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

A Rocky day on the campaign trail

‘It matters how hard you get hit and keep getting up,’ mayoral candidate Kevin Klein says, referencing famous film’s fighter in wake of opponent’s allegations, apology-triggering column in his newspaper

Malak Abas 11 minute read Yesterday at 12:00 PM CDT

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MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS FILES
Public Service Delivery Minister Mintu Sandhu.

Landlords will face fines for breaching confidentiality

Carol Sanders 4 minute read Preview

Landlords will face fines for breaching confidentiality

Carol Sanders 4 minute read Yesterday at 5:04 PM CDT

The province is amending legislation to allow landlords to be penalized if they breach the confidentiality of tenants who break their lease by obtaining a domestic violence certificate.

“Hopefully, now there’s going to be measures in place so that if this happens again, and God forbid it happens again to anyone else, that there would be penalties imposed on landlords who do that,” said one victim whose concerns were published on the front page of the Free Press last month.

Under current legislation, landlords must ensure that any information received from those tenants regarding the termination of the tenancy is kept confidential, but there are no penalties for landlords who violate that section of the act. After hearing from victims put at risk when landlords broke the law by violating their confidentiality, the government announced Monday that it is amending the Residential Tenancies Act to allow for penalties.

The young woman who spoke to the Free Press showed that her landlord copied her alleged abuser in email correspondence that included her personal email address and the domestic violence certificate she obtained in 2025 to end a tenancy agreement early and leave an abusive relationship.

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Yesterday at 5:04 PM CDT

Bomber Report

Photo by BROOK JONES / FREE PRESS
The familiar game-day voice of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, Bob McGregor, is celebrating his 300th game behind the mic this weekend.

Mics and hikes

Longtime voice of the Blue and Gold marks major milestone

David Sanderson 8 minute read Yesterday at 12:52 PM CDT

Amateur

BISON SPORTS
Manitoba Bisons libero Chelsea Siebenga (10) is one of two veterans on the women’s volleyball team who was developed during the club’s decorated era. Siebenga has embraced her mentor role alongside fellow fifth-year Aviendah Plett.

Herd of rookie and sophomore talent ushers in new era of University of Manitoba women’s volleyball team

Joshua Frey-Sam 7 minute read Preview

Herd of rookie and sophomore talent ushers in new era of University of Manitoba women’s volleyball team

Joshua Frey-Sam 7 minute read Yesterday at 4:11 PM CDT

Life is bound to look different when you’re without one of the best cores in the country.

Just ask Chelsea Siebenga, the standout fifth-year libero who, along with fifth-year middle Aviendah Plett, is all that remains from a decorated era of Manitoba Bisons women’s volleyball.

“It’s definitely different,” Siebenga said. “Those six people had been on the team the whole time I was a Bison. Those were my friends basically, the people that I would hang out with, so having them gone, it makes the team feel… like a completely different team, to me, at least.”

For the first time in five years, the Bisons will enter a season without Raya Surinx on the left side of their attack. The two-time U Sports Player of the Year opted to forgo her final year of eligibility and begin her professional career in Italy.

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Yesterday at 4:11 PM CDT

The Arts

Photos by Ruth Bonneville / Free Press
From left: Volunteers Helen Leeds, Diane Zakala, Margaret Mills, Therese Leneveu and Melinda Barr go through the vintage collection at the Costume Museum of Canada.

Careful work goes into preserving vintage threads at costume museum

AV Kitching 6 minute read Preview

Careful work goes into preserving vintage threads at costume museum

AV Kitching 6 minute read Yesterday at 4:35 PM CDT

Every Friday morning seven retired women — Diane Zakala, Helen Leeds, Margaret Mills, Melinda Barr, Therese Leneveu, Karen Eastwood and Letizia Sandron — make their way from homes across the city to a nondescript warehouse in downtown Winnipeg.

The group members troop in right at 9 a.m., as they have been doing every week for the last eight years, towards the back of the brightly lit warehouse where the bulk of the collection of the Costume Museum of Canada (410-70 Arthur St.) is stored.

The vintage fashion pieces — some dating back to more than a century — have been carefully packed away in long, flat garment boxes, stacked on rows of shelves.

Some clothes are in mint condition, impeccably taken care of by their owners, while a few show signs of wear and tear and need little bit of care courtesy of expert seamstress Barr, who lovingly restores items which have incurred minimal damage.

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Yesterday at 4:35 PM CDT

NHL

John Woods / THE CANADIAN PRESS
Anaheim Ducks’ Mikael Granlund (second left) celebrates his goal against the Winnipeg Jets during third period NHL hockey action in Winnipeg on Friday.

Jets’ game flies south against Ducks

Mike McIntyre 7 minute read Preview

Jets’ game flies south against Ducks

Mike McIntyre 7 minute read Yesterday at 10:38 PM CDT

The Winnipeg Jets sure looked like a team that was running on fumes Friday night.

Playing for the fifth time in eight days, the club suffered its first regulation loss of the young season — a lacklustre 5-1 showing against the Anaheim Ducks at Canada Life Centre.

While we won’t question the effort, the execution was a different story. Sloppy plays, missed passes, porous defensive-zone coverage and iffy goaltending made this a tough watch for the 13,693 fans in attendance.

“Just some mental things that happened. Obviously some physical things as well,” said head coach Scott Arniel.

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Yesterday at 10:38 PM CDT

Opinion

Indigenous offenders need a new path to justice Niigaan Sinclair Yesterday at 5:52 PM CDT
Consequences of verdict on City Football Group satellites primed to be even more damaging Jerrad Peters Updated: Yesterday at 4:45 PM CDT
New beds fill gaps, won’t fix health-care woes Tom Brodbeck Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026

Local

MORGAN MODJESKI / FREE PRESS
Manitoba Workplace Safety and Health has confirmed they are investigating the death of a worker at the construction site at the Fairmont Winnipeg on Lombard Place, Thursday.

Person killed in workplace accident at Fairmont construction site

Morgan Modjeski 3 minute read Preview

Person killed in workplace accident at Fairmont construction site

Morgan Modjeski 3 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 8:30 PM CDT

Emergency responders were on scene and Manitoba Workplace Safety and Health is investigating after a worker died following an incident at a Winnipeg construction site Thursday.

Little information about the worker killed was provided, but the fatal incident happened at the Fairmont Winnipeg, located at 2 Lombard Place, with police responding around 5 p.m.

The hotel is currently closed and is an active construction site. The person killed has not been identified by name.

Information from a provincial spokesperson said the deceased was working for Kepsco Construction when they were fatally injured after a “portion of an overhead canopy collapsed during asbestos abatement work.”

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Updated: Yesterday at 8:30 PM CDT

Civic Election

Mike Deal / Free Press
If elected, mayoral candidate Kevin Klein is promising to develop a pilot project that pairs paramedics and mental health clinicians together in a single vehicle that would respond to calls involving patients with non-violent mental health issues.

Klein promises revamped system for mental health, wellness calls

Joyanne Pursaga 5 minute read Preview

Klein promises revamped system for mental health, wellness calls

Joyanne Pursaga 5 minute read Yesterday at 5:45 PM CDT

Kevin Klein is promising if elected to pair advanced care paramedics and mental health clinicians in SUVs to respond to some wellness checks, with a goal to treat more patients on scene.

Three such units, with one of each of the specialized staff per vehicle, would be added in each of his first three years in office, the mayoral candidate says.

Through a pilot project, they would help patients primarily with non-violent mental health issues, as well as some less serious medical concerns, if needed.

“The paramedic treats. The clinician connects the patient to care that is not a hallway bed. Together they can cancel the ambulance and the fire truck,” a press release put out by his campaign says.

