Kinew sits with First Nations leaders to honour children at school burial site

BRANDON - Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew stood on the former site of the Brandon residential school Wednesday as he talked about the importance of keeping the stories of students alive.

On a grassy hill dotted with orange hearts, he spoke about an eight-year-old boy who repeatedly ran away from the school, and of the many who never made it out, their deaths recorded on church records and in newspaper articles.

A nearby burial site for the students shows how those stories risk getting lost, said Kinew.

"When we say we have to preserve this memory so it could never be denied, we have living proof right here," he said.

‘We are better than that’: Canadians mark National Day for Truth and Reconciliation

OTTAWA - Indigenous leaders struck a resolute tone Wednesday as the country marked the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation following reports of a white supremacist demonstration in a First Nations community in the B.C. interior.

"Survivors have fought for decades to defend their truths and confront the distortion of history, while our legal system still fails to recognize denialism for what it is — hatred disguised as free speech," Stephanie Scott, executive director of the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, told a gathering on Parliament Hill.

"All of you hold the power to honour survivors and demand accountability, not only from our leaders but from one another. Truth and reconciliation is an ongoing responsibility, a human rights obligation and a sacred commitment."

Rosanne Casimir, chief of Tk̓emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation, said on Sunday a group of masked individuals dropped a banner from an overpass in Kamloops, B.C. The banner — bearing the words "Got bones?" — appeared to be questioning reports of human burials at the former sites of residential schools.

Woman took ‘meaningful’ responsibility after disposing of body: lawyer

A woman who was threatened with death if she didn’t help dispose the body of a Mexican man murdered in the basement of a North End home should serve no more jail time, a judge has been told.

Devlin Langlois, 25, has pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact to murder in the March 2025 killing of 28-year-old Diego Moscoza.

“By pleading guilty, Ms. Langlois has already taken meaningful accountability for her actions,” defence lawyer Joshua Rogala told King’s Bench Justice Candace Grammond at a sentencing hearing Monday.

He urged the judge to sentence Langlois to the equivalent of 14 months already served, plus two years supervised probation.

In pictures: National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, 2026

Wednesday marked National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, also known as Orange Shirt Day.

As part of the many organized events throughout the province, the Southern Chiefs Organization held the sixth annual Orange Shirt Day Healing Walk and Pow Wow.

Acquisition of former residential school grounds will help educate future generations: premier

Premier Wab Kinew says a former Brandon-area campground acquired by the province will help educate future generations about the horrors of residential schools.

“We live in an era where people are trying to deny what happened in residential schools,” Kinew said during a Tuesday afternoon visit to Turtle Crossing Campground, near the former Brandon Indian Residential School. “It’s an important part of our national history, and keeping that truth alive.”

Kinew officially announced the province’s plan Tuesday, in partnership with the City of Brandon, to acquire and protect the site where the bodies of more than 50 Indigenous children are located.

The premier said the property has “huge national significance” for education about residential school history because it is one of the “most documented” in the country. He carried photographs, and some 20th century newspaper clippings from the Brandon Sun around the site Tuesday.

Ferraro gets call-up to the Jets

Landon Ferraro vividly recalls the moment his NHL career came to an extremely painful end — Oct. 20, 2017, in downtown Winnipeg.

“My last play was a breakaway on Connor Hellebuyck,” Ferraro told the Free Press this week.

“I tried to poke the puck past the first D. It was me and (Dustin) Byfuglien chasing it down. I thought he was going to throw me across the ice, so I tried to cut in on him, and he moved. I overextended, and I literally ripped my abductor off the bone and gave myself a hernia.”

Ferraro — at the time playing forward for the visiting Minnesota Wild — said he managed to get off a weak shot that hit the Jets goaltender square in the chest. But his 77th appearance in the big leagues would be his last following previous stops with Detroit (which drafted him 32nd overall in 2009) and Boston.

Winnipeg Rifles can still secure post-season berth despite starting season 0-4

The Winnipeg Rifles have a seat at the table, something they would’ve certainly taken a few weeks ago.

A solid three-phase performance in a 25-13 win over the Edmonton Huskies on Sunday kept the junior football club’s playoff hopes alive as the team heads into the final week of the regular season in the Prairie Football Conference.

The path to punching their ticket isn’t easy, however. The Rifles must travel to a perennially difficult environment in Saskatoon to face the Hilltops (4-3) on Sunday (1 p.m.), a contest that only matters if the Huskies beat the Edmonton Wildcats on Saturday.

But after starting the season 0-4, it’s a deal that the Rifles will happily take.

Manitoba PCs choose Narth as interim leader; ‘deeply hurt’ Khan blasts former caucus colleagues

Manitoba’s Progressive Conservative caucus chose MLA Konrad Narth as interim party leader Tuesday to replace Obby Khan, who quit a day earlier after he said he was stabbed in the back by a small group of caucus members plotting in secret to oust him.

Klein vows to freeze water, sewer rate for next two years

Mayoral candidate Kevin Klein is promising to cancel a water and sewer rate hike proposed for next year and freeze the fee for two years.

Klein said Winnipeggers are simply paying far too much for the utility.

“I think we have to freeze them right now because we’ve seen (a substantial increase) in the last four years. We are facing some of the most difficult financial times for families right now,” he said.

He would also ask the provincial Public Utilities Board to set Winnipeg’s future water and sewer rates, a power currently held by city council.

Now-independent ex-Tory leader skips legislature’s first question period in four months

Crime rates, the cost of living and the state of health care were on the agenda Tuesday when the legislature’s fall sitting began a day after Obby Khan’s abrupt resignation from the Tory caucus.