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JOHN WOODS / FREE PRESS
Aurele Jack, a resident on Larsen Ave., is upset that snow plows damaged newly planted trees on his street in Sunday, December 28, 2025. reporter: aaron

Snow-clearing ‘carelessness’ damages newly planted trees on Elmwood street

Aaron Epp 4 minute read 7:38 PM CST

A city councillor said she will be seeking answers after a snowplow damaged trees on an Elmwood street.

Coun. Emma Durand-Wood, who represents Elmwood-East Kildonan, said she will be speaking to the city’s public works department to find out what happened, who is responsible and if penalties will be issued after the incident on Larsen Avenue Dec. 23.

Aurele Jack and Catherine Anobis reported the damage to the city.

Jack and Anobis were sitting in their home in the 500 block of Larsen when they saw plows driving down their street. The first plow passed without incident, but the second side-swiped numerous trees on the boulevard, the couple said.

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Train cars derail in city; no threat to public safety, CN says

Free Press staff 2 minute read Preview

Train cars derail in city; no threat to public safety, CN says

Free Press staff 2 minute read Updated: 7:18 PM CST

Emergency officials worked Sunday to clean up a train derailment in south-central Winnipeg after nine rail cars came off the tracks early that morning.

CN Rail said there are “no reported dangerous goods, fires, injuries or leaks, nor is there any threat to public safety,” spokeswoman Ashley Michnowski said in a statement.

The derailment happened around 3 a.m. Sunday next to the Jubilee rapid transit station.

As of early afternoon, CN crews and first responders were still on scene. The cause of the derailment is still under investigation.

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Updated: 7:18 PM CST

JOHN WOODS / FREE PRESS
CN crews work on cleaning up a train derailment just east of Pembina Highway at Stafford Street on Sunday afternoon.

Getting a handle on homelessness

Scott Billeck 6 minute read Preview

Getting a handle on homelessness

Scott Billeck 6 minute read 10:12 AM CST

Designated encampment zones in Halifax gave civic officials and outreach workers a clearer understanding of the scale and day-to-day realities of the city’s homelessness crisis.

Now, after reducing the number of people living in those encampments from more than 200 by approximately three-quarters over the past two years, the city is preparing to gradually close its two remaining sites — a strategy that may offer lessons for Winnipeg as it prepares to study the viability of a managed-encampment pilot of its own.

“They were created at time where we needed an emergency response,” said Rachel Boehm, executive director of community safety with Halifax Regional Municipality, noting the designated spaces were set up in 2023 as a response to an emerging crisis coming out of the pandemic.

“More people were living outside, far more people living outside, than we had indoor capacity.”

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10:12 AM CST

MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS FILES
An encampment along Mayfair Avenue sits empty after its inhabitants were removed by the city in early December.

Teen boy facing theft, weapons charges after car rams into Winnipeg transit bus

The Canadian Press 1 minute read Preview

Teen boy facing theft, weapons charges after car rams into Winnipeg transit bus

The Canadian Press 1 minute read Updated: 10:04 AM CST

WINNIPEG - A teen boy in Winnipeg is facing over a dozen charges after a vehicle was stolen and a city transit bus was rammed.

Police say the 16-year-old's charges include vehicle theft, dangerous driving and possessing a prohibited or restricted firearm.

The charges come after officers in Winnipeg's north end tried to stop a 2014 Mazda 3 GT on Friday, but the driver sped off.

Investigators say the vehicle drove through a stop sign just a few blocks away and plowed into the side of a transit bus, but nobody was injured.

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Updated: 10:04 AM CST

Photo of a Winnipeg Police Service shoulder badge on an officer in Winnipeg Tuesday, November 5, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/John Woods

Jets still starving for results

Ken Wiebe 7 minute read Preview

Jets still starving for results

Ken Wiebe 7 minute read Updated: 9:00 PM CST

Dylan DeMelo knows it’s a fine line and he did his best to straddle it.

The Winnipeg Jets defenceman was smack dab in the middle of a controversial sequence of events in the final minute of Saturday’s 4-3 overtime loss to the Minnesota Wild.

DeMelo was on the ice when his defence partner, Josh Morrissey, was taken into the boards from behind by Wild centre Joel Eriksson Ek — when Morrissey didn’t have the puck.

Once things settled down on the same shift, DeMelo found Eriksson Ek in front and knocked him to the ice, leading officials to assess a cross-checking minor on the play.

