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Man accused of driving stolen truck in crash that seriously injured police officers addicted to meth, mother says

Chris Kitching and Dean Pritchard 8 minute read 3:50 PM CDT

A 25-year-old man charged in a crash that seriously injured two Winnipeg police officers has been struggling with meth addiction and desperately needs treatment, his mother told the Free Press.

McKae Ledingham was on bail when he was allegedly behind the wheel of a stolen Lincoln Mark LT pickup truck that collided with a police cruiser at Main Street and Belmont Avenue at about 4 a.m. Wednesday.

“My son deals with addiction issues and it breaks my heart that this happened,” his mother Kimberley told the Free Press via Facebook Messenger. “I feel so bad for the officers that were hurt during this whole episode.

“As a family we are all upset that this all happened and we wish the officers a speedy recovery.”

This Just In

WAG’s Warhol prints sell for $780,000

Thursday, 5:10 PM CDT

Four Andy Warhol silkscreen prints of Queen Elizabeth II that were part of the Winnipeg Art Gallery's permanent collection sold for $780,000 at a fine-art auction in Toronto Thursday afternoon.

Cowley Abbott, the auction house that sold the prints and dozens of other paintings Thursday, had estimated the Warhol works to sell for between $700,000 to $900,000.

The WAG intends to use the funds from the sale to purchase contemporary Indigenous art, in particular works by First Nations and Metis artists, which director and CEO Stephen Borys says is under-represented within the gallery's permanent collection.

Folk Fest’s Skromeda to head Manitoba Film and Music

Thursday, 3:29 PM CDT

Lynne Skromeda, the executive director of the Winnipeg Folk Festival, will be the new chief executive officer of Manitoba Film and Music and the province's film commissioner.

Skromeda takes over Aug. 8, about a month after the end of the 2023 festival.

She has been at the folk fest helm since 2012, and prior to that spent 13 years in film and television with Frantic Films as a producer and senior executive.

She takes over from Rod Bruinooge, who has been serving in an interim capacity since November 2021.

Gray Academy hold-and-secure lifted: police

Thursday, 3:28 PM CDT

Gray Academy went into a precautionary hold-and-secure Thursday afternoon, police say.

The Jewish day school on Doncaster Street entered the lockdown at 2 p.m. because of an investigation in the area, Winnipeg Police Service spokeswoman Const. Dani McKinnon said.

The hold-and-secure was lifted at 3:14 p.m.

McKinnon did not immediately have details on what the investigation entailed, but stressed that the hold-and-secure was a preventative, precautionary measure because of nearby police work, rather than something involving the school.

Teen accused in Swan River slaying arrested in Winnipeg

Thursday, 2:24 PM CDT

RCMP major crimes investigators have arrested a teen accused in the late May slaying of a woman in Swan River.

Mounties were called at about 3 a.m. on May 29 to a home in the town — which is about 500 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg, near the Saskatchewan border — where they found the 29-year-old victim dead.

On Wednesday, RCMP said investigators arrested a 15-year-old boy from Swan River, in Winnipeg. He's been charged with manslaughter and remanded in custody. Police said he and the victim knew each other.

First-degree murder suspect arrested in Sandy Bay

Thursday, 11:13 AM CDT

A wanted man accused in an apparently targeted fatal shooting in Sandy Bay Ojibway Nation Monday has been arrested.

RCMP say officers located Shawn Owen Spence, 26.

He was wanted on a warrant for first-degree murder and two firearms offences connected to a shooting in the Indigenous community on the shore of Lake Manitoba at about 6:30 a.m. Monday. A 39-year-old man was pronounced dead at the scene.

Hide Caption Shawn Owen Spence, 26 (RCMP / HANDOUT)
Shawn Owen Spence, 26 (RCMP / HANDOUT)

Man accused in Main Street crash with police cruiser charged

Thursday, 10:18 AM CDT

Winnipeg police have formally charged the man accused of smashing a stolen truck into a cop car early Wednesday morning, hospitalizing two officers.

McKae Ledingham, 25, was allegedly behind the wheel of a stolen Lincoln Mark LT pickup truck that collided with a police cruiser at Main Street and Belmont Avenue in West Kildonan at about 4 a.m. Wednesday.

