Racism not unique or more prevalent in Saskatchewan: Premier

Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall says some of the racismthat has come to light since the shooting death of a 22-year-oldCree man is a national problem.

Wall says racism is not unique to Saskatchewan, nor is it somehowmore prevalent in the province as some have suggested.

Racial tension has been high since Colten Boushie was killed Aug. 9after the vehicle he was in drove onto a farm near Biggar west ofSaskatoon.

The propertyowner, 54-year-old Gerald Stanley, is charged withsecond-degree murder and is free on bail.

Wall condemned social media posts after the shooting and calledcomments he'd seen online "racist and hate-filled."

Wall says young people are more enlightened, but he doesn't knowof any program that could address racism among older generations.

"I'm not sure what program you could do to deal with the othergenerations, (which) aren't frankly as enlightened as our kids are,except to speak out boldly about it, except to make it unequivocallyclear that's not this province. That's not how we are goodneighbours in Saskatchewan," he told reporters after a cabinetshuffle Tuesday.

"Unfortunately, this isn't unique to Saskatchewan. I just wantto reject that it's somehow unique or somehow has a greaterpresence in our province. Sadly, it has a presence right across thecountry."

Screen grabs after the shooting from a Saskatchewan farmers groupFacebook page were widely circulated. One post, written by acouncillor with the Rural Municipality of Browning, said Stanley's"only mistake was leaving three witnesses."

First Nations leaders have said an initial RCMP release about theshooting stoked the flames because it stated people in the car weretaken into custody as part of a theft investigation. They werereleased without charges.

Boushie's cousin, who was in the car at the time of the shooting,has said they were heading home to the Red Pheasant Cree Nationafter an afternoon of swimming when they got a flat tire and werelooking for help.

Wall said Tuesday he has received a letter, which he wouldn'trelease, from the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations askinghim to address racism in the province. Wall said he's happy to sitdown to discuss the issue, but suggested the province has alreadydone several things.

Saskatchewan has made treaty education mandatory and is followingup on recommendations from the recent Truth and ReconciliationCommission on residential schools, he said.

"We need to start building an understanding, especially inplaces where there may not be a high First Nations population."

Things are changing, Wall said.

"The hope that we should have is, the next generation, theydon't have some of the thoughts perhaps that even ours did or thatour parents did. I think we should be hopeful about that."