Canada: Indigenous Woman Dies After Racist Throws Metal Hitch

A First Nations woman who was hit by a trailer hitch thrown from a moving vehicle in January has died.

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Barbara Kentner, 34, was hit by the metal trailer hitch in the abdomen on Jan. 29 in Thunder Bay, Ont. She sustained devastating internal injuries and received surgery, but never fully recovered.

“I heard her take her last breath,” Kentner's sister, Melissa Kentner, told the APTN news on Tuesday. Barbara’s teenage daughter Serena, Melissa and her cousin Debbie Kakagamic were all fixtures at her side.

Melissa, who was walking in a residential neighborhood with Barbara when the incident happened, said she heard one passenger in the vehicle yelled, “Oh, I got one.”

Thunder Bay police have charged Brayden Bushby, 18, with aggravated assault. Officials told CBC News that they are looking into whether the charges will be changed, in light of Kentner's death.

"There is an escalation of violence in this city and we must not minimize these horrible situations," said Nishnawbe Aski Nation Deputy Grand Chief Anna Betty Achneepineskum in a statement on Tuesday afternoon.

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"A young Indigenous mother died today, and a young girl is without her mother — this should not happen. What do you say to a young girl that loses her mother?"

Kentner’s family and local First Nations leaders have insisted that Kentner was targeted because she was Indigenous and demanding her death be considered a hate crime.

“The determination and consideration of this incident being a hate motivated crime would be part of the penalty/sentencing aspect of the trial of the accused,” said Chris Adams, executive officer with Thunder Bay Police Services, according to the Toronto Star.

The latest Statistics Canada data showed that Thunder Bay had the highest number of hate crimes reported by police in a metropolitan area in the country.

First Nations youth told CBC it is common for Indigenous people in the city to be targeted by objects thrown from passing vehicles.

“We must all work together to acknowledge that racism exists. We must combat and report racism. We must take this very seriously,” Achneepineskum said. “This has been going on for far too long. This is our reality, as many Indigenous peoples, especially our women, have come to me with their stories.”