Opinion: Boushie case may improve relations

Colten Boushie and Dudley George.

By Kristin Grant

As horrified as I am about the miscarriage of justice in the Colten Boushie case, I can see something positive developing. First Nations and Non First Nations people are united in standing up against injustice in a case that was clearly steeped in racial prejudice. My Facebook news feed has been filled with people from all walks of life wanting justice for a life taken too soon.

Social media makes it a lot easier for people to organize and unite for social justice. Case in point the very next day after Gerald Stanley was found not-guilty of Boushie’s death there were protests arranged across the country. People unified together speaking out again the blatant racism that allowed our legal system to fail.

I can’t help but compare this to another high profile shooting of a First Nations man: Dudley George. In 1995, an unarmed George was shot by an OPP sniper while protesting land claims at Ipperwash Provincial Park.

There are similarities in the cases both were young First Nations men in the prime of their lives shot and killed by non First Nations men. Race was a factor in both cases. In George’s case he died fighting for his people’s land rights, racial tensions were high as a result of the land dispute.

In Boushie’s case he was shot while on private property. His death and trial weren’t given appropriate attention because he was First Nations. There is speculation that had the situation been reversed the sentence would have been much harsher. Not a single First Nations person was a member of the jury, in fact they were kept off the jury deliberately to benefit the accused.

One big difference in the 20 years between the cases is that social media wasn’t a thing back then. In fact Mark Zuckerberg founder of Facebook was still in grade school. Although there were protests at the time it didn’t have the same wild-fire ground swelling of support that we have today. Perhaps had social media been around back then it wouldn’t have taken eight years and a change of provincial government for an inquiry to be launched into George’s death.

It is early days yet to see how the Boushie case will play out. Attaining justice for Colten Boushie can’t be just be a cause celeb and forgotten in a few months time. Social media gives us an even stronger voice that can’t be silenced easily and allows us to speak for those who can no longer speak for themselves. Let’s continue to stand together and speak up against racism and injustice.  Hopefully this unity can expand to other aspects and improve relations with First Nations.