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- video posted last week by Tristan Mariash of himself, right, and David Burling

Freedom fleeting for ‘brothers’ with long criminal histories

Chris Kitching 6 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 7:21 PM CDT

Tucked into a booth at a bar somewhere in Manitoba in mid-March, Tristan Mariash and David Burling toasted to good times and being fresh out of jail.

Less than three months later, Mariash is dead after being shot by police in Otterburne and Burling is in custody, following a manhunt across Manitoba and Saskatchewan Wednesday.

Mariash’s family confirmed to the Free Press he was killed in the shooting. The Winnipeg Police Service had said officers fired shots when a stolen pickup truck rammed into their vehicle shortly before 3 a.m.

Mariash’s father and stepfather said Thursday they were not yet prepared to comment.

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Concert hall, museum restrict access due to increased security threat

Joyanne Pursaga 5 minute read Preview

Concert hall, museum restrict access due to increased security threat

Joyanne Pursaga 5 minute read Yesterday at 5:35 PM CDT

Rising safety concerns have forced a major Exchange District complex to lock most of its exterior doors at all hours, reducing public access points to the Manitoba Museum and Centennial Concert Hall.

The Centennial Centre, which runs the Main Street complex that includes those buildings, told parkade patrons they will need to contact security on an intercom to gain access through exterior doors during business hours.

“There has been a significant increase over the past few months with vandalism, drug use, vagrancy and confrontations that are concerning. For the safety of all, we are putting the security measures in place,” a June 5 memo obtained by the Free Press states.

A tunnel entrance to the parkade will remain open.

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Yesterday at 5:35 PM CDT

MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS The Centennial Concert Hall has implemented new safety measures, including locking its doors unless there is an event, owing to a spike in issues with homeless and encampments being built on its front steps. In a memo dated June 5, the Centennial Centre notified parkade users they must now contact security through an intercom in order to access the complex from the exterior entrances during business hours. Parkade users who are inside the complex can still use an interior tunnel to access their vehicles, the memo added, but most other access points to the parkade will be closed. 240606 - Thursday, June 06, 2024.

Construction disruption compensation

Gabrielle Piché 5 minute read Preview

Construction disruption compensation

Gabrielle Piché 5 minute read Yesterday at 6:12 PM CDT

Winnipeg should follow in the work bootprints of other Canadian cities and compensate small businesses hurt by construction, a national lobbyist asserts.

The Canadian Federation of Independent Business has sent a letter on the issue to Mayor Scott Gillingham and city council, urging financial or other compensation, such as temporary tax breaks.

The CFIB also called for construction project completion within strict timelines and better communication with affected businesses.

The message comes amid the return of pylons and blockades to Winnipeg streets.

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Yesterday at 6:12 PM CDT

MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS Mel Mozel, owner of Bodyshades (893 Portage Ave), learned there’d be construction in front of his bar / cafe / tanning salon because he asked a construction worker as they were putting up a sign.

Nothing goes right for Big Blue in season-opening Grey Cup rematch

Taylor Allen 7 minute read Preview

Nothing goes right for Big Blue in season-opening Grey Cup rematch

Taylor Allen 7 minute read Updated: 12:18 AM CDT

It was supposed to be a night where the Winnipeg Blue Bombers got their revenge.

Instead, it was a night where nothing went right.

In a rematch of last year’s Grey Cup, the Bombers kicked off the 2024 CFL campaign with a 27-12 loss to the visiting Montreal Alouettes on Thursday in front of 30,140 fans.

The Als — the reigning champs after prevailing 28-24 in November’s big game — once again found a way to ground the Blue and Gold’s high-powered offence.

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Updated: 12:18 AM CDT

John Woods / THE CANADIAN PRESS
Montreal Alouettes’ Mustafa Johnson (94), Shawn Lemon (hidden) and Isaac Adeyemi-Berglund (91) celebrate a sack of Winnipeg Blue Bombers quarterback Zach Collaros during the first half.

Teacher trumps far-right rivals

Nicole Buffie 3 minute read Preview

Teacher trumps far-right rivals

Nicole Buffie 3 minute read Yesterday at 11:49 PM CDT

A school teacher has claimed a trustee seat in the Louis Riel School Division left vacant by a disgraced board member who resigned late last year after multiple suspensions.

Ian Walker, a grades one and two teacher in the River East Transcona School Division, will replace former Ward 1 trustee Francine Champagne, who quit in November after being suspended three times for racist and anti-LGBTTQ+ social media posts.

“It feels amazing, I had a really positive campaign and I’m excited to get to work,” Walker said late Thursday evening of the win.

