Eleanore Sunchild says emotions between the Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities seem to have tempered somewhat in the months following the acquittal of Gerald Stanley.
Stanley shot and killed 22-year-old Colten Boushie of the Red Pheasant Cree Nation in August 2016.
Sunchild, who is a lawyer and friend of the Boushie family, says emotions ran high at a community policing meeting she attended in Perdue in March, shortly after the verdict came down.
However, at a similar meeting in The Battlefords Tuesday night, she says the tenor appeared much calmer.
“Tonight, it (Stanley verdict) seemed to be less on people’s mind and the emotions weren’t as high as they were following the verdict,” she says. “So that’s good and there was a lot of good discussion here.”
At the same time, property crime and how best to respond to it was still a hot topic of discussion.
RCMP Staff Sergeant Greg Abbott says people should think twice before taking matters into their own hands in the event of a property crime.
“If you can avoid a confrontation, do it, avoid the confrontation because the unknown element – you never know what it is you are dealing with,” he says. “And why prompt a confrontation if it is not necessary? Call the police, let us do our job.”
How to create a more representative police force was also discussed.
The public was told five of 54 RCMP officers in The Battlefords area are Indigenous and recruitment has been a struggle in recent years.
However, Sunchild says the police force must be seen as a more welcoming place to Indigenous people if the RCMP wants to improve its recruitment numbers.
About 50 people were on hand for the meeting.
The RCMP is holding similar town hall type meetings with the public around the province.
On Wednesday officers will be in Denholm before heading to Meota on Thursday.
(Photo: RCMP Officer Greg Abbott, photo by Fraser Needham)