Your forecast
Mainly sunny, with fog patches dissipating late this morning. Wind up to 15 km/h. High -1 C, wind chill -15 this morning and -5 this afternoon. UV index 1 or low.
What’s happening today
🛷Festival du Voyageur is celebrating 57 years of paying homage to the history of francophones, Métis and First Nations in Manitoba.
Headquartered at Whittier Park in St. Boniface, with other events at a host of indoor sites, the festival opens today and runs to Feb. 20, featuring a wealth of activities, music and art inspired by the voyageur era of the early 1800s. Ben Waldman, Eva Wasney, Jen Zoratti and Ben Sigurdson have a preview here.
Gary Tessier (left, red), David MacNair (centre black) and Jacques Boulet (right) put the finishing touches on the snow sculpture The Warmth of our Home on Provencher Boulevard.(Ruth Bonneville / Free Press files)
❄️ Monday is Louis Riel Day. You can see a list of what’s open and what’s closed on the holiday here.
Today’s must-read
Former mayor Sam Katz says he’s deeply hurt by allegations he accepted a bribe from the key construction company in the over budget Winnipeg Police Service headquarters project, stating those accusations are “definitely not” true.
“I’m offended and disappointed … I take great offence to it. To me, the key thing in life is your reputation and your credibility,” said Katz.
One of the most highly anticipated witnesses at the public inquiry into the headquarters saga, the former politician was only person to answer questions throughout Thursday’s hearing. Joyanne Pursaga has the story.
Former Winnipeg mayor Sam Katz at the Winnipeg Police Service headquarters inquiry Thursday. (Ruth Bonneville / Free Press)
Dan Lett weighs in with a column on the day’s proceedings. “There may be some observers who thought that Katz’s testimony would produce new details, or somehow expand our understanding of how the normal guardrails to keep elected officials and public servants honest failed,” he writes. “Instead, what we got was a master class in the power of relentless denial.” Read more here.
On the bright side
On a sharply cold January afternoon, the North End Women’s Centre drop-in is bustling. Women bundled in parkas trundle in the Selkirk Avenue entrance to check in for counselling appointments or ask to use the phone, or inquire about the centre’s supports to help families meet their basic needs.
Other guests are here for the camaraderie. On couches in the sunny main room, five women relax with a cup of coffee, chatting about life and half-watching Schitt’s Creek re-runs on the big-screen TV. A staff member breezes in to the lounge, squeezing past the jam of visitors in the narrow entrance, and makes one last call for the day’s workshop.
“Is anyone else going to come into the group?” she says, brightly. “We’re doing the wellness program today.”
Executive director Cynthia Drebot at the North End Women’s Resource Centre. (Mikaela MacKenzie / Free Press)
The immediate impression of the centre, on this average weekday, is one of constant motion. Upstairs in her office, executive director Cynthia Drebot chuckles: there’s never a dull moment, she agrees. As we chat, staff downstairs calmly tend to a visitor who is dipping out of consciousness, likely due to drug intake. Read the full story by Melissa Martin here.
On this date
On Feb. 13, 1989: The Winnipeg Free Press reported Manitoba’s attorney general said Ottawa and the provinces should look at stiffer sentences for some juvenile offenders as part of a review of the Young Offenders Act. Winnipeg police were accused of dragging their feet in investigating the disappearance of $33,000 in union dues from workers in six city school divisions. Search our archives for more here.
Today’s front page
Get the full story: Read today’s e-edition of the Free Press.
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