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Updated: 9:00 PM CST

THE CANADIAN PRESS / John Woods
Winnipeg Jets’ Dylan DeMelo (2) defends against Minnesota Wild’s Marcus Johansson (90) during second period NHL action in Winnipeg, Saturday, Dec. 27, 2025.

Carney meets Zelenskyy in Halifax as Trump prepares to host peace talks

Emily Baron Cadloff, The Canadian Press 4 minute read Preview

Carney meets Zelenskyy in Halifax as Trump prepares to host peace talks

Emily Baron Cadloff, The Canadian Press 4 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 5:18 PM CST

HALIFAX - Prime Minister Mark Carney condemned new Russian air attacks and announced additional economic assistance for Ukraine as he and the country's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, stood side-by-side and spoke to reporters at a Halifax-area airport.

The two leaders embraced as Carney welcomed Zelenskyy to Canada. Zelenskyy touched down for a brief stop on his way to Florida for planned peace talks with U.S. president Donald Trump this weekend, which he called “very important and very constructive.”

Russia attacked Ukraine's capital with missiles and drones on Saturday, killing at least one person and wounding 27. The Russian Defense Ministry said the strike targeted energy infrastructure used by Ukrainian forces, though several residential buildings were hit.

Carney said Canada will provide a further $2.5 billion of economic assistance for Ukraine, noting the money will help unlock financing from other organizations, including the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank for reconstruction.

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Updated: Yesterday at 5:18 PM CST

Prime Minister Mark Carney, left, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy take part in a meeting during the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

Opinion

Bubbles to toast the twinkling promise of 2026 Ben Sigurdson 6 minute read Yesterday at 2:00 AM CST
Why Handel’s Messiah still matters Stephen Borys 6 minute read Friday, Dec. 26, 2025
Political harmony against the odds John R. Wiens 5 minute read Friday, Dec. 26, 2025

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Students tasked with designing shelter for homeless

Maggie Macintosh 5 minute read Preview

Students tasked with designing shelter for homeless

Maggie Macintosh 5 minute read Updated: 8:23 PM CST

Concerned about the state of empathy at her suburban high school, a St. Vital teacher has tasked teens with designing transitional homes for their unsheltered neighbours.

Collège Jeanne-Sauvé made headlines in September when a student was involved in an altercation with a man living in nearby Dakota Forest.

Winnipeg police and the Louis Riel School Division reported at the time the man came out of a tent and chased after a group of students, injuring one. Allegations the teenagers provoked the man by hurling insults and items at the man’s tent were also reported.

The Sept. 9 incident — as well as the gossip in its aftermath — led Kay Wojnarski to reach out to End Homelessness Winnipeg for advice.

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Updated: 8:23 PM CST

SUPPLIED
Rendering of game room for Maggie Macintosh story on student architects. Dec. 28, 2025

Wesmen’s Stewart looks to conclude final hoops year on top after father’s death

Joshua Frey-Sam 7 minute read Preview

Wesmen’s Stewart looks to conclude final hoops year on top after father’s death

Joshua Frey-Sam 7 minute read Updated: 10:13 PM CST

Donald Stewart’s first reminder came one month after the fact.

The 24-year-old had found ways to distract himself up to that point, but fell into a familiar state of grief as he faced a first in his life: getting a repair estimate for his car.

It sounds silly, Stewart confessed, but the process of dealing with this speed bump was foreign to him.

It’s something his dad would’ve helped him with.

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Updated: 10:13 PM CST

MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS
Donald Stewart, captain of the Winnipeg Wesmen, is playing his final season of university men’s basketball with a heavy heart after his father, Paul Stewart, died following a battle with cancer.

Toxic spill from northern paper mill generates lawsuit from second First Nation

Erik Pindera 3 minute read Yesterday at 2:01 AM CST

A second First Nation has filed a lawsuit over a massive 2019 spill of toxic manufacturing byproduct from the paper mill in The Pas into the Saskatchewan River.

In December 2023, Manitoba’s provincial court ordered Canadian Kraft Paper to pay a $1-million fine after the company pleaded guilty to a charge under the federal Fisheries Act for the spill — marking one of the largest-ever environmental fines issued in the province’s history at the time.

The company admitted the mill released black liquor, which Environment Canada calls an acutely lethal toxin, into the river over six days, beginning Feb. 27, 2019. A total 181 million litres of the byproduct flowed into the river.

Chemawawin Cree Nation, in a statement of claim filed earlier this month in the Court of King’s Bench, alleges the mill breached its treaty rights by failing to prevent the spill, failing to consult the community about how it was mitigating the incident and by contaminating the waterways its members have traditionally used to fish, hunt and trap.