He was charged with two counts each of dangerous operation and cause bodily harm by criminal negligence, as well as one count each of resist peace officer, possession of property obtained by crime and fail to comply with the condition of a release order. He's been detained.

The Free Press learned Ledingham was out on bail with driving restrictions after being released May 23, after he was charged with fleeing police and other offences north of the city earlier this spring.

Suspect nabbed in Erickson home invasion

Wednesday, 1:34 PM CDT

An 18-year-old man has been arrested after a woman was seriously injured in a home invasion in Erickson.

RCMP were called to the home on Second Street NW just before 2 a.m., where they found the 30-year-old woman suffering "significant but non-life threatening injuries."

Mounties say she was taken to a local hospital before she was transferred to Winnipeg.

RCMP had issued a news release Wednesday afternoon advising that the suspect was at large; a short time later they announced an arrest had been made.

Erickson is just south of Riding Mountain National Park.

Missing Bunibonibee Cree Nation woman found safe

Wednesday, 10:24 AM CDT

A 20-year-old woman from Bunibonibee Cree Nation who had gone missing in Winnipeg was found safe.

Family reported Hayley Stinson missing to Oxford House RCMP on Monday. She had left the community, which is about 575 kilometres north of Winnipeg, on May 20 to travel to the city.

RCMP said she was last seen in Winnipeg on May 31 and hadn’t been in contact with her family.

Mounties said Wednesday morning Stinson had been located.

 

Winnipeg police search for woman, 18, missing since May

Wednesday, 10:15 AM CDT

Winnipeg police are searching for an 18-year-old woman who has been missing since mid-May.

Cherish Meeches was last seen in the evening of May 13 in the Fort Richmond neighbourhood, police say.

She's 5-7 with a medium build and medium-length brown hair. She was last wearing black pants, a black sweater, a black jacket, with white and pink shoes, and a black winter hat.

Police ask anyone with information on her whereabouts to call missing persons investigators at 204-986-6250.

Hide Caption WPS HANDOUT Cherish Meeches, 18.
WPS HANDOUT Cherish Meeches, 18.

Landfill search up in air as governments review

Brittany Hobson, The Canadian Press 4 minute read Preview

Landfill search up in air as governments review

Brittany Hobson, The Canadian Press 4 minute read Updated: 2:24 PM CDT

WINNIPEG - The decision to search a Winnipeg-area landfill for the remains of two First Nations women and who will fund it remains up in the air a month after a feasibility study was completed.

The study, conducted by an Indigenous-led committee, estimated it could take up to three years and cost $184 million to search the Prairie Green Landfill for the remains of Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran, but family members of the two women and Indigenous leaders have said it must go ahead.

Manitoba's premier said a potential search of the landfill should be led by the federal government and families.

"I know (the family) has been in touch with the federal government … we'll leave it to them for right now," Premier Heather Stefanson told reporters Thursday.

Read
Updated: 2:24 PM CDT

Manitoba Premier Heather Stefanson speaks at the convention centre in Winnipeg on Saturday, April 15, 2023. Stefanson says a potential search of a Winnipeg-area landfill for the remains of two First Nations women should be led by the federal government and families.THE CANADIAN PRESS/John Woods

Liberal budget bill passes in House of Commons

The Canadian Press 2 minute read Preview

Liberal budget bill passes in House of Commons

The Canadian Press 2 minute read Updated: 3:35 PM CDT

OTTAWA - The House of Commons passed the Liberal government's budget bill today, which seeks to roll out vast new incentives for clean energy and expending dental care subsidies — despite a Conservative attempt to hold it up.

The bill passed 177 to 146 with the support of Liberals and New Democrats, while the Tories and Bloc Québécois voted against it.

The bill includes a new anti-flipping tax for residential properties, a doubling of tradespeople's tools deduction and an enhancement to the Canada workers benefit, a refundable tax credit to help low income workers.

It also codifies sanctions on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine, and raises tariffs on Russia and Belarus.

