Winnipeg man charged with uttering death threats to PM facing new charges

A Winnipeg man — already accused of threatening Prime Minister Mark Carney and inciting hate toward Muslim and Jewish communities — is now facing additional charges.

The RCMP federal policing division announced three new charges against Jason Paul Rindall in a news release Friday, including another allegation that he threatened to kill Carney, engaged in the promotion of hatred and advocated for genocide.

Rindall, 55, was arrested Feb. 13 after Manitoba RCMP launched an investigation into threatening messages published on the social media platform X. Rindall was initially charged with three counts of threats to cause death or bodily harm.

Court records show Rindall has two prior assault charges dating back to 2008 and 2012.

Show your local independent bookstore some love

For avid readers and independent booksellers, Saturday might feel a bit like Christmas.

Province to exempt convenience, ‘mom-and-pop’ stores from charging PST

Slurpees will be PST-free starting July 1, after Premier Wab Kinew announced an expanded grocery tax exemption that will now include convenience stores and small mom-and-pop shops.

Kinew made the announcement during a scrum following an unrelated event in Lockport on Friday, a shift that comes after backlash from small business owners left out of the measure in last month’s provincial budget.

“We’re working on a more expansive definition,” Kinew said. “This will capture most of what we would think of mom-and-pops, and we will have that budget bill in May, where you will see the details.”

The premier acknowledged the challenge of drawing a clear line between convenience stores and smaller independent retailers. “As far as I can tell… you can’t,” he said.

Manitoba Métis president rebukes AFN chief over call for withdrawal of treaty

OTTAWA - The president of the Manitoba Métis Federation is accusing the Assembly of First Nations of misleading people about legislation that would codify the federation's right to self-government.

On Thursday, Assembly of First Nations National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak took aim at a first-of-its-kind treaty between the federal government and the Manitoba Métis Federation, which came up for debate in the House of Commons on Wednesday.

Woodhouse Nepinak said in a media statement the legislation threatens to create a hierarchy of rights, with First Nations at the bottom.

“This piece of legislation must not proceed until First Nations voices’ are heard and our rights are respected, protected and upheld,” Woodhouse Nepinak wrote, saying Bill C-21 was developed without consultations with First Nations, despite it having implications for First Nations lands in Manitoba "and beyond."

City making inroads on spring cleanup

The spring cleaning of Winnipeg is well underway to make the city ship-shape ahead of summer.

Street and sidewalk sweepers are making their way throughout the city, sucking up dust and sand left behind by winter weather. Water trucks douse the streets and sidewalks, so the sweepers have an easier time picking up winter’s waste.

Crews began the cleanup on April 19 and are expected to work for the next six weeks or so, said Michael Cantor, the city’s manager of street maintenance.

A thunderstorm Wednesday night forced crews to pause operations for 30 minutes for safety reasons, but they are still on track for the project, Cantor said.

Flood fears subside in Peguis, but community to ‘remain vigilant’

Peguis First Nation may avoid flooding this spring, but its chief says the community must remain vigilant.

Chief Stan Bird, in a social media message Thursday night, said it’s believed the Fisher River, which runs through the community, has crested.

“It could begin to recede over the next couple of days. The key word is ‘may,’” Bird said. “Out of an abundance of caution, we must remain vigilant. Basements can still flood, road access can still be affected, drinking water could be impacted and flood water from the south has not reached their full volume yet.”

Bird said Peguis got lucky after heavy precipitation forecast for the area this week didn’t materialize.

Woman pleads for tips on who killed her brother, 15 years after his death

The grieving sister of a man killed in Thompson 15 years ago is pleading for anyone who has information to call RCMP — or for those who did it to turn themselves in.

“I just would like to have some closure,” Maven Hall said Friday, in an emotional interview on the anniversary of the death of her older brother, Jason Nunn.

Nunn, 25, spent the night out with friends at Element Restaurant and Lounge, a now-closed business on Commercial Place in the northern Manitoba city, and was last seen at about 2:30 a.m. on April 24, 2011.

He had waited for a cab to arrive for Hall’s close friend, to see her off safely in the cold night, before leaving, Hall said.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman ‘deeply sorry’ over Tumbler Ridge shooting where 8 were killed

The head of an artificial intelligence company that admitted it knew of the troubling behaviour of a woman before she killed eight and wounded dozens more in Tumbler Ridge, B.C., has apologized for not going to police.

A letter from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, shared Friday on B.C. Premier David Eby's social media, said that while he knows words can never be enough, he believes "an apology is necessary to recognize the harm and irreplaceable loss the community has suffered."

He said in the letter addressed to the community of Tumbler Ridge that the pain it has endured is unimaginable and he has thought about them often. 

“I am deeply sorry that we did not alert law enforcement to the account that was banned in June," his letter says. 

Poets explore our relationship with land and water

For the 11th year of Writes of Spring, co-editor melanie brannagan frederiksen and I asked Manitoban writers to send us poems on the theme set by the League of Canadian Poets: Land & Sea.

We wanted to know: what does it mean to live in a province at the centre of Canada that still has 645 kilometres of coastline?

Lake Winnipeg is the 12th largest lake on Earth, with the largest watershed of any lake in this country. Not only that, but Winnipeg is criss-crossed with fresh water, from the Red River to Omand’s Creek. What does it mean, in the midst of all that water, to live on the traditional territory of the Anishinaabeg, Cree, Oji-Cree, Dakota, and Dene Peoples and the homeland of the Métis Nation?

Basically, we asked Manitobans to describe their relationship with water and land in poetry.