Blind Number: 8202

Originally, I had intended on doing my final self-reflection on the readings and

lecture material for week 9,, regarding the doctrine of discovery, as I have always
found discussion surrounding this doctrine to be very interesting, both in other law
classes, as well as in courses in my undergraduate degree. However, my mind
instantly changed when I watched the video shown in class this week and got to listen
to Jade Tootoosis and her lived experience regarding the Stanley trial.

As soon as the video began and I obtained a good understanding of what the
case and subsequent trial was actually about, I was filled with a sense of unease.
While, unfortunately, I have done a lot of research and reading about other similar
cases, cases in which a person of colour is murdered and the trial is completely
tailored in favour of the murderer and the murderer gets off with, at most, a slap on
the wrist, this case and how the trial went and Jade’s lived experiences hit extremely
close to me.

Last year, my close friend’s younger brother was unjustly murdered by an

officer of the Toronto Police. What my friend and her family went through was
unfathomable and I experienced it all first hand, as I was trying my best to provide
any support to her and her family. After months, they finally got an actual, concrete
understanding of the events that occurred leading up to the death of her younger
brother, as up until that point, her family was completely kept in the dark. They are
now fighting to go to court and seek justice for her younger brother but with her and I
both being law students, unfortunately we have seen too many cases like this one, and
like Colton’s case, to be able to be hopeful and have faith in the justice system. 

I think that a main aspect of self-reflecting in this case for me was regarding the
optimistic views that people are able to maintain. Listing to Ms Tootoosis speak in
both the documentary that we watched, as well as in our lecture, I repeatedly caught
myself astounded by the courage and determination she demonstrated, not only
throughout the trial, but leading up to it as well as after they did not receive the verdict
they were looking for. When I was supporting my friend after the death of her brother,
I constantly found myself to be angry. I was angry that no one seemed to care, that the
story was buried under stories about celebrity gossip in the media, that my friend and
her family were kept in the dark for months, waiting for answers, that her young
brother, with so much life ahead of him, was murdered and my distrust in the justice
system in cases surrounding protection of people of colour against white people was
immensely heightened. I knew that if my friends brother would have been a white
teen, the community uproar would have been incomparable.
 I am so immensely proud and impressed by the strength and resilience my
friend’s family, as well as the Tootoosis family, were able to demonstrate in the
mission to finding answers and receiving closure and ideally justice for the murder of
their loved one. The coincidental overlap and shared experiences between what these
two families have gone through is why I decided to rewrite my self reflection for this
week and talk about the Stanley trial instead.