Profit-driven policing

Manitoba’s Criminal Property Forfeiture Unit seized an estimated $11.89 million in tainted assets during the 2021-22 fiscal season — an increase of 346 per cent over the previous year, and far and away the largest annual haul since the unit’s inception.

Gillingham celebrates, Murray concedes, Klein and Loney round out top four

Scott Gillingham celebrates, Glen Murray concedes, Kevin Klein and Shaun Loney round out top four in mayor's race.

City’s record of urban planning an exercise in after-the-fact rationalization

Earl Levin had big plans for downtown Winnipeg.

Removal of tattoos helping facilitate change for ex-gang members

Just like a fresh coat of paint can cover up the gang graffiti seen throughout the streets and alleys of inner-city Winnipeg, so too can flesh marked with gang insignia be made clean again.

‘Troubling patterns’: traffic infrastructure contracts keep city transportation division in spotlight

Questions are being raised on how the City of Winnipeg handles tenders for traffic infrastructure, following a Free Press analysis of underground wiring contracts dating back more than a decade.

Restorative justice proponents point to alternative way

The volunteers stand around the old storefront at 605 Main St. holding cardboard boxes filled with supplies — fresh fruit, bottles of water and jugs of juice, plastic containers into which used needles can be safely disposed — when there’s a knock at the door.

Leaked documents reveal police HQ project wasn't financially sound when construction began

The temperature hovered just below freezing on Jan. 15, 2010, when 11 people arrived at city hall for a Saturday meeting in the boardroom of then-chief administrative officer Phil Sheegl to discuss the downtown Winnipeg Police Service headquarters construction project.

The meeting was consequential for the controversial job, which sparked multiple audits, allegations of kickbacks and corruption, calls for a public inquiry and a five-year RCMP investigation that closed without criminal charges.

In the years since police moved into the new downtown HQ on Smith Street in 2014, the high-profile controversy has largely focused on Caspian Construction — the main building firm — and its various sub-contractors, who have never commented publicly.

The City of Winnipeg alleges it was defrauded by the project’s construction contractors and design team through a scheme of inflated and fabricated invoices — allegations that remain before Manitoba’s civil court.

Eight years later, key “non-existent” police HQ meeting minutes magically appear

It took significantly longer than a minute for key meeting minutes relating to the controversial Winnipeg Police Headquarters construction project to emerge.

More than 4.2 million of them, in fact.

The Free Press has obtained copies of meeting records from the project’s oversight committee eight years after city staff told both internal and external auditors that the documents didn’t exist.

City council ordered two external audits in 2013 after learning the expected price tag to transform the downtown Canada Post warehouse into a new home for the city’s police department had skyrocketed.

Email trail intertwines city, real estate company on police HQ project

A trail of emails obtained by the Free Press provides fresh insight into the close and collaborative relationship between local development firm Shindico and Winnipeg city hall during the administration of former mayor Sam Katz.

The emails reveal backchannel communication regarding several real estate projects, including a case where a specific city councillor was identified as an obstacle.

They show Phil Sheegl, a senior member of the public service and a close ally of Katz, referring to himself and Shindico as a joint entity.

They detail the existence of a meeting for three city employees at the home of Sandy Shindleman, co-owner of Shindico, to discuss buying the downtown Canada Post building that was later renovated into Winnipeg Police Service headquarters.

Design engineer repeatedly told city officials police behind HQ’s rising costs, delays

A key player in the construction of Winnipeg’s downtown police headquarters repeatedly raised concerns with senior city administration about design changes pushed by the police service causing significant cost overruns and schedule delays.

Internal project correspondence newly obtained by the Free Press reveals the degree of frustration that was mounting for Peter Chang and the design firm Adjeleian Allen Rubeli Ltd., on the construction project.

On at least two occasions, Chang threatened to walk away from the job, complaining his firm had been mistreated by the city and police service. On another occasion, he accused the city of instructing him to censor a progress report critical of the Winnipeg Police Service.

The correspondence sheds new light on steps taken by city hall to limit the exposure of the police service in the controversial capital project.

Audits into construction job concerns repeatedly produced recommendations that were sometimes not implemented

Unexpected cost overruns, significant schedule delays, poor project planning, bad management and haphazard record keeping.

Those were the findings of a series of audits into municipal capital projects in the years leading up to the Winnipeg Police Service headquarters controversy.

The WPS HQ project sparked an RCMP criminal investigation, allegations of kickbacks and corruption and ongoing civil litigation launched by the City of Winnipeg.

But in order to understand what went wrong — and why — on the controversial job, it must be placed into proper context, which requires a look back at the over-budget capital projects that preceded it.

Document shows police not innocent in HQ cost overruns

One year before the completion of the controversial downtown police headquarters project, then-Winnipeg Police Service chief Devon Clunis told a news conference at city hall the force wasn’t responsible for runaway construction costs.

Clunis was armed with a newly released audit, which he and city councillors said absolved the WPS of responsibility for the skyrocketing price tag.

“There may have been a perception that the police service was doing things to drive up the cost and this audit says, clearly, this is not the case,” Clunis said on July 15, 2014.

But an unreleased draft of the audit report obtained by the Free Press tells a different story.

Missing: active pathways, millions to pay for them

On paper, it seems like a pair of simple projects that could easily be done to move Winnipeg’s active transportation agenda forward.

But like most things in the city, what is budgeted and what actually happens are two different things.

In the case of the bike-lane and multi-use path projects, the cost of which total $2.2 million and were supposed to be completed last year, no one can clearly explain why the work wasn’t done. Or where the money went.

The University Crescent road reconstruction project was launched with Phase 1 of construction beginning in 2021 and Phase 2 scheduled for this year.

Judge steps away from civil trial over police HQ project

Manitoba Court of Queen’s Bench Chief Justice Glenn Joyal has decided not to hear an upcoming civil trial arising from the controversial Winnipeg Police Service headquarters construction project, citing the “spectre” of bias.

The lawsuit was launched by the City of Winnipeg in January 2020, roughly one month after Manitoba RCMP closed Project Dalton — the multi-year, multimillion-dollar fraud investigation into the over-budget project — without criminal charges.

The defendants named in the suit are former City of Winnipeg chief administrative officer Phil Sheegl, various contractors and consultants connected to the job and Caspian Construction, the firm hired to build the WPS HQ.

In a letter dated May 10th obtained by the Free Press, Joyal notified the lawyers on the case that he planned to recuse himself.

A decade of dubious deals, disquieting dollars

Controversy was a frequent visitor to city hall during the administration of Sam Katz, who served as Winnipeg’s mayor from 2004 to 2014.

In recent years, the spotlight has focused on one: the Winnipeg Police Service headquarters construction project.

That’s because in December 2014 — one month after Katz left office — the RCMP raided Caspian Construction, the firm awarded a single-sourced contract on the over-budget job.

The raid revealed the existence of RCMP Project Dalton, the multi-year, multimillion-dollar fraud investigation into the construction project.

Mayor wasn’t aware of second RCMP probe into Katz-era deals

Winnipeg Mayor Brian Bowman is renewing his call for a public inquiry into controversial capital projects and real estate deals during the Katz-Sheegl era at city hall after the existence of a second, parallel RCMP probe has come to light.

On Tuesday, the Free Press revealed the existence of RCMP Project Dioxide — a previously undisclosed investigation into a string of real estate deals and an over-budget capital project during the administration — 2004-2014 — of former mayor Sam Katz.

Project Dioxide ran parallel to RCMP Project Dalton, the multi-year, multimillion-dollar fraud investigation into the construction of the Winnipeg Police Service headquarters.

On Wednesday, Jeremy Davis, a spokesman for Bowman, said the mayor had not been aware of the existence of RCMP Project Dioxide prior to the Free Press report.

RCMP put Katz-era deals under secret microscope

The discovery of a secret police investigation into a string of municipal real estate deals and a controversial capital project sheds new light on the scope of suspected criminal activity at Winnipeg city hall during the Katz-Sheegl era.

The Free Press has uncovered evidence of an undisclosed criminal probe, which ran alongside Project Dalton, the RCMP’s multi-year, multimillion-dollar fraud investigation into the construction of the Winnipeg Police Service headquarters.

Project Dioxide, the code name given to the parallel RCMP investigation, launched in the fall of 2014, but was never formally announced or revealed to the public.

It investigated a series of real estate transactions during the administration of Mayor Sam Katz (2004-2014), as well as the construction of four fire-paramedic stations by Shindico Realty and an associated, aborted land swap.

Manitoba’s most powerful chief accused of sexual assault

A woman in a senior leadership position at the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs has accused Grand Chief Arlen Dumas — the most powerful Indigenous leader in the province — of sexual assault.

A formal criminal complaint has been filed with the Winnipeg Police Service sex crimes unit and the assembly’s executive council of chiefs was notified about the allegation Monday.

Police spokeswoman Const. Dani McKinnon confirmed Thursday that a complaint had been received and an incident number was generated.

McKinnon said police could not reveal information about the accuser or accused, or the details of the allegation.

Public works rejects mismanagement allegations

Winnipeg’s public works department responded publicly for the first time Thursday to allegations of financial mismanagement within the traffic signals branch at a special meeting of the city’s finance committee.

Chairman Scott Gillingham (St. James) called the session in response to the recent Free Press investigative series Red Light, Green Light, No Oversight, based on the findings of independent traffic researcher Christian Sweryda.

Public works director Jim Berezowsky disputed allegations his department has engaged in widespread patterns of financial mismanagement and wasteful construction practices dating back more than a decade.

“We believe there is an explanation for each and every Google picture,” Berezowsky said, referring to Sweryda’s research, the result of hundreds of hours spent analyzing Google Street View images and cataloguing changes to traffic infrastructure in Winnipeg.

Winnipeg’s photo-enforcement system was set up for profit rather than protection, critics charge

If a car is going faster than a car going slower, does the car going faster need more time to stop than the car going slower?

For years, that was the question independent researcher Christian Sweryda would ask the class when he was invited to guest lecture at universities in Winnipeg on traffic issues.

Then he would tell everyone who thought the faster car needed more time to stop to raise their hand.

“The whole class would put their hands up, thinking: ‘What’s the catch?’” Sweryda says.

Winnipegger’s effort to replace missing school area traffic signs thwarted by city department’s couldn’t-care-less attitude

It was sometime in 2011 when independent researcher and traffic-safety activist Christian Sweryda started to notice locations where school-zone signs were missing in Winnipeg.

He began to count the places where they should have been installed. When his list hit 30, he contacted the transportation division of the public works department to flag the issue.

Sweryda said based on how many signs were missing just in his area, there were likely hundreds more around the city. He suggested someone do an inventory.

Someone in the department told Sweryda it would not do a count, but would replace missing signs on a case-by-case basis. They told him to stop calling and instead contact 311.

A decade of deadly delay

For the past 11 years, independent researcher and traffic-safety activist Christian Sweryda has been urging the City of Winnipeg to install eye-level safety lights at pedestrian corridors.

It has been a long, drawn-out battle, featuring a forgotten report, a pilot project bordering on the absurd, a spate of major crashes and dead children.

Despite the deaths and near-tragedies, the city has resisted the mass rollout of a cheap and proven safety initiative. To this day, the vast majority of pedestrian corridors in Winnipeg do not have eye-level safety lights.

The financial cost of delays is minuscule, but the human cost has been immeasurable.

Yellow caution flashes again 12 years after audit condemns city department

Allegations of financial mismanagement in the transportation division of the public works department should not come as a surprise at city hall.

A damning 2010 audit into the traffic signals branch found a lack of basic standards and an inability to track the cost of construction projects due to poor record-keeping and oversight.

The report was authored by city auditor Bryan Mansky — the same person Coun. Matt Allard (St. Boniface), chair of the public works committee, asked to review the findings of independent researcher Christian Sweryda.

Allard is requesting an audit Wednesday at the Riel Community Committee.

Winnipeg’s public works dept. wastes millions of tax dollars on unnecessary projects, independent research reveals

How many times can city crews change a traffic light?A Free Press investigation by Ryan Thorpe sought to answer that question, resulting in the discovery of wasteful spending and frivolous infrastructure projects carried out by the public works department for more than a decade.

Fundraiser for accused jail guard raised $50K before being pulled

An online fundraiser for the Headingley jail guard charged in the death of an Indigenous inmate quickly racked up tens of thousands of dollars in donations from across the country before it was abruptly cancelled by GoFundMe.

RCMP arrested Robert Jeffrey Morden, 43, on Friday and charged him with criminal negligence causing death and failing to provide the necessities of life in the death of William Walter Ahmo, 45, last year.

Shortly after Morden’s arrest, a GoFundMe fundraiser was launched for his legal defence by a man named Jeff Sutherland. Attempts to reach Sutherland were unsuccessful.

By Tuesday, more than $50,000 had been donated by guards nationwide, including from members of critical emergency response units.

Headingley jail guard charged in inmate death

A Headingley Correctional Centre guard faces criminal charges in the 2021 death of inmate William Ahmo.

On Friday, Manitoba RCMP arrested Robert Jeffrey Morden, 43, of the Rural Municipality of Rockwood, following an 11-month investigation. He was charged with criminal negligence causing death and failing to provide the necessities of life.

The allegations have not been proven in court.

It is believed to be the first time a guard has been criminally charged for the death of an inmate at a provincial correctional institution.

Stony Mountain inmate’s repeated health complaints minimized, ultimately costing him his life

Gertrude Lamoureux sits on the couch in her William Whyte neighbourhood home in the North End as the midday sun pierces through the living-room window. At 82 years old, she is frail and thin, but her mind is sharp. Her bony fingers grip the sides of an ornate picture frame.

It holds a photograph of her grandson, Shawn Poitra; it is the only photo she has of him.

“I had him since birth… I only had two, a son and a daughter, but I raised five grandkids. He was the youngest. That’s my baby. My big baby,” she says.

They called her Grandma Gertie. Her husband worked for the municipal government and she worked with special-needs kids in schools. She takes pride in the fact they worked full-time and raised the children without social assistance.

Stony kitchen staff justified in refusing to work after vicious attack

A civilian food services employee at Stony Mountain Institution was brutally assaulted by an inmate in August ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­― sparking a work refusal from the prison kitchen staff that led to an occupational health and safety investigation.

The kitchen at Manitoba’s only federal prison has been the site of numerous violent incidents involving inmates and staff since Stony Mountain stopped posting a correctional officer in the food services department more than a decade ago.

The latest assault came to light after the Free Press obtained a series of internal Correctional Service of Canada documents and correspondence. CSC did not issue a press release on the attack.

A month after the assault, independent investigator Kim MacDonald ruled in favour of the kitchen employees refusing work, writing that CSC had “not properly identified, assessed and protected against all the hazards in the workplace.”

Reporter Ryan Thorpe re-examines the 2.5-year journey of Patrik Mathews — from neo-Nazi to prison inmate

For three years, the high priests of the QAnon conspiracy-theory movement and other far-right crackpots and bigots had preached about a storm on the horizon.

On Jan. 6 — fuelled by lies peddled by the 45th president of the United States of America and his sycophantic allies — the prophecy became self-fulfilling.

Watching from Canada, it seemed the United States was engulfed in flames.

They came from all over the country, loaded into cars, trucks and buses with weapons, banners and Confederate flags, intent on overturning the results of the 2020 presidential election.

Government, health officials dismantled Manitoba's hospital system, ignoring warnings from those on the front lines

The rumblings came early, shortly after the Progressive Conservatives were sworn into power with a strong majority mandate in May 2016, following 17 years of NDP rule that left the province with a skyrocketing deficit.

Those attuned to the pendulum swings of provincial politics, and those on the front lines of the health-care system, knew cuts were coming. The only question was how deep and severe they would be.

The first changes to the health file were rolled out that fall, mostly around the edges: the possibility of privatized MRIs was floated; a reduction of $650,000 in funding to the Manitoba Metis Federation for medical staff was announced; and a single quick-care clinic was closed.

But behind the scenes — in the backrooms of the Manitoba Legislative Building and in the offices of Winnipeg’s health bureaucrats — big changes were in the works. Those in the know were certain it was only a matter of time before the other shoe dropped.

Manitoba extremist sentenced to nine years in U.S. prison

GREENBELT, MD. — Patrik Mathews stood motionless and unflinching in a Maryland court room as he was sentenced Thursday to nine years in U.S. federal prison.

The sentence brings to a close a more than two-year odyssey, which began with an undercover Winnipeg Free Press investigation that outed Mathews, 29, as a neo-Nazi and active combat engineer in the Canadian military.

What began with white supremacist recruitment posters in Winnipeg, ended with a stiff prison sentence in Maryland.

While delivering his verdict, United States District Judge for the District of Maryland Theodore D. Chuang noted because politically motivated violence and terror are on the rise, Mathews' crimes required “severe punishment.”

U.S. judge adding ‘terrorism enhancement’ to Manitoba neo-Nazi’s prison term

GREENBELT, Md. — Terrorism sentencing enhancements will be applied in the case of Patrik Mathews — a neo-Nazi and disgraced Canadian reservist — and his co-conspirator, Brian Lemley Jr., a federal judge ruled in a Maryland courtroom Monday.

The ruling means Mathews and Lemley, who plotted to murder federal law-enforcement and other civic figures during a charged pro-gun rights rally in Richmond, Va., in January 2020, will likely spend years, not months, in U.S. federal prison.

The two men will learn their fates during a sentencing hearing Thursday.

Mathews fled Canada in August 2019 after the Winnipeg Free Press exposed him as an active military combat engineer moonlighting as a recruiter for a violent neo-Nazi paramilitary group called the Base.

Neo-Nazi’s views repugnant, but he deserves ‘second chance,’ U.S. defence lawyer argues

Patrik Mathews’ defence attorney is asking a U.S. federal judge to sentence the neo-Nazi and disgraced Canadian reservist to a 33-month prison sentence, even as he concedes his client held beliefs "many would find repugnant."

Lawyer Joseph Balter argues in a newly unsealed sentencing memorandum that the prosecution’s request for 25 years for Mathews and his co-accused, Brian Lemley Jr., is “grossly disproportionate.”

“Mr. Mathews and Mr. Lemley were law-abiding citizens prior to the instant (offence) and served in their country’s militaries. They deserve a second chance to return to their families and resume their lives,” Balter wrote.

“The government’s recommended sentence serves no purpose than to utterly destroy the defendants’ lives.”

Patrik Mathews awaits sentencing after brazen 'race war' plot derailed

As their neighbours celebrated the birth of the Messiah on Christmas Day 2019, Patrik Mathews — a disgraced Canadian army reservist on the run from U.S. law enforcement — and Brian Lemley Jr., an American combat veteran, were plotting the resurrection of a “saint.”

The two men were holed up in a small apartment in Newark, Del., on a quiet, sprawling compound that features thick patches of trees and winding roads, discussing what they wanted for Christmas.

Whereas their neighbours were surrounded by holiday decorations and wrapped presents under pine-needle trees, Mathews and Lemley had filled their apartment with an assault rifle, more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition, a gas mask and enough food for several months.

More than anything, the two men wanted to carry out an action so brazen and unlikely to succeed it would make them “immortal” in the eyes of the neo-Nazi movement to which they belonged.

Nygard faces sex-crime charges in Toronto, but not Winnipeg

Accused serial rapist Peter Nygard is facing criminal charges in Toronto — but not in Winnipeg, where he launched and grew his multimillion-dollar fashion empire.

Toronto police secured an arrest warrant Sept. 29 for six counts of sexual assault and three counts of forcible confinement. The charges cover alleged incidents, all involving women, between October 1987 and March 2006.

The Winnipeg Police Service investigated Nygard from February to December 2020. The service sent eight files, based on eight women's complaints, to prosecutors for review.

However, one of the Winnipeg complainants and a Toronto advocate for victims both told the Free Press in October the Crown attorney's office decided recently not to pursue charges against Nygard in any of the complaints.

Winnipeg police public information office larger than ever, but providing less information

It was a hot and sticky summer, one of the warmest on record in decades, with a drought that brought ruin to farmers in the countryside and apocalyptic, smoky skies that made Winnipeg feel downright dystopian.

The sun burned a pale red; the sky was pallid and jaundiced, as if gauze had been draped over the horizon. Haze descended upon the Prairies from the hundreds of wildfires raging out west.

With the smoke came temporary refuge from the pandemic, a brief interlude between the third and fourth waves; at times, it almost felt as if life were returning to normal. People, sick and tired of being cooped up at home, ventured back out into the world.

Patios and newly minted outdoor bars filled up, bringing relief to cash-strapped business owners. Live music could be heard reverberating through the air. Daily case counts and deaths dropped to lows not seen since the start of the first plague year.

City opts for vaccine mandate for front-line workers

The City of Winnipeg will require front-line staff who work with vulnerable populations or have close contact with the public to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by Nov. 15.

Mayor Brian Bowman and chief administrative officer Michael Jack made the announcement Tuesday.

“I want to communicate to everyone, including our staff, that implementing this vaccine requirement was not a decision we took lightly. It is something we have been looking at closely since vaccines were rolled out in this province,” Jack said.

“The decision was made, ultimately, to limit the vaccine requirement to those working in front-line roles.”

Winnipeg doesn't track vaccination rates of police, firefighters, paramedics, bus drivers

The police officer who leans into the window after a vehicle has been pulled over. The firefighter who runs into a bus shack for a distress call. The paramedic who rushes into a home for a medical emergency. The bus driver who transports hundreds of people to work each day.

The public has no way to know if they are vaccinated because the City of Winnipeg doesn't track vaccination data for civic employees, including those who routinely come into close contact with members of the public in uncontrolled environments.

In Winnipeg, it appears no one knows what percentage of police, paramedics and firefighters (all of whom were fast-tracked for access to vaccines), as well as bus drivers, have received two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine.

“We do not currently require city employees to declare their vaccination status and do not track the requested statistics,” said David Driedger, the city’s manager of corporate communications, in a statement to the Free Press.

Winnipeg spends more per capita on its police than most other large cities

in Canada but gets less-effective law enforcement than many, data shows; experts argue there are better, cheaper ways to reduce crime

Police, fire and paramedic services swallow nearly half of Winnipeg's operating budget, leaving little for other civic departments

It’s there in the orange dots of death that spot the bark of trees. In the cratered back alleys and side streets. In the homeless encampments lining the banks of the rivers.

It’s there in the trash and used needles scattered in city parks. In the signs of decay and distress everywhere you look. And in the sounds of emergency sirens ripping through the air day and night.

It’s a mounting tension that’s the result of decades of two opposing forces — spending and neglect — and it’s the culmination of countless, conscious decisions from civic leaders coming to a head.

The problem sounds simple enough: limit the growth of the two largest municipal departments and leave enough resources to properly fund other services citizens want and need.

Residential school sex abuse report in Crown hands for 17 months

The results of a sprawling, decade-long investigation by Manitoba RCMP into historic allegations of child sex abuse at the Fort Alexander Indian Residential School have been sitting on the desk of the provincial Crown attorneys’ office for 17 months.

That’s according to a justice source, who confirmed to the Free Press the investigative package was delivered to Manitoba Prosecution Services in February 2020.

The amount of materials gathered during the course of the 10-year investigation — in which 80 RCMP officers interviewed more than 700 people and gathered 75 victim and witness statements — was overwhelming, the source said.

Crown attorneys now must review the results of the investigation and instruct the Mounties on whether criminal charges should be laid.

Sagkeeng's scars: colonization has left a traumatic imprint

At the mouth of the river.

In Anishinaabemowin, that is what “Sagkeeng” means. It is what the people of Sagkeeng First Nation have called their homeland, located on the lush banks of the powerful Winnipeg River, since time immemorial.

The Canadian government would rename that land the Fort Alexander Indian Reserve, as federal agents carved new territorial boundaries out of the countryside in the aftermath of the signing of Treaty 1.

But in the language of the people who call it home, it has always been Sagkeeng.

Allegations surround deals brokered by embattled Winnipeg businessman McCoshen

Allegations of financial irregularities and kickbacks are swirling around a local businessman — leading to a potential disaster for one Manitoba First Nation and a possible fundraising hole for the Assiniboine Park Conservancy.

An Ontario Securities Commission investigation has raised serious concerns about the business dealings of Sean McCoshen, 53, who in recent years has pocketed millions of dollars in fees by brokering massive loans for First Nations.

Through his Manitoba-based company Usand Group, McCoshen brokered at least $122 million in loans for Peguis First Nation from Bridging Finance Inc., a Toronto company recently placed into receivership over concerns of financial irregularities.

BFI has requested repayment from Peguis, in full, by June 30.

Patrik Mathews wanted bloodshed, instead, he got the jumpsuit of a convicted felon

GREENBELT, MARYLAND — The guilty plea was recorded, the agreed statement of facts read into the record, and Patrik Jordan Mathews — dressed in an orange prison jumpsuit — shuffled out of a federal courtroom on June 10 towards a bleak future behind bars.

He had a different destination in mind a year-and-a-half earlier — a destination that would have been soaked in bloodshed in the service of his fascist, white-supremacist ideals.

That destination was three hours south from the courthouse, in Richmond, Va., the former home of the Confederacy.

Manitoba neo-Nazi pleads guilty to U.S. charges

GREENBELT, Md. — Patrik Mathews walked into a U.S. federal courtroom Thursday cloaked in the presumption of innocence. When he left, he was a felon — four times over.

The former master corporal and combat engineer in the Canadian Army Reserves pleaded guilty to four criminal charges in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Maryland during a rearraignment hearing.

The charges stem from crimes committed in Maryland and Delaware in late-2019 and early-2020, while the Beausejour resident was on the run, and allegedly involved in the plotting of murders and terror attacks.

The convictions bring the saga of Patrik Mathews — perhaps the most dramatic, high-profile case where a member of the Canadian military has been linked to far-right extremism in recent years — one step closer to completion.

Hundreds of Indigenous children are buried in unmarked graves in Manitoba: researchers

It often started with a knock at the door.

Children were snatched from their parents’ arms and forcibly transferred by trucks, trains, planes and boats, with trails of tears left in their wake.

They were taken to strange, isolated institutions scattered across the country where they knew no one, had no connection to the land and were forbidden from acknowledging their heritage.

This, their captors called, “uplifting their character and broadening their aims.”

Guards, inmates at Stony Mountain Institution point to unrelenting gang violence, shocking suicide rate as reasons it should close

When construction of Stony Mountain Institution — then known as Manitoba Penitentiary — was completed in 1877, Queen Victoria was the reigning monarch of the British Empire.

Canadian Confederation had taken place just a decade prior — if the country had been a person, it would have been unable to legally drive, let alone vote or drink.

And while Queen Victoria died 1901, and the British Empire crumbled in the post-Second World War era, Stony Mountain Institution remains. Prisoners have now been locked up behind its bars north of Winnipeg during three separate centuries.

In recent years, there has been no shortage of critics — from academics and advocates to political figures and former prisoners — who have called for the aging facility to be shut down once and for all.

New in-custody death reports reveal nine Manitoba inmates committed suicide by hanging in 2019 and 2020

Three annual reports into suicides and homicides behind bars collected dust on the justice minister's desk, leaving Manitobans in the dark to the extent of deaths occurring in the province's correctional facilities.

Each year, the chief medical examiner compiles a report on in-custody deaths for the minister by March 31. Within 15 days of receiving it or within 15 days of the start of the next legislative session the justice minister — currently Progressive Conservative Cameron Friesen — must table it.

But on May 10, NDP justice critic Nahanni Fontaine raised a point of privilege during question period: the three latest reports were missing.

“What makes the breach of this privilege so egregious is that the minister of justice, the minister responsible for the proper administration of justice and the following of our laws in Manitoba, has ignored the statutory requirements that apply to him,” Fontaine said.

Hard time in hell: Inside Stony

Gangs are in control, inmates are armed and the threat of violence is omnipresent at Stony Mountain Institution.

Unarmed Indigenous inmate at Headingley beaten to death by officers after guard's racist jokes, lawyer says

The official narrative of what happened to Will Ahmo — an Indigenous inmate at Headingley Correctional Centre — and how he ended up in a Winnipeg hospital on life support with brain and spinal injuries, is virtually non-existent.

At 7 p.m. on Feb. 7, the RCMP received a report of an “unresponsive male” at the jail resulting from an “incident” with guards. The nature of the incident was “not clear,” the police said, and the inmate was taken to hospital with “life-threatening injuries.”

A week later, Ahmo — a 45-year-old father of Anishinaabe heritage — was dead. He is one of six inmates to die at correctional institutions in Manitoba in 2021 alone, an average of more than one dead inmate per month.

The RCMP’s major crimes unit quickly took over the case. When contacted this week, an RCMP spokeswoman said the agency would not release additional details until its investigation was complete.

The number of Indigenous inmates in prison is a problem — but Ottawa has no plan to fix it

The number of Indigenous people being locked up in federal prisons is spiking despite overall declines in both incarceration and crime rates across the country.

Accounting for just five per cent of Canada's population, Indigenous people make up 30 per cent of the federal prison system's inmate population.

The crisis is particularly acute in the Prairies, where roughly 70 per cent of the people behind bars at Stony Mountain Institution north of Winnipeg are Indigenous.

Ryan Beardy, a former gang member and current justice advocate, mentor and freelance journalist, said that it was while he was incarcerated at Stony Mountain that he decided to begin speaking out about prison conditions in Canada.

Isolation practices in Canadian prisons regularly exceed limits set in international law

Devon Sampson, a 34-year-old man diagnosed with schizophrenia, hanged himself at Stony Mountain Institution in 2013. He spent 187 consecutive days in solitary confinement prior to his death; during a previous incarceration, he spent 294 consecutive days in solitary.

For decades, isolating inmates — often those with serious psychiatric conditions — in solitary confinement was a common practice in Canadian prisons. Officially, it was called “administrative segregation,” a sanitized, bureaucratic label for something far more troubling: state-endorsed torture.

The prolonged use of solitary — defined as 15 days and up – was classified as torture under international law in 2015. Four years later, the federal government mandated Correctional Services Canada to put an end to the practice.

Instead, it continues to this day – including at Stony Mountain north of Winnipeg — but under a different name.

Stony Mountain Institution is Canada's oldest federal penitentiary, but also the country's deadliest

IT HAS BEEN 59 years since the Canadian state last slipped a noose around the neck of a prisoner, and more than four decades since the gallows were formally abolished in this country, yet death continues to lurk behind the bars of Stony Mountain Institution north of Winnipeg.

Stony Mountain is not just the oldest active federal prison in Canada — it is also the deadliest.

In the past 15 months, 13 inmates have died there; no other federal prison has reported more deaths during that period.

