News briefs for November 9, 2020

The construction site for Roquette pea processing facility in Portage la Prairie has confirmed five workers have tested positive for COVID-19.

On Monday, the site became the subject of an anonymous Reddit post which claimed several people were sent home after being exposed to the virus, and cited insufficient cleaning and lack of social distancing.

"Manitoba Workplace Safety and Health also issued an improvement order to our project to improve the record keeping related to the sanitation of communal washroom spaces… and to increase the number of cleanings done per day," the company said. "Compliance with this order is nearly complete and we are expecting a follow up visit from Manitoba Workplace Safety and Health next week."

Winnipeg health care aide and local Congolese community leader Jean Claude Dianzenza has died after being diagnosed with COVID-19. 

Dianzenza was employed as a health care aide at Victoria General Hospital and had been working on the fifth floor of the hospital, where an outbreak of COVID-19 was declared on Oct. 23. 

Chief nursing officer with Shared Health Lanette Siragusa confirmed on Monday that a health care worker connected to the outbreak at Victoria General Hospital died over the weekend. 

"We want to extend our condolences to his family, loved ones and the team," Siragusa said at a media briefing.

According to the Congolese Community of Manitoba, of which Dianzenza was president, he died on Nov. 6 following a "short illness."  

Dianzenza is the first reported health care worker in Manitoba to die from COVID-19. 

A standing hearing has been scheduled to see who can participate in the inquest into the death of Matthew Fosseneuve.

Fosseneuve died after being Tasered by Winnipeg police shortly after it was reported he was acting bizzarely and threw a rock at a vehicle.

While being handcuffed and shackled on the ground, Fosseneuve became unresponsive and, despite attempted resuscitation, he was pronounced dead at hospital. 

The hearing is being held at the law courts in Winnipeg on Dec. 22.

The same standing hearing will also determine who will participate in other inquests looking at the deaths of Patrick Gagnon, Michael Bagot and Sean Thompson.

The provincial government is making it easier for Manitoba families to find where to get the flu shot this year.

The Flu Shot Finder uses an interactive map to locate the places you can get the shot including pharmacies, doctors’ offices, and public health offices.

The province warns that people should still call ahead to make sure the location has the vaccine in stock.

To find the new tool go to www.gov.mb.ca/health/flu/.

A 75-year-old man drowned in the Boyne River after accidentally falling in.

The Carman Fire Department pulled the man from the water in the RM of Dufferin on Saturday at about 1:45 p.m., and tried to resuscitate him before he was pronounced dead, Carman RCMP said. It is believed he accidently fell in the river, located behind his house. 

RCMP and the Chief Medical Examiner’s office are investigating.

OTTAWA — A Manitoba veteran will not grace the new $5 bill, but the Bank of Canada’s shortlist includes one of the most famous people born in Winnipeg, Terry Fox.

Manitoba’s Conservative MPs had campaigned for months to have Indigenous veteran Tommy Prince put on the $5 bill. But he was among more than 600 qualifying nominees who did not make the final list of eight candidates.

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland will now get to choose among a scientist, journalist, Terry Fox and Indigenous veteran Francis Pegahmagabow (Binaaswi), with the result for the new, vertical bill being released in early 2021.

Nominees had to be dead for 25 years and hold Canadian citizenship; a committee selected the shortlist based on current relevance, positive impact and being known outside their region. Sir Wilfrid Laurier, Canada’s first francophone prime minister, will be placed on a higher-denomination bill.

Manitoba has surpassed 5,000 active cases of COVID-19.

Today, health officials announced 365 new cases of the virus, bringing the total number of active cases to 5,152. Three more deaths have been reported. There are 192 people in hospital with COVID-19 and with 28 people in intensive care.

The deaths announced today include two men in the Southern Health region – one in his 70s and one in his 90s – and a woman in her 80s from the Winnipeg health region and linked to the outbreak at Victoria General Hospital.

The current five-day COVID-19 test positivity rate is 9.5 per cent provincially and 9.3 per cent in Winnipeg.

RCMP say a 17-year-old female from Selkirk has been safely found after being reported missing almost two weeks ago.
 
Sage Mitchell was last seen leaving her home in Selkirk in the evening of Oct. 19. RCMP received the missing person report on Oct. 27.
 
Mounties were originally worried for her well-being and are now thanking the public for their assistance in finding Mitchell.

Manitoba Education is hiring 100 teachers to create a province-wide remote learning support centre, but the program stops short of providing students with full-time distance instruction at home.

