B.C. Indigenous leaders' deeply troubled 'by the testimony of shooting victims' families

VANCOUVER-Indigenous leaders in British Columbia said to be deeply shaken by tear-filled testimony at the Assembly of First Nations Meetings Thursday by families grieving the "unjust" and "senseless" killings of young Indigenous people.

After hearing the words of the mother of Colten Boushie – the late Red Pheasant First Nation member, 22, of 2016 killing sparked fury across Canada after a Saskatchewan jury acquitted the farmer who shot him – Grand Chief Edward John lamented the "racism and intolerance "in society and in the courts."

"It's really hard to fathom what's the message," the longtime lawyer and Tl'azt'en Nation told StarMetro in an interview during AFN meetings Thursday. "There is a degree of racism and intolerance – and an even greater degree of indifference – that allows these spells of acts to continue."

There is still a great deal of interest in this topic. "

Prior to his executive role in the BC First Nations Summit, John was an expert member of the United Nations' permanent forum on Indigenous issues, and

He said that even though BC has not seen the kind of recent controversy around such a verdict on the Boushie case, "we have in the past of this". a reminder that racism hurts Indigenous people across Canada, including the West Coast.

"Nobody's going to sweep my son's death under the carpet," said Boushie's mother, Debbie Baptiste, from the Vancouver Convention Center, as National Chief Perry Bellegarde and BC AFN regional chief Terry Teegee listened nearby. "Every day, I feel that bread. … We did not have a chance for justice.

"That needs to change – the whole system."

In a year, this message was clearly delivered by Teegee, who is the most involved in the AFN's justice portfolio and has advocated for justice reforms in BC and beyond. interview, he said the "justice system does not represent Indigenous people" and said Thursday's "testimony was very troublesome" from the Boushie family "just trying to access justice."

"It was very emotional," Teegee told StarMetro. "But at the same time we need to support them.

"What I've been saying in BC, where we've had conversations with the province about justice, is that in my determination it needs a complete overhaul in terms of representation for Indigenous people."

The AFN, member advocates for the interests of the member states – a significant number of which are in BC – held its national meetings in Vancouver this week, the re-election of Bellegarde and the pbadage of a number of motions calling for greater self-determination for First Nations.

But the AFN was not without criticism, and the families' intervention on stage

The Boushie family's lawyer Eleanor Sunchild told badembled chiefs "

" To our leaders, you need to protect our young people, from being senselessly killed, "she said. "It needs to stop.

"And so I ask that we take action to ensure that these injustices do not continue any more, that our people are protected, and that we can live in their country safety. "

In addition to the testimony of the Boushie family during the AFN badembly, several BC leaders have been shaken by the words of another young Indigenous man killed by Six Nations in Ontario

The provincial government is one of the best educators in the province of British Columbia.

But despite that, they are still "heavily under-represented" on the bench itself, while remaining "heavily overrepresented in criminal justice" through arrests and incarceration, he said.

"Somebody could murder my son without any consequences, "said Debra Styres, whose 29-year-old son was shot to death in Ontario in 2016, but whose shooter was also found not guilty. "What kind of Canada do we live in? The current justice system is not set up to the law without prejudice. "

David P. Ball is a Vancouver-based reporter covering democracy and politics. Follow him on Twitter: @davidpball