Manitoba conservation officers, tasked with border duties, haven’t seen much

WINNIPEG - It's been 11 months since Manitoba started using conservation officers as extra sets of eyes on the United States border in response to U.S. President Donald Trump's claims that migrants and drug-smugglers were pouring in from Canada.

And it turns out they haven't seen much at all.

"To my knowledge, there was actually no activity that they observed," Ian Bushie, Manitoba's natural resources minister, said in an interview.

Kyle Ross, head of the Manitoba Government and General Employees Union, which represents conservation officers, said he hadn't heard of any incidents either.

Stealing thieves’ thunder: private security has made theft at Steinbach job sites disappear

Thieves who stole copper wiring, construction tools — even 37 bundles of shingles off a two-storey roof — have sparked the City of Steinbach to hire private security to fight back.

Waldo Neustaedter, a local developer, said the number of thefts from his job sites and others, leaving thousands of dollars in damage in their wake, have dropped dramatically since the city began a security service pilot project in July.

“It has just been a night and day difference having this protection,” Neustaedter said.

“It was tough in the spring. It may seem like petty theft, when you get $15 for copper wiring, but it costs us thousands in damages. You want to keep the cost of building down so houses are more affordable to buyers, but then this happened.”

‘They are the best team’

HALIFAX — Four years ago Tracy Fleury suffered one of the most devastating losses in Canadian curling history.

Playing out of Manitoba at the time and boasting the top-ranked team, Fleury’s final stone rubbed on a guard to allow Jennifer Jones to steal a 6-5 extra-end victory to represent the country at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.

The loss has hung over Fleury ever since, but on Saturday afternoon in Halifax, the weight was finally lifted. Fleury and Team Rachel Homan steamrolled Halifax’s Christina Black 12-3 to sweep the 2025 Canadian Curling Trials best-of-three final.

Fleury, who now plays third, fought back tears as she stood beside Homan, second Emma Miskew, and lead Sarah Wilkes in their newly minted Canada jackets and gold medals while the national anthem was sung.

American booze serving a purpose

Some of the U.S. booze pulled off Liquor Mart shelves last winter was offered to help people struggling with alcohol addiction.

Premier Wab Kinew said Friday that some of the American-made products purchased by Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries valued at $3.4 million, which have been in storage since last February, were offered to managed alcohol programs during last summer’s wildfire evacuations.

The programs, which are administered under medical supervision, assist people experiencing alcohol withdrawal symptoms.

The Crown corporation offered product to Keewatinohk Inniniw Minoayawin, an organization that supports health and wellness services for 23 First Nations in northern Manitoba.

Sex offender hid in school washroom, grabbed student: police

A convicted sex offender is accused of ambushing a child inside a Winnipeg elementary school by hiding in the washroom and grabbing her before she broke free and ran for help.

The Winnipeg Police Service did not name the school nor provide the age and gender of the child on Friday, but parents told the Free Press the incident happened at Darwin School and involved a girl under the age of 10.

WPS said officers were sent to the St. Vital-area school at about 1:30 p.m. Thursday, after receiving reports of the attack. Investigators learned the suspect entered the school and hid inside a stall in a children’s bathroom.

“When a student exited an adjacent stall that they were using, the man grabbed hold of the child. The child fought and managed to break free from the suspect, ran to a teacher and made a report,” WPS Const. Dani McKinnon told reporters Friday.

Hydro to cut down more than 260 trees on stretch of Selkirk Avenue

Manitoba Hydro is cutting down 262 mature trees growing near power lines along a north Winnipeg street, drawing objections from the city and disappointment from canopy advocates.

‘We cannot treat pedestrian deaths as business as usual’

A candlelight vigil held to remember a Winnipeg woman who died while crossing an Osborne Village street drew more than 100 people Friday, demanding safer streets in her memory.

Dozens gathered at the intersection of Roslyn Road and Osborne Street, where Rosalie Tennison was struck while crossing the street on Nov. 21.

The 67-year-old was hospitalized after the collision and was awaiting surgery on broken bones in her leg when she had an unexpected medical event and died the next day.

“She was an incredibly outgoing and dedicated person,” said Matthew Bowman, rector at the Parish Church of St. Luke on Nassau Street North, where Tennison was a member.

City backs down, North End church closer to adding its own pearly gates

A North End church seeking permission to install a security fence to combat repeated threats has seen its prayers partially answered.

St. John Cantius Church at 846 Burrows Ave., applied for a city variance to build a nine-foot (2.74-metre) chain-link fence with barbed wire around its property.

After the city rejected the variance, deeming the fence too tall, the church appealed.

On Friday, city council’s appeal committee voted to relax some of the height restrictions and leave room for more potential changes in the future.

Winnipeg works at being a welcoming but low-key location for actors shooting projects in the city

Jon Hamm has spent the last month acting like a real Winnipegger.

While the Mad Men star hasn’t missed a Winnipeg Transit bus (as far as we know) or experienced a bone-chilling winter day (yet), he has become something of a regular at local restaurants and sporting events this fall.

Hamm, 54, is in town filming American Hostage, an eight-part series based on a true crime podcast of the same name. In both, the Golden Globe-winning actor plays Fred Heckman, a real-life Indianapolis radio reporter who in 1977 helped defuse an active hostage situation after interviewing kidnapper Tony Kiritsis on air.

The crime drama also stars Giovanni Ribisi (Sneaky Pete), Mireille Enos (The Killing) and William Jackson Harper (The Good Place) — all of whom have been spotted doing their own civic exploring.

Doctor now on call for Health Links

Doctors are joining nurses to answer phone calls for health advice in an effort to reduce congestion in Manitoba emergency rooms.

Earlier this month, a physician started taking calls at Health Links, the nurse-managed telephone program that Manitobans can call for assessment, triage and advice.

Depending on a patient’s clinical needs, nurses may refer callers to their family physician, a walk-in clinic or direct them to an emergency department or urgent care centre.

Now, Health Links has a physician from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. as part of a six-month pilot project to reduce emergency room wait times. Later in December, another clinician will join the service. The plan is to hire a nurse practitioner down the line as well.

Fix for suicide risk in Stony Mountain cells — identified two decades ago — expected by 2029

New measures meant to stop Stony Mountain prison inmates from using ceiling pipes in their cell to hang themselves won’t be fully implemented for several years, even though the issue was first identified at least two decades ago.

At least seven inmates at the federal prison north of Winnipeg have died by suicide in that manner over the past 20 years.

A provincial court judge identified the problem as early as 2005.

The Correctional Service of Canada is now developing a plan to address the electrical conduit pipes, along with other Stony Mountain cell features from which inmates could hang themselves.