Reasonable Doubt is a dramatic, but not straightforward, account of Colten Boushie’s tragic end
Reasonable Doubt is a powerful and uncomfortable examination of the Colten Boushie tragedy and its aftermath – the shock of the verdict, its ugly implications for Indigenous people and the divisions that resulted.
On opening night in Saskatoon, the divisions were left behind and the audience came together in a special evening with emotion and resolve: This cannot continue.
Told by an ensemble cast of six reciting verbatim dialogue (complete with ums, uhs and stammers), from interviews and court documents, and performing a few musical numbers, Reasonable Doubt is dramatic, but not a straightforward re-enactment. It is more like a basket carefully woven with threads of disparate perspectives, opinions and court proceedings, creating a vessel strong enough to carry some heavy truths.
On Aug. 9, 2016, Boushie, a 22-year-old from the Cree Red Pheasant First Nation, was shot at close range and killed on a farm belonging to Gerald Stanley, a white man, who testified at his murder trial that the gun must have gone off by accident. Stanley was acquitted.
