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Family calls for probe of decision to grant parole to man convicted in woman's death

  • Alessia Passafiume

  • Canadian Press

  • August 31, 2026

Connie Kentner, sister of Barbara Kentner, participates in a march following the decision to grant full parole to the man who was convicted of her sister's manslaughter, in Ottawa, on Monday, Aug. 31, 2026. Barbara Kentner, a member of Wabigoon Lake Ojibway Nation, died after complications to her injuries after she was struck by a trailer hitch thrown from a moving vehicle by Brayden Bushby in Thunder Bay in 2017. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang

OTTAWA -- Family members of the late Barbara Kentner are demanding that the Parole Board of Canada explain why it granted her attacker full parole without first meeting with them.

Kentner was walking on a street in Thunder Bay, Ont., with her sister in 2017 when Brayden Bushby tossed a trailer hitch at her, striking her in the abdomen.

The First Nations woman died six months later.

Bushby, now 25, pleaded guilty to aggravated assault but was convicted of manslaughter for what the presiding judge described as a callous, misogynist attack.

He was recently granted full parole after being sentenced in 2021 to eight years in prison.

Kentner's sister Connie Kentner says her family deserves to know why Bushby was granted full parole and wants systemic changes to ensure people who attack Indigenous women are punished to the full extent of the law.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 31, 2026.

-- With files from Paola Loriggio