Charlottetown rally seeks justice for Colten Boushie's family

About 100 people gathered for a rally in Charlottetown demanding justice fortheColtenBoushiefamily.

People in the crowd huddled closelyat the steps of the GeorgeColesBuildingin Charlottetown holdingneon-coloured signs covered with photos of Boushie.

Many signshad#JusticeForColtenwritten across them, sketchedforsolidarityfollowing a controversial trial that wrapped up Friday night.

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Boushie was a 22-year-old Indigenous man from Saskatchewan who was shot in the head after an altercation with farmer Gerald Stanley in August 2016.

My head lays low because I knowColten'sstory and it's good to see people here today, but it's not enough. ElizaKnockwood

Stanley was charged with second-degree murder, but a jury acquitted the farmer Friday evening,

"Every day we're dying, every second of every day," Eliza Knockwood told the crowd in Charlottetown.

"What, as Indigenous people, do we need in this country to feel safe, to feel as equal, to feel an ounce of justice in this country? Colten is the face of all of us Indigenous people."

Time has come to 'fix the flawed justice system'

She,like others who spoke to the crowd on Sunday, saidthe justice system failed Boushie and that more Canadians should be out in support.

"As an Indigenous woman I'm not shocked, I know a lot of our allies are outraged. I can't even say that I'm outraged, I'm saddened. My head lays low because I know Colten's story and it's good to see people here today, but it's not enough," she told CBCNews after her speech.

Chief Brian Francis, of theAbegweit First Nation, said the Canadian justice system has "continually failed" Indigenous people.

He also questioned the fairness of theall-white jury's ability to deliverafair verdict.

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"The time has come to fix the flawed justice system that we have in Canada when it comes to our Indigenous peoples," Francis said following the rally.

"The time has come for us to all work together and go in the spirit of true and meaningful reconciliation."

The family ofBouchiequestioned the fairness of the jury as well, tellingCBCbefore the trial that the all-white cast of jurors meant"the deck is stacked" against them.

Like Francis, other speakers at the rally spoke to Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission calling on the Trudeau government to find justice for the family.

"There was no reconciliation with the family and with Colten," Judy Clark said. "I couldn't believe what I saw, its a shame that the verdict came back the way it did."

"There needs to be something done."

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