Buried in the Silence

Louis A. Knafla is a professor of history at the University of Calgary
and the co-editor of Law, Society, and the State: Essays in Modern Legal
History.

In January 1991, white supremacist Carney Nerland of Prince Albert,
Saskatchewan, killed Leo LaChance, a Cree from the Big River Reserve.
Connie Sampson, a reporter for the Prince Albert Daily Herald, covered
the case from beginning to end. In this book, she chronicles the trial
and subsequent judicial inquiry, providing along the way a wide-ranging
mix of vignettes about the town of Prince Albert, about the reserve, and
about Nerland, a neo-Nazi who believed that Adolf Hitler was Elijah the
Prophet. Unfortunately, her book also contains startling evidence about
white-supremacist beliefs in the Prince Albert police force and about
Nerland’s status as an informer for the RCMP. (Sentenced to four years
for manslaughter, Nerland received an early release from prison, and
government assistance thereafter.)

Organized into 21 short chapters, Buried in the Silence contains only a
single photograph and no notes, bibliography, or index.