Advertisement

Learn more about Free Press Advertising solutions

Local

RUTH BONNEVILLE / FREE PRESS FILES Waverley West Coun. Janice Lukes wants the city’s public service to compile a report on how fireworks are regulated in other jurisdictions.

Councillor with safety concerns wants review of fireworks rules in other jurisdictions

Malak Abas 3 minute read Friday, Oct. 3, 2025

City council could soon be mulling changes to Winnipeg’s fireworks regulations, including different fines or possible bans.

Waverley West Coun. Janice Lukes wants the city’s public service to compile a report on how fireworks are regulated in other jurisdictions.

Lukes said she brought the motion to Friday’s Assiniboia Community Committee meeting because there are residents in her ward who set off fireworks — illegally — year-round.

“In urban environments, fireworks can be disruptive and dangerous,” she said after the meeting.

Advertisement

Advertise With Us

Weather

Oct. 6, 12 AM: 9°c Cloudy with wind Oct. 6, 6 AM: 5°c Windy

Winnipeg MB

7°C, Clear

Full Forecast

City’s Jews mark sombre milestone as anniversary of Oct. 7 attacks near

Maggie Macintosh 4 minute read Preview

City’s Jews mark sombre milestone as anniversary of Oct. 7 attacks near

Maggie Macintosh 4 minute read 7:39 PM CDT

Members of Manitoba’s Jewish community reflected Sunday about how their calendars have forever changed after Oct. 7, 2023.

The Jewish Federation of Winnipeg rallied roughly 2,000 people to march, pray and find solace in one another ahead of a tragic milestone.

“We are not the same people we were two years ago,” Paula Parks told a crowd of hundreds who braved a rainy and cold evening to gather on the Asper Jewish Community Campus.

“In the face of loss and fear we have experienced, we have become more Jewish, more determined to stand firm and, hopefully, more connected to one another.”

Read
7:39 PM CDT

JOHN WOODS / FREE PRESS

People gathered at Asper Jewish Community Centre to walk and commemorate the second anniversary of the Oct 7, 2023 Hamas attack Sunday, October 5, 2025. Reporter: maggie
JOHN WOODS / FREE PRESS People gathered at Asper Jewish Community Centre to walk and commemorate the second anniversary of the Oct 7, 2023 Hamas attack Sunday, October 5, 2025. Reporter: maggie

Two charged in Stony Mountain prison killing

Free Press staff 3 minute read Preview

Two charged in Stony Mountain prison killing

Free Press staff 3 minute read Updated: 5:10 PM CDT

Two men, including one serving time for first-degree murder, have been charged after a 27-year-old man was killed at Stony Mountain prison Wednesday night.

The inmate, from Wasagamack, was stabbed and died at the scene, Stonewall RCMP said in a news release Sunday. Mounties were sent there at 10:10 p.m.

Evander Brightnose, 26, of Cross Lake and Theodore Anderson, 22, of Winnipeg have been charged with second-degree murder.

RCMP continue to investigate the slaying.

Read
Updated: 5:10 PM CDT

MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS FILES

Stony Mountain Institution
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS FILES Stony Mountain Institution

Grade 2 teacher spends summers running community kitchen at Holy Names House of Peace

Aaron Epp 4 minute read Preview

Grade 2 teacher spends summers running community kitchen at Holy Names House of Peace

Aaron Epp 4 minute read 6:30 PM CDT

An educator by profession, Lucia Whitney trades in her pencils and books for measuring cups and a whisk each summer.

The Grade 2 teacher volunteers at Holy Names House of Peace, a non-profit organization downtown that provides safe housing for 20 newcomer women. Every July and August, Whitney spends some of her time working alongside the in-house chef to create wholesome meals and baked goods.

“These times provide opportunities for connection, as the women often stop by to visit, share stories (and) a glass of lemonade, and exchange laughter,” Whitney says. “Over the years, these moments have fostered meaningful relationships that I truly value.”

Fostering meaningful relationships is at the heart of what House of Peace does. The organization envisions a world of justice, tenderness and communion, and aims to empower newcomer women to begin life anew.

Read
6:30 PM CDT

MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS

Lucia Whitney, who volunteers making meals at Holy Names House of Peace (left), with neighbour Mekdes on Friday, Oct. 3, 2025. The non-profit provides a safe home for newcomer women. For Aaron Epp story. Free Press 2025
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS Lucia Whitney, who volunteers making meals at Holy Names House of Peace (left), with neighbour Mekdes on Friday, Oct. 3, 2025. The non-profit provides a safe home for newcomer women. For Aaron Epp story. Free Press 2025

Tour delves into city’s Black history

Maggie Macintosh 4 minute read Preview

Tour delves into city’s Black history

Maggie Macintosh 4 minute read 2:02 PM CDT

The Exchange District’s sole public school has received national recognition for mapping out a walking tour of often-overlooked landmarks that represent Black Canadians’ struggles and resilience.

Kathryn Laframboise and Jon McPhail are the latest Winnipeg-based recipients of the Governor General’s History Award for Excellence in Teaching.