Five people died in the first 93 days of 2021 alone, an average of one every 18 days. It was during one of the worst outbreaks of COVID-19 at a federal correctional institution in Canada; half of Stony’s inmates were infected.

Ex-colleague charged in slaying of ‘hardworking’ family man

More than two years after Eduardo Balaquit – a 59-year-old Filipino immigrant and family man – vanished while working as a cleaner in Winnipeg, police have charged a 35-year-old former colleague with his slaying.

Kyle Alexander James Pietz, 35, who worked at Westcon Equipment & Rentals with Balaquit but was no longer employed by the company the day the man disappeared, was arrested in Saskatoon Tuesday. Pietz was charged with manslaughter and made his first appearance in a Winnipeg courtroom Wednesday.

Winnipeg police Det.-Sgt. Wade McDonald announced the arrest during a press conference Thursday, characterizing the investigation into Balaquit’s disappearance as long, complex and gruelling.

“Eduardo was a hardworking man. He worked several jobs here in the city. He worked at this business for a number of years. He had just gone to work and never returned home,” McDonald said.

First Nation demands justice in boy’s death

When an unresponsive three-year-old was taken to the Little Grand Rapids nursing station on Aug. 23, 2018, his tiny body bore signs of abuse, including broken bones and cigarette burns, four community members told the Free Press.

That day, the boy, identified as Abel Joseph Leveque Flett, who couldn’t walk and suffered from seizures due to a congenital handicap, was declared dead.

Now, more than two and a half years later, members of the remote First Nations community are angry, citing a lack of accountability from the child-welfare system, and a lengthy RCMP investigation that led to criminal charges far less serious than what many expected.

“The child had broken bones and lots of trauma. The nurses at the station had to get a trauma team to come in and speak with them. I think some of them are still not over it, the condition that little boy was in,” said Nelson Keeper, an advisor to Little Grand Rapids' chief and council.

Man charged in boy’s death has history of assault

A Little Grand Rapids man charged in the death of a three-year-old disabled boy — who had been placed in his care — has a long criminal history, including multiple convictions for assault.

RCMP arrested Houston Bushie, 24, as well as his partner, Alayna Flett, 21, on March 10. Both have been charged with failure to provide the child with the necessaries of life. 

The charges come more than two years after the boy was taken unresponsive to a nursing station in the remote, fly-in community, located 280 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg. The boy was pronounced dead Aug. 23, 2018 and the RCMP major crimes unit launched an investigation.

At the time of the child's death, Bushie and Flett were the temporary guardians of the boy and his three older siblings, all of whom were under the age of 10. Bushie would have been roughly 21, while Flett would have been a teenager.

Paramedics want out of fire halls, feel intimidated by firefighters, union says

The union that represents Winnipeg paramedics has demanded the immediate removal of its members from fire halls saying they're increasingly afraid about an unsafe working environment.

The demand was made in a letter written by Manitoba Government and General Employees' Union president Michelle Gawronsky to Winnipeg Mayor Brian Bowman on Friday. A copy was obtained by the Free Press.

“As has been well documented, Winnipeg’s fire halls have for some time been a difficult, if not impossible workplace for many paramedics. This week’s memo has now made the situation completely unacceptable, unsustainable and unsafe for many paramedics,” Gawronsky wrote.

“It is for this reason, and for the future of emergency medical services in Winnipeg, that we are urgently requesting that the city take immediate steps to move paramedics out of fire halls now.”

Return to 'normal' will offer opportunities to honour the dead by improving the lives of the living

It was before the loss began.

Before patient zero turned up in Manitoba, before the first of us died, before the virus ripped through our community, before the homes of our elderly were stricken with sickness, before the hospitals were overrun, before the doctors and nurses revolted, before the economy shut down, before the daily death toll became nightly news.

Before all that, there was a hockey game.

A Monday in Winnipeg. The temperature drops below zero but the sun is out in full force. A normal weekday afternoon fades into a normal weekday evening. As rush-hour traffic streams through downtown, 15,325 people file into Bell MTS Place for a 6 p.m. puck drop.

Firefighters in racism probe to return to work: union

A group of firefighters at the centre of allegations of racist-fuelled patient neglect in the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service may soon be back on the job.

United Fire Fighters of Winnipeg president Alex Forrest issued a memo Tuesday, announcing the City of Winnipeg’s “disciplinary process has now concluded” and the four firefighters would be “back at work shortly.”

“We cannot go into any details at this time but rest assured we are supporting our members… We also want to advise the membership that this issue is not finished,” Forrest wrote.

“We will ensure that all aspects of justice for what these members went through will be followed through by the UFFW to the fullest extent.”

Paramedics union warned mayor about harmful workplace as far back as 2018

Winnipeg Mayor Brian Bowman was warned about the toxic workplace culture in the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service three years ago, in letters sent by the paramedics' union, which were obtained by the Free Press.

Letters between Manitoba Government and General Employees' Union president Michelle Gawronsky and the mayor, in which the union leader calls for changes to the workplace culture, date back to March 2018.

The first letter was sent March 5, 2018, shortly after WFPS Chief John Lane was found to have breached respectful workplace policies against city paramedics, resulting in a $100,000 fine. In it, Gawronsky took issue with comments Bowman made to the media about Lane after the ruling.

“I was disappointed and surprised by the tone and content of your comments… The arbitrator’s ruling this week found that senior leadership at the city had engaged in disrespectful and inappropriate behaviour and had failed to take appropriate action on these problems,” Gawronsky wrote.

Bleeding from a neck wound, but ambulance not moving

As she lay in an ambulance bleeding from her neck, a Winnipeg woman wondered why it was taking so long to leave for the hospital.

The woman — the Free Press agreed not to use her name — is speaking publicly for the first time after finding herself at the centre of a high-profile controversy in the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service related to the treatment she received on a critical-care call in the North End last fall.

“That night was a low point for me,” the 23-year-old Indigenous woman said, referring to Oct. 7, when she stabbed herself in the throat with a broken beer bottle while in the throes of a mental-health crisis.

She was visiting a friend’s place at the time, and shortly after hurting herself, one of her friends called 911 for help. Several emergency units responded to the scene, including police, firefighters and paramedics.

U.S. judge rules against neo-Nazi former Manitoba reservist

It was a bad day in court for Patrik Mathews.

Efforts by the former Canadian military reservist’s defence attorney to have much of the evidence against him thrown out were dismissed by a Maryland judge Tuesday afternoon.

Mathews, 28, has been in the custody of U.S. officials since January 2020, when he was arrested — alongside two other men — by special agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Delaware.

That came more than four months after the Free Press — following a month-long undercover investigation — publicly identified Mathews as a member of the Canadian Armed Forces who was moonlighting as a recruiter for a violent neo-Nazi paramilitary group called the Base.

Discord in fire-paramedic service burning out of control

City's long-smouldering fire-paramedic services' marriage of convenience erupts in signs of irreconcilable differences that could put lives in danger Review backing paramedic's allegations of racism in the WFPS threatens to ignite decades of uneasy co-existence under the same roof

Union vows to defend firefighters in racism incident to ‘fullest extent possible’

Winnipeg Mayor Brian Bowman and firefighters union president Alex Forrest publicly locked horns Friday in the aftermath of a damning report into racism in the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service.

The spat began with Bowman calling out Forrest for his public silence on the findings of a recent independent probe that ruled “implicit racial bias” among a city firefighter crew was responsible for failure to properly treat an Indigenous patient during an October 2020 call.

“Earlier today, I wrote to the longstanding president of the United Fire Fighters of Winnipeg... to express my concern regarding the lack of public communication from the UFFW regarding issues of systemic racism in the WFPS and the UFFW,” Bowman said in a news release issued at 12:50 p.m.

At 2 p.m., the mayor was holding a news conference on the subject. After Bowman read his opening remarks and began fielding questions from reporters, Forrest fired back with a message of his own.

Firefighters who refused to treat Indigenous woman put on administrative leave

Four Winnipeg firefighters implicated in a 2020 racist incident in which they refused to help treat an Indigenous woman and delayed her transportation to hospital have been removed from active duty.

The firefighters at the centre of the controversy — which sparked a third-party investigation and outrage from Indigenous leaders — were placed on administrative leave Thursday evening, three sources with knowledge of the situation told the Free Press.

The move came one day after Winnipeg Mayor Brian Bowman and Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service Chief John Lane held a joint news conference to address the findings of a damning external report leaked this week to media.

An independent probe concluded there was a failure to provide proper medical care to a 23-year-old Indigenous woman who had stabbed herself in the throat, and ensure timely transportation to the hospital, during an Oct. 7, 2020 call in the North End.

Firefighters who refused to treat woman still on the job

Winnipeg firefighters implicated in a racist incident in which they refused to treat an Indigenous woman last fall continue to be dispatched to medical calls.

The City of Winnipeg won't say what disciplinary action, if any, has been taken against the four firefighters, but three sources have told the Free Press they continue to be sent to calls despite a damning report last week.

An independent probe concluded there was a failure to provide proper medical care to the 23-year-old woman who had stabbed herself in the throat, and ensure timely transportation to hospital during the Oct. 7, 2020, call in the North End.

The investigator concluded the firefighters were guilty of ignoring the instructions of a paramedic, who was the chief medical authority at the scene. They failed to prioritize patient care, delayed the patient’s transportation to the hospital, and then colluded to obstruct the probe into their conduct.

Investigation probes racist-fuelled divide among first responders

An investigation into allegations of racism in the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service has vindicated a paramedic who accused two firefighters of refusing to provide medical treatment to an Indigenous woman who had been stabbed in the throat.

The third-party probe concluded the firefighters ignored repeated requests for help from the paramedic, failed to provide medical care to the patient and delayed transportation of the patient to the hospital. It also found they conspired to lie to the investigator hired by the city to review the incident.

In a 78-page report — a copy of which was obtained by the Free Press —– Laurelle Harris of Equitable Solutions Consulting said the firefighters’ conduct was likely motivated by “racial animus” and “implicit racial bias.”

The patient was a 23-year-old Indigenous woman who had stabbed herself in the throat with a broken beer bottle.

Indigenous teen’s dad expected officer would be cleared in fatal shooting

The father of an Indigenous teen, who was fatally shot after a liquor store robbery and high-speed chase in rush-hour traffic last year, said he was certain the police watchdog's investigation would not yield criminal charges against the Winnipeg officer who pulled the trigger.

During an emotional news conference Thursday, William Hudson, the father of Eishia Hudson, said he “knew what the decision was going to be before hearing the report.”

The Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba had announced the unnamed Winnipeg Police Service officer was not criminally culpable in the April 8, 2020, shooting.

The officer fired two rounds at Hudson after responding to a robbery at the Sage Creek liquor store. One of the bullets struck the teenager in the shoulder and lodged in her spinal column.

Pandemic creates new level of agony for city's homeless during extreme cold

When the temperature drops below -30 C overnight, Sean will be safe and warm inside Main Street Project, having traded a bus shack for a shelter bed two nights ago after the cold snap descended on southern Manitoba.

“It was bad, man. It was cold but at least I had some blankets… Some people don’t even know. They don’t know how bad it really is. They think, ‘Oh I could handle one night.’ Then they’re sitting there and they can’t handle it. Within an hour, they’re crying,” he said.

Sean, standing on the Main Street sidewalk outside the shelter Tuesday, struggles to light a cigarette in the cold. The straps of a thin surgical mask are wrapped around his ears, but he’s pulled the fabric below his chin, revealing a bearded face.

He is 48 years old and has lived in Winnipeg most of his life.

Officer found behind wheel of idling vehicle after 911 caller reported man 'possibly in medical distress'

A five-year veteran of the Winnipeg Police Service has been charged with impaired driving.

Christopher Logan, 29, was found intoxicated behind the wheel of a running vehicle on the 500 block of McMeans Avenue East in Transcona late Tuesday morning, police said.

General patrol officers were called to the scene for a well-being check after a caller told a 911 operator they had seen a man “possibly in medical distress” inside a running vehicle.

When they arrived at about 11:15 a.m., officers placed the driver — later determined to be Logan — under arrest after they observed signs of impairment. Logan was off duty at the time.

Vaccine super site so disorganized, volunteer dentist quits in disgust

A Winnipeg dentist says she was shocked by the disorganization of the vaccine rollout when she arrived for her first shift as a volunteer immunizer at the RBC Convention Centre super site last week.

The first red flag came shortly after she walked through the door.

“There is a separate entrance for the staff and there’s a desk with a security guard. There is an actual physical sign-in sheet with one pen. No one disinfects the pen in between people so all the staff for the whole day use the same pen. I was floored,” said the woman who did not want her name published.

“There’s a big hall with maybe 30 or 40 stations separated… I checked in and said, ‘I’m here.’ Nobody checked my ID, nobody checked anything. I was flabbergasted. I could have been anybody. They just said, ‘Go in, here’s your desk.’” She said she felt unprepared by the training offered by the province: a course at Red River College, followed by an online class on workplace safety and privacy concerns.

Winnipeg’s grim annual milestone

It’s been another bloody year in Winnipeg.

After the city logged a record 44 homicides in 2019, it faces another grim death toll in 2020, amid a global pandemic and government-mandated lockdowns.

As of Wednesday morning, there had been 43 slayings in Winnipeg this year.

The first came Jan. 10, when Reagan Danielle Gross, 49, was killed on the 100 block of Hindley Avenue. The cause of death was not released.

Spectre of losing common bond inside encampment adds to despair

The crowd is angry. You can hear it in the chants erupting from the protesters, in the drum beat rippling through the tangle of bodies, in the tremble of the speaker’s voice in the bullhorn.

Devoted couple offers warm-hearted welcome, generous spirit twice a week

The car pulls to a stop at 8:26 a.m.

Ted Martens swings open the door and steps into a windswept winter morning. His balance isn’t what it used to be, so he walks gingerly across the icy parking lot, doing his best to stay upright as he heads for the front doors of the grocery store.

Despite the cold, Martens, 69, is in good spirits — as he seemingly always is. He’s had some health troubles of late, and his hearing isn’t so good anymore, but he’s still got his driver’s licence, so he reminds himself to count his blessings.

Tent settlement remains a home for street family

Desirae has a pair of lungs on her. “Don’t stare at the zoo animals!” she screams, as people walk down Henry Avenue, past the encampment, just off the Main Street strip, where she lives. The world around her is chaos.

Salvation Army trio focuses on others' well-being during frigid overnight shift in pandemic

The night begins with a prayer, an incantation from the lips of three faithful members of the flock, standing in dim light with clasped hands as they implore God to direct them where help is needed most.

Dishevelled, shackled Nygard led into Winnipeg courtroom for extradition hearing

Led into a Winnipeg courtroom in shackles, Peter Nygard walked slowly as he came into view, surrounded by sheriffs and dressed in the grey sweatshirt and track pants of an inmate.

A mask covered his face, his long grey hair was tied into a messy bun, and he sat in the prisoner’s box looking dishevelled and dismayed.

His aging, frail body did not resemble the coiffed and muscled image that for years was plastered on billboards across Winnipeg and emblazoned on signs at his retail shops in Toronto, New York, Los Angeles and the Bahamas.

Nygard’s brief court appearance Tuesday marks the latest chapter in his remarkable life story — from his birth in Finland, to his humble upbringing in Deloraine, through the forging of his fashion empire in Winnipeg, and his eventual downfall amid mounting rape allegations in the #MeToo era.

From bad to worse

It was a question of fundamentals.

That was the message Premier Brian Pallister delivered to Manitobans as the calendar flipped to November and the provincial government found itself battling spiking cases of COVID-19 in the Winnipeg health region.

“When we were abiding by the fundamentals, we were beating COVID, then some of us lost our way, and now COVID is beating us,” Pallister said on Nov. 2, when he publicly mulled a potential curfew and asked Manitobans to cut down their contacts by 75 per cent.

“We need to get back to the fundamentals to flatten the COVID curve and we need to do that now.”

Manitoba collecting race-based COVID-19 infection data but hasn't made it public

As jurisdictions across the globe report disproportionate impacts of COVID-19 on marginalized and minority populations, Manitobans remain in the dark about whether those trends are unfolding here.

In Winnipeg, the downtown core and Seven Oaks have been hardest hit.

As of Thursday, 1,084 people had been infected with the virus downtown, including 771 active cases and 32 deaths. Just behind was Seven Oaks, with a total of 907 people infected, including 639 active cases and 16 deaths. More than 100 cases in each area were linked to outbreaks at nursing homes.

As case counts continue to climb and community transmission spirals further out of control, higher infection rates in those areas raise questions.

Health minister, senior officials failed to reply to multiple urgent warnings of oncoming critical-care calamity, letters reveal

Nine months before the first Manitoban was infected with the novel coronavirus, top physicians sounded the alarm about a five-alarm fire raging inside the province's hospitals.

Without decisive action, they warned, disastrous and deadly consequences were on the horizon.

The message was consistent and clear: people will die.

A series of Winnipeg Regional Health Authority and Shared Health documents obtained by the Free Press show doctors told health officials about a serious shortfall of critical-care resources in the province for at least the past 15 months.

Manitoba reactivates pandemic command co-ordination structure

For 151 days, Manitoba’s COVID-19 command structure sat inactive.

During those five months, case counts spiked from the single digits into the thousands, the number of Manitobans lost to the pandemic grew tenfold, and the province gained the dubious distinction of having the highest infection rate per capita in the country.

Not until Oct. 30 — the day public health officials announced 480 more Manitobans had been infected with the novel coronavirus, and ordered a near-shutdown of the provincial capital — did the government reconvene its pandemic command structure.

The move comes at a time of mounting public criticism of the province’s handling of the novel coronavirus response, as a second wave threatens to overwhelm critical care resources in Manitoba. In a letter dated Nov. 1, more than 200 physicians warned Manitoba is in "grave peril" unless more emergency funding and government resources are directed to stop the spike in cases.

Manitoba COVID woes can be traced to government's 'incompetent reaction': experts

The excitement was palpable when Premier Brian Pallister, in mid-July, announced Manitobans had listened and learned during the pandemic lockdown. Now, it was time to reopen; it was time for business.

On July 13, Manitoba had one active case of the novel coronavirus, and it had been 13 consecutive days of no new cases. There had been fewer than 10 deaths, and the total case count was lower than in any other province in Canada.

Fast-forward 109 days.

Not only does Manitoba have the worst case count per capita in the country, but its largest city is on the verge of a shutdown. Fires have sparked: outbreaks in hospitals and personal care homes, critical care resources on the brink, and record numbers of positive cases on a near-daily basis.

Shut down now, doctors tell premier, health minister

A group of 18 doctors is demanding the Tory government impose an immediate provincewide shutdown to avoid a catastrophe that will result in an “appalling and pointless loss of life.”

In an open letter to Premier Brian Pallister and Health Minister Cameron Friesen signed by 10 other medical and health experts, Dr. Anand Kumar — an intensive-care physician with the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority and professor of medicine at the University of Manitoba — said the time to act is now.

In an interview, Kumar said that unless stringent, weeks-long shutdown measures — similar to those imposed in Manitoba this past spring — are implemented soon, Winnipeg’s hospitals will treat hundreds more patients infected with COVID-19, and people will die.

"We know right now, no matter what we do, we have 60 deaths now and we will double it to 120…. We’re in deep trouble based on the numbers we’re seeing,” Kumar said in the interview.

Patrik Mathews’ attorney seeks to suppress post-arrest interview

En route to the Baltimore field office after his Jan. 16 arrest in Delaware, Federal Bureau of Investigation special agents bought Patrik Mathews a Chick-fil-A sandwich and a cup of coffee.

With his belly presumably full, the disgraced Canadian reservist and former fugitive allegedly waived his right to remain silent and spent 2 1/2 hours chatting with FBI agents — a post-arrest interview his defence attorney is trying to suppress from being introduced as evidence in his upcoming trial.

Mathews, 27, was at the centre of an August 2019 Free Press investigation that exposed him as a recruiter for a violent neo-Nazi paramilitary organization called the Base.

After being outed, the Beausejour resident fled the country. He was later arrested by federal law enforcement in the U.S. as part of a nation-wide crackdown on the group. He’s been held in custody since.

Paramedic accuses firefighters of refusing to help injured Indigenous woman

A city paramedic has accused two of his firefighter colleagues of refusing to treat an Indigenous woman who’d been stabbed in the throat — an incident described by the complainant as “racially motivated.”

For at least five months, members of the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service have raised concerns over online activity by firefighters that’s been characterized as racist. The complaints have sparked a City of Winnipeg investigation and at least two internal memos from WFPS Chief John Lane.

But the pattern of alleged racist conduct reached new heights earlier this month when two city firefighters were accused of refusing emergency treatment to an Indigenous woman during a critical care call.

The accusation — detailed in internal department communications obtained by the Free Press — comes to light amid a society-wide racial reckoning and recent high-profile incidents of alleged discrimination in Canadian health care.

Driver charged after Saturday crash kills woman, sends five to hospital

A family is in mourning after a young mother was killed and her nine-month-old child suffered life-threatening injuries when their vehicle was struck Saturday by a pickup truck fleeing from police.

Jennifer Dethmers, 30, was a passenger in a van with her boyfriend, step-daughter, and baby boy at the time of the collision, around 1:30 p.m., in Winnipeg's William Whyte neighbourhood.

Dethmers was pronounced dead in hospital that day; her infant child is currently fighting for his life, said cousin Clint Enns.

“A beautiful, young new mother is gone, and now her son is in critical condition. He’s only nine months old. He’s got a broken spine, brain damage, internal bleeding, broken bones,” Enns said Monday.

Manitoba families struggle amid autopsy backlog delays

For 10 days, after her son died of a suspected drug overdose, Margaret Swan waited to see his body and say goodbye.

"I really, really needed to see my son, to confirm that this was reality. Because for a while there, I was thinking all kinds of crazy things and even saying things to family members that maybe it wasn't really him," said Swan, a member of Lake Manitoba First Nation.

Michael McCartan, 27, died Aug. 15 in Winnipeg. His funeral couldn't be held until Aug. 26, after his body was released from the hospital to the funeral home.

More than a month later, his mother is still awaiting the autopsy results for what she says police told her appeared to be a fatal fentanyl overdose.

Hookah lounges frequent target of health inspectors

Profits at Winnipeg hookah lounges are going up in smoke as the provincial government continues to impose fines on them for breaching public health orders during the pandemic.

Public health officials have levied 15 fines, totalling $34,000, against six establishments that serve hookah since late May, according to the Manitoba government’s latest health protection report.

The message being sent — that hookahs have been banned amid the pandemic — does not appear to be sinking in with some owners. Two restaurants have been fined more than $10,000 each for repeat violations.

A hookah is an instrument traditionally used to smoke shisha, a mixture of tobacco and molasses sugar or fruit. Under normal circumstances, some Winnipeg restaurants operate as hookah lounges by offering customers the ability to smoke tobacco-free herbal shisha.

Lawyer argues neo-Nazi ex-reservist’s rights violated, asks U.S. judge to drop charges

Patrik Mathews’ defence lawyer filed a rash of motions in U.S. federal court Monday petitioning a judge to dismiss criminal charges against the neo-Nazi and disgraced ex-Canadian military reservist.

If the four felony charges Mathews is facing in Maryland — two counts each of two firearm offences, which carry a maximum penalty of up to 40 years in federal prison — are not dropped, his lawyer, Joseph Balter, wants his trial split off from his two co-accused.

Balter claims the “vast majority of discovery” so far presented by the U.S. Attorney’s Office does not relate to his client's alleged crimes. Mathews has been in federal custody in Maryland since his high-profile arrest in January.

A joint trial could prejudice a jury against Mathews, Balter said.

Manitoba law enforcement agencies can refuse document requests as shield against civil suits

A loophole in Manitoba’s freedom-of-information legislation allows law enforcement officials to block the release of internal documents if they could be used to sue police agencies in civil court.

The legislative exception confounded two access-to-information scholars who spoke to the Free Press, both of whom were surprised to hear the clause — which grants police the power to withhold information from the public — existed at all.

“This particular exemption is, on its face, quite broad, and I cannot think of the policy reason behind it,” said Kris Klein, an Ontario-based lawyer and leading expert on freedom of information in Canada.

Klein said that while most provinces have disclosure exemptions for police, he’d previously been unaware of a clause in provincial legislation specifically addressing concerns of civil court liability.

Key details concealed about officer who killed pedestrian

Thirty-five months after an off-duty police officer killed a pedestrian in a hit-and-run following a drinking bout with colleagues, key details in the case—including how long it took to administer a breathalyzer and what the perpetrator's blood-alcohol level was—remain shrouded in mystery.

And it appears the public is unlikely to ever get answers after the Manitoba Ombudsman’s office ruled this week there is no recourse under freedom-of-information legislation to pry those details from the Winnipeg Police Service.

“We recognize that information about investigations of significant allegations of misconduct by police officers may be considered to be a matter of public interest because it relates to accountability of the police for the impartial administration of justice,” reads the Ombudsman's ruling.

“However, the exceptions to access (cited by the WPS) are mandatory and are not subject to any limits based on public interest considerations.”

Deep dive into police stats shows little progress on diversity while budget, crimes increase

Calls to defund — or even abolish — the police have gone from fringe to mainstream in recent months, as a global reckoning has erupted over the role law enforcement should play in communities in the wake of the May 25 killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

The world watched transfixed in horror as Floyd, 46, a Black American, was pinned to the ground by a white police officer, Derek Chauvin, 44, who pressed his knee into the back of Floyd’s neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds.

Chauvin was fired by the Minneapolis Police Department and charged with second-degree murder. But Floyd’s death has come to symbolize much more than a single fatal interaction between a citizen and law enforcement official.

It has touched off a wider movement focused on addressing long-standing concerns over racial disparities in law enforcement and has pushed some people to reconsider what policing in the 21st century should look like entirely.

No perjury charges for Winnipeg police officer

The Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba has found sufficient evidence to charge a Winnipeg Police Service constable with perjury — and yet the provincial Crown will not move forward with the case.

Following a seven-month probe into a 2014 event, IIU civilian director Zane Tessler (a former Crown prosecutor who has the authority to lay criminal charges himself) determined the necessary grounds to proceed with charges had been met. However, following a conversation with the Crown office, Tessler agreed to forward his agency’s file to Manitoba Prosecution Service for a second opinion.

Roughly seven months later, the IIU was told no charges should be laid against the officer — Const. J. Macumber — since a conviction was unlikely, according to an IIU news release and final report on the case Thursday.

The provincial watchdog's investigation stems from an incident Dec. 26, 2014, when four Winnipeg police officers responded to a disturbance complaint at the Clarion Hotel in Winnipeg. The City of Winnipeg and Macumber were later sued in civil court.

Developing a case for transparency

On a Friday morning in early June, Patrol Sgt. Jeffrey Norman went to court to testify about an impaired driving arrest he made last fall. The case quickly collapsed.

With Norman on the stand, the Crown prosecutor asked for an adjournment, and later stayed the charges Norman initiated against the alleged drunk driver — but not before the patrol sergeant was grilled about his own conduct during his 27-year career as a police officer in Winnipeg and Los Angeles.

It wasn’t the first time Norman has faced questions about his conduct. He’s been sued at least eight times in Manitoba for allegations including excessive force, wrongful arrest and destruction of video and photographic evidence.

Norman is currently the subject of at least one Independent Investigation Unit probe and was involved in another incident that has raised questions on whether the IIU should have been notified. In February, Norman was off-duty when he allegedly knocked out a suspected liquor-store thief with his police baton. Norman was also injured in the incident and suffered a concussion.

Suspect beaten unconscious with police baton warrants probe: expert

A case involving a Winnipeg officer accused of knocking out a suspected shoplifter with a baton while off-duty should have been flagged immediately for Manitoba's police watchdog, an expert on civilian oversight of policing argues.

Ian Scott, a lawyer and former head of Ontario's Special Investigations Unit, says the case is a clear example of the type of incident that should trigger a notification to the Independent Investigation Unit.

“Minimally, the IIU should have been notified, and then the question becomes does it satisfy the IIU’s threshold for an investigation?… This is sort of a murky situation you’ve got here,” Scott said.

“It would seem to me to fit a public interest criteria.”

Police fail to notify watchdog about injuries involving officer

The Winnipeg Police Service failed to notify the Independent Investigation Unit after allegations surfaced that an off-duty officer with a history of misconduct complaints seriously injured an Indigenous suspect, a Free Press investigation has determined.

The IIU has been kept in the dark about the incident for five months, with civilian director Zane Tessler confirming this week the WPS made no report to his agency. In response to inquiries from the Free Press, Tessler said he had no information on the case.

Under the Police Services Act, law enforcement must notify the IIU of any incident where the actions or inactions of a police officer—whether on- or off-duty—results in death, serious injury, or where there is evidence to suggest an officer engaged in unlawful conduct.

Patrol Sgt. Jeffrey Norman, a 22-year veteran with the WPS, was not on shift and not in uniform on the evening of Feb. 23, 2020 when he followed suspected shoplifters from a Dakota Street liquor store to a residential area.

Murder, guns and mayhem: WPS 2019 annual report paints stark picture

The Winnipeg Police Service's 2019 annual report details the bloodiest year in the city’s history with a spate of brutal murders that rocked the community and a rash of liquor thefts driving a significant spike in property crimes.

“It has been a remarkable year for our community in terms of crime and crime statistics. The level of brazen crime we experienced is alarming. Violent crime and property crime are well above our five-year averages, and our five-year averages are well above the Canadian average,” WPS chief Danny Smyth told reporters Friday following the report's release.

There were 44 slayings in Winnipeg in 2019, which doubled the previous year’s total (22) and marked an 81 per cent increase over the city’s five-year average.

Of the 44 cases — 89 per cent of which led to arrests—an abnormally high number of them involved children as both victims and suspects.

Clashes with board members behind Main Street Project director’s removal, sources say

Recently ousted Main Street Project executive director Rick Lees was equal parts ambitious, determined and polarizing during his four-year stint as head of the local social service agency, say people familiar with the decision to part ways.

While Lees successfully courted massive capital investments into the charity and launched major projects aimed at improving Main Street Project facilities, tensions at times flared between him and some members of the agency’s board of directors, which ultimately led to his removal, sources said.

News broke late last week the Main Street Project board of directors voted to replace Lees with a new executive director July 16. His departure from the agency was effective July 17 and some staff members were informed of the decision that day.

But the decision to part ways was leaked to the press before Main Street Project could put out an official statement announcing the change.

Winnipeg police investigating Nygard on sex assault charges, accusers confirm

Peter Nygard is the subject of an ongoing Winnipeg Police Service investigation after multiple women stepped forward to file formal criminal complaints against the embattled fashion mogul for alleged sexual assault.

