Styres family to call for changes to Canada's justice system at Assembly of First Nations

During a presentation before theAssembly of First Nations Thursday, family and loved ones of Jon Styres and ColtenBoushie are expected to call for key changes to Canada's justice system.

Six Nations of the Grand River elected-chief Ava Hill invited Styres's mother and the mother of his children to join her in Vancouver, where the organization aimed at protecting and advancing Indigenous treaty rights has gathered to elect its next chief.

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Hill said she's arranged for the Boushiefamily to meet theStyresfamilyandaddress the assemblyas well.

"There are a lot of flaws and quite franklyracism within the whole justice system and they're going to make an appeal to the chief about doing something about this," explainedthe chief.

The familieswill also have a chance to meet withJanePhilpott, Canada'sMinister of Indigenous Services and Carolyn Bennett,Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations, according to Hill.

Styres'sspouse, Lindsay Hill said she's hoping to express how she feels the system failed Jon and to explainhow much he was loved.

"I am hoping the chiefs will push for major change within the Canadian justice system and not stop until drastic changes have been made," she wrote in an email to CBC News.

Calls for change

Jon Styreswas shot and killed by two close-range shotgun blasts fired by Hamilton-area homeowner Peter Khillon the night of Feb. 4, 2016.

Khilladmitted he killed the First Nations manwho appeared to be trying to steal his truck.But he pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder, saying he was following his training as a former military reservist and that he fired in self-defence.

Prosecutors argued he could have stayed in his house and called 911, but ajury acquitted the 28-year-old on June 27.

The Crown has since appealed Khill's not guilty verdict.

It was a case that drew comparisons tothe not guilty verdict reachedin the death ofBoushie, a 22-year-old from theRed Pheasant Cree Nation in Saskatchewan, who wasshot and killed in August 2016 by Gerald Stanley, a white farmer.

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Theverdict was reached by a jury without anyvisibly Indigenous jurors.Thedecision led to outrageacross the country and a pledge from federal ministers and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to change "systemic issues" in the justice system.

Hill said those changes still haven't been made and giving the Boushie and Styresfamiliesa chance to share their story is a way to show why they need to happen.

"We can't just stand up and yell and scream about it for a little while, we have to keep the pressure on the government to make changes," she said."We don't want to see this happen again."