In August of 2016, Cree youth Colten Boushie was shot dead by Saskatchewan farmer Gerald Stanley. Using colonial and socio-political narratives that underlie white rural settler life, the authors position the death of Boushie and the trial of Stanley in relation to Indigenous histories and experiences in Saskatchewan. They point to the Stanley case as just one instance of Indigenous peoples’ presence being seen as a threat to settler-colonial security, then used to sanction the exclusion, violent treatment, and death of Indigenous peoples and communities.

“Storying Violence carefully and methodically detonates the colonial narratives of the Stanley Trial—a speaking of Indigenous truths to a trial and a country. From the ashes of tragedy, Starblanket and Hunt have ethically intervened, centered the prairie Indigenous experience and the Boushie and Baptiste families’ incredible bravery and advocacy in the face of unspeakable loss. Storying Violence demands that we create a safer world for our beloved Indigenous youth, who just like Colten Boushie, have every right to go swimming with friends, laugh, and feel joy in their ancestral territories. This is simply a must-read for all Canadians.” — Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, author of As We Have Always Done

“Accessible and theoretically astute, Starblanket and Hunt bring to life the meaning of Treaties and Indigenous relationships to land and life while demonstrating that settlers such as Stanley have long been provided license to disregard our humanity through the deeply embedded colonial and racist practices of Canadian law, founded in its primacy of private property and defended by judges, lawyers, prosecutors, and police officers.” — Verna St. Denis, Professor of Critical Race Studies, University of Saskatchewan