Thunder Bay – NEWS – Sol Mamakwa, MPP for Kiiwetinoong and the NDP’s Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation critic released the following statement in response to Brayden Bushby being found guilty of manslaughter in the death of Barbara Kentner:
“Barbara Kentner was loved and valued – she should still be with us. I hope this verdict provides Barbara’s family, loved ones and community with some amount of closure.
But the circumstances that made Barbara’s death at the hands of Brayden Bushby possible have not changed. Neither has the broken justice system that led to the downgrading of the charges against Mr. Bushby from second-degree murder to manslaughter, and continues to fail Indigenous people.
The killing of Barbara Kentner is not a single incident, but part of a long-standing pattern of several cases in Thunder Bay, and throughout Ontario involving the murders and disappearances of Indigenous people. Thunder Bay continues to be an unsafe place for Indigenous people – especially women.
In order for there to be true justice for Barbara and far too many Indigenous women, girls, trans and two spirit people who have faced violence, governments at all levels need to address the systemic nature of anti-Indigenous violence, racism and colonialism in our society.”
