Winnipeg Free Press – Breaking News, Sports, Manitoba, Canada

Learn more about Free Press Advertising solutions

Top News

Jeremy Skibicki is shown in this undated handout photo, taken by police while in custody, provided by the Court of King's Bench. An admitted serial killer's mental state is expected to be the focus of a Winnipeg murder trial after a judge approved to hear testimony from a forensic psychiatrist and YouTuber. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO, Court of King's Bench *MANDATORY CREDIT*

Trial hears Jeremy Skibicki killed 4 women because he was on a ‘mission from God’

Brittany Hobson, The Canadian Press 3 minute read Updated: 12:04 PM CDT

WINNIPEG - Jeremy Skibicki killed four women and knew it was wrong but did it because he was under a psychotic delusion that he was on a mission from God, court heard Tuesday.

Dr. Sohom Das, a forensic psychiatrist from the United Kingdom, testified the killings came after years of violent acts by Skibicki stemming from mental illness.

"I believe the delusions and the psychotic symptoms caused by schizophrenia directly motivated those killings," Das, testifying for the defence, told Skibicki's murder trial.

"He believed in his mind that he was on a mission from God. He felt compelled to carry out the killings."

New

Manitoba branch of seniors advocacy group lashes out at national organization over deal with tobacco company

Carol Sanders 4 minute read Preview

Manitoba branch of seniors advocacy group lashes out at national organization over deal with tobacco company

Carol Sanders 4 minute read 2:32 PM CDT

The Manitoba chapter president of the Canadian Association of Retired Persons is fuming over a deal the national organization made with a tobacco company.

“I personally cannot condone this,” said Carmen Nedohin, president of CARP Chapter 47.

Canada’s largest seniors advocacy group sent an email to CARP members last month inviting them to take part in a focus group to discuss “smokeless alternatives” to cigarettes, including vaping products. An accompanying survey showed the project was funded by Rothmans, Benson & Hedges (RBH), which is owned by Philip Morris International, one of the largest tobacco companies in the industry.

Nedohin said she heard from CARP members and board members Monday who were “appalled” by the arrangement with the Big Tobacco firm, and that she asked CEO Rudy Buttignol for an explanation.

Read

2:32 PM CDT

Big bucks to break up Route 90 bottleneck

Joyanne Pursaga 5 minute read Preview

Big bucks to break up Route 90 bottleneck

Joyanne Pursaga 5 minute read Updated: 5:25 PM CDT

A hotly debated megaproject to add traffic lanes, active transportation pathways and sewage upgrades to Kenaston Boulevard is expected to cost at least $586 million, amid questions over the project’s value and environmental impact.

And the City of Winnipeg could have to pay another $151 million for the project if it becomes the sole funder and uses debt to pay for it.

A new city reports deems the well-known Route 90 bottleneck to be part of a “vital transportation corridor.”

“It is one of only two north-south routes that span the entire city. The corridor requires upgrades to address current and future traffic volumes, new development and future redevelopment, as well as the needs of pedestrians, cyclists and transit users,” Brad Neirinck, Winnipeg public works manager of engineering, wrote in the report.

Read

Updated: 5:25 PM CDT

MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS FILES
Widening Kenaston Boulevard could cost the City of Winnipeg as much as $737 million, a city report states.

New signs of illicit life at abandoned housing complex slated for demolition

Chris Kitching 4 minute read Preview

New signs of illicit life at abandoned housing complex slated for demolition

Chris Kitching 4 minute read 5:31 PM CDT

There are signs people continue to squat or use illicit drugs in an abandoned, publicly owned housing complex in downtown Winnipeg weeks after the Manitoba government touted plans to redevelop the site.

People who live near the former Centre Village block said a metal security fence is failing to stop people from trespassing, stoking concerns about the potential for harm, crime or a fire.

“That’ll never change,” resident Marvin Hurd said about people breaching the perimeter. “The fence they’ve got up, people can get in anywhere.”

Squatting and drug use have been problems at the 25-unit complex, located at 575 Balmoral St., since it was abandoned in 2019. It is located a block from an elementary school.

Read

5:31 PM CDT

VIVIAN KETCHUM PHOTO
Some of the signs that people continue to squat or use illicit drugs in an abandoned, publicly owned housing complex at 575 Balmoral Ave.

Mobile overdose prevention site to get $589K in provincial funding

Malak Abas 3 minute read Preview

Mobile overdose prevention site to get $589K in provincial funding

Malak Abas 3 minute read Updated: 2:10 PM CDT

For the first time, the Manitoba government will provide funding to keep the province’s only mobile overdose prevention site on the road.

Sunshine House will receive $589,000 from the province to fund its mobile overdose prevention site. MOPS is a recreational vehicle fitted with a drug-testing machine where staff members hand out harm reduction tools and provide people a safe, private space to use illegal drugs.

Addictions Minister Bernadette Smith announced the funding in question period Monday, calling the investment a “different approach” to the previous Progressive Conservative government.

“We’ve inherited the heartbreaking legacy of the failed PC government — surging rates of overdose deaths and HIV transmissions. These are preventable deaths and preventable transmissions,” she said.

Read

Updated: 2:10 PM CDT

MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS FILES
Peer support worker Dawn Lavand as the Mobile Overdose Prevention Site operates in the parking lot of Nine Circles Community Health Centre in August.

Lawsuit by acquitted killer in Derksen case can proceed: judge

Kevin Rollason 3 minute read Preview

Lawsuit by acquitted killer in Derksen case can proceed: judge

Kevin Rollason 3 minute read 5:31 PM CDT

The man who was acquitted of killing 13-year-old Candace Derksen after spending a decade behind bars, can continue to sue the Manitoba government and City of Winnipeg for $8.5 million for wrongful conviction and imprisonment.

In a 15-page decision, Manitoba Court of King’s Bench Justice Jeff Harris ruled some issues raised by Mark Grant’s lawsuit, including DNA evidence, should be put before a civil court judge.

The judge excluded other issues raised in the suit against the attorney general of Manitoba, the provincial government and City of Winnipeg.

“Mr. Grant was acquitted after the trial judge rejected the very evidence that Mr. Grant had been telling the provincial defendants all along was flawed and unreliable,” Harris wrote.

Read

5:31 PM CDT

Opinion

Shared Health’s $1-M cut to bureaucracy is virtually meaningless Tom Brodbeck 5 minute read 1:15 PM CDT
Threatening politicians is no joke Editorial 4 minute read Updated: 7:11 AM CDT
The misuse of a medical school valedictory speech Charles N. Bernstein 5 minute read 2:00 AM CDT

Learn more about Free Press Advertising solutions

Shared Health ends contracts with vendors to save $7.5M

Malak Abas 2 minute read 4:17 PM CDT

Shared Health has ended contracts with more than 50 external vendors, another measure to cut costs after slashing two dozen administrative jobs in May.

Contracts including administrative support, software implementation and project management have either ended or been taken on by Shared Health staff, CEO Lanette Siragusa said Tuesday.

“Shared Health has identified efficiencies within its administrative branch that are allowing funds to be reinvested in high priority areas that support our clinical teams in the delivery of patient care,” she said in an email.

The change is expected to save Shared Health about $7.5 million annually.

Bills pass after late legislative sitting

Free Press staff 2 minute read Preview

Bills pass after late legislative sitting

Free Press staff 2 minute read 3:35 PM CDT

Twenty-one government bills and six private member’s bills passed final votes after the Manitoba legislative assembly sat late into the night Monday.

Some of the 21 bills included the Community Child Care Standards Act, the Body Armour and Fortified Vehicle Control Amendment Act, the Drivers and Vehicles Amendment Act, the Credit Unions and Caisses Populaires Amendment Act, the Emergency Medical Response and Stretcher Transportation Amendment Act, the Statutes and Regulations Amendment and Interpretation Amendment Act, the Celebration of Nigerian Independence Day Act and the Minor Amendments and Corrections Act.

The private member’s bills by NDP government members included the Islamic Heritage Month Act, The Two-Spirit and Transgender Day of Visibility Act and the Asian Heritage Month Act. The bills were brought forward by Nellie Kennedy (Assiniboia), Logan Oxenham (Kirkfield Park) and Jennifer Chen (Fort Richmond).

The private member’s bills by Progressive Conservative MLAs establish April 26 as Community Foundation Day, allow for the creation of a new specialty Manitoba parks licence plate and designate Tyndall stone as the provincial stone. The Tory bills were brought forward by Grant Jackson (Spruce Woods), Greg Nesbitt (Riding Mountain) and Wayne Ewasko (Lac du Bonnet).

Read

3:35 PM CDT

ALEX LUPUL / FREE PRESS FILES
The Golden Boy atop the Manitoba Legislative Building.

Sherbrook Inn sold; new plans to upgrade, reopen bar

Malak Abas 4 minute read Preview

Sherbrook Inn sold; new plans to upgrade, reopen bar

Malak Abas 4 minute read Updated: 9:56 AM CDT

The Sherbrook Inn, a controversial West Broadway bar and beer vendor shuttered since February, is making a comeback.

The building was purchased in mid-May by Neil Soorsma, a local businessman who has owned the Royal Albert Arms since 2019, after the longtime former owners shut down the bar business but kept the living quarters over the bar open.

While rumours of what would become of the Sherbrook Inn have swirled in the months since its closure, Soorsma said his early plans for the space are to create an “upper-scale” version of the hotel by refurbishing the bar, reopening the beer vendor, updating the hotel rooms and creating a space for live music.

He’s even considering establishing a restaurant, a year after beloved eatery the Tallest Poppy left the building in May 2023.

Read

Updated: 9:56 AM CDT

Ruth Bonneville / Free Press
Controversial West Broadway bar and beer vendor The Sherbrook Inn, has been closed since February.

Court tosses sentencing appeal from drunk driver who killed young woman in 2022

Erik Pindera 4 minute read Preview

Court tosses sentencing appeal from drunk driver who killed young woman in 2022

Erik Pindera 4 minute read Updated: 9:06 AM CDT

The sentence appeal of a Winnipeg man convicted of impaired driving causing death in a case that sparked public outrage has been turfed by the court.

Last November, a provincial court judge sentenced Tyler Scott Goodman to seven years — six for impaired driving causing death and one for leaving the scene — for the collision that killed Jordyn Reimer on May 1, 2022.

Reimer, 24, was on the way to pick up a friend when Goodman, who had consumed nine or 10 beers at a Transcona bar, slammed his truck into her vehicle at 108 km/h after blowing through a stop sign at Kildare Avenue West and Bond Street.

The intersection is in a 50 km/h zone.

Read

Updated: 9:06 AM CDT

GOFUNDME
Jordyn Reimer, 24, was killed on May 1, 2022 when Tyler Scott Goodman slammed his truck into her vehicle at 108 km/h after blowing through a stop sign at Kildare Avenue West and Bond Street.

JOHN WOODS / FREE PRESS
University of Manitoba began collecting and accepting remains in the late 19th century and continued until the 1980s.

U of M apologizes for more than a century of collecting Indigenous remains, artifacts without permission

Nicole Buffie 5 minute read Updated: 9:08 AM CDT

MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS
U of W Wesmen assistant basketball coach Jeff Kovalik-Plouffe says his goal is to get back to coaching after he completes chemotherapy.

Indomitable spirit

Colleagues and friends unsurprised by Wesmen assistant coach’s courage in face of cancer diagnosis

Mike Sawatzky 6 minute read 5:03 PM CDT

Superintendent, trustees out in Dauphin school division shakeup

Colin Slark 4 minute read Preview

Superintendent, trustees out in Dauphin school division shakeup

Colin Slark 4 minute read Updated: 8:32 AM CDT

BRANDON — Three Dauphin-area trustees have resigned following the departure of the school division’s superintendent.

The Manitoba Métis Federation alleged in a Monday news release Superintendent Stephen Jaddock of the Mountain View School Division was fired because he allowed last weekend’s Dauphin Pride parade to start at a division school. The board chair has denied the allegation.

Trustee Floyd Martens confirmed to the Brandon Sun by phone Monday evening he had submitted his resignation earlier in the day and said his colleagues Leifa Misko and Scott McCallum had submitted theirs as well.

Martens said he did not want to say much more ahead of the release of results from a governance review into the division ordered by Education Minister Nello Altomare, but read out the contents of his resignation letter.

Read

Updated: 8:32 AM CDT