Aboriginal performers honoured

Owners, agents reviewing bids to purchase Fort Garry Hotel

Downtown Winnipeg’s Fort Garry Hotel is moving a step closer to a potential sale.

The four-star, 113-year-old hotel’s current owners and their agents have been reviewing bids from potential buyers, including the Manitoba Métis Federation, which has confirmed it submitted an offer.

“We are in the process of selecting a buyer for the hotel, as this premier hospitality opportunity has been well received by the investment community,” Curtis Gallagher, principal and Canadian hospitality lead with Avison Young said in a statement to the Free Press.

Avison Young, a global commercial real estate advisory firm headquartered in Toronto, and local broker Cushman & Wakefield Winnipeg, were retained to handle the sale.

Ex-MP Mark faces more charges after 445 guns, explosives found at Dauphin home

A former member of Parliament accused of firearms trafficking has been hit with 26 new charges after an RCMP investigation uncovered 445 guns and more than four times the legal limit of explosives at his Dauphin home.

Aboriginal performers honoured

The people have spoken.

And the people really like Don Amero. The Winnipeg singer-songwriter took home two Aboriginal Peoples Choice Music Awards: one for Aboriginal Male Entertainer of the Year and another for Best Pop CD, for Supernation by Indian City, the band Amero plays in with former Eagle and Hawk guitarist Vince Fontaine.

Other local winners include Tracy Bone and rock band Bruthers of Different Muthers, who took home hardware in two different ceremonies, Thursday night at the Fort Garry Place grand ballroom and Friday night at the MTS Centre. Both events took place under the umbrella of the Manito Ahbee Festival.

Bone won Aboriginal Songwriter of the Year and BODM got the nod as Best New Artist at Friday night's televised event hosted by actor Lorne Cardinal. BODM, who played the awards show along with Indian City, also were acknowledged with a special Most Outstanding Manitoban Award on Thursday night.

Accused in stabbing of Dollarama security guard has criminal record

A man has been charged in the stabbing of a security guard at a St. James Dollarama.

The security guard at the Courts of St. James store confronted a suspected shoplifter before being stabbed in the “upper body” with a sharp-edged weapon Tuesday afternoon, police said.

The suspect fled with stolen merchandise and the security guard was hospitalized in stable condition.

Nelson Preston Sumner, 29, was arrested at Portage Avenue and Strathmillan Road Wednesday morning. He was charged with aggravated assault, robbery and failing to comply with a probation order. He remains in custody.

Police chief pulls plug on security shifts at supermarkets, stores

The Winnipeg Police Service is ending its years-long practice of allowing officers to pick up overtime shifts to provide additional security in supermarkets and other stores at retailers’ expense.

Physical activity ‘for every single child’

All high school students will be required to show up for in-person phys-ed classes to graduate as part of a new curriculum announced by the Manitoba government Thursday.

Phys-ed and health are compulsory classes from grades 1 to 12, but students can currently sign up for flexible or self-directed options at the end of their high school careers.

Changes to the curriculum — which apply to all grades, but Grade 11 and 12 students, in particular — will make in-person phys-ed classes mandatory across Manitoba, starting in the 2028-29 school year. The policy is called “Every Body, Every Day.”

“When we talk about health in Manitoba, this is a category where, unfortunately, we’ve been the leader in too many negative areas,” Premier Wab Kinew said at a news conference at Victor Mager School in St. Vital.