Renée Fleming cancels Kennedy Center appearances

‘Huge resource gaps’: judge shortage leads to circuit court cuts

A shortage of judges is forcing Manitoba’s provincial court to slash sittings across the province.

The court announced in a notice to the profession Wednesday that it will be reducing the number of annual court sittings at nine rural circuit locations and St. Boniface provincial court in Winnipeg by 68 sittings, effective April 1, 2027.

The reductions are necessary to balance “access to justice needs with the complement of judicial resources currently insufficient to maintain the current court schedule,” said the notice, signed by provincial court Chief Judge Ryan Rolston.

Affected circuit courts include Altona, Arborg, Beausejour, Easterville, Cranberry Portage, Lundar, Grand Rapids, Moose Lake, and Pine Falls.

Supportive housing operator sued after man with dementia walks away

The Public Guardian and Trustee of Manitoba is suing a health services company after a man with dementia under its care allegedly wandered away from an apartment it operates for vulnerable people and was later found face down in a puddle — unresponsive, hypothermic and severely injured.

The public trustee — a provincial government agency that, among other duties, makes financial and personal care decisions for vulnerable adults who cannot do so themselves — filed the lawsuit against Cambridge Health Inc. and a related numbered company in the Court of King’s Bench earlier this month.

The agency did so on behalf of a now-38-year-old man, who has been under its care since 2018, as a result of his frontotemporal dementia. The disease often starts in mid-life, rather than old age, as is the case with most other forms of dementia.

The lawsuit alleges the man, who resided at a Henderson Highway apartment complex where Cambridge Health operated a supportive residence for people with complex behavioural health issues, was in a common area of the home at about 4:30 p.m. on April 3 last year.

Lone Manitoba 9/11 victim's legacy lives on helping Inuit students become nurses

On the night before the morning that everyone remembers, Ellen Judd spoke to her partner, Christine Egan, several times on the phone. Egan was in New York, where she’d gone to look after her nephews so her beloved brother, Michael, and his wife, Anna, could treat themselves to an anniversary vacation.

Usually, Judd would have been there, too. The couple had been together for more than 15 years, and loved sharing all the good parts of life. But at the time, she was an anthropology professor at the University of Manitoba, and the school year was just starting; she had classes the next day. Staying connected by phone would have to suffice.

In their calls that night, Judd remembers, Egan was happy. Christmas was the main topic. They were planning to spend the holiday with Judd’s family in Ontario, and talked about when to book flights. Egan was looking forward to that visit; Judd’s family “loved her to bits,” the now-retired professor says, and the affection was mutual.

The next day, Egan said, she planned to go into Manhattan with Michael. He was an executive at Aon, a global risk, retirement and health services corporation, and had an office on the 105th floor of the World Trade Centre’s South Tower.

Artist’s inspired work brings Métis story back to Portage and Main

Jennine Krauchi calls them the “grandmothers.”

“They speak to you very silently. You never hear a word, but they speak,” Krauchi says, referring to the antique pieces of Métis needlework she’s carefully studied for years — a craft passed down across generations, with the pieces themselves sometimes serving as the instructive elders.

But there’s few precedents for her latest art project: a 85-foot-wide by 32-foot-high chain curtain of Métis needlework — teeming with wild flowers, infinity symbols, berries and other motifs paying tribute to Métis heritage and renewal — that drapes over the historic Bank of Montreal’s neoclassical facade.

That building, at 335 Main St., will soon bear another title: Red River Métis National Heritage Centre or La Plas Taanshi kaa-Ishipamachihoyaahk, its Michif name.

Education minister’s reasons for revoking teacher’s licence ‘not good enough,’ judge decides

A Manitoba judge has rejected the education minister’s decision to end a teacher’s career because he repeatedly messaged with a 13-year-old girl on social media.