Court of King's Bench for Saskatchewan
[17][18][19] Under then Prime Minister Stephen Harper, the Conservative government gave a mandate to officials from the Department of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development—now known as the Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Development Canada—to "negotiate a settlement with the Catholic entities" who had committed in the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement (IRSSA) to raise $25 million to pay for healing programs for survivors.
[20] Justice Neil Gabrielson had ruled on July 16, 2015 that the federal Conservative government under then Prime Minister Stephen Harper had "inadvertently released 50 Catholic entities from their contractual responsibility to try to raise up to $25-million for aboriginal healing programs".
[18] Under the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement (IRSSA) fifty Catholic entities were under three obligations which included $29 million to the Aboriginal Healing Foundation, $25 million through "services to aboriginal communities" and finally to use their "best efforts" to "raise $25-million for additional healing programs".
In his July ruling, Gabrielson said that "for a payment of $1.2-million, the Catholic entities were to be released from their responsibilities to raise the remainder of the $25-million, and be seen to have completed the other two categories of contributions.
[20] At the request of The Globe and Mail a University of Alberta law professor, Eric Adams, and Ken Young, a residential school survivor and a Winnipeg lawyer, who read Gabrielson's ruling said that the government under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau should have appealed Gabrielson's ruling, as the stakes were so high.
[20] Young said that it did not appear that Gay had agreed on behalf of the federal government to "allow the Catholic entities to walk away from their fundraising obligations."
The federal government was content to allow Gabrielson's ruling to stand and bring an end to what was a bad deal for the victims.
The jury found that the death of Colten Boushie, from the Cree Red Pheasant First Nation[22] occurred because of "hang fire".
[26] The rally at the Saskatoon court attracted 1,000 people who supported Boushie's family and were frustrated by the jury's decision.
[26] At a press conference on February 11, hosted by Saskatoon Tribal Council, Mayor Clark described the event as a "defining moment for this community and this country".
