Newcomer killed in Westwood crash was planning October wedding

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This article was published 26/09/2024 (377 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Nardia Bedward was a newcomer to Canada and just weeks away from her wedding day when she was struck and killed by a pickup truck on Portage Avenue.

New details have emerged about Bedward, 40, who died Sept. 13.

“Nardia was a hard worker with many dreams and aspirations, she touched many lives with her kindness and will be deeply missed by family, friends and all who knew her,” reads a biography in an online fundraiser.

“She was also excitedly planning her wedding day in October and looking forward to starting her family when tragedy struck.”

The fundraiser says Bedward arrived in Canada just over a year ago. She studied as an international student at the University of Winnipeg before securing a job with a supply-chain logistics company “and was only weeks away from completing her probation period,” it said.

“We are aggrieved. She had a bright future with the company and we looked forward to her growing with us. She showed signs of growth and dreams,” said Renée Pobihushchyj, the director of operations for Frontier Supply Chain Solutions Inc. in Canada.

“It’s an unfortunate tragedy that she won’t be able to achieve those goals.”

Bedward, who joined the company just shy of three months ago, was working in the customs department. She prepared documents and co-ordinated the movement of goods shipped across the border, Pobihushchyj said.

“She did make friends in the time she was here, even though it was short,” Pobihushchyj said. “She was very friendly and made friends easily. She was a positive person; optimistic, in a sense. She was always very herself with an approach that there was always something on the bright side — that was the kind of person she was.”

Bedward was 11 days away from passing probation to become a permanent employee, at which time she would have qualified for health benefits including life insurance, Pobihushchyj said.

“That’s part of the tragedy,” Pobihushchyj said.

Frontier employees hosted a fundraising lunch in honour of Bedward Thursday, raffling off prizes and collecting donations. The company is offering counselling and supports to those affected by the tragedy, she said.

The goal is to repatriate Bedward’s remains to “her beloved Jamaica, where her heart truly belonged” for burial there, the fundraiser said.

Pobihushchyj said Bedward’s husband is in Jamaica and she had planned to travel there for their wedding.

The Winnipeg Police Service said Thursday it could provide no update into the investigation into the crash that killed Bedward and injured three others.

“The investigation is continuing,” a police spokesperson said.

Police have said a Ford F-150 was headed east on Portage Avenue when it struck a pedestrian and a glass bus shelter at the southwest corner of the Bedson Street intersection, shortly before 7:40 a.m..

After destroying the shelter, the truck severed a wooden hydro pole, slammed into an SUV on Bedson — causing that vehicle to spin. The truck stopped when it crashed into a bollard and support beam next to fuel pumps at a Canadian Tire gas bar, an eyewitness told the Free Press.

The witness said the truck was travelling “very fast.”

Police did not provide information about the potential cause of the crash and about the driver of the pickup.

Bedward died at the scene. A white sheet was placed over her body at the intersection.

The other victims were taken to hospital, where they were listed as being in stable condition, police said.

Portage was closed between Cavalier Drive and David Street for several hours after the crash. Investigators were seen collecting evidence using a remote-control drone.

Remnants of the crash still remain in the form of shattered glass, scattered in the gutters and grass on both sides of Bedson Street.

A small memorial marks the spot where the bus shelter stood, complete with bouquets of drying flowers, potted plants, tobacco, a cracked ceramic angel and a trio of battery-powered tea-light candles — their electric flames faintly flickering.

Over the last decade, Winnipeg has averaged 13 fatal collisions each year and 145 collisions that resulted in serious injuries, as per data published on the city’s website.

tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca