Trial following Indigenous woman’s death left plenty out

It matters that what happened to Barbara Kentner, as she walked with her sister, Melissa, that cold night in January 2017 in Thunder Bay — a city with a longstanding racist tradition of throwing objects at Indigenous peoples.

Kentner died five months after the trailer hitch attack. Brayden Bushby pleaded guilty to aggravated assault, although his lawyer argued he was not guilty of manslaughter, a charge downgraded from second-degree murder, in Kentner’s death. The trial finally began on Nov. 2.

In preparation to watch the trial, I visited the water daily to pray for the Kentners and Indigenous peoples, because during trials colonial narratives emerge. We’re reminded of the little regard settler systems have for Indigenous lives. When white men, like Bradley Barton or Gerald Stanley, stand trial for crimes related to our premature deaths, we bore witness to them getting off their charges, reinforcing myths that Indigenous lives are of lesser value and we are somehow responsible for our deaths.

Although Bushby was the one on trial, it was the Kentner sisters who were interrogated during proceedings. Under cross-examination, Bushby’s defence asked: “Isn’t the reason you didn’t call an ambulance is that you were on a conditional sentence order?”

Melissa, quick witted, responded: “This isn’t about me, this is about my sister.”

Indeed, the defence took the opportunity to talk about past involvements with the justice system, stating it was because of this that appropriate calls for help were not made for Barbara. Imagine participating in the trial of the one charged in your baby sister’s death and it’s insinuated you were partly responsible. Victim-blaming is only one example of how the justice system fails Indigenous peoples.

Thunder Bay’s much-deserved reputation for anti-Indigenous racism partly results from documented Indigenous experiences of things thrown at them from moving vehicles — these include racial slurs, but also cups, spoons, garbage and in this case, a trailer hitch.

I wonder how many unchecked racist conversations Bushby would’ve been part of throughout his life that led to driving around with friends and throwing a trailer hitch at an Indigenous woman for amusement. This is the danger of normalized anti-Indigenous racism in this city.

Throughout the trial, defence counsel was adamant Bushby’s attack wasn’t a racially motivated one. He used Melissa’s interview with police. They asked if she thought the attack was targeted. She answered, “No, people just being stupid.”

Let’s be clear, just because Melissa didn’t call the attack racist, doesn’t mean it wasn’t. Under the clearest circumstances, it can be difficult to name racism because of a refusal to believe Indigenous peoples. No one disputes racism exists, until it is called racism, and then all of the sudden it’s questioned if it really was.

Also, when Melissa was interviewed, an unprecedented investigation into the

Thunder Bay police for systemic racism toward Indigenous peoples was taking place and was later verified. Imagine, being Indigenous and talking to a police officer, who belongs to a force where racism is also an issue, after witnessing such trauma.

Unsealed testimony of two of Bushby’s friends said he jumped out of the moving car, bringing back a trailer hitch. Are these hunks of metal just laying around in the snow? They also revealed Bushby wanted to “yell at hookers,” bringing contexts of sex work, human trafficking and sexual exploitation — all heavily racialized and gendered in Thunder Bay — into periphery.

The Native Women’s Association of Canada, the Ontario Native Women’s Association and Indigenous academics and others published research about the over-representation of Indigenous women in these areas.

Considering this all, why did Bushby’s team conclude this wasn’t racially motivated?

A sacred fire burned during the trial and was visited by many. I hope Thunder Bay becomes populated by more who are awake to issues of anti-Indigenous racism and rather than allow racist conversations to remain unchecked, it is taken up as responsibility to intervene and correct.

When this happens, a new story for Thunder Bay is possible, one where it is more unsafe to be racist, than it is to be Indigenous and go for a walk. In the meantime, we wait for Justice Helen M. Pierce to deliver her reasons for judgment on Dec. 14.