While it was known Nygard was the subject of an investigation in the U.S. by a joint child-exploitation task force, this is the first confirmation that a criminal probe into the allegations against him is underway in his hometown.

The Free Press confirmed the existence of the WPS investigation through interviews with alleged victims. It's not clear when the criminal probe was launched or how many women have filed complaints.

Police did not respond to a Free Press request for comment Monday afternoon. In the past, the WPS has said the agency does not confirm or deny the existence of investigations unless they lead to charges being laid.

Arrest raises more questions about Winnipeg police’s use-of-force tactics

A dramatic arrest on a West End street, that involved a police cruiser being used to take down a suspect who was fleeing on foot, raises new concerns about the Winnipeg Police Service’s use-of-force protocols.

The incident has been kept from public view for three weeks, amid mounting calls to defund police departments and waves of Black Lives Matter protests sweeping the continent.

The police service has not publicly disclosed the May 27 arrest — now under investigation by Manitoba’s police watchdog — in which a cruiser car struck a suspect as he fled on foot down the 700 block of Sargent Avenue.

Police have refused to release the man’s name, citing the fact the initial report that sent officers to the scene was a domestic dispute.

Police defend use of force on prostrate suspect; Indigenous leaders, critics not appeased

One day after a witness video showing an officer repeatedly kicking a suspect laying face-down on the ground during an arrest went public, Winnipeg Police Service Chief Danny Smyth reached out to Indigenous leaders to address concerns about the controversial case.

Multiple videos from various angles have now been released, showing Flinn Nolan Dorian, a 33-year-old Indigenous man, being kicked twice, repeatedly kneed, and punched seven times by officers during a scuffle and arrest Thursday morning in the Exchange District.

Police were called to the scene after reports of an intoxicated man destroying property and brandishing a handgun near the Centennial Concert Hall. It was later determined the gun was an airsoft replica; Dorian is alleged to have also been in possession of a knife and metal bar.

At a Friday afternoon news conference, WPS spokesman Const. Jay Murray said the officers’ actions were justified and consistent with training — going so far as to suggest the kicks that sparked accusations of police brutality may have saved Dorian’s life.

Witness video shows WPS officer kick suspect while down

As outrage over police brutality sparks mounting continent-wide demands to defund law enforcement, a video has surfaced of a Winnipeg police officer repeatedly kicking a suspect who appears to be restrained on the ground during an arrest Thursday.

The incident comes less than a week after roughly 15,000 Winnipeggers rallied at the Manitoba Legislative Building for the Justice 4 Black Lives march, in solidarity with global protests in the wake of the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police.

At the beginning of the video — shot by a nearby witness, running slightly longer than one minute — three Winnipeg Police Service officers can be seen trying to arrest a male suspect.

One of the officers twice knees the man. Soon after, as two officers have the man face-down on the ground and a third stands nearby, a fourth comes into view and twice kicks the suspect in the upper body.

Police chief’s report shows use-of-force incidents up slightly in 2019

As the conduct of law enforcement has increasingly come under fire and sparked protests across the continent, the Winnipeg Police Service is set to present its latest annual report detailing how many times its officers used force on the public in 2019.

City police filed 857 use-of-force reports last year, according to the report Winnipeg Police Service Chief Danny Smyth is scheduled to table at Monday’s meeting of the Winnipeg Police Board.

The term “use-of-force” describes a wide variety of actions, ranging from physically detaining a suspect, to swinging a baton, discharging pepper spray or firing a service pistol. Officers are mandated to file a report each time force is used.

“The service recognizes the responsibility the citizens of Winnipeg entrust to police members regarding use of force. While police members strive to resolve incidents without applying physical force, occasionally it is required,” Smyth writes in the report.

Manitobans slowly returning to normal life, spending time outside, Google data reveals

As the provincial government moves into Phase 2 of reopening during the coronavirus pandemic, new data shows Manitobans continue to find themselves in the middle of the pack when it comes to physical distancing in Canada.

Internet search engine company Google has released its latest batch of data tracking what Canadians have been up to — and where they’ve been going — as lockdown measures have been implemented throughout the country.

To compile the research, Google used location data —as well as its own repository of information — to track percentage changes in movement across the country. The baseline average was culled from January to early February, before widespread social-distancing directives went into effect. Google's COVID-19 Community Mobility Report covers the period from Feb. 15 through May 25.

The data indicates things are — in many respects — slowly returning to normal in Manitoba.

Suspect terrorizes staff at two opiate clinics

When Dr. Murray Hoy saw the glint of the gun, he thought his life might be over.

“By the time he pulled out the gun,  we were all just totally freaked out. I mean, at that point, it’s you or him,” Hoy told the Free Press Wednesday.

Twice this week, Hoy said a man terrorized staff at two Opiate Addiction Treatment Services clinics in Winnipeg.

The Winnipeg Police Service confirmed it has a man in custody, although his identity has not been released as charges have yet to be laid.

All kept quiet on the health-care front

Five days after it was confirmed the novel coronavirus pandemic had arrived in Manitoba, a respiratory technician at Winnipeg’s largest hospital contacted the Free Press to raise concerns the province wasn’t prepared for the looming crisis.

The technician said hospitals were understaffed in key areas, and there was a lack of personal protective equipment that could result in unnecessary exposures to the deadly virus. The technician also claimed staff were being left in the dark about what steps were being taken to address concerns.

Resolve to blow the whistle on these issues — even anonymously — faltered when a colleague warned the technician could be fired for speaking up.

“If I lost my job because I spoke out in the wrong way and said something that I wasn’t supposed to, what would I do? This is my life,” the technician said in a recent interview with the Free Press.

Downtown looks familiar, but strange on a recent Saturday evening

The puddles ripple with rainwater.

Light is fading from the sky, but the night has yet to take hold. The Earth rotates, ever so imperceptibly, until the centre of the sun dips six-degrees below the horizon and dusk settles in.

Aside from the occasional vehicle rolling past to someplace else, the neighbourhood is empty. For the most part, the traffic lights — green, amber, red — change for no one.

A man sits in the bus shelter on one corner of the intersection. There is nowhere he needs to be. Rather than waiting for a ride, he’s waiting out the rain that’s been falling most of the day.

Number of accusers in Nygard sex-crimes lawsuit climbs to 46

Three dozen more women have stepped forward to publicly accuse embattled fashion mogul Peter Nygard of drugging, assaulting and raping them over the course of five decades, including 18 Canadians and multiple Winnipeggers.

The accusations are part of a class-action lawsuit originally filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York on Feb. 13. Late Monday night, the lawsuit was amended, expanding the number of accusers to 46 from 10.

Twelve of the women say they were minors when Nygard allegedly raped them.

Nygard, 78, speaking through his attorneys, has repeatedly maintained his innocence, claiming he’s at the centre of an elaborate conspiracy by people with a personal vendetta against him intent on ruining his reputation.

Isolation-centre success a group endeavour

Lack of funding, lack of space, lack of testing and little to no personal protective equipment.

That’s the reality the local homeless community was facing when it became clear it was just a matter of time before the novel coronavirus pandemic washed up in Winnipeg’s streets.

And so, the leadership of Winnipeg’s three shelters — Main Street Project, Salvation Army and Siloam Mission — got to work, scrambling to pool resources and advocate for the most vulnerable and at-risk segments of the population.

“This is the most complicated health care you can offer next to probably running an emergency room. And yet it’s the least funded, it’s the least considered, and in this pandemic, it wasn’t considered at all,” said MSP executive director Rick Lees.

Neighbourhoods watched: social-distancing adherence varies across the city

As the first cases of the novel coronavirus were reported in Manitoba, and public health officials began stating the need to adhere to strict social distancing guidelines, the extent to which Winnipeggers stayed close to home varied from neighbourhood to neighbourhood.

The province announced the first positive case of COVID-19 on Thursday, March 12. That weekend, the number of Winnipeggers “out-and-about” throughout the city began to tumble.

The out-and-about rate is calculated by Toronto-firm Environics Analytics by looking at the number of people spending more than 30 minutes away from their home area during a weekend day. The company uses cellphone location data from apps to track movements.

On that weekend, roughly 20 to 25 per cent of residents throughout a patchwork of areas in Winnipeg ventured more than 100 metres from their neighbourhoods for extended periods of time.

Manitobans largely heeding calls to stay home, but some continue to flout rules, data shows

The data is clear: Manitobans, for the most part, have got the message and are staying at home.

But there are outliers ignoring public-health directives, increasing the risk of community spread of COVID-19, which has eclipsed 100,000 deaths worldwide.

Data from Toronto-based Environics Analytics shows Manitoba has done well when it comes to sheltering at home as the pandemic deepens.

Environics Analytics senior vice-president Rupen Seoni said the company used cellphone location data from apps to track weekend movements throughout the country from Feb. 1 to April 5.

Woman charged with manslaughter in two-year-old stepson’s death

Victoria Reane Thiessen called 911 on March 24 to report that her two-year-old stepson had been injured. She told investigators the child had fallen and gotten hurt, or maybe had been struck by an older sibling.

Brett White died two days later from a brain injury sustained during an assault. Thiessen, 20, has been charged with manslaughter.

“He was happy, smart, smiley, cuddly. He had a really good sense of humour. He was a wonderful kid to be around and everybody absolutely adored him… My heart is broken,” said Allison White, Brett’s grandmother.

Allison said shortly before noon on March 24 she got a call from Thiessen — her son Cody White’s wife — while at work. Thiessen said Brett was injured and asked her to come to their home as soon as possible.

Provinces vary in disclosing pandemic data

The number of people infected with the novel coronavirus has crept above one million globally, and questions are being raised about the scattershot, patchwork approach Canadian provinces are taking when disclosing pandemic data to the public.

Health authorities across Canada are being asked to balance competing interests, including privacy rights and public safety concerns, when deciding what to reveal — and in what detail — as the pandemic continues to spread.

The result is a vast discrepancy in the public health information available to Canadians based on where they live.

A Free Press analysis of COVID-19 data disclosure shows Manitoba is in the middle of the pack when it comes to the level of transparency provinces employ as the virus spreads.

New shelter spaces offer help for homeless

As the novel coronavirus pandemic shows early signs of spreading through community contact in Manitoba, local social service agencies are scrambling to prepare for the impact the virus will have on the homeless.

