On November 5, 2022, 23-year-old Hodan Hashi and 22-year-old Paige Theriault-Fisher got into a fight at a Saskatoon night club. According to a public prosecution statement, “During the fight, the two women went to the ground and, tragically, Hodan Hashi was cut by a broken glass lying on the floor. Based on the evidence, that cut was the fatal injury that caused Ms. Hashi’s death.

Theriault-Fisher was initially charged with second-degree murder, but the charge was reduced to manslaughter the same day. Last week the Crown asserted that Theriault-Fisher acted in self-defence and stayed the charge; that means that the charge is put on hold but may be reinstituted within one year and the person could be prosecuted on those same charges. But this rarely happens.

According to eyewitness accounts the fight between the two women involved no weapons. Hodan Hashi died of a cut she received from a broken glass lying on the floor.

Hashi was one of nine children born in Ottawa of a Somali family. She went to Saskatoon in 2021 to study to become an early childhood educator.

The Hashi family is quite disappointed on hearing the news that the manslaughter charge against Theriault-Fisher was stayed. The family believes that all the facts should come out, and that the prosecution for manslaughter should proceed. A video of the incident shows Hashi’s face and neck being repeated slam to the floor while blood pools beneath Hashi. The family views this as crucial evidence.

The victim’s sister Shukri Hashi believes that race played a role – Theriault-Fisher was white.

“There’s no way that someone like my sister, any person of colour, would have walked away with zero consequences for their actions that night if the roles were reversed,” said Hashi.

The family also filed a lawsuit against Theriault-Fisher and the nightclub, and plans to hire a private investigator to gather new evidence. It would need to be presented in front of a court within a year in order for the case to be resumed.