Judge rules 'colonialism' caused First Nations man to become deadly drunk driver - National Post

Darris Wilson, who crashed head-on into another vehicle in 2022, killing 12-year-old girl, was sentenced last week to two years of house arrest. Photo by BrianAJackson /Getty Images/iStockphotoArticle contentAn Ontario judge has ruled that “colonialism” was primarily to blame in a deadly drunk driving crash that saw a First Nations man kill a 12-year-old girl.

According to police reports, Darris Wilson’s Dodge Ram pickup truck was strewn with empty and partially consumed cans of beer when, in 2022, it slammed head-on into a vehicle carrying a mother and daughter en route to a sleepover.

Sierra Beverly, 12, was killed at the scene. Her mother, Naomi, suffered debilitating brain injuries for which she still requires 24-hour care.

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The crash occurred at 4:24 p.m. on a Friday afternoon, and investigators would determine that Wilson seems to have made no attempt to brake before slamming into the Mitsubishi sub-compact carrying the two Beverlys. He was also driving at about 90 km/h in a 50 km/h zone.

But in a sentencing decision released last week, Ontario Justice Gethin Edward predominantly focused on how Canada’s “colonial past” had turned Wilson into a drunk driver.

Wilson, he ruled, was suffering from cultural “disconnection” as a result of colonization, which “crystallized into the tragic events of Feb. 11, 2022.”

Wilson was convicted of dangerous driving causing death and bodily harm, a crime which can carry a maximum jail term of 14 years.

Instead, as per a report in the Brantford Expositor, Edward handed down a sentence of two years of house arrest — and specifically cited the offenders’ Indigenous background as the reason for the light sentence.

The Crown had requested a prison sentence of four years, which Edward framed as a government effort to rob Wilson of his heritage.