The duo work out of the Exchange Met School, a Grade 9-12 campus built around “big picture learning” – a pedagogical approach that prioritizes independent study, mentorship (teachers are called by their first names and known as “advisers”) and community engagement.

The teacher-advisers tasked their students with looking into little-known histories in the neighbourhood surrounding their school (321 McDermot Ave.) ahead of Black History Month 2025.

Read
2:02 PM CDT

The Burton Cummings Theatre in downtown Winnipeg, Manitoba on September 24, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS IMAGES/Don Denton
The Burton Cummings Theatre in downtown Winnipeg, Manitoba on September 24, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS IMAGES/Don Denton

Taglines aside, First Nations investment could nearly double Canada’s economy

Niigaan Sinclair 4 minute read Preview

Taglines aside, First Nations investment could nearly double Canada’s economy

Niigaan Sinclair 4 minute read 9:07 AM CDT

Canada’s Indigenous services minister had a startling response in explaining why First Nations infrastructure projects, such as nursing stations and broadband internet, don’t qualify as “projects of the national interest.”

“I think what has to be clarified with major projects is there are five criteria,” Mandy Gull-Masty, the minister and former grand chief of the Grand Council of the Crees said during an interview with CBC on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

“One of the criteria for major projects is really that it contributes to the economy, and that means large-scale projects that generate revenue… They (also) have an additional requirement to attract investment.”

As a followup question, Adrienne Arsenault asked, “Could you not make an argument that (First Nations infrastructure) would contribute to the economy in the long term?”

Read
9:07 AM CDT

MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS FILES

Minister of Indigenous Services Mandy Gull-Masty
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS FILES Minister of Indigenous Services Mandy Gull-Masty

News briefs for Sunday, October 5, 2025

3 minute read Updated: 2:33 PM CDT

A collection of breaking news briefs filed on Sunday, October 5, 2025

Jets place pair of players on waivers

2:10 PM

The Winnipeg Jets have put a pair of players on waivers as they get down to their final roster cuts.

Seeking pre-trial release in Manitoba reveals a complex, often chaotic court process

Erik Pindera 8 minute read Preview

Seeking pre-trial release in Manitoba reveals a complex, often chaotic court process

Erik Pindera 8 minute read Friday, Oct. 3, 2025

It was a rare glimpse into how Manitoba’s justice system tackles the tricky — and, increasingly political — issue of bail.

Publication bans cover the majority of contested bail hearings, preventing the public from knowing what defence lawyers and prosecutors argued.

But on Thursday, the usual ban wasn’t in place in a Grand Rapids man’s aggravated assault case, allowing the Free Press the opportunity to pull back the veil on bail court.

Appearing before provincial court Judge Robert Heinrichs, Crown prosecutor Paul Cooper said Nazareth Nasikapow possessed an “astonishing record of violence” and argued that his application for bail be denied.

Read
Friday, Oct. 3, 2025

MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS FILES

A Winnipeg man in his mid-40s pleaded guilty to one count of possession of child pornography Thursday, admitting he kept a large number of child sexual abuse images on electronic devices, along with at least a dozen of the dolls, in his Fort Richmond home.
MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS FILES A Winnipeg man in his mid-40s pleaded guilty to one count of possession of child pornography Thursday, admitting he kept a large number of child sexual abuse images on electronic devices, along with at least a dozen of the dolls, in his Fort Richmond home.

Around the legislature

Carol Sanders 3 minute read Friday, Oct. 3, 2025

Bill unites MLAs

In a rare show of unity, the Progressive Conservatives say they’re supporting the government’s anti-SLAPP (strategic lawsuits against public participation) legislation.

The baseless or meritless lawsuits are intended to intimidate, silence and harass people, the PCs said. Instead of winning the case, the person filing the SLAPP hopes to burden the defendant with the high costs and stress of filing a legal defence, hoping they will abandon their criticism or claim.

Bill 23 says a defendant in a proceeding may bring a motion to dismiss it on the grounds that it arises from a communication that they made on a matter of public interest.

‘Alarmingly low’: percentage of women working for city dips, diversity report shows

Joyanne Pursaga 3 minute read Preview

‘Alarmingly low’: percentage of women working for city dips, diversity report shows

Joyanne Pursaga 3 minute read Friday, Oct. 3, 2025

The percentage of women in the City of Winnipeg’s workforce dipped slightly last year, extending a downward trend.

Women represented 26.32 per cent of the municipal workforce in 2024, a new workplace diversity report notes. That’s down from 26.37 per cent in 2023 and 26.91 per cent in 2022.

The number has fallen each year since at least 2019, when women accounted for 30 per cent of the city’s workforce.

“A focused effort is essential to make progress toward the target of 47.77 per cent,” the report notes.

Read
Friday, Oct. 3, 2025

MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS

Coun. Sherri Rollins, the chairwoman of council’s human rights committee, said married women were historically prevented from working in city jobs.
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS Coun. Sherri Rollins, the chairