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Teens with criminal records sentenced for machete attacks on boy, 80-year-old

Dean Pritchard 5 minute read Updated: 5:53 PM CDT

Minutes after he and another teen attacked a 15-year-old boy with machetes, nearly severing the victim’s wrist and slicing off three fingers, he ran home and made a startling disclosure to his foster mother.

“(He) says ‘I think I killed a kid,’” the woman told police, according to an agreed statement of facts provided to court at a sentencing hearing for the two youths Friday.

“I said ‘Don’t joke about that’, because he was giggling,” the woman said. “Then I noticed blood on his shoulder and a whole lot on his shoe, and I asked him where it was from and he wouldn’t answer me.”

The offender, who is now 17, and his 15-year-old co-accused each pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated assault and robbery in connection with two violent machete attacks committed six days apart in August 2024. The other victim was an 80-year-old man who had never met the teens.

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MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS
Clockwise from left Jarred Baker, senior advisor on homelessness for City of Winnipeg, Lorie English, executive director, West Central Women’s Resource Centre, Cindy with Main Street Project, via video link, Kate Sjoberg, Executive Director, Resource Assistance for Youth Inc., Jamil Mahmood, executive director of Main Street Project, and Karen Murisonwith Main Street Project during a meeting with homelessness groups involved in the Your Way Home Strategy in the boardroom at Main Street Project Tuesday afternoon.

Moving at the speed of trust

Collaboration, compassion and a clear sense of purpose among non-profit agencies and government recently moved more than 30 people out of homeless encampments and into supportive housing

Scott Billeck 11 minute read 5:11 PM CDT

Hudson’s Bay seeks approval to auction off 1670 charter, court filings show

Tara Deschamps, The Canadian Press 5 minute read Preview

Hudson’s Bay seeks approval to auction off 1670 charter, court filings show

Tara Deschamps, The Canadian Press 5 minute read Updated: 5:37 PM CDT

TORONTO - Hudson's Bay wants to revert to its original plan to auction off its founding charter after more parties signalled interest in buying — then donating — the 1670 document, new court documents say.

The Ontario Superior Court had been due to hear a motion earlier this month approving the sale of the artifact to the Weston family of grocer Loblaw Cos. Ltd. fame. Their holding company Wittington Investments Ltd. offered $12.5 million for the charter and planned to donate it to the Canadian Museum of History.

The hearing was adjourned after DKRT Family Corp, a holding company owned by David Thomson, objected to the Weston sale. The firm acting on behalf of the billionaire chairman of Thomson Reuters was willing to spend at least $15 million on the document he wants to donate to the Archives of Manitoba.

Hudson's Bay declined to comment Friday on news that it would return to the auction plan. The new court documents did not say who else was interested in the document but noted that the retailer will seek permission on Sept. 29 to auction off the charter on Oct. 15.

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Updated: 5:37 PM CDT

The 1670 royal charter signed by King Charles II establishing Hudson's Bay, is shown on display at the Manitoba Museum where it was loaned to be displayed alongside its permanent collection of Hudson's Bay artifacts, in this 2020 handout photo. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Handout — Manitoba Museum (Mandatory Credit)

North Dakota missing its Manitobans

Chris Kitching 7 minute read Preview

North Dakota missing its Manitobans

Chris Kitching 7 minute read Updated: 11:52 AM CDT

Kay Rone used to spot plenty of Manitoba licence plates outside stores, hotels and restaurants throughout Grand Forks on weekends in past years.

There haven’t been nearly as many since the COVID-19 pandemic hit in early 2020.

“Now, you hardly see them in town,” said Rone, who owns Northern Roots Boutique, a women’s clothing store opposite Columbia Mall, which was once a big draw for cross-border shoppers.

She displays a window sign welcoming Canadians.

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Updated: 11:52 AM CDT

Kay Rone, who owns Northern Roots Boutique in Grand Forks, N.D., for years has displayed a sign in her window that welcomes Canadian shoppers. (Supplied)

St. Boniface residents drained after demolition of Happyland pool

Joyanne Pursaga 5 minute read Preview

St. Boniface residents drained after demolition of Happyland pool

Joyanne Pursaga 5 minute read 5:11 PM CDT

As demolition continues at one outdoor pool in St. Boniface, a city councillor hopes to take a second look at extending the life of another one.

Crews began tearing down Happyland outdoor pool on Thursday, after city council voted to shutter it for good last year.

