Exhibits and testimony at the trial that has been onging in Battleford has proved more than difficult for family and friends attending the trial. Testimony this week prompted an emotional response on the steps of the courthouse by a relative Monday.
During the main examination that day of the man accused of the second-degree murder of Colten Boushie, Gerald Stanley was asked at length by his defence lawyer Scott Spencer to demonstrate his position in relation to the weapon at the time of the shooting.
Stanley held the Tokarev handgun and showed the jury the position he was in, holding the gun in one hand and the magazine in the other.
He also demonstrated attempting to grab the keys of the vehicle in which Boushie was a passenger with his left hand while holding the gun in his right.
This was too much to take for Jade Tootoosis, Boushie’s cousin, who denounced what she had seen in court after the proceedings ended.
“To sit there and see the firearm that killed Colten brought out, and to see the man that held that gun and shot him in the back of the head re-enact what he did, that was one of the hardest things I’ve ever seen, and have to sit there and endure,” said Tootoosis. “All we want is justice for Colten.”
Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations Chief Bobby Cameron referred to the cultural gap last week while speaking to reporters outside Battleford Court of Queen's Bench.
“Something has to change, the justice system in this province has to change, to meet and reflect the First Nations population,” said Cameron.
Twenty per cent of the province's population are First Nations people, he pointed out.
The FSIN’s justice commission would be deciding how to go forward, he indicated.
