Former Saskatchewan RCMP boss warned officers to watch opinions after Stanley verdict
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The RCMP braced for backlash across rural Saskatchewan and kept a close eye on Indigenous groups after the not guilty verdict of a farmer charged in the death of Colten Boushie, emails show.
The RCMP braced for backlash across rural Saskatchewan and kept a close eye on Indigenous groups after the not guilty verdict of a farmer charged in the death of Colten Boushie, emails show.
The former top Mountie in the province also warned officers to watch their opinions, and police carefully watched and weighed in on testimony in the highly charged murder trial that exposed racial divides.
This week marks seven years since Boushie, a 22-year-old Cree man from Red Pheasant First Nation, was shot and killed on in a rural area near the town of Biggar, about 95 kilometres west of Saskatoon.
Gerald Stanley was acquitted of second-degree murder in 2018, after testifying at trial that his gun accidentally went off.
After a five-year wait, The Canadian Press recently obtained RCMP emails sent during and immediately after the trial.
Partially redacted documents indicate that Mounties monitored threats and were bracing for backlash, particularly after the verdict was read out Feb. 9, 2018.
"Please be diligent on rural patrols in your areas," one commander wrote in an email that evening to colleagues. "As you can all appreciate, the not guilty verdict will produce some backlash in all of our communities."
