THUNDER BAY — The Grand Chief of Nishnawbe Aski Nation is welcoming the guilty verdict handed down Monday in the trial of Brayden Bushby.
The 22-year-old Thunder Bay man was convicted of manslaughter in the death of Barbara Kentner.
The 34-year-old woman died in July 2017, five months after being struck in the abdomen by a trailer hitch thrown by Bushby from a moving car.
NAN Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler says "It is encouraging that Justice [Helen] Pierce rejected the victim-blaming presented by the defence and saw this case for what it was – a deliberate act with a foreseeable outcome."
In a statement, Fiddler called the case "a stark reminder of the systemic racism and violence perpetrated against Indigenous people in Thunder Bay and across this country."
He said many recent acts of violence have raised fear that Indigenous lives are valued less, and that "the normalization of anti-Indigenous racism sees victims held responsible for their own deaths."
Fiddler added that numerous recommendations have been made to prevent violence against Indigenous women, but far too little has been done about it.
Bushby has not been sentenced yet.
A sentencing hearing is scheduled for February 2021.
