Youth pastor accused in sex assault of teen camp counsellor

City police have charged a youth pastor with sex crimes, accusing him of grooming a teenager while he was acting as the director of a day camp at a Winnipeg church.

Police received information about a sexual assault involving the suspect in March, and learned he directed a youth camp group, the Winnipeg Police Service said in a news release Tuesday.

The offences are alleged to have occurred between August 2025 and March 2026, when “the pastor forged a sexual relationship by grooming and gaining the trust of a youth camp counsellor who was a teenager at the time,” the release said.

“The survivor met with the accused on multiple occasions in private and also received sexually explicit material sent by the accused.”

Drug use cited in downtown blaze

The partner of a man who died in a fire inside a Manitoba Housing complex last month believes his death was an accident, resulting from him falling asleep while using drugs.

Corinne Baxter said she thinks her boyfriend Tristan Fraser-Smith was alone inside her suite on the eighth floor of 444 Kennedy St. on April 20 when a fire started in the unit, reportedly causing an explosion and forcing dozens of tenants to flee the 16-storey apartment complex.

“It really hurts my heart. It feels like it’s going to explode when I think about it,” Baxter said in an interview Monday.

“The pain doesn’t seem to stop or go away.”

Weekend death of well-known chef, Ste. Anne volunteer firefighter investigated as homicide

A renowned chef and community volunteer has been identified as the victim in a weekend slaying in the RM of Ste. Anne.

Steinbach RCMP say officers responded Saturday to an aggravated assault in the rural municipality, located about 50 kilometres southeast of Winnipeg. A man suffered life-threatening injuries and was rushed to hospital, but died from his injuries a few hours later. His death is being investigated as a homicide.

RCMP declined to provide further details, citing the ongoing investigation.

Friends and former colleagues identified the victim as Cameron Huley, 49. Huley worked as a restaurant industry consultant and a volunteer firefighter with the Town of Ste. Anne fire department. He formerly worked with the Ste. Anne Police Department as an auxiliary police officer.

Moose look to punch back on the road in Grand Rapids

The Manitoba Moose recognize they can’t afford to get in a track meet with the Grand Rapids Griffins in order to advance in the Calder Cup playoffs.

So, as this best-of-five series — which is tied 1-1 — resumes on Wednesday at Van Andel Arena, the Moose will be trying to thread the needle between finding a way to generate more offence while not sacrificing anything defensively.

These two teams have combined for just three goals through two games, with each team pitching a shutout so far — 1-0 for the Moose on Saturday and 2-0 for the Griffins on Sunday.

Two of the three goals have come on the power play, while the Griffins have tallied the lone marker at even strength, and that came with just over five minutes to go in Game 2.

Province chips in $15M to bring Pantages Playhouse back to life

A string quartet performed at the Pantages Playhouse Theatre Tuesday in celebration of a $15-million contribution from the province to raise the curtain at the historic landmark again.

The musicians provided the backdrop to Premier Wab Kinew’s announcement of the cash injection to “help bring the Pantages Playhouse back to life.”

The theatre — which opened in 1914 and was once a hub for vaudeville performers, including Charlie Chaplin — has been closed for eight years.

“This is a tremendous project to advance arts and culture in Winnipeg and across Manitoba, but it’s also a big investment in our downtown,” Kinew said.

Grief, hope and justice; hundreds march to honour missing, murdered on Red Dress Day

Hundreds of people marched east from the Winnipeg Law Courts to Oodena Celebration Circle at The Forks, where grief and remembrance mingled with hope and resilience to mark Red Dress Day.

Court tosses wrongful conviction suit against province filed by man jailed for Derksen’s death

Manitoba’s highest court has dismissed a wrongful conviction lawsuit against the provincial government filed by the man who was acquitted of killing Candace Derksen.

Mark Grant’s lawyers filed his lawsuit in 2019, seeking $8.5 million for wrongful conviction and imprisonment from the province, the attorney general and the City of Winnipeg. The legal action against the city is slated to proceed.

Lawyers for the province unsuccessfully moved to have his claim struck in the Court of King’s Bench twice. Their third attempt, in the Court of Appeal, succeeded.

Court of Appeal Justice Christopher Mainella, writing on behalf of a panel with two other appeal court judges, threw out the claim against the provincial government and attorney general in a decision issued last week.

Former Supreme Court Justice Louise Arbour named as next governor general

OTTAWA - Prime Minister Mark Carney named retired Supreme Court justice Louise Arbour as Canada's next governor general on Tuesday, hailing her as a storied defender of human rights.

The celebrated jurist is fluently bilingual, and has served as UN human rights commissioner and chief prosecutor at The Hague.

Carney said Arbour gave voice to the powerless and "those whose dignity was denied, in places where the powerful preferred silence."

"Across more than five decades, in every role she has held, the honourable Louise Arbour has carried the same conviction: That a free society depends on institutions being properly held to account," Carney said at an announcement at the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa.

US says ceasefire with Iran is holding despite attacks in the Strait of Hormuz and against the UAE

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — U.S. military leaders said a ceasefire is still in effect a day after Iran was blamed for new attacks in the Strait of Hormuz and against the United Arab Emirates, a key American ally that later said it came under Iranian drone and missile attack again Tuesday.

Still, the fragile truce reached nearly a month ago appeared to be holding as U.S. forces pressed ahead with efforts to reopen the strait, a vital waterway for global energy. On Monday, the U.S. said it had opened a lane and sunk six small Iranian boats that had threatened commercial ships.

So far, only two merchant ships are known to have passed through the new U.S.-guarded route, with hundreds more bottled up in the Persian Gulf. Shippers are still wary, and it's unclear whether U.S. military action can reassure them without reigniting the conflict that began with U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran on Feb. 28.

Iran’s effective closure of the strait, through which major oil and gas supplies passed before the war, along with fertilizer and other petroleum products, has sent fuel prices skyrocketing and rattled the global economy. Breaking Iran's grip would deny its main source of leverage as U.S. President Donald Trump demands a major rollback of its disputed nuclear program.

Winnipeg officer pleads not guilty to tampering with evidence at crime scene

A city police constable and one-time partner of imprisoned former police officer Elston Bostock is now on trial accused of compromising a crime scene the two men had been assigned to protect.

Jonathan Kiazyk, an 18-year veteran of the Winnipeg Police Service at the time of the October 2022 incident, pleaded not guilty Monday morning to charges of entering a dwelling with intent to commit theft, obstructing a police officer and breach of trust.

Kiazyk is accused of entering a Stradbrook Avenue Airbnb rental with Bostock before a search warrant had been secured and disturbing evidence, defying direction to remain outside the suite.

“Police are entrusted with an enormous amount of power and responsibility,” Crown attorney Adam Gingera said in an opening address Monday morning to King’s Bench Justice Candace Grammond.

WRHA pulls home-care services out of North End building over safety concerns

The Winnipeg Regional Health Authority has temporarily stopped providing home-care services in a North End public housing block after deeming the building unsafe.

Residents who receive home care at 145 Powers St. have had to cross the street to the Indigenous Family Centre for their appointments since mid-March amid concerns about violent crime, drug use and possible gang activity.

“Providing safe, compassionate and quality home care is a priority. That not only includes the safety of clients, but of staff as well,” a WRHA spokesperson said in a statement.

“The WRHA is confident that the agencies managing the building are working to address the current situation. Once the situation has improved at 145 Powers St., the WRHA plans to return to providing home-care services within the building.”

Sign of the pre-election times: Sals snub highlighted on downtown billboard

An unusual piece of pre-civic election season political messaging has popped up in downtown Winnipeg.