“We’re heartbroken, we’re disgusted … because this was a perfectly good pool, there was nothing wrong with it,” said Teresa Cwik, president of the South St. Boniface Residents Association. “The taxpayers are paying … to demolish an asset that belongs to the people of Winnipeg.”

In 2024, residents raised $86,000 toward the pool’s operating costs, attempting to sway city council to keep it open for another season. Instead, council cast a final vote to close the facility.

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5:11 PM CDT

Ruth Bonneville / Free Press
Crews work on demolishing Happyland outdoor pool on Marion Street, Thursday. In an attempt to convince city council to keep the pool open for another season, area residents raised $86,000 last year to go toward the pool’s operating costs. Instead, council cast a final vote to close the facility.

Sluggish response to apartment fire triggers renewed call for resources, changes from firefighters’ union

Nicole Buffie 5 minute read Preview

Sluggish response to apartment fire triggers renewed call for resources, changes from firefighters’ union

Nicole Buffie 5 minute read 6:27 PM CDT

A slow response time to an apartment fire in south St. Vital Friday morning has renewed calls from the firefighters’ union for more resources and a renegotiation of the city’s fire-paramedic agreement.

United Firefighters of Winnipeg president Nick Kasper said it took twice as long as it should for a crew to get to the blaze on Meadowood Drive because the closest fire trucks were out on “low-priority” medical calls.

Firefighters were sent to the four-storey building at about 9 a.m. Crews declared the fire under control within a half-hour.

Two residents were assessed by paramedics, and one was taken to hospital. Damage was contained to the suite where the fire started.

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6:27 PM CDT

JOE BRYKSA/FREE PRESS FILES
The City of Winnipeg city operates 40 fire-rescue units out of 27 stations and has 167 firefighters on duty, which the United Firefighters of Winnipeg says is less than it was in 1975.

Opinion

Anecdotal evidence alone doesn’t prove bail reform needed Tom Brodbeck 5 minute read 2:56 PM CDT
Le Classique a perennial microcosm of country’s state Jerrad Peters 5 minute read 1:34 PM CDT
Read and research, before engaging your rage Editorial 4 minute read 2:00 AM CDT

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Avi Lewis launches NDP leadership bid as Heather McPherson prepares campaign

David Baxter, The Canadian Press 6 minute read Preview

Avi Lewis launches NDP leadership bid as Heather McPherson prepares campaign

David Baxter, The Canadian Press 6 minute read Updated: 3:09 PM CDT

OTTAWA - Filmmaker and journalist Avi Lewis officially announced his candidacy for the federal NDP leadership on Friday, while two other candidates registered to run for the leadership with Elections Canada.

Lewis — the first to publicly declare — made his announcement in a video he shared on social media.

Both Alberta NDP MP Heather McPherson and Rob Ashton, president of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, are now listed as leadership candidates on the Elections Canada website. Neither candidate has made a public declaration yet.

In an interview with The Canadian Press, Lewis said Canada is at an "epic, historic" turning point due to economic upheaval driven by the U.S. tariff threat. He said he sees a way for the NDP to present alternatives and regain its footing in a time of "massive change."

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Updated: 3:09 PM CDT

Avi Lewis NDP poses for a photograph on Bowen Island, B.C., on Saturday, Aug. 28, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Man who said he only hit victim once convicted of manslaughter

Erik Pindera 4 minute read Preview

Man who said he only hit victim once convicted of manslaughter

Erik Pindera 4 minute read 2:43 PM CDT

River Harper died alone in the hallway of his Assiniboine Avenue high-rise apartment building last year, after he was beaten over disputes about vodka and a forgotten tablet one of his killers used to listen to music.

It was just after 6 a.m. on Feb. 25, 2024, when the 19-year-old was found dead of brain trauma outside someone else’s suite.

Two other young men, Jrayden Monias, 23, and Jadar Morrison, 22, were the last people to see Harper alive, having spent time the night before drinking vodka in his suite.

Both were captured on surveillance cameras in the building and elsewhere.

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2:43 PM CDT

The Manitoba Law Courts building in Winnipeg. THE CANADIAN PRESS/John Woods

Bus riders, drivers welcome police safety initiative; two arrests made on day plan rolled out

Scott Billeck 5 minute read Preview

Bus riders, drivers welcome police safety initiative; two arrests made on day plan rolled out

Scott Billeck 5 minute read Updated: 4:13 PM CDT

The announcement of a new police strategy — placing both uniformed and plainclothes officers on Winnipeg Transit — was welcome news for riders Friday.

