Former police chief details volunteer time in Jamaica

In early October, former Winnipeg police chief Devon Clunis was back in his native Jamaica, volunteering with a humanitarian organization to support three schools.

But only weeks after he left, Hurricane Melissa tore through the island, battering the hard-hit western region where he had been working and damaging the very schools he’d just helped.

Now, Clunis — who was in Mexico on business this past week — is waiting for the right time to return.

“We don’t quite have the full scope, but we are in regular contact with the people in those specific areas,” Clunis, who served as police chief from 2012 to his retirement in 2016, told the Free Press on Saturday. “Some are just getting back to school now in some locations. I just saw that some schools are going to have tent schools now, because some of the schools were significantly damaged.”

Affordability among topics at weekend Manitoba NDP convention

BRANDON - The costs of child care, food and other items are among the topics on the agenda at this weekend's Manitoba NDP convention.

The annual gathering is a chance for party delegates to debate policies, and one resolution calls for increased funding for child-care centres.

Other resolutions call for a higher minimum wage, more financial aid for post-secondary students, and new measures to increase food security and affordability in northern communities.

Delegates are also set to hear from Premier Wab Kinew.

Primary-care doctors’ improved pay model ‘a game-changer’

A new payment model for family doctors in Manitoba has proven effective at retaining and recruiting physicians to the province, with more than 100,000 new patients connected to ongoing care providers since it launched last spring.

Doctors Manitoba, the group representing physicians in the province, reviewed the Family Medicine Plus funding model, finding it contributed to a net gain of 184 family doctors practising in the province over a one-year period.

They include both new recruits and physicians who returned to working and accepting new patients in family medicine, said group president Dr. Nichelle Desilets.

“What I’m hearing from family doctors is that Family Medicine Plus is a game-changer,” she said.

Health minister listens to Hamiota residents’ ER concerns

HAMIOTA — Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara got an earful when they appeared before residents in this western Manitoba town Friday, to address shortcomings with its emergency care centre.

The minister, appearing beforeroughly 75 people in the community centre, spent an hour responding to questions, comments and concerns.

Robin Johnston, a Hamiota resident in his 80s, complained that his wife Bette waited two and a half hours for an ambulance response, and said he believed it led to her death.

“Everybody here should be cheering that we should have an ambulance,” he said. “It would have saved my wife’s life.”

Premier takes his chequebook to Brandon

BRANDON — Members of the Manitoba government launched a funding spree as they descended on the province’s second-largest city for their party’s annual convention.

Premier Wab Kinew held a news conference to announce the province will spend another $1 million for reconstruction of Park Community Centre in Brandon.

The fully reconstructed centre, which will open in about two years, will include 68 daycare spaces, a kitchen and a new main hall. In total, the province is chipping in $7 million, the City of Brandon will spend $1.4 million and $100,000 will come from Heritage Co-op.

“We’re really excited about this. This is going to bring child care and recreational and social space to a new level in this part of Brandon. But importantly, this is a hub for community,” Kinew said.

Defence lawyers fear innocent people jailed in cases linked to police corruption

Case reviews are expected to add pressure to the justice system, which is already strained.

Order of the Buffalo Hunt awarded to Brandon school staff for response to sword attack

BRANDON — Premier Wab Kinew presented the Order of the Buffalo Hunt to staff at Neelin High School for their bravery, quick response and compassion in relation to a sword attack on a student in June.

“The Order of the Buffalo Hunt reminds us that courage isn’t just about facing danger,” Kinew said in the packed gymnasium on Friday. “It’s about protecting one another — and Neelin showed us all how that’s done.”

The Neelin team’s actions were “an amazing example” of what it means to be a Manitoban, Kinew said during the presentation.

“This is the highest honour we can present to a group of people,” he said. “You did an amazing thing, keeping kids safe and looking after one another. You circled up and protected the young.”

Amid bail-reform debate, some argue court orders must suit low literacy levels

Several red flags jump off the page when literacy expert Margaret Banasiak examines a Manitoba provincial court bail form.

Before Hollywood, Redwood: Now 80, Neil Young's pivotal Winnipeg years helped shape him as an artist

Neil Young spent five years in Winnipeg. But if that period seems brief, those years, from 1960 to 1965, were pivotal to his development as one of rock music’s most consistently fascinating mavericks.