Education Minister Kelvin Goertzen announced Monday morning the creation of a $10-million support centre that will both support teachers and parents currently doing remote instruction with additional resources and tech support.

The new centre will be staffed by 100 teachers and 20 educational assistants, as well as clinicians and information technology support. The province is hiring for the positions at present. 

The centre will first focus on supporting K-8 teachers, but is expected to expand to support high school teachers in the future. It is expected to launch later this month. 

School divisions and independent schools are typically the main teacher employers in the province. To date, Goertzen said approximately 400 new teachers have been hired by those entities since March. 

The Winnipeg Jets have one of their key prospects locked up on an entry-level NHL contract.

Cole Perfetti, a star centre with the Saginaw Spirit of the Ontario Hockey League, inked a three-year deal, with an average annual value of $1,658,333.

The 18-year-old from Whitby, Ont., was selected 10th overall by the Jets at the NHL Draft last month.

Perfetti, who scored 37 goals and registered 111 points in 61 games last season to finish second in OHL scoring, will join reporters on a Zoom call later today. 

The Winnipeg Police Service responded early Monday morning after a passerby found a seriously injured 15-year-old male in a parking lot in the 800 block of Concordia Avenue.

The teenager was transported to hospital in unstable condition, but has since been upgraded to stable condition. Police say it is believed he had been robbed prior to being found.

The Major Crimes Unit is still investigating and police ask anyone with information that could assist the investigation to call 204-986-6219 or Crime Stoppers at 204-786-8477.

The RCMP’s search for a missing man has come to an end, as the 30-year-old Wesley Wood was found dead in a woodened area of Garden Hill First Nation on Sunday.

Mounties previously reported Wood was last seen on Oct. 31 between 7 a.m. and 8 a.m., walking towards the school units on the trail.

The death does not appear to be suspicious and the investigation is still ongoing with the assistance of RCMP Major Crime Services.

Mayor Brian Bowman and Chief John Lane, Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Services, will speak at 10 a.m. about the city’s involvement in personal care home responses.

The press conference will be livestreamed and available to watch on the City of Winnipeg’s YouTube channel.

The Winnipeg Police Service is extending hours at its downtown headquarters building on Smith Street to provide greater access if people need to make a report or discuss an issue.

The service centre will be open daily from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.

The hours for criminal record checks and fingerprinting will not change and those services remain available to the public from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Monday to Friday.

Even with the expanded hours, the WPS is encouraging people to follow pandemic guidelines and consider online reporting options and telephone calls when possible.

Education Minister Kelvin Goertzen and Dana Rudy, deputy minister, will speak about supports for remote learning at a news conference at 11 a.m.

The event will be streamed live and you can watch on the government’s website or YouTube channel.

Rolling River First Nation has its first confirmed cases of COVID-19, including one case at Erickson Collegiate Institute, according to a band council letter shared on Facebook by Samantha Wilson, the community’s elected band councillor.
 
“We as a Chief and Council have decided to suspend all student transportation for the time being as we proceed to make our community a safer place and reduce the chances of [the] COVID-19 virus spreading,” read the letter.
 
According to the letter, classes will be suspended at the community’s nursery and daycare. There will also be no transportation offered to students from Nov. 9 to Nov. 27.

The council asks parents to inform the schools whether their children will be attending school so they can have the necessary personal protetive equipment available.

Both the elementary school and collegiate are offering to work closely with families to offer remote learning as well.

More than 1,500 nurses signed a letter sent to Premier Brian Pallister and provincial Health Minister Cameron Friesen saying the government should take pandemic recommendations from health-care professionals seriously.

“We are concerned that the current management plan is falling short, leading to catastrophic consequences,” the letter states.

The letter follows similar letters from groups of doctors.

“Lives are at stake. Our health care system is at stake. You must act now,” the latest letter states.

The Winnipeg Police Service is asking for the public’s assistance in locating a missing 29-year-old man, Antoni Gebreyesus who was last seen on Saturday, Nov. 7 in Winnipeg’s West End.
 
Gebreyesus is described as Black, 5’10” in height, with a medium build, short dark hair and brown eyes. Police note he may be driving a white, four-door Kia Forte with a Manitoba licence plate number of KLB 580.
 
Police say they are concerned about Gebreyesus’s well-being and ask anyone with any information regarding his whereabouts to contact their missing persons unit at (204) 986-6250.