Inquiry reveals more to killing than system wanted aired

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After more than a year of public pressure, Saskatchewan's inquiry into the death

of Cree trapper Leo Lachance at the hands of white supremacist Carney Nerland is underway.

And testimony arising from the first week of the summer-long investigation is likely confirming hard suspicions that there was more to the Lachance shooting than met the public eye.

Police officers have told the three-member commission they suspect some of

their colleagues sympathize with Nerland's racist views. Police photographs even show Nerland on hand during one part of their investigation.

An eye witness to the shooting say Nerland refused to lend him the telephone in his gun shop to call an ambulance for Lachance, who lay bleeding on the sidewalk outside.

A weapons expert further testified that he doubted Lachance was outside the store when struck by the fatal bullet. He said it was unlikely a bullet would have done as much damage as the one that killed Lachance if it had first travelled through a door.

None of this evidence proves that Nerland's actions were anything less than an accident, as police concluded at the end of their investigation. But it does show that there was more to Lachance's tragic death than what the justice was prepared to deal with in a public forum.

When Nerland was sentenced to four years on a manslaughter charge, it prompted storms of protest. Members of the community said if the roles had been reversed - if Nerland had been Native and Lachance had been white - the case would have been handled differently. With far greater severity, in all likelihood

Even at the beginning of the process, this inquiry is showing the public outrage was justifiable. The circumstances surrounding the crime never had a full public airing and the public never viewed the evidence that formed the basis of Nerland's sentence. Now those circumstances are coming to light and the picture is ugly.

But what should the community take from this process?

Clearly, there will be new causes for outrage and protest. But the inquiry does

not have to become grounds for a witch-hunt within Prince Albert's police force on a fundamental rejection of the justice system.

The law has a tendency to isolate itself from external criticism. A recent example would be the five years it took for Wilson Nepoose to get the critical review of his murder conviction that resulted in his freedom.

There are some similarities with the Lachance case. The legal process acted alone, again without an obvious recognition of the concerns raised at the grassroots. It now looks like those community concerns were justified.

Hopefully, this inquiry will become an example of the distance between the implementation of the law and the community. If Nerland's four-year sentence was truly appropriate for the crime, then that would have been apparent over the course of a full and fair trial. It it was not, then not only would justice have been done, it would have seen to be done.

Community leaders, the legal system, politicians and the public should be looking to this inquiry as a chance to understand the distance between themselves. It should become the example that starts a healing process that will respect the needs of the accused and the needs of the people.