Premier Scott Moe is right: Saskatchewan is in need of some tough conversations in the wake of the Gerald Stanley not guilty verdict.
He is also being rather politically courageous for showing a willingness to take the lead on these very tough conversations.
The fallout from the trial into killing of Red Pheasant First Nation resident Colten Boushie has clearly rekindled a lot of rural emotions about property and safety in rural settings far removed from policing.
As of the writing of this column, more than $100,000 had been raised for Stanley’s defence costs through a GoFundMe page.
“There was no respect for him or his property,” Mark Pashovitz, who donated $1,000 to the fund, told the Canadian Press. “It could have been me.”
[emember_protected for=”2″ custom_msg=’For more on this story, please see the Feb. 16 print edition of The Cross Roads.’]
Pashovitz, who also farms in the Biggar area about 30 kilometres from where the incident occurred, described Stanley as “a victim of a situation that was totally out of his control.”
Obviously, emotions are still raw. Obviously, people have a right to their opinions … and the right to donate money to whatever cause they choose.
But the hard conversation Moe is talking about is about not letting one’s emotions dictate situations to the point where they get out of a hand.
Some anonymous donors to the GoFundMe page have signed their contributions “one less thief” or have made the contributions in the name of politicians like Justin Trudeau or Saskatchewan NDP leadership hopeful Ryan Meili.
How is this mature or helpful?
Meanwhile, another Facebook page with the unhelpful title “Farmers with Firearms” has popped up.
One of the tough conversations that Moe is clearly talking about is working our way through rural fears without resorting to another incident that leaves someone dead.
There has to be a conversation about the use of firearms. Notwithstanding what some think the Stanley verdict was all about, the Canadian Criminal Code does not allow using a gun for defense of property.
In fact, it would be difficult to make the case of using a gun for personal safety, which is likely why Stanley’s lawyer chose not to make that argument in court.
If it is a matter of policing, that’s another tough conversation that begins with dollar signs.
One can make the argument that larger and increasingly more isolated farming operations have made policing costs in rural Saskatchewan unaffordable. However, it’s been pointed out some rural policing costs for some work out to $43 per person per year – a fraction of the $380 Regina residents pay for policing on their annual tax bill.
Do we need a tough conversation on what we pay for rural policing work? Should rural residents be contributing to reserve policing, if that is the solution?
This enters another dicey area of both long-standing tensions between rural Saskatchewan and reserves.
Racism has clearly reared its ugly heard in the aftermath of the Boushie trial.
Moe made it clear that intolerant, hate-filled comments “have never been and are not acceptable” but also acknowledged that racism “does exist not just within our borders.”
Sometimes, the toughest conversation you have is the one that comes after a long, hard look in the mirror.
Given some of the social media postings surrounding this case, maybe it’s time, as Moe suggests, to acknowledge that we do have a racism problem.
That said, any decent conversation must be two-way.
While many of us still don’t recognize the underlying issues that have led to First Nations struggles, there is little doubt First Nations leadership has failed to address crime and other social issues in their own communities. A lot of people need to look in the mirror these days.
We need to have these conversations.
[/emember_protected] 