Polling results show Walker bested runner-up Sandra Saint-Cyr with 64 per cent of the vote in the division’s ward, which encompasses St. Boniface and Windsor Park.

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Yesterday at 11:49 PM CDT

SUPPLIED
River East Transcona School Division teacher Ian Walker won the byelection for a trustee seat in the Louis Riel School Division.

Cyclist killed in hit-and-run on Wellington Crescent

Malak Abas 4 minute read Preview

Cyclist killed in hit-and-run on Wellington Crescent

Malak Abas 4 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 4:59 PM CDT

The death of a 61-year-old cyclist in a hit-and-run on Wellington Crescent Thursday has prompted bike advocates to call for safety improvements.

The collision happened just after 7 a.m. as the cyclist was travelling eastbound near Cockburn Street North and was hit by a driver heading in the same direction. The victim died in hospital.

Police said the incident was a hit-and-run and they had located a suspect vehicle, but didn’t say whether the driver had been identified.

The stretch of road, which does not have a bike lane, remained closed for hours.

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Updated: Yesterday at 4:59 PM CDT

Ruth Bonneville / Free Press Local - Cyclist hit Police investigate the scene of a cyclist accident along Wellington Crescent between Hugo Ave. and Dorchester street Thursday. A mangled bike lays on the boulevard on the south side of Wellington Crescent, just east of Cockburn Street. The crescent remains closed as Investigators set up markers to retrace the accident. June 6th, 2024

Opinion

Poilievre’s vitriol looks foolish after Bank of Canada weathered storm Tom Brodbeck 4 minute read Yesterday at 2:31 PM CDT
Tories need someone to lead, not embarrass party, province Dan Lett 5 minute read Wednesday, Jun. 5, 2024
Foreign interests and unethical federal politicians Editorial 4 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 7:28 AM CDT

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Veterans mark sombre 80th D-Day anniversary in France, leaders warn democracy at risk

Sarah Ritchie, The Canadian Press 6 minute read Preview

Veterans mark sombre 80th D-Day anniversary in France, leaders warn democracy at risk

Sarah Ritchie, The Canadian Press 6 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 3:58 PM CDT

COURSEULLES-SUR-MER, France - Thirteen Canadian veterans of the Second World War returned to Normandy this week, where the sacrifice of Allied soldiers who liberated the region 80 years ago is deeply remembered, as leaders warned democracy is still in peril.

"Our way of life didn't happen by accident, and it won't continue without effort," Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Thursday, as thousands gathered along the sunny beaches of Normandy to commemorate the anniversary of D-Day.

Trudeau, his French counterpart Gabriel Attal and Prince William were among dignitaries visiting Juno Beach, where flags bearing the Maple Leaf fluttered in a gentle breeze on Thursday morning.

In the front row of a crowd of thousands were 13 Canadian veterans in military uniform, the oldest of them 104 years old, who survived the war effort on the same beach so many decades ago.

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Updated: Yesterday at 3:58 PM CDT

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau walks with Canadian Ambassador to France and Special Envoy to the European Union Stephane Dion as he arrives in Deauville, France, Wednesday, June 5, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

Mountie acquitted, but judge warns conduct in holding cell not condoned

Erik Pindera 5 minute read Preview

Mountie acquitted, but judge warns conduct in holding cell not condoned

Erik Pindera 5 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 7:03 AM CDT

An RCMP officer who was accused of twice assaulting a woman with excessive force in a Portage la Prairie RCMP holding cell has been acquitted.

Provincial court Judge Patrick Sullivan ruled Const. Tyler Hoogkamp, who had pleaded not guilty to assault causing bodily harm and simple assault during his trial last fall, would be acquitted of the charges in a written decision issued last week.

Sullivan decided Crown prosecutor Chantal Boutin hadn’t proven beyond a reasonable doubt that the force the officer used was excessive and unnecessary, as alleged, but warned he did not want his decision to suggest he approved of what occurred in the holding cell in early July 1, 2022.

“Proof beyond a reasonable doubt is a not a light burden for the Crown to meet,” Sullivan wrote in his May 29 decision, issued in Portage la Prairie. “I reflect on this… to make clear my decision should not be interpreted as an approval of the force used by (Const.) Hoogkamp.”

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Updated: Yesterday at 7:03 AM CDT

THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES/Darryl Dyck
A Mountie who was accused of twice assaulting a woman with excessive force in a Portage la Prairie RCMP holding cell has been acquitted.

Controlled entrances added at liquor stores send number of thefts plummeting

Kevin Rollason 4 minute read Preview

Controlled entrances added at liquor stores send number of thefts plummeting

Kevin Rollason 4 minute read Yesterday at 2:01 AM CDT

It was just a few years ago that thieves would shamelessly snatch up booze bottles by the armful and storm out of Winnipeg Liquor Marts, often threatening store employees and customers who watched in disgust, and in one extreme case, even assaulting three workers.