Read
Updated: 3:35 PM CDT

Parliamentarians passed the Liberal government's budget bill today, rolling out new incentives for Canadians and support for Ukraine, while trumping the Conservatives attempt to block it all. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland delivers the federal budget in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Tuesday, March 28, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

Ukraine war widow unable to retrieve husband’s remains

Kevin Rollason 3 minute read Preview

Ukraine war widow unable to retrieve husband’s remains

Kevin Rollason 3 minute read 4:52 PM CDT

Hanna Sidorchenko’s hopes of bringing her husband’s remains back from Ukraine have been temporarily dashed.

Sidorchenko, who left Winnipeg for Ukraine last month, wasn’t able to secure her husband Andrii’s body. He was a Ukrainian soldier killed in the ongoing war with Russia.

She didn’t come back empty-handed: she brought back his military backpack and a flag signed by fellow members of his battalion.

Sidorchenko, who, along with her 18-year-old son Rostyslav, left for the safety of Canada about two months ago, said she at least now knows where his body is located.

Read
4:52 PM CDT

JESSICA LEE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS

Hanna Sidorchenko’s husband was a Ukrainian soldier killed in the ongoing war with Russia.

Clock ticking on federal commitment for landfill search: Manitoba grand chief

Chris Kitching 5 minute read Preview

Clock ticking on federal commitment for landfill search: Manitoba grand chief

Chris Kitching 5 minute read 5:34 PM CDT

Manitoba’s grand chief fears a proposed landfill search for two Indigenous women could be delayed by several months if Ottawa doesn’t make a funding decision before Parliament’s summer break.

Critical work cannot go ahead without a commitment from the federal government, said Cathy Merrick, who noted the current parliamentary session is set to end June 23.

If Ottawa doesn’t announce funding before then, Merrick doesn’t expect any movement until September or later, when MPs are sitting again.

“Time is of the essence,” the grand chief of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs said this week. “We need to be given a positive response from the government.

Read
5:34 PM CDT

Winnipeg Free Press files

Critical work cannot go ahead without a commitment from the federal government, said Manitoba’s grand chief Cathy Merrick, who noted the current parliamentary session is set to end June 23.

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Half-century of horseplay

Springfield Polo Club celebrates milestone, works to make ‘sport of kings’ more accessible

David Sanderson 8 minute read 4:21 PM CDT

Province’s failure to act more urgently on shortage of OD kits ‘shameful,’ Winnipeg MP says

Malak Abas 5 minute read Preview

Province’s failure to act more urgently on shortage of OD kits ‘shameful,’ Winnipeg MP says

Malak Abas 5 minute read 5:19 PM CDT

Community groups supporting people who use drugs say the impact of a supply issue cutting off access to naloxone across the province over the last month has already been felt, and are calling on the provincial and federal government to ensure it doesn’t happen again.

Shipments from the province (which provides kits to distribution sites through Manitoba Health) began to slow in mid-May. By the end of the month, some distributors were receiving only a fraction of what they had been getting. The province said it was a supply-chain issue at the time, and that kits were coming to fulfil back orders and meet future supply demands. Some organizations were forced to reach out to similar agencies in other provinces, including Ontario and B.C., to supply them with hundreds of kits when the provincial government couldn’t.

Despite the province’s assurance that it has received thousands of kits since, many groups say they still haven’t received what they need to save lives, Winnipeg Centre MP Leah Gazan said Thursday.

“We have a provincial government not doing anything (and) a federal government trying to pass the buck on the province. They have a responsibility,” the NDP member of Parliament told a Winnipeg news conference.

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5:19 PM CDT

Mike Deal / Winnipeg Free Press

Despite the province’s assurance that it has received thousands of kits since, many groups say they still haven’t received what they need to save lives, Winnipeg Centre MP Leah Gazan said Thursday.

Province commits half of $1.4M cost for next phase of Chief Peguis Trail extension plan

Joyanne Pursaga 4 minute read Preview

Province commits half of $1.4M cost for next phase of Chief Peguis Trail extension plan

Joyanne Pursaga 4 minute read Updated: 2:22 PM CDT

After several decades of debate, a road mega-project has attracted some provincial support.

