ON FEBRUARY 9th an all-white jury acquitted a white farmer of murder in the shooting death of an indigenous man in Saskatchewan, in western Canada. Several people in the courtroom shouted “murderer”. Anger has continued to rise. Some liken the man who died, a 22-year-old Cree named Colten Boushie, to Trayvon Martin, a black American teenager killed by a Hispanic man in Florida in 2012. In that case, the killer pleaded self-defence and was controversially acquitted by a nearly all-white jury.

In Canada’s case, activists who represent the country’s 1.7m indigenous people, who are customarily divided into First Nations, Métis (a mix of First Nations and Europeans) and Inuit, hope the verdict will lead to changes to judicial procedures. On February 14th Justin Trudeau, the prime minister, said Canada would reform the criminal-justice system to protect indigenous rights. But such promises have been made before.

Mr Boushie was killed after he and four friends, who had been drinking, drove onto the property of Gerald Stanley near Biggar, Saskatchewan. One or two of them tried to steal a vehicle. Mr Stanley grabbed a semiautomatic handgun and fired two warning shots. He said the third, fatal shot was accidental. The jury believed him. It acquitted him of second-degree murder and of the lesser charge of manslaughter.

Defenders of indigenous rights saw the verdict as warped by racism. Defence lawyers used peremptory challenges to dismiss five prospective jurors who appeared to be indigenous. That is perfectly legal. But activists claim it is one way that the criminal-justice system discriminates against indigenous people. Although they make up 4% of Canada’s adult population, they account for more than a quarter of inmates in federal prisons.

Mr Stanley’s supporters say he was merely defending his home. “For farm people, your yard is your castle,” his lawyer contended. The two sides have set up rival crowd-funding pages. The “Gerald Stanley Support Fund” had raised C$180,000 ($144,000) to pay his legal bills by February 14th. “Justice for Colten Boushie” had raised C$166,000 for his family.

After meeting Mr Boushie’s family, Mr Trudeau promised legislation to make Canada’s courts more friendly to indigenous people. It will be enacted before the next national election, which is due in 2019. He did not provide much detail, though it is likely that the reform will change the rules under which lawyers can dismiss potential jurors.

Many indigenous Canadians doubt that Mr Trudeau will bring about big changes. Past declarations of good intentions include one by a Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples in 1996 and one by a Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 2015. “We need to make sure this time it’s for real,” said Romeo Saganash, a Cree member of parliament from Quebec.