You’re steering into strife over wife’s prized pickup

Woman who saved child, father from Red River uncomfortable with hero label

A Winnipeg woman who’s been hailed as a hero by police for saving a father and his young child from the Red River says she doesn’t feel like one.

“I’m a mom… and I would do it again,” said Jayclyn Morrissette, who was walking with her neighbour through St. John’s Park on Aug. 24 when they spotted a young girl flailing in the nearby river. “I was meant to be there and that was supposed to happen.”

Morrissette, who spoke to the Free Press Wednesday after police released details about the rescue, said she and her neighbour began looking for the child’s parents and found them at the nearby playground searching for her.

Morrissette waved them over. The father, who she said could not swim, jumped into the river first and immediately began to sink.

QDoc patients in tight spot over billing dispute

Manitobans have been pulled into a dispute between QDoc — a Winnipeg-based virtual health-care platform — and the NDP government over fees billed to the province for patient care.

An Aug. 24 email from QDoc to its users prompted concern or calls for clarity from Manitobans who use the 24-7 platform to see a physician or nurse practitioner through encrypted video calls.

“When I first read it, like many others, I assumed they were going to be nixing the service altogether because that’s the way it was presented,” Tyndall resident Stephanie Pituley said.

“Upon further research, obviously that’s not the case, but I am still concerned to be honest. How many people did that research, I don’t know.”

Dynacare strike set to begin before hearing into essential services agreement

Hundreds of Dynacare lab employees are expected to hit the picket line Tuesday, hours before a labour board hearing to determine whether they are essential workers.

St. Malo’s summer hot spot relies on dedicated community to make sure park-goers can kick back and relax

August 21, 10:10 a.m.There’s nobody on the beach at St. Malo Provincial Park yet, though there’s certain to be plenty of visitors later. It’s shaping up to be a hot late-August Friday in southern Manitoba; the forecast warns of a thunderstorm in the late afternoon, but that won’t stop Manitobans from flocking to savour one of the last great beach days of the summer.

On a typical such weekend, this park, situated just an hour’s drive southeast of Winnipeg, can squeeze up to 2,000 guests onto the sandy crescent of its expansive main beach, and about 600 more on its other bathing-ready shore, which is nestled near the campground and thus long called Camper Beach.

For now, though, the scene around the lake is quiet and picture-perfect. The morning sun sparkles on the lake’s placid grey surface. A gaggle of Canada geese swim lazily, honking at each other. As park manager Bill Prevost pulls up on the beach in a golf cart, he nods at the birds with a wink.

“Did we tell you about the rule?” Prevost quips. “If you come here, you have to take four geese back with you.”

Neighbours relieved after fire strikes Quickie Mart

As Janina McNaughton watched the Quickie Mart on River Avenue go up in flames on Tuesday, she felt relieved.

“The first thing I see is flames, like a fireball of flames inside,” McNaughton said about watching the blaze from her bedroom across the street.

On Wednesday, the bright green building, at 292 River Ave., was boarded up and charred on the outside.

Crews from the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service responded at 8:13 p.m. Tuesday to battle the blaze, said the city in a news release. It was under control within the hour.

‘Where are they going to go?’: encampment policy blamed for homeless people sleeping outside thrift store

The owner of a Portage Avenue thrift shop says the city’s encampment ban has pushed dozens of homeless people from tent communities to spaces near her store.

Susan Lockhart, who runs Just Like New to You at 635 Portage Ave., says anywhere from 25 to 50 people can be found at any given time behind the store and along the back lane stretching between Sherbrook and Furby streets.

“Where are they going to go?” she said Wednesday from her shop. “I was just here on the weekend and I couldn’t get to our back door. There were people everywhere. Mattresses.”

Earlier this week, the city reported 275 people were known to be living in 72 encampments across Winnipeg — down from 100 encampments housing about 700 people last September. The report also noted that 141 sites have been remediated since the city’s encampment policy came into effect in November.