Dear god….although I’m not surprised.

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A source connected to an ongoing House of Commons study on bail reform conducted by the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights has confirmed exclusively with True North that a Liberal MP invited a convicted killer to advise the government on potential changes to bail laws.

In the parliamentary record, Nicole “Nyki” Kish is described as a “Canadian researcher, advocate and leader specializing in criminal justice, incarceration and the impacts of law on marginalized communities,” and is identified as the associate executive director of the Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies.

What the record doesn’t mention is that Kish is also a convicted murderer.

Appearing before the justice committee earlier this month in a witness and advisory role on “Bail System, Sentencing and the Handling of Repeat Violent Offenders in Canada,” Kish’s criminal history was never publicly disclosed to observers. She was instead presented solely as an expert witness on bail reform with no mention of her own conviction for murder.

Kish was convicted in 2011 for the August 9, 2007, stabbing death of 32-year-old Ross Hammond, who was attacked near a Queen Street West ATM after rejecting a panhandling request.

At trial, the court heard how Kish stabbed Hammond at least four times. Trying to flee, Hammond clung to a passing taxi, which dragged him for a block before he collapsed. He died in the hospital days later.

Identified through security footage and eyewitness testimony, Kish was arrested and charged with second-degree murder.

Kish was granted $165,000 bail just weeks after Hammond’s death, under what legacy media and CBC News described as “strict conditions.” She was ordered to live with her grandmother in Hamilton and remain under family supervision.

Within weeks, Kish was re-arrested as a suspect in another alleged stranger swarming attack that left a 55-year-old woman with a collapsed lung. Public records do not clearly show whether that case ever resulted in a conviction.

It took more than three years for the murder trial to proceed. Nearly 20 eyewitnesses, along with forensic and video evidence, testified. The judge found Kish guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, a conviction later upheld on appeal.

“I am satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that Nicole Kish stabbed Ross Hammond and thus caused his death,” Judge Nordheimer stated in his 39-page ruling.

Exactly how long Kish served remains unclear, and the Parole Board of Canada has already declined questions from other reporters.

During her incarceration, she ran a blog from prison, publishing essays on Indigenous incarceration, criminal justice reform, and her proclaimed innocence. The posts stopped less than two years after her conviction.

By 2021, Kish, then 36, appeared to be living semi-independently, often in halfway houses, maintaining her innocence on social media while posting about travel and day-to-day life — all while supposedly serving a 12-year sentence for murder.

In a 2021 article for the Toronto Sun, reporter Joe Warmington documented the outrage of Hammond’s surviving family over Kish’s lenient treatment by the justice system.

In response to news that Kish was going on another vacation, Hammond’s sister, Gina, said, “They say victims have a voice, we do not. Decisions are made long before sitting before the parole board panel. It’s just a formality.”

“The system is not set up in a way that a person is held accountable, punished and actually serves the time they are sentenced,” she continued.

Conservative MP Aaron Gunn asked Kish if she had met with the families of murder victims.

“Ms. Kish, have you met with any families who have had loved ones murdered by somebody out on bail?” Gunn asked the witness.

“Not murdered by an individual out on bail,” Kish specified in her response.

It’s unclear who specifically invited Kish to appear before the committee.

Witnesses in House studies are typically chosen during an in-camera process, meaning the public isn’t privy to which MPs nominated which witnesses. Committees then vote on who to call, based largely on the study’s scope and available time, before the clerk issues formal invitations.

https://www.junonews.com/p/exclusive-liberals-invited-convicted