bats

I don't think the area is really a factor in putting a constable in charge as it's less than two hours from Saskatoon.
If that's the regular standard of policing in Saskatchewan it's worrying

Former Lancastrian

Call comes in need Police for whatever incident. RCMP constable or if lucky a Corporal attends scene and again if lucky there are 2 in the car. Get to scene realize they need backup call for it. Several hours later Forensics, Detectives and whoever else turn up. Bearing in mind dependent on time of day it could be anywhere between 2 to 6 hours for others to arrive and they have to preserve the scene and other stuff.
The above is the regular standard for most rural areas across Canada not just Saskatchewan and if it happens on a fly in only reserve it might be a day or two before the specialists arrive.

bats

From the account I read there wasn't any scene preserving. It just seems as if the local police didn't think it was important.

No doubt more information will come out over the next few days.

dbd33

Firstly, I don't think there's a racial problem with the FN people. There's a deliberately discriminatory system from which individual native people may opt out; a kind of apartheid for those who choose it. It's odd and, in my view, it's dishonest on the part of the majority population to maintain it, but it's not a problem, it's the Canadian way.

Secondly, introducing a member of the same ethnic group as the accused to the jury is impractical and patronising besides not improving the chance of an impartial jury. Does the government choose someone like the accused for the jury? if so we're off down the path of cultural misunderstanding, a Sikh on the jury because the accused is a Muslim, that sort of thing. Does the accused choose someone like the accused? In that case we get someone who's like the accused because they're both Crips.

caretaker

I'm going from memory but I think the jury pool was 750, 125 canvassed, the 2 Native proposals rejected by the defence as previously mentioned and 12 finally selected.

dave_j

Call it cultural then. What I found difficult to understand in my friend's attitude was his fierce reaction to the manner in which some FN people live. Now I would have thought that how people choose to live their lives is their business, for example I've no views on how the ultra-religious like to pass their time, but I think he found it difficult to accept the fact that there were some who lived so differently to himself that he simply couldn't understand it... or come to terms with it.

dbd33

I think the key difference between the way religious groups, such as the Mennonites and Hutterites and the FN live, is that the religious groups are, by and large, outside of conventional society. The members deal with goyim only to trade. The FN are financially supported by conventional society, they live in human zoos sustainable only because the conventional government chooses to sustain them (by direct funding or by excepting them from laws governing other people).

It's no wonder to me that the FN people are regarded, not just by cradles but by people at large, in the same way as gypsies are at home. Indeed, this specific case could have taken place in East Anglia.

Former Lancastrian

Nice to see the lawyers and politicians getting involved which could get interesting. So laws are passed by Parliament ie elected MP's and given the OK or not by unelected Senators.
Now Im not suggesting that Politicians introduce somewhat bad laws
Anyone remember the score from the SCC v Stephen Harper game

However, some lawyers are worried that politicians now weighing in on the case are going too far and may even be putting the independence of the country’s judiciary at risk with their comments. Lacy added that politicians “have no business at all” in commenting on the outcome of a trial. “It undermines the independence of the judicial branch,” he said in an email.

Trudeau putting judicial independence at risk with Boushie comments, lawyers say | National Post

TBH the Justice System in some areas does need overhauling and the Criminal Code of Canada to be overhauled as well regarding some offences. A few billion dollars should be able to fix it.

bats

I'd read four but can't find the reference now. A number of non white, non indigenous jurors were also rejected with the defence favouring white women as jurors.

This link tells of a similar incident where the defendent confessed to and was given 6 years for manslaughter. I guess the main difference here is that there was no concept of defending property and life.

Guns, booze don't mix | The Belleville Intelligencer

Tangram

These kinds of threads are a little pointless as generally speaking, nobody in the thread was in the courtroom nor had access to all evidence given.

caretaker

While I was able to follow it through several reporters who were live tweeting the trial simultaneously from the courtroom obviously it isn't the same as hearing people speak and courtroom drawings of the participants isn't the same as seeing them live. The photos submitted in evidence (with exception of showing the body) were released to the media but it took several days before I saw them all (the bulged casing on the dashboard was the last I found). Scrolling back to the start of the trial reporting on twitter then going forward will give you the testimonies in order.

Former Lancastrian

Im sure it will be posted online soon of what was actually heard on the record and recorded as the transcript for publication. Even with this some won't be happy.

bats

All threads in the Maple Leaf are pointless.

Former Lancastrian

Even the price of cheese ones?

Almost Canadian

I very much doubt that. Transcripts are expensive and it is far easier for media to whip up a frenzy rather than actually reporting the facts.