Ouellette understands why comments drew criticism

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This article was published 16/02/2018 (3096 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

After being blasted by Indigenous leaders, MP Robert-Falcon Ouellette said he should have chosen his words about the outcome of the Gerald Stanley trial more carefully.

In his effort to express sympathy for the family of Stanley — the Saskatchewan farmer acquitted in the shooting death of Colten Boushie — Ouellette said he wasn’t as clear as he could have been.

“Perhaps in a very awkward way I felt sorry for the Stanley family,” the Liberal MP for Winnipeg Centre said. “He (Gerald Stanley) took a life. You can’t take that back. Whether it was intentional or accidental, he took a life and that is on his conscience. If it was on mine, it would weigh very heavily.

“I wish I perhaps had explained myself in a clearer way, but it is what it is. You can’t take stuff back.”

Those comments came Friday following an unrelated news conference in Winnipeg. Ouellette was asked to respond to the sharp criticism he drew from Arlen Dumas, grand chief of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs.

“I actually kind of agreed with him (Dumas). I saw the comment. I heard the comment… Property is never more important than human life,” he said.

Boushie, a 22-year-old Cree man, was shot and killed during an altercation on Stanley’s farm near Biggar, Sask., in August 2016.

Last week, an all-white jury acquitted Stanley of all charges, sparking nationwide protests.

“The Stanley family was placed in an impossible situation that’s been building up over a long period of time… I feel sorry for them,” Ouellette told the Free Press shortly after the acquittal.

“They’ve essentially lost two years of their lives. They’ve faced legal bills and great difficulty.”

When asked at the time if his comments would draw the ire of Indigenous leaders Ouellette said they “probably” would. That is exactly what happened.

Dumas denounced the remarks in a statement released Monday, saying he felt the MP’s comments could “result in an increase in violent confrontation and the deaths of more innocent people.”

Ouellette’s family is from Red Pheasant First Nation, Sask., which was also Boushie’s home.

The Liberal MP was specifically asked if he regretted what he’d said and paused before saying he wished he had been clearer with the message he was trying to convey. He added that he hadn’t spoken with Dumas since the public criticism was levied against him.

“Obviously, I don’t think there is any politician or human being with any morality who would say that property is worth more than a human life. A human life is obviously the most important thing that we have,” he said Friday.

“How do we create a society where, not only changing the jury system and the justice system, but how do we prevent another young man from dying like that in the future? At the end of the day my larger issue is: how do we actually move beyond this?”

Dumas was not immediately available for comment Friday.

ryan.thorpe@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @rk_thorpe