Granting someone the ability to move on is paramount in our funeral practices and behaviour following a death, writes Doug Cuthand.

This month we lost our cousin and the family gathered for the funeral. We came together to see her off to the next life and we followed the traditional protocols that our people have followed for generations.

The whole ceremony was geared to see her off on her journey to the next world. We would not name her directly. We used words like ‘our good friend’ or ‘our dear cousin.’ A feast was held and her spirit was freed to leave us and make the journey to be with those who had gone before.

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Granting someone the ability to move on is paramount in our funeral practices and behaviour following a death. There is no overt outpouring of grief; people act with dignity and express their love for the deceased. At the graveyard, once we have paid our respects and the grave is completed, we walk away and don’t look back. There is no word for goodbye in the Cree language or any other Indigenous language that I know of. We know that we will always meet again.

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For an outsider our practices may appear odd or even uncaring, but in reality, they are our loving and respectful way of honouring the deceased.

The reason I raise this is that the trial for Gerald Stanley taking place this week in North Battleford is very difficult for friends and the family of the victim, Colten Boushie. (This is the only time I will use his name.) In addition to having to hear the details of his death and see the pictures entered as evidence, they relive his death and hear his name said aloud over and over again.

Photo by Liam Richards / Saskatoon StarPhoenix

His spirit has not been able to rest in peace because of the media and legal circus that swarms around him.

I spoke briefly to his uncle Alvin Baptiste and he told me that the case has been very difficult for his sister Debbie Baptiste, who is also the mother of the deceased. “She has to leave when they show pictures or refer to him in the testimony,” he told me.

He also told me that his mother refuses to attend and hear her grandson’s name over and over again and to see pictures of his deceased body entered as evidence.

One of the witnesses, Eric Meechance, was asked to identify a rifle that was allegedly in their possession. He was shown a picture of the rifle beside the body of the deceased. He asked why they showed him that picture and he broke down. He had been shown a picture of his dead friend, and that was a cultural taboo.

The same situation occurred when another witness, Belinda Jackson, was asked to demonstrate how the man who shot the deceased held the gun. She refused, stating that she didn’t feel comfortable doing that. The reason was obvious to Cree people watching the trial. She would be mimicking the last moments of her friend’s death, and that was wrong.

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Photo by Cloudesley Rook-Hobbs / THE CANADIAN PRESS

This whole tragic event has been very hard on the First Nations community. This week I spent two days at the trial and I felt the tension and sorrow among the people who attended. The friends and family are reliving the tragic events that led to the death of a promising young man.

The subplot to this tragic story is the rampant racism that is coming to the surface in social media. These anonymous trolls are fanning the flames and in the process Indigenous people have been placed on trial. The level of racism in some of these posts is so disgusting that I have to move on after only reading a few.

On the other hand I have never been prouder of our people and the dignity that has been shown at the courthouse and throughout the province. Every day Alvin Baptiste has attended court carrying an eagle feather to show respect to the judge and the jury. He has also called for calm and thoughtful deliberations.

Jade Tootoosis, the deceased’s cousin, spoke to the media and forcefully stated that the four young people weren’t on trial and it was a trial of Gerald Stanley. It was a powerful and defining moment for a trial that has placed the victim and Indigenous people on trial.

Prior to the trial Stanley’s lawyer, Scott Spencer, issued a statement saying that the trial was not about racism. Then during the jury selection process he proceeded to challenge every identifiable Indigenous person. The result is a jury for a racially charged case with no identifiable Indigenous people.

This case has polarized Saskatchewan society and the racial divide has been laid bare. This is a defining event for Saskatchewan because in addition to Gerald Stanley, the province is on trial.