On Thursday, Premier Heather Stefanson announced the province will provide $700,000 to help fund a feasibility study on the Chief Peguis Trail extension.

“The Chief Peguis Trail expansion is (a) great example of a key transportation corridor that supports economic development and community viability,” said Stefanson.

The money will cover about half the cost to complete the study, which the City of Winnipeg previously promised.

Read
Updated: 2:22 PM CDT

MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS

“The construction of the Chief Peguis Trail from Main Street to Route 90 is a project that has been contemplated for many decades,” said Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham.

Shadowy pro-Tory group exploiting weak third-party election spending rules in Manitoba

Tom Brodbeck 5 minute read Preview

Shadowy pro-Tory group exploiting weak third-party election spending rules in Manitoba

Tom Brodbeck 5 minute read 12:53 PM CDT

Manitoba needs more robust third-party election spending rules. The case of a largely unknown pro-conservative group flooding Manitobans’ cell phones this week with political messages and buying billboard ads is a perfect example why.

Manitoba does have third-party election spending rules. They’re laid out in the Election Financing Act. But they’re limited.

Under the legislation, a third party must register with the province’s chief electoral officer if they spend $2,500 or more on “election communications” during an election period (or in the 90 days leading up to an election period). That includes broadcast and print ads, billboards (and other public spaces, including buses and benches) and internet advertising.

Third parties, either an individual or a group, are supposed to provide the CEO with information about themselves, including their name, or the name of the organization and who runs it. Following the election, third parties are required to fill out a form showing how much they spent and where they spent it.

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12:53 PM CDT

JESSICA LEE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS

A political attack sign near Polo Park featuring Justin Trudeau, Jagmeet Singh and Wab Kinew is photographed June 6, 2023. Reporter: Tom

Wildfire battles continue under widespread alerts

Mia Rabson, The Canadian Press 6 minute read Preview

Wildfire battles continue under widespread alerts

Mia Rabson, The Canadian Press 6 minute read Updated: 5:25 PM CDT

OTTAWA — Air pollution from wildfires remained well above healthy levels across much of southern and northern Ontario and several communities in British Columbia and Alberta on Thursday.

There may be some hope on the horizon after the number of fires burning across the country fell slightly, but forecasts suggest smoke warnings will remain in place in several provinces into the weekend.

The record setting air pollution that blanketed Ottawa and much of eastern Ontario with a yellow-tinged haze Wednesday had mostly cleared by Thursday morning, and the sun was even glimpsed briefly.

But further south, towards the Greater Toronto Area and in areas around Sudbury and North Bay, the air quality remained poor. Environment Canada forecast very high-risk air quality in the GTA, southwestern Ontario and the Niagara region into Thursday night.

Read
Updated: 5:25 PM CDT

A man walks to work wearing a mask near Parliament Hill, Wednesday, June 7, 2023 in Ottawa. The battle against hundreds of wildfires continued Thursday, as almost every jurisdiction in Canada was under either heat or air quality warnings from the federal government. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

Famous doctor feted by U of M 33 years after graduating

By Cierra Bettens 4 minute read Preview

Famous doctor feted by U of M 33 years after graduating

By Cierra Bettens 4 minute read Updated: 5:49 PM CDT

A wave of nostalgia washed over Dr. Jennifer Gunther as she stood behind the podium at the University of Manitoba spring convocation three decades after graduating.

“I never thought, as a medical student waiting for my degree, that this was where my life would take me,” the famous gynecologist, who is also an author and public speaker, said in her address to the graduating class Thursday.

Six individuals were awarded honorary degrees from the University of Manitoba, considered the highest possible honour awarded by the institution, this week. The U of M awards three types of honorary degrees: Doctor of Laws, Letters and Science.

The recipients included social entrepreneur Wayne Suk-Wing Chiu, world-renowned scientist Thomas Quinn, comedian Lara Rae, Gov. Gen. Mary Simon and wine industry mogul Donald Triggs.

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Updated: 5:49 PM CDT

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Dr. Jennifer Gunther (left), with University of Manitoba Chancellor Anne Mahon, received an honorary Doctor of Laws for her extraordinary contributions to the field of gynecology and her tireless advocacy for women’s health.

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