A new shelter will soon open in the downtown core, another in Osborne Village has extended operation for a month, and the provincial government is looking to establish isolation units in vacant buildings and hotels.

These measures are due to the risk the virus poses to the homeless, who often can’t socially isolate, have compromised immune systems, and lack consistent access to hygienic products.

One source working in the sector told the Free Press they’re worried the virus will “spread like wildfire” when it takes root in the city’s shelters. Another source said cases of COVID-19 are expected to turn up in the homeless population in the coming days.

Dedicated Winnipeggers serving as foot soldiers in the global war against COVID-19

At a time when many Winnipeggers are working from home or have lost their jobs due to the COVID-19 pandemic, front-line workers are reporting for shifts under difficult, often frightening, circumstances.

The pandemic has changed the way they do their work and interact with customers and clients, and it’s made the concept of social distancing a sudden priority in fields where it had never before been a concern.

At the same time, others are seeking new ways to conduct business, with some delivering products and services they previously did not.

The Free Press caught up with several of these people to offer a glimpse into the new reality of their work.

Internal memo tells Nygard employees to preserve documents

Workers at Peter Nygard’s companies and staff at his properties have been warned not to destroy documents or they could face criminal charges, an internal company memo leaked to the Free Press shows.

The warning comes as the fashion mogul finds himself ensnared by a U.S. federal law enforcement investigation and a class-action lawsuit filed by 10 women accusing him of drugging, raping and sodomizing them.

Nygard, 78, maintains his innocence. The allegations have not been proven in court.

The internal memo was authored by Abe Rubinfeld, general counsel for Nygard’s companies, and sent to all employees and staff Feb. 26.

Nygard companies plan to seek bankruptcy protection in Canada

The group of companies founded by Peter Nygard will seek protection under the Canadian Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act amid mounting sex crimes allegations against the Winnipeg fashion mogul.

A spokesman for the group of companies said Tuesday the move is designed to facilitate a corporate restructuring and does not mean it is declaring bankruptcy or in receivership.

Nygard, 78, announced his intention to divest ownership from the companies in late February amid the sexual misconduct scandal and various legal troubles.

The companies filed a notice of intention to file a proposal under the Canadian Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act, according to a written statement sent to the Free Press.

Vivid details of trauma etched into memories of women who say Nygard raped them as girls

NASSAU, Bahamas — They share a common, traumatic experience — all have accused Peter Nygard of raping them as girls.

Years later, as they describe the horror, their ability to recall precise details is striking.

One vividly recalls the tears streaming down her face during the attack.

Another says Lionel Ritchie's 1984 song Stuck on You played on a loop as she was raped.

Alleged Nygard sex ring fuels raging Bahamas corruption scandal

NASSAU, Bahamas —The former retail shop in the largest regional mall is shuttered, the lavish oceanfront property is all but abandoned and Peter Nygard hasn’t been in the country for more than a year.

But the effects of Nygard’s alleged reign of abuse in the developing island nation live on in the women who say he raped them.

The Free Press has heard the stories of six Bahamian women this week who claim the Winnipeg fashion mogul, whose wealth is estimated at more than $900 million, sexually abused them. Five of the women were minors at the time of the alleged offences.

Nygard, 78, maintains his innocence. The allegations have not been proven in court.

Bahamian woman alleges Nygard raped her as a 14-year-old aspiring model

NASSAU, Bahamas — It was the summer of 2015 and she walked up the stairs to Peter Nygard’s bedroom thinking it was her chance to become a model.

She had just graduated from Grade 9. She was 14 years old and a virgin. It was a dream coming true, she thought.

Instead, she says she was raped.

As she recounts her story over the course of two separate interviews Sunday and Monday, a disturbing pattern of allegations emerges against Nygard: young women and girls from impoverished backgrounds were allegedly recruited by his staff at a Nassau mall and university campus to attend “pamper parties” at his estate, enticed by promises of luxuries, money and modelling opportunities.

Nygard exits company following FBI raids in New York

NEW YORK — Peter Nygard is stepping down from the company he forged for more than a half-century, amid mounting allegations the Winnipeg fashion mogul has run a decades-long sex-trafficking ring with the complicity of countless business associates.

On Tuesday morning, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation and detectives from the New York Police Department raided Nygard's corporate headquarters in Times Square.

By the end of the day, Nygard announced — through a spokesman — he would step down from the privately-owned clothing firm with corporate offices in Winnipeg, New York, and Toronto.

Nygard, 78, has been under investigation for at least five months by a joint child-exploitation task force of the FBI and the NYPD, according to a report by the New York Times. The investigation is overseen by the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan.

Probe necessary to find out if Nygard bribed police, others in sex crimes: Bahamas official

A senior Bahamian politician is calling for an investigation into allegations that Winnipeg fashion mogul Peter Nygard concealed a decades-long sex trafficking ring at his island estate by bribing police and public officials.

A recent class-action lawsuit alleges Nygard, 77, and his business associates lured women — many of them girls under the age of 18 — to his Bahamian estate so he could drug, assault, rape and sodomize them.

“Those are some serious allegations being made and I am certain the police would want to follow up on them to determine exactly whether there is any validity to them. We have an obligation to do so,” National Security Minister Marvin Dames told the Bahamian-based news outlet The Tribune.

“Anytime you have allegations of that nature being reported to law enforcement within or outside of the country, we have that obligation, especially when the allegations are being made against public officials and law enforcement officials.”

Letter of the law: WPS, IIU clash in court

A precedent-setting legal dispute between the Winnipeg Police Service and the Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba has taken an important step forward.

Competing interpretations of the rules governing police clashed Tuesday in the Court of Queen’s Bench, as lawyers representing the two agencies presented their arguments for the first time in open court.

At the centre of the case is the question of whether WPS cadets — civilian employees of the police service — can be compelled to hand over their notes to IIU investigators.

“At its core, this dispute is between two competing interpretations of a section of the Police Services Act… We suggest there is a duty owed by the Winnipeg Police Service to the IIU that is not being satisfied,” IIU lawyer Samuel Thomson said.

U.S. prosecutors seek pre-trial extension in case against ex-Manitoba reservist

U.S. attorneys are seeking to waive Patrik Mathews’ right to a speedy trial, due to the “voluminous” evidence in the case against the neo-Nazi recruiter and ex-Canadian reservist, according to a motion filed Monday in a Maryland court.

“In light of the complexity of the case, the large amount of discovery, the possibility of disposition, and the relevant scheduling parameters, it is clear that the 70 days contemplated by the Speedy Trial Act for discovery, pre-trial motions, and trial preparation will be inadequate,” reads the motion.

“It is in the interests of justice for the parties to have beyond 70 days to review discovery, prepare the case for trial, and to engage in discussions regarding disposition.”

The motion was filed by U.S. Attorney Robert Hur; it is co-signed by assistant Thomas Windom, who is serving as lead prosecutor on the case.

Mounties get their suspect, and clicks, with long arm of social media

Nacho cheese and not your truck.

That’s the gist of a recent Manitoba RCMP social media post that led to the identification of a suspect — and alleged Doritos aficionado — after a pickup truck was stolen Jan. 11 in Gladstone.

“Know anyone with a large skull tattoo who also loves Nacho Cheese Doritos?” reads the post, accompanied by surveillance footage of the suspect.

One of the pictures shows a woman walking into a business; on her upper chest, a large skull tattoo is visible. Additional photos show her with a bag of Nacho Cheese Doritos chips.

In wake of weekend liquor store attack, union urges faster action on safety upgrades

New security measures for city liquor marts have reportedly resulted in a reduction in brazen, violent thefts, but the union representing employees says the changes are taking too long to be rolled out in light of an incident over the weekend where a man was assaulted during a theft that turned violent.

At least two city liquor marts have controlled entrances and exits, but more are needed — and fast — to keep employees safe, according to Manitoba Government and General Employees’ Union President Michelle Gawronsky.

“The places that do have the controlled entrances, our members are saying they definitely feel safe. They’re back to enjoying their work again. They take pride in providing that service. The morale is definitely increased and they’re feeling valued,” Gawronsky said.

“The liquor workers who are being left to defend themselves or are left to deal with thefts, they’re going to work in fear. They’re throwing up before they get into the building. Some of them are having nightmares. They’re definitely feeling it.”

Integrity of officers’ conduct ‘paramount’: police chief addresses allegations against veteran cop

Police chief Danny Smyth was forced into the spotlight Wednesday after news broke that one of his officers was charged with three criminal offences this week — bringing the total numbers of charges the cop is facing to six.

Manitoba’s police watchdog charged Patrol Sgt. Sean Cassidy with fraud, obstruction of justice and unauthorized access to a police computer system Monday. Cassidy was already facing charges of assault causing bodily harm and two firearm offences.

The Winnipeg Police Service veteran, who has spent more than two decades on the force, is currently on paid administrative leave.

Two hours after the Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba issued a press release announcing the charges, Smyth stood behind a podium at the WPS headquarters and said he was disappointed to again learn of alleged criminal activity by one of his own.

Manitoba neo-Nazi faces more charges in U.S.

The charges against Patrik Mathews continue to mount, as the disgraced Canadian reservist and neo-Nazi now faces up to 60 years in U.S. prison after two grand juries this week indicted him on five criminal counts.

Mathews faces four firearm-related charges, and an additional count of obstruction of justice for allegedly destroying his cellphone as the FBI raided his Delaware apartment Jan. 16.

If convicted on all counts, the Manitoba resident faces up to 20 years in U.S. federal prison and 40 years in state prison. There is no parole in the U.S. federal prison system.

The Maryland Department of Justice issued a news release Tuesday evening saying the government convened grand juries in Delaware and Maryland this week seeking indictments against Mathews, 27, and his co-accused: Brian Lemley Jr., 33, and William Bilbrough IV, 19.

Big jackpot brings out worst in bingo fans

Thousands of Winnipeggers will nervously bite their fingernails on Saturday when the Kinsmen Jackpot Bingo gets underway with more than $600,000 estimated on the line.

It is the highest jackpot ever for the weekly televised bingo game and it has led some Winnipeggers to catch bingo fever.

The Kinsmen Club of Winnipeg, which runs the event, said in a social media post Monday that people have been chasing the group’s courier in an effort to get their hands on the elusive bingo cards for the upcoming game.

“I will no longer post a list of stores in Winnipeg that are receiving deliveries. We have hordes of people driving dangerously, following our courier driving like paparazzi and putting him in danger,” the post reads.