribly divisive and unfortunate event would ever wish that a young man should lose his life over the ill life-choice of potential theft of property. The outcome of this tragic event represents an abject failure of both communities; that of the Indigenous community to find a life for themselves other than on isolating reserves with no future for their youth, and that of the outside community which understandably has no idea how to deal with the outcome of a failure to resolve the unresolvable.

Faced with the wildly undisciplined, anti-social presence on private property of five inebriated young people it is in fact, little wonder that the Stanley family went into a panic at the presence of strangers whose behaviour they had no idea how to deal with, or whether they were in mortal danger because of that presence. Imprinted into human reaction to perceived danger is the compulsion to act in self protection. The incidence and reputation of Indigenous youth invading private property and lifting goods invoked unreasoning fear, and little wonder.

Colten Boushie is shown in this undated Facebook photo.