Colonial Courts & Settler Justice

Colten Boushie, Haven Dubois, and the two-tiered justice system

- Richelle Dubois And Michelle Stewart

We sat together in a tiny old courthouse in Battleford, Saskatchewan. We were an odd couple, we joked: an Indigenous woman (Richelle) and a settler (Michelle). Most days during the trial, the courtroom on the second floor could be cut in half: the white half – family and supporters of the accused – and the brown half – family and supporters of the victim. In a space of such polarized racial politics, the two of us walking in together produced confusion. This was meant to be the trial of Gerald Stanley for the murder of Colten Boushie – but from the start it was the trial of Colten Boushie.

We started to write this article less than 72 hours after the jury acquitted Gerald Stanley of second-degree murder and the lesser charge of manslaughter. In this article we will discuss systemic issues that arise in Colten’s case and draw connections to Richelle’s experiences when her son, Haven Dubois, died in 2015. These cases are not about a specific police slip-up or an all-white jury. We are concerned with the systemic racism that is driving the justice system – the many levels of which can be most clearly understood when looking at patterns between individual cases. So, we write this article in honour of Colten’s and Haven’s memories, and for all the Indigenous families that continue to fight for justice.

A WHITE SETTING

One of the goals of this article is to reflect on the state of the justice system. In the Stanley case, the all-white jury is symbolic of a system that excludes Indigenous people. Stanley’s defence challenged every visibly Indigenous juror, eliminating them from the jury one by one. But it isn’t just about this particular jury: whiteness extends through every tier of the justice system.