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Mar 22, 2021 7:37 PM -

Boushie's mother says RCMP watchdog report shows injustice in response to son's death

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Debbie Baptiste says she was never going to let the RCMP's response to the 2016 shooting death of her son be swept under the rug.

A police watchdog's report into the death of the 22 year old Indigenous man on a Saskatchewan farm determined officers treated Baptiste so insensitively when they notified her of his death that it amounted to discrimination.

Colten Boushie died in August of 2016 when the SUV he was riding in went onto farmer Gerald Stanley's property near Biggar, Saskatchewan.

A review of the RCMP response by the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission found officers discriminated against Boushie's mother, Debbie Baptiste, when they notified her of her son's death, and when they inappropriately showed up to his wake to provide an update on the case.

Officers told Baptiste to, "get it together," questioned whether she had been drinking, smelled her breath and searched her home without permission.

Baptiste says her family has and will continue fighting for justice for her son and other Indigenous people.

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