Indigenous groups from around Alberta will be part of a lunchtime rally at the Edmonton courthouse to demand an appeal in the case of Cindy Gladue.
Last month, a jury found long-distance trucker Bradley Barton not guilty of first-degree murder and manslaughter in Gladue’s death. The 36-year-old sex worker, and mother of three, bled to death in the bathtub of Barton’s Edmonton hotel room in June 2011.
The decision has outraged people who see the decision as another sign of systemic bias against indigenous women. Gladue was of Cree descent.
Rallies are planned across the country on Thursday. The Alberta chief of the Assembly of First Nations, Cameron Alexis, will be at the Edmonton event to show support for Gladue’s family. .
“And I feel for the family. We’re not sensationalising this by any means, we are victims and people have to understand that,” he said. “You have to imagine what that whole family is going through. It’s a very painful process.
The Crown calls Gladue’s death shocking and appalling and is reviewing the case.
Barton’s lawyer Dino Bottos says the jury made its decision based on listening to four weeks of evidence.