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Yesterday at 5:45 PM CDT

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Civic Election

Problems surrounding the police headquarters project at 245 Smith St. have plagued the city for years. (Mikaela MacKenzie / Free Press files)

Klein insists premier has police HQ inquiry report, accuses mayor of trying to suppress it

Erik Pindera 3 minute read Preview

Klein insists premier has police HQ inquiry report, accuses mayor of trying to suppress it

Erik Pindera 3 minute read Yesterday at 5:55 PM CDT

Mayoral candidate Kevin Klein came out swinging Friday.

At a campaign appearance, Klein emphatically claimed Premier Wab Kinew must have an advance copy of the final report from the public inquiry into the Winnipeg Police Service headquarters, which Kinew, through his spokeswoman, outright denied.

Klein also claimed that his main election rival, Winnipeg’s current mayor Scott Gillingham, has been trying to prevent the final report from becoming an election issue.

Klein also alleged staff in the mayor’s office have been calling provincial politicians to try to prevent the report from being discussed in the legislature.

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Yesterday at 5:55 PM CDT

Local

Judge sentences serial indecent harasser to seven years in prison

Dean Pritchard 4 minute read Preview

Judge sentences serial indecent harasser to seven years in prison

Dean Pritchard 4 minute read Yesterday at 4:40 PM CDT

A Winnipeg man who relentlessly harassed nearly a dozen women with unwanted sexual messages and videos, starting just days after completing a jail sentence for the same crimes, has been sentenced to seven years in prison.

Four of Alexander Beaton’s nearly dozen victims were women he had previously been convicted of harassing.

“His behaviour was calculated, targeted and persistent (and) was brazenly in defiance of an existing (probation) order,” provincial court Judge Malcolm McDonald said Friday.

“It is safe to say Mr. Beaton ranks among the worst offenders committing the worst offences of this nature,” McDonald said.

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Yesterday at 4:40 PM CDT

Local

Tim Smith/The Brandon Sun
Education and Early Childhood Learning Minister Tracy Schmidt speaks at the opening of the expansion to Maryland Park School in Brandon, Friday. The expansion increases the school’s capacity to 900 students and adds 14 new classrooms.

Brandon school expansion unveiled

3 minute read Preview

Brandon school expansion unveiled

3 minute read Yesterday at 9:12 PM CDT

The Manitoba government has spent more than $13 million to boost a Brandon school’s capacity by nearly two-thirds.

The expansion of Maryland Park School, which was completed for the start of the school year, adds more than 17,000 square feet of educational space and increases the school’s capacity from about 550 students to 900.

Education Minister Tracy Schmidt joined Brandon East MLA Glen Simard, school division officials, staff and students Friday afternoon for a ribbon-cutting ceremony officially opening the expansion.

“This is a two-storey addition, which includes 13 new classrooms, a new science room, student support spaces and much, much more,” Schmidt said. “This is not only going to give more space for the students that are here today and for the staff, but also so that we can continue to meet the growing needs of this growing, vibrant community.”

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Yesterday at 9:12 PM CDT

Local

SUPPLIED
Security footage showing Cody Lamb’s car being stolen on Sept. 11 in Douglas, Manitoba.

Towing company hands stolen car back, but not to owner

By Matthew Frank 4 minute read Preview

Towing company hands stolen car back, but not to owner

By Matthew Frank 4 minute read Yesterday at 4:29 PM CDT

A Manitoba man says he is dumbfounded after his car was stolen, impounded by a Winnipeg towing company and given back — to someone that wasn’t him.

Cody Lamb lives in the western Manitoba community of Douglas, about 18 kilometres east of Brandon, but spends weeks away from home working on oil rigs in Alberta.

The 24-year-old says on Sept. 11, while away for work, he heard from his girlfriend who told him his car wasn’t in their driveway. Lamb reported the car stolen to Brandon RCMP the same day.

After filing the report, he heard from Steinbach RCMP on Oct. 1 that his car was recovered that day in the community of Mitchell, roughly five km west of Steinbach.

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Yesterday at 4:29 PM CDT