Canadian Justice, Indigenous Injustice: The Gerald Stanley and Colten Boushie Case

In this dense and tragic work, Roach, chair of law and public policy at the University of Toronto, dissects the investigation, trial, and aftermath of a controversial case of racialized violence in Canada. In 2016, Colten Boushie, a member of the Cree/Red Pheasant First Nation, was shot and killed by white farmer Gerald Stanley on a Saskatchewan farm. Stanley was acquitted of murder and manslaughter. Roach traces the case—from the incomplete police investigation through the exclusion of potential indigenous jury members, Stanley’s lawyers attempts to discredit indigenous witnesses, and complex and confusing testimony regarding rural underpolicing and “stand your ground” self-defense laws—making clear that “the Canadian justice system fails and discriminates against Indigenous people in multiple ways.” He also meticulously covers the history of race relations and criminal justice in Saskatchewan, and finishes the book with a call for judicial and legislative reforms to help Canada “do better”: changing the process of jury selection, designing juries to specifically include indigenous people, and altering self-defense laws (including informing jurors about the role racial prejudice plays in defense killings, as is done in California), among other reforms. The prose, however, is too detailed and legalistic for many lay readers. Roach takes up important life-and-death issues of injustice in Canada, but most non-specialists will probably not stick around until the end. [em](Jan.) [/em]