According to a Toronto Star article, a newly released document shows prosecutors in Saskatchewan weighed backlash and remorse felt by people accused of posting hateful online messages after the high-profile shooting death of a young Cree man.
Tuesday marked the three-year anniversary of the acquittal of Gerald Stanley in the death of 22-year-old Colten Boushie of Red Pheasant First Nation. A jury found Stanley not guilty of second-degree murder. Boushie’s death caused racial tensions in the province to flare and sparked debate on systemic racism toward Indigenous people and rural crime.
RCMP investigated the comments and didn’t recommend charges because there was no reasonable likelihood of conviction.
Professor Richard Moon says hate speech is a tough crime to prosecute because it requires drawing a line between freedom of expression and words that normalize hate or violence toward members of a specific group.
“At minimum, any expression of remorse would have to be publicly made and made to those who were the victims," says Professor Moon. He adds that could be to Boushie’s family or the wider Indigenous community.