The Social Page

Winnipeg woman saves child, father in ‘courageous’ river rescue

A Winnipeg woman is being hailed as a hero after saving a father and his child from the Red River last month.

Police officers were called to St. John’s Park shortly before 7 p.m. on Aug. 24 after receiving a report a child had fallen into the river, the Winnipeg Police Service said in a news release Wednesday.

When officers arrived, they found the unconscious child on shore receiving first aid from a bystander. Police took over life-saving efforts before the child was rushed to hospital in critical condition. The child was later stabilized and is expected to make a full recovery.

Police said an investigation by the child abuse unit determined a woman witnessed the child fall into the water, followed by the child’s father, who tried to save his child. The woman jumped into the river, first pulling the father to safety before swimming back out for the child.

Dangerous offender status sought for convicted killer

Crown prosecutors intend to apply to have a convicted killer, who also admitted his guilt in an assault on a stranger at The Forks and a robbery at a local beer vendor, designated as a dangerous offender.

Daniel Christopher Dumas, who is in his mid-30s, pleaded guilty to assault causing bodily harm and robbery in front of provincial court Judge Donovan Dvorak on Monday for the attacks on June 6 and 7, 2025. He will be sentenced at a later date.

Prosecutor Monique Cam said the Crown plans to apply for a dangerous offender designation for Dumas, which, if granted, could result in him being given an indefinite prison sentence.

“The Crown does intend to make an application at a future date … for a remand for assessment to have Mr. Dumas assessed by a court-ordered assessor for the purpose of pursuing a dangerous offender application,” Cam said.

Naked man dies after jolt from police Taser

A Transcona man says he was lucky to be awake early Sunday when, shortly after 4 a.m., a stranger smashed through his screen door and kicked in the front door of his home.

“It’s all I can think about, like what if I was sleeping?” said the man, whom the Free Press is not naming to protect his identity. “Being awake gave me just a couple of extra seconds to deal with him before he got his whole body in.”

He was sitting on his couch when he heard the glass shatter and saw someone trying to force his way inside.

“Glass flew in and this guy — he was a big guy — tried to climb through the screen door,” the man said. “I hopped off the couch and just remember screaming for help. Well, of course it’s four in the morning, so nobody’s going to help, right? I wasn’t thinking straight.”

Rare and tough to notice, sarcomas may lurk in the body

Last summer, Michelle Finley was going about a normal day.

She had just dropped her car off at a garage and was walking back to her office building downtown when, suddenly, she was stopped in her tracks by a searing cramp on the bottom of her right foot.

“It was so painful it took my breath away,” says Finley, now 52. “I stopped and held on to the side of a building for a second — like, it was bringing tears to my eyes.”

Finley thought she had a really bad case of plantar fasciitis. Nine months later she would lose her foot to sarcoma.

Church-run event shows risks, difficult choices faced by those fleeing persecution

I recently went on a fictional journey when I participated in “Explore the Refugee Highway,” a choose-your-own-adventure-style game that was set up in Kildonan Park on Aug. 29 to give Winnipeggers a taste of the terror, risks, challenges and occasional breakthroughs faced by refugees.