Royal Canoe bass player, partner killed in crash

A Winnipeg musician and his partner were killed after a two-vehicle collision on Highway 10 on Canada Day.

Brendan Berg, bass player for indie pop band Royal Canoe, and his partner, Olivia Michalczuk, died in the head-on crash about three kilometres north of Bowsman.

Swan River RCMP were called to Highway 10 at about 3:30 p.m., where they found two vehicles in the east ditch.

One of the vehicles was overturned and local paramedics and firefighters were tending to the injured.

RCMP said a vehicle heading south on the highway veered over the centre line and collided with the other vehicle, which was believed to be parked, facing north on the east side of the road.

The driver of the southbound vehicle, a 36-year-old man from Winnipeg, and his passenger, a 29-year-old Swan River man, were taken to hospital with critical injuries.

The occupants of the other vehicle, Berg, 42, and Michalczuk, 31, were taken to hospital, where they later died.

“We are all in a state of shock trying to process this tragic news,” Royal Canoe posted on social media. “Brendan was the kindest, sweetest man you could ever know, and his passing has left an enormous and sudden hole in the lives of everyone who knew him.”

Local RCMP, as well as criminal collision investigators, are still looking into the crash.

As of Wednesday, 32 people have been killed in collisions on highways and roads in RCMP jurisdiction this year, Mountie spokeswoman Michelle Lissel said.

That’s up from 23 fatalities in the same time frame last year, but close to the five-year average of 30 deaths.