Statistics released by Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries show just how much the addition of controlled entrances to many of its 63 outlets has robbed thieves of their pilfering opportunity.

Since the security measure was introduced at Liquor Marts in Winnipeg and other Manitoba communities in 2020, thefts and robberies have plummeted.

MLL said the number of thefts and robberies — defined as thefts with either violence or the threat of violence — reached a high of 15,557 thefts and 226 robberies between April 1, 2019 to March 31, 2020.

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Yesterday at 2:01 AM CDT

MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS FILES
Liquor Marts ended a theft epidemic by posting security at the entrance and requiring customers to present ID to enter.

Accused in manhunt was shot by police in 2022, has history of stealing cars; mother has ‘given up’ on him

Erik Pindera and Chris Kitching 6 minute read Preview

Accused in manhunt was shot by police in 2022, has history of stealing cars; mother has ‘given up’ on him

Erik Pindera and Chris Kitching 6 minute read Wednesday, Jun. 5, 2024

David Frank Burling walked out of a Manitoba jail in March with a police bullet lodged in his lower back and a driving ban after a long history of stealing cars and evading police.

A Manitoba judge warned Burling in January to get his act together or suffer the consequences after sentencing him to two and a half years in prison. With time served, Burling was given 72 days of additional jail time.

“It’s my hope, Mr. Burling, that this is the very last time that you put yourself and others at risk by behaving in this manner, by not only stealing motor vehicles but by fleeing from police and driving dangerous. You do not have the right to do that,” said provincial court Judge Jean McBride on Jan. 15.

”If this has not been a wake-up call for you, I don’t know what is or what will be and if it happens again there’s no question you will be looking at a much longer jail sentence.”

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Wednesday, Jun. 5, 2024

David Burling, 29, has a long history of stealing cars and evading police. (Saskatchewan RCMP)

Confessed killer driven by necrophilia, not delusions: psychiatrist

Dean Pritchard 5 minute read Preview

Confessed killer driven by necrophilia, not delusions: psychiatrist

Dean Pritchard 5 minute read Wednesday, Jun. 5, 2024

Psychotic delusions didn’t drive Jeremy Skibicki to kill four women in his North Kildonan apartment, it was his desire to have sex with dead people, a psychiatrist testified Wednesday.

“He has a paraphilia, namely necrophilia, in my view a homicidal necrophilia subtype, which is the most compelling diagnosis that explains his behaviour that brings him to court today,” McMaster University psychiatry professor Dr. Gary Chaimowitz told court.

Chaimowitz’s testimony came one day after another psychiatrist, Dr. Sohom Das, testifying for the defence, told court Skibicki suffers from schizophrenia and meets the criteria for being found not criminally responsible for the killings.

Skibicki, 37, 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 police believe was slain in March 2022 who is known as Buffalo Woman.

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Wednesday, Jun. 5, 2024

Woman sentenced to six years after killing ex at birthday party

Erik Pindera 3 minute read Preview

Woman sentenced to six years after killing ex at birthday party

Erik Pindera 3 minute read Yesterday at 12:49 PM CDT

A low-functioning woman with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder who stabbed her ex-boyfriend to death in the hallway of her apartment after he assaulted her and others during a birthday gathering has been sentenced to six years in prison.

Eliah Olson, 21, who previously pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the 2022 stabbing death of Logan Clarke, 18, was handed the prison stint by Court of King’s Bench Justice Brian Bowman this week.

“Clarke was in the throes of violently assaulting her and others moments before his death. The accused’s reaction to Clarke’s assault, however, was to leave the hallway and return to her apartment to obtain the knife that she then used to stab him numerous times,” Bowman said Tuesday.

“The accused’s background and personal circumstances, combined with the circumstances of the offence, do temper her moral culpability, but it nonetheless remains at a level that a significant and meaningful sentence is required.”

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Yesterday at 12:49 PM CDT

DANIEL CRUMP / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES
Logan Clarke was found with upper-body injuries in an apartment building on the 500 block of Burnell Street on Friday. He later died.

LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA
Soldiers debrief after a day patrol in Normandy on June 12. The Rifles continued to face hostilities in the days after D-Day.

Carnage, chaos and courage

The first Commonwealth soldiers to land on D-Day 80 years ago, the Royal Winnipeg Rifles paid the highest price in terms of deaths and casualties of any Canadian regiment during the war

Ian Stewart 10 minute read Friday, May. 31, 2024