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THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES/John Woods

Court hears woman’s statement detailing pain, trauma after boyfriend shot her in the face

Dean Pritchard 6 minute read Yesterday at 5:29 PM CDT

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A.W. thought she had found love with Machuor Akau.

That was before Akau put a loaded Luger handgun to the 26-year-old woman’s head last November and told her he should “kill her now.”

Akau shot her, shattering her jaw and embedding teeth in the bones of her mouth and leaving her fighting for her life.

Now A.W. wakes up every morning in pain and sees the scars on her face and neck.

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Ruth Bonneville / Free Press BIZ - downtown seniors Dave Hall and his partner Barb Remnant enjoy downtown living including checking out jazz or classical music at the Garrick Hotel. Story Dave lives on Langside, just outside downtown Winnipeg. However, he walks through downtown Winnipeg two to four times a week and gave up his car. He’s in favour of all the new development downtown but wishes there was more public housing for seniors and people struggling with addiction. This is for an article on downtown residents’ perspective about living in the area, and the new developments. Photo taken outside the Garrick Hotel, 287 Garry St., a place he’ll go for jazz or classical music. See story by Gabby Sept 21st 2026

The centre of attention

Positive anticipation is growing about major housing developments underway in Winnipeg’s downtown

Gabrielle Piché 9 minute read 6:00 AM CDT

Local

Several mayors bow out of fall’s municipal elections

Connor McDowell 3 minute read 2:01 AM CDT

BRANDON — A number of mayors have decided not to run for re-election in western Manitoba municipalities.

Local

MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS ICR Collection project leads, Dr. Mary Jane Logan McCallum (left) and Brett Lougheed (right), discuss the importance of the collection during an event at the University of Winnipeg Thursday.

U of W marks 10 years of Indigenous education requirement

Maggie Macintosh 5 minute read Preview

U of W marks 10 years of Indigenous education requirement

Maggie Macintosh 5 minute read 2:00 AM CDT

The University of Winnipeg is collecting course outlines, historic concerns about systemic racism on campus and related records to mark the 10-year anniversary of mandating Indigenous studies.

The unveiling of a new archive drew nearly 200 people to Centennial Hall on Thursday afternoon to reflect on how the Indigenous course requirement, also known as “the ICR,” came to be.

University archivist Brett Lougheed told the crowd its inception is “an amazing story” of student activism that, until now, wasn’t accurately reflected in U of W records.

“What little material we had told the story of administration’s role in developing the ICR as though it was the ultimate driver… and not a student-led response to racism,” Lougheed said.

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2:00 AM CDT

Opinion

SUPPLIED Shayne Barkman ran as a candidate for Hanover school board in 2022.

How confusing; seems there’s more than one candidate in Hanover named Shayne Barkman

Dan Lett 5 minute read Preview

How confusing; seems there’s more than one candidate in Hanover named Shayne Barkman

Dan Lett 5 minute read Yesterday at 6:33 PM CDT

It’s not entirely clear when or why Hanover trustee Shayne Barkman became one of Manitoba’s best-known anti-LGBTTQ+ crusaders.

Back in 2022, when he ran as a candidate for Hanover school board for the first time, there was nary a hint that socially conservative culture wars were going to be a large part of his identity as an elected official.

In a Steinbach Online profile published before the 2022 municipal elections, Barkman highlighted his background as a successful farmer. He said he was entering politics to be a “listening ear” who could promote understanding.

“I would love to kind of just be a voice of reason amongst all the problems coming down the pipe,” Barkman said

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Yesterday at 6:33 PM CDT

Local

MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS FILES A new report by Harvest Manitoba reveals more than 60,000 Manitobans now rely on food banks each month.

More than 60,000 Manitobans rely on food bank each month, Harvest Manitoba report says

Scott Billeck 4 minute read Preview

More than 60,000 Manitobans rely on food bank each month, Harvest Manitoba report says

Scott Billeck 4 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 9:11 PM CDT

Linda Smith first turned to Harvest Manitoba in the early 1990s when her husband became permanently disabled. Now, on a fixed income, she continues to access the food bank to make ends meet.

Smith is one of more than 60,000 Manitobans now relying on food banks each month as demand continues to grow, a new report by Harvest Manitoba reveals.

The organization said in its 2025-26 impact report, released Thursday, that 61,188 people accessed a food bank in the province in March. Nearly half of them were children. The number of people accessing food banks in the province since 2020 has ballooned by more than 150 per cent, including more seniors, like Smith, than ever before.

Smith, a mother of five now in her 70s, first went to Harvest Manitoba in 1991 when he husband was disabled, and then again in the mid 2000s following a major car accident that led to a brain stem injury that forced her out of the workforce.

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Updated: Yesterday at 9:11 PM CDT

News Briefs

News briefs for Friday, September 25, 2026

1 minute read Updated: 9:21 AM CDT

A collection of breaking news briefs filed on Friday, September 25, 2026

Man stabbed downtown Wednesday

9:21 AM

Police are looking for suspects after a 46-year-old man was stabbed on Portage Avenue Wednesday.

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FREE PRESS FILES

Firefighter admits to conditional sentence breach

Dean Pritchard 4 minute read Preview

Firefighter admits to conditional sentence breach

Dean Pritchard 4 minute read Yesterday at 2:01 AM CDT

A Winnipeg firefighter previously jailed for criminally harassing two different women has been released from custody after admitting to breaching a conditional sentence order.

Christopher Goethals, 59, was arrested July 21 after an alert from his ankle monitor six days earlier showed he had driven within 400 metres of the workplace of a former girlfriend he had been ordered to have no contact with.

Goethals pleaded guilty Wednesday to not being in possession of a copy of his conditional sentence order, a requirement of his sentence.

Crown attorney Amanda Heslop withdrew a breach charge related to Goethals’ electronic monitoring conditions and stayed a third charge of disobeying a court order.

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Yesterday at 2:01 AM CDT

Local

Potash producer seeks to tap into Manitoba’s critical mineral drive

Abiola Odutola 3 minute read Yesterday at 2:00 AM CDT

BRANDON — A western Manitoba potash producer could generate as much as $450 million in annual sales if it expands operations over the next five years under an ambitious mining plan touted by the provincial government.

Civic Election

JOHN WOODS / FREE PRESS Louis Riel School Division trustee candidate John Baert, canvasses in Island Lakes, Tuesday.

Door-knocking trustee candidate calls for changes to expansive boundaries

Maggie Macintosh 4 minute read Preview

Door-knocking trustee candidate calls for changes to expansive boundaries

Maggie Macintosh 4 minute read Wednesday, Sep. 23, 2026

John Baert wants all the school trustee candidates who follow in his footsteps to have far less ground to cover.

The Island Lakes father said he was, in retrospect, “naive” when he launched his campaign in the Louis Riel School Division.

“When I started knocking on doors, I had a goal to hit every single door in the ward,” said the nominee for Ward 4, which encompasses Royalwood, Southdale, Sage Creek and Island Lakes.

More than one million steps later — Baert’s Garmin watch has been tracking his canvassing efforts on evenings and weekends since mid-July — he is about 60 per cent of the way to his goal.

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Wednesday, Sep. 23, 2026

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