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Seven months after 22-year-old Colten Boushie was shot and killed in a farmyard near Biggar, sparking a heated debate about racism and rural crime in Saskatchewan, a nearby municipality wants the federal government to relax laws governing defence of people and property.

Delegates at the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities (SARM) annual convention on Tuesday voted 93 per cent in favour of the RM of Kindersley’s resolution asking the association to lobby for expanded “rights and justification” for concerned property owners.

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The resolution “disgusted” Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations (FSIN) vice-chief Kim Jonathan, who said it was unnecessary and could lead to “more violent confrontations and (the) deaths of more innocent people.”

The west-central RM’s deputy reeve Lionel Story said while he doubts the resolution will lead to substantive change, it is nevertheless needed to correct a legal imbalance for landowners confronted by “out of control” rural crime and limited policing.