Vigils held in support of Colten Boushie

Two vigils were held in Regina and Saskatoon Thursday night in honour of Colten Boushie, a 22-year-old Indigenous man fatally shot on a farm in the Biggar, Sask. area in August 2016.

A few dozen people attended the vigils and bundled up against the cold to light candles and speak in support of Boushie's family.

Boushie's death inflamed racial tensions across the province.

Cameron Fraser saw the vigil in Regina as "a call to pay attention."

"I think that if this causes us to ask important questions about ourselves, about [how] we view race and racism within this country, I think that we absolutely need to have that conversation."

In Saskatoon, powwow singer John Noon spoke and joined a group of drummers, singing to "honour the ones who passed on," he said.

The vigils were co-hosted by Saskatchewan Coalition Against Racism and Colonialism No More.

Gerald Stanley is accused of second-degree murder in Boushie'sdeath. His trial begins next week in Battleford.