Ottawa adds $31M for transformation of former Bay store into Indigenous cultural, housing hub

The federal government is adding $31 million to its existing $65-million contribution to the redevelopment of the former Hudson’s Bay store downtown into an Indigenous housing and cultural hub.

Saint Boniface-Saint Vital MP Dan Vandal, who is responsible for Prairies Economic Development Canada, made the announcement Friday, alongside Southern Chiefs’ Organization Grand Chief Jerry Daniels.

The additional funds will be directed toward structural upgrades to the renamed Wehwehneh Bahgahkinahgohn building, the creation of a public tourist space on the main floor and an Indigenous workforce hiring app.

SCO will receive $25 million from Infrastructure Canada and $6 million from Prairies Economic Development Canada (PrairiesCan).

Personal health information breached by HSC employee

The personal health information of about 360 patients was accessed by an unauthorized Health Sciences Centre employee beginning last summer, Shared Health says.

The breaches happened between August and March. The clinical staff member is no longer employed by Shared Health.

Manitoba’s ombudsman has been informed, Shared Health said in a news release Friday.

Every Shared Health employee is required to complete mandatory training on appropriate use of personal health information and must sign a pledge to observe their obligations under the Personal Health Information Act and policies on appropriate use of confidential data systems, Shared Health said. The training is repeated every three years, Shared Health said, adding employees are subject to routine audits of their activity in the health record systems they have access to.

Board orders deportation for trucker who caused horrific Humboldt Broncos crash

CALGARY - The truck driver who caused the horrific bus crash involving the Humboldt Broncos junior hockey team has been ordered to be deported.

The decision came Friday at an Immigration and Refugee Board hearing in Calgary for Jaskirat Singh Sidhu.

Sidhu’s lawyer had said the decision was a foregone conclusion, as all that's required to deport Sidhu is proof that he's not a Canadian citizen and he committed a serious crime.

Sidhu is from India and has permanent resident status in Canada.

Beautiful Plains School Division sues mom for defamation over Facebook posts

A Manitoba school division is suing a woman over alleged “defamatory” and “false” comments she made online accusing teachers of wrongdoing — an emerging issue one expert says the law has been slow to address.

Beautiful Plains School Division, which is headquartered in Neepawa, filed the lawsuit in the Court of King’s Bench against the woman on May 14. The woman has not yet filed a statement of defence and could not be reached for comment.

The division, in its court filings, said the woman is the mother of current and former students in the region.

She’s accused of “intentionally and/or maliciously” publishing untrue and defamatory statements about the division and its employees in videos and posts on her Facebook page multiple times between April 30 and May 13.

Men sentenced to life in prison for unexplained slaying

Whoever knows why Brandon Richard was shot in the head outside a Manitoba Housing complex early one morning in 2022 isn’t telling.

The 28-year-old was taken to the Health Sciences Centre emergency department in a black SUV that had a flat rear tire and a blown-out rear window, around 4 a.m. on April 12. Richard died a short time later.

Police learned the vehicle was parked outside the Gilbert Park public housing complex on Burrows Avenue when it, and Richard, were shot.

In a plea bargain, Mario Nippi and Fransisco Flett, both 25-year-olds from Winnipeg, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder last week. They had been charged with first-degree murder.

Hanover School Division apologizes for reopening old wound

A rural Manitoba school division has apologized after Grade 9 social studies students were asked to name two positive aspects about residential schools.

An assignment sent home with Steinbach Regional Secondary School students in early April asked them to “make a list of what you think are two positive and two negative effects of residential schools” as per a learning activity on the legacy of residential schools.

The assignment caught the attention of Bambi Bertholet.

“It’s exactly questions like this in our curriculum that perpetuate those kinds of stereotypes… and influence people about how they feel about Indigenous people,” said Bertholet, who is Cree and has lived in Steinbach for seven years.

Manitoba parties line up candidates for June 18 byelection in former premier’s seat

WINNIPEG – Manitoba’s main political parties have now all lined up candidates for a byelection set for June 18 in the Tuxedo constituency in Winnipeg. The seat has been vacant since former premier Heather Stefanson resigned last month. The Progressive Conservatives nominated lawyer Lawrence Pinsky at a meeting Thursday night, overtwoother candidates in a contested race. Manitoba's main political parties have now all lined up candidates for a byelection set for June 18 in the Tuxedo constituency in Winnipeg. Leader of the opposition, Heather Stefanson, speaks to media after the completion of the 43rd Manitoba legislature throne speech at the […]

St. Vital site latest community club to be hit by thieves

Baseball games frequently feature stolen bases, but the youth teams at a community club in St. Vital are dealing with stolen… everything.

Thieves recently cut through a batting cage fence and swiped a pitching machine and baseball equipment from the Worthington Avenue site of the Norberry-Glenlee Community Centre.

It’s not the only community centre in Winnipeg that’s been hit by bandits. Tyndall Park, at 2255 King Edward St., and Chalmers, at 480 Chalmers St., have been the target of thieves and vandalism in recent months.

“Whoever did this doesn’t care about the kids,” said Michael Andersen, who coaches one of the Norberry-Glenlee centre’s youth baseball teams. “What kind of losers do this?

City set to eliminate parking spots on Burrows

The City of Winnipeg will remove a few dozen parking spaces from Burrows Avenue to prevent vehicles from blocking drivers’ sight lines, despite residents’ fight to save the spots.

A city report notes the intersection of Burrows Avenue and Charles Street was evaluated after 311 complaints reported frequent T-bone (right-angle) collisions at the site.

City officials then found a “pattern of similar collisions at numerous intersections with Burrows Avenue,” the report notes.

“Between 2016 and 2020, 180 collisions occurred at unsignalized intersections on Burrows Avenue. More than 60 per cent were right-angle in configuration. Around two-thirds of the right-angle collisions were severe and resulted in injury,” wrote David Patman, the city’s manager of transportation planning, in the report.

Seven-year-old witness to beginning of mother’s fatal beating fears father will return to kill her, court hears

A child who witnessed the onset of her father’s fatal attack on her mother lives in fear her father will return to kill her, a court has heard.

“Me and my brother were jumping on the bed screaming for help,” the now-seven-year-old girl said in a victim impact statement provided to court Thursday at a sentencing hearing for 31-year-old Justin Robinson.

“I’m scared that my dad will find out where I am,” the girl said. “I am scared that my dad will hurt me, and I don’t want to pass away like momma Tessa.”

Robinson pleaded guilty earlier this year to second-degree murder for a 45-minute-long assault on May 30, 2022 that took the life of Tessa Perry, a 31-year-old mother of four.

Urgent apartment block evacuation triggers provincial, municipal talks on policy changes

The municipal and provincial governments are discussing the potential for policy changes in the wake of the emergency evacuation of the Birchwood Terrace apartment block.

“There is ongoing discussion between the City of Winnipeg and the Province of Manitoba related to this site … to see if anything needs to change, needs to change in legislation, needs to (change) in city bylaws,” Mayor Scott Gillingham told reporters at an unrelated press conference Wednesday.

“This is an opportunity for us to take a look at what we do.”

Some 250 residents living in the five-storey apartment complex at 2440 Portage Ave. were given 12 hours notice to move out May 9, after engineers identified rotting structural support beams placing the building at risk of collapse.