Brandon teen sentenced for role in attack on mall worker

Skye Anderson 4 minute read Preview

Brandon teen sentenced for role in attack on mall worker

Skye Anderson 4 minute read Updated: 8:56 PM CST

A 17-year-old Brandon girl has been sentenced to two years of supervised probation for her involvement in a group beating and robbery at a downtown mall.

“She wasn’t on the sidelines, she wasn’t someone who threw just one punch or one kick — she was fully, actively engaged in the attack,” Judge Shauna Hewitt-Michta said in Brandon provincial court on Tuesday.

The girl, who cannot be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, previously pleaded guilty to the charge of robbery.

Surveillance cameras captured the teen, along with three co-accused, punch and kick the victim inside The Town Centre mall on March 1, Crown attorney Rich Lonstrup said.

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Updated: 8:56 PM CST

Delay in construction prompts lawsuit against city, consulting firm

Nicole Buffie 3 minute read Preview

Delay in construction prompts lawsuit against city, consulting firm

Nicole Buffie 3 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 11:09 AM CST

A contractor is suing the City of Winnipeg and a consulting company in relation to the permitting process that it claims delayed construction of a townhouse complex in the Prairie Point neighbourhood.

Prairie Point Inc. contractors filed a statement of claim in the Court of King’s Bench on Dec. 19, naming the City of Winnipeg and Affinity Architecture as defendants.

The lawsuit alleges the city issued permits for the residential complex and underground parking lot, but later claimed the project violated Manitoba’s building codes.

Prairie Point, which claims it suffered a financial loss, seeks unspecified general, special damages and $750 in costs from the city and Affinity Architecture because of delays and incurred costs to address the violations.

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Updated: Yesterday at 11:09 AM CST

The Manitoba Law Courts building (John Woods / The Canadian Press files)

No easing the tempo for versatile rocker plugged into North American music scene

David Sanderson 9 minute read Preview

No easing the tempo for versatile rocker plugged into North American music scene

David Sanderson 9 minute read Yesterday at 1:26 PM CST

The late James Brown was commonly referred to as the “Hardest Working Man in Show Business,” but a Winnipeg-born musician has been giving the legendary soul artist a run for that title.

On New Year’s Eve, Canadian rock band Toque, featuring Brent Fitz on bass guitar and vocals, will perform live at the Club Regent Event Centre. Early the next morning, Fitz, who is originally from St. James, will board a flight to Las Vegas, where he and his wife Chrissy, a native of Edmonton, have lived since the early 2000s. There he will make final preparations for Ikons of Rock, a tribute show he’s co-producing that will begin a residency at Las Vegas’s Hard Rock Café on Jan. 8.

The multi-instrumentalist returns to Winnipeg in February to play drums with Streetheart, for that group’s Feb. 13 concert, again at the Club Regent Event Centre. Following that, Fitz will enter into rehearsals with Triumph. The Canadian Music Hall of Fame inductees recently enlisted his services on keyboards for their much-anticipated 50th anniversary North American tour, which kicks off April 22, in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. All of that and he just helped wrap up a new album by Slash of Guns N’ Roses fame — with whom he’s worked on-and-off since 2010 — which is due in stores sometime in the new year.

Sure, it sounds like a hectic schedule, except he’s always enjoyed staying busy, says Fitz, seated in a Portage Avenue coffee shop during a recent visit to the city to check up on his 86-year-old father Mervyn, and to perform with Streetheart at a private event held at the RBC Convention Centre.

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Yesterday at 1:26 PM CST

Dave Swiecicki photo
Winnipeg-born multi-instrumentalist Brent Fitz stops in for a hometown visit in October.

Artificial intelligence is slowly finding its way into law offices and courtrooms

Erik Pindera 8 minute read Preview

Artificial intelligence is slowly finding its way into law offices and courtrooms

Erik Pindera 8 minute read Friday, Dec. 26, 2025

At first glance, it was shaping up to be an unremarkable deportation case in front of the Federal Court in Ottawa.

A lawyer seeking a judicial review of an immigration tribunal ruling for his clients filed a motion to admit new evidence and obtain a time extension.

But Associate Judge Catharine Moore had a problem. She could not find some of the cases the lawyer referenced in the court filings and sounded the alarm.

It turns out the cases had been “hallucinated,” with the lawyer admitting he neglected to check the work of an artificial intelligence tool used by Canadian immigration lawyers.

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Friday, Dec. 26, 2025