Canadian Justice, Indigenous Injustice: The Gerald Stanley and Colten Boushie Case by Kent Roach (review)

This book is an excellent account of the infamous Gerald Stanley and Colten Boushie court case in Battleford, Saskatchewan, and the broader issues it relates to in Canadian society. The case saw Gerald Stanley, a white farmer, acquitted for the murder and manslaughter of Colten Boushie, a twenty-two-year-old Cree man from Red Pheasant First Nation, who with a group of friends had come onto the former's farm. The verdict and the trial itself were controversial as the jury did not contain any visibly Indigenous people and there were serious flaws in the police investigation of the incident, as well as forensic weaknesses. Roach, drawing on his professional legal background and previous published work, takes a criminal-justice approach to examine the various aspects of the case.

He finds that there was a marked difference in the way in which Gerald Stanley was treated by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and the witnesses to the crime, not to mention Colten Boushie's family. The RCMP had a friendly chat with the former after he was arrested, whereas the First Nation witnesses were treated as criminals, even though charges against them were subsequently dropped, and Colten Boushie's mother was informed of his death while the RCMP were carrying out a tactical search of his home. The RCMP also did not retain the vehicle that was used in the incident as evidence, a catastrophic error, which had material implications for the case and its outcome.

Roach also makes some significant connections between the Gerald Stanley and Colton Boushie case and larger issues in Canadian society. The clause in Treaty 6, which some of the First Nations of the area of Saskatchewan in which the incident took place had signed with the Canadian state, which stipulated that the 'red coats' (RCMP) would treat First Nations and white settlers equally was flagrantly violated in this case. Furthermore, the successful active exclusion of five potential First Nation members from the jury by the defence brought into clear light the under-representation on Canadian juries of not only First Nation people, but ethnic minorities as well. Both of these led rightly to a very strong sense of injustice felt by First Nations across Canada.

This was a book that needed to be written. Roach, despite various reasons to be pessimistic about the future, offers practical suggestions on how the situation of Canadian justice and Indigenous injustice can be improved. But he admits himself that even these suggestions do not go far enough in rectifying the situation; this instead will take a wholescale shift in Canadian norms and values, not just in the judicial system. I wholeheartedly recommend this book to readers, both expert and general.