Admitted serial killer’s fate in judge’s hands

Jeremy Skibicki acted out of hatred and a drive to “fulfil his deviant sexual urges” when he killed four Indigenous women and repeatedly defiled their corpses, prosecutor Renee Lagimodiere told court Monday as lawyers for the Crown and defence made their final arguments in the trial of the admitted serial killer.

“Racial motivation, sexual motivation, power and control motivation… intertwined in all four killings the accused committed,” Lagimodiere told King’s Bench Chief Justice Glenn Joyal.

Skibicki has pleaded not guilty to four counts of first-degree murder in the May 2022 slayings of three Indigenous women — Rebecca Contois, Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran — as well as a fourth unidentified woman, known as Mashkode Bizhiki’ikwe or Buffalo Woman, who police believe was slain in March 2022.

Skibicki has admitted to killing the women but argues he should be found not criminally responsible by reason of mental disorder, specifically schizophrenia. In a police interview video recorded after his May 17, 2022 arrest, Skibicki admitted strangling or drowning the victims in his McKay Avenue suite, having sex with their bodies, and then discarding their remains in nearby garbage bins. Skibicki has said he dismembered Contois and Myran.

Kinew promises landfill search update Tuesday as families demand action

Family members of the women killed by Jeremy Skibicki say now that his fate is in the judge’s hands, they can turn their attention to bringing their loved ones home by having a landfill searched for their remains.

Four weeks of testimony wrapped up Monday with closing arguments. Skibicki, 37, is charged with four counts of first-degree murder in the 2022 deaths of Rebecca Contois, 24; Morgan Harris, 39; Marcedes Myran, 26; and an unidentified woman known as Mashkode Bizhiki’ikwe or Buffalo Woman. His defence argues he should be found not criminally responsible due to a mental disorder.

Family members of the three identified victims will meet with Premier Wab Kinew on Tuesday to discuss a search of the Prairie Green Landfill, north of Winnipeg.

“I can only hope that this is one step closer to bringing my mom home,” said Cambria Harris, daughter of Morgan Harris, at a news conference Monday afternoon.

City projects deficit of nearly $40M this year

The City of Winnipeg expects to end 2024 with a deficit that would drain its rainy day fund and require an additional cost-cutting action plan, if the financial picture doesn’t improve.

The city is projecting a $39.3-million deficit for its tax-supported budget, based on finances up to March 31.

Deficits of $12.1 million for Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service, $9.6 million for public works, $7.4 million for planning, property and development and $4.5 million for the Winnipeg Police Service are expected to contribute to the shortfall. Unrealized savings targets and recreation revenues are also expected to add to the red ink.

Aside from 2023, this is the only time in recent history Winnipeg’s first-quarter deficit projection was too big to be covered by the financial stabilization reserve fund.

Groundbreaking event calls action on revamped Niverville production studio plan

NIVERVILLE — After nearly a year of delays, crews have broken ground on a studio anticipated to make Niverville a movie production hub.

“Look at the set dressing,” Juliette Hagopian joked, motioning to the stagnant construction equipment behind her.

She and prominent members of Manitoba’s film and business sectors gathered Monday in Niverville for the official sod-turning of Jette Studios.

Hagopian announced the film production studio last March. She owns Julijette Films, a Manitoba production company, and bought a roughly 17,000-square-foot Winnipeg studio during the COVID-19 pandemic.

New managing director of PTE ready to take the stage

A longtime Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre marketing and communications executive will soon be packing her desk up for a move to Portage Place, where she will become the new managing director of Prairie Theatre Exchange.

Katie Inverarity will work with both companies throughout the summer to assist with their leadership transitions, and start full time with PTE on Sept. 1.

Inverarity spent the last 11 years working at the RMTC as director of communications and marketing, helping to guide the organization through a transition of artistic leadership and a pandemic.

Prairie Theatre Exchange announced her hiring on June 6.

Safer roads needed, family of cyclist killed by hit-and-run driver says

A 61-year-old cyclist was on the way to his job at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights when he was killed last week by a speeding driver who fled the scene.

The national museum said in a news release sent on behalf of the man’s family Monday that Rob Jenner was its shipper/receiver and had worked there since September 2014. He regularly cycled to work, the CMHR said.

Jenner was cycling eastbound on Wellington Crescent near Cockburn Street when he was hit by an eastbound vehicle shortly after 7 a.m. Thursday.

“Rob was killed cycling to work, something he loved to do. He knew cycling in this city could be dangerous, but he loved it,” the family said.

Search for missing woman continues in Molson

The RCMP are focusing their search for a missing Winnipeg woman on the Molson area.

Police said early Monday afternoon that “further information” has led investigators to the southeastern Manitoba area in the search for Brittany Dawn Storey, 29.

RCMP said in the news release that a drone was flown in the area Sunday and that the Civil Air Search and Rescue Association has “been in the air” helping with the search.

Police said no one has seen Storey or her SUV since she was last heard from Thursday.

Children’s book blossoms during long-distance collaboration

A long-distance friendship between two Winnipeg mothers has grown into a fruitful creative relationship. Monique Pantel and Lana Belton are the author and illustrator of a sunny new children’s book about empathy and legacy, entitled What Grows When You Give. The pair ran in similar social circles for years, but got to know each other over social media while living on different continents. Pantel, a photographer, had moved to rural Panama and Belton, a graphic designer, was studying in Berlin. They both gave birth to their first children amid the pandemic and started sending messages back and forth, commiserating over […]

Birchwood Terrace to test collapse alarm

A St. James apartment block whose residents were evacuated last month will test an alarm Tuesday that is designed to warn people of changes in the building’s stability or if there’s a risk of collapse.

A loud siren will go off at Birchwood Terrace (2440 Portage Ave.) at 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. It is only a test, the City of Winnipeg said in a news release Monday, and no actions need to be taken.

If the alarm sounds outside of those times, residents in nearby homes or buildings should shelter in place, the city said.

Jason Shaw, deputy chief of safety, emergency management and public information for the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service, said the building’s owner is choosing to add the alarm to make the site safer.

‘We are on the edge of horror’: Canadian Foodgrains Bank calls for ceasefire as famine looms in Gaza

What would you do if your children were starving and there was nothing you could do to help them? That’s the question Andy Harrington, executive director of the Winnipeg-based Canadian Foodgrains Bank asks, referring to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. “People in Gaza are in dire straits,” he said, noting nearly the entire population, including many children, are at risk of famine. Half the population of 2.2 million people in Gaza are at Phase 5 (catastrophe) on the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification scale for food insecurity, an internationally recognized way of measuring hunger, Harrington said, noting that more 850,000 […]