In 2016, a 56 year old Saskatchewan farmer named Gerald Stanley shot an unarmed 22 year-old Indigenous trespasser named Coulten Boushie in the back of the head. Stanley was acquitted of murder in 2018 — and nobody was happy.

Indigenous people considered the verdict proof positive of racial bias in the courts and a tacit declaration of open season on Indigenous people, including hunters, who take their lives in their hands when they exercise their treaty rights to access land.

Meanwhile, rural settlers in Saskatchewan formed a facebook group called Farmers with Firearms to protest slow RCMP response times to what they considered a growing epidemic of rural crime. 8500 people joined, and the comment section was filled with anti-Indigenous rhetoric and vows to exercise vigilante justice on anyone who sets foot on their property.

How do these two seemingly irreconcilable groups… reconcile?

Some Saskatchewan farmers and Indigenous hunters are trying to figure that out. As you might expect, reconciliation isn’t always easy.

Freelance reporter Kerry Benjoe brings you this true story from Saskatchewan, on this National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

Host: Jesse Brown 

Credits: Kerry Benjoe (Reporter), Tristan Capacchione (Audio Editor and Technical Producer), Bruce Thorson (Senior Producer), Annette Ejiofor (Managing Editor), Karyn Pugliese (Editor-in-Chief)

Further Reading: 

• The Treaty Land Sharing Network
• The Gerald Stanley Case — The Canadian Encyclopedia

Sponsors: Article, Elijah Craig, Rotman

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