The Winnipeg Police Service announced the initiative’s first arrests were made on Wednesday, when the plan was unveiled.

“I love it,” said one elderly woman who was waiting for her bus at Unicity. “I love it for the bus drivers as well, because they take the brunt of it.”

She said she had already noticed more police nearby, pointing out that she saw multiple cruisers pull into the parking lot while she ate breakfast at a nearby Burger King.

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Updated: 4:13 PM CDT

‘You gave him purpose… gave him his freedom’: grateful mother from Colombia celebrates Sunshine Fund

Conrad Sweatman 5 minute read Preview

‘You gave him purpose… gave him his freedom’: grateful mother from Colombia celebrates Sunshine Fund

Conrad Sweatman 5 minute read 1:26 PM CDT

Freedom for the Recio family, in their native Colombia, was tied to an unexpected emblem.

“Our children watched The Parent Trap at least 50 times, dreaming of canoes and lakes and cabins in the woods,” Angela Recio told a crowded room at the Caboto Centre on Thursday.

“But in Colombia, where we lived in South America, that kind of freedom was unimaginable. Sending our child off into the wilderness was not just unthinkable, it was unsafe.”

Recio was addressing donors, nature lovers, Manitoba Camping Association staff and friends at the organization’s appreciation luncheon for supporters of its Sunshine Fund.

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1:26 PM CDT

From left: Kim Scherger, exective director of the Manitoba Camping Association (left), Free Press editor-in-chief Paul Samyn and storytellers Angela Recio de Garcia and Bonnie Robinson at the Sunshine Fund Donor Appreciation Luncheon at the Caboto Centre on Thursday. (Mikaela MacKenzie / Free Press)

The Alzheimer Society is Your Path Forward

3 minute read Preview

The Alzheimer Society is Your Path Forward

3 minute read 1:00 AM CDT

Being diagnosed with dementia can be scary and often leaves families feeling like they are all alone in dealing with it.

That’s why the World Alzheimer’s Month campaign is so important, says Erin Crawford, CEO of the Alzheimer Society of Manitoba.

“It’s so important that families know that they are not alone,” Crawford says. “There’s thousands of Manitobans experiencing the challenges dementia brings and they don’t have to figure it all out on their own. We listen to where you’re at and then help you access the right resources and guidance to move forward.”

The campaign titled, “Your Path Forward” is an opportunity to raise awareness about dementia, reduce the stigma and let families know that the Alzheimer Society is here to welcome you into a community of support.

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1:00 AM CDT

The Alzheimer Society is Your Path Forward

Stonewall native adds NHL to her long list of officiating milestones

Mike McIntyre 5 minute read Preview

Stonewall native adds NHL to her long list of officiating milestones

Mike McIntyre 5 minute read 6:12 PM CDT

Talk about a “Welcome to the Big Leagues” moment.

Amy Martin, a 30-year-old referee from Manitoba, got one last weekend in Montreal. Invited to help officiate the NHL prospect challenge tournament featuring young stars from four teams, her very first assignment came under the bright lights of the Bell Centre in a clash between the hometown Canadiens versus the Winnipeg Jets.

It didn’t take long before roughly 20,000 fans were chanting “ref you suck” in her direction after what they perceived as a missed infraction.

Offended? Not at all. For Martin, it was a badge of honour.

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6:12 PM CDT

ICE WAVE MEDIA PHOTO
Stonewall’s Amy Martin suited up for her first NHL assignment last weekend in Montreal, reffing two Winnipeg Jets games at the prospects tournament.

‘It would be awesome to experience it again’

Ken Wiebe 8 minute read Preview

‘It would be awesome to experience it again’

Ken Wiebe 8 minute read 5:49 PM CDT

The mere mention of the unadulterated elation immediately brings a smile to the face of Tanner Pearson.

Sitting in his new stall inside Hockey For All Centre, the veteran forward casually mentions his career highlight and it’s as though he was immediately transformed into the time machine, landing in the heart of 2014.

Pearson was a second-year pro and had one solitary Stanley Cup playoff game on his resumé — and it came before making his regular-season debut with the Los Angeles Kings.

That would come on Nov. 14 of 2013, when he scored against Kevin Poulin of the New York Islanders.

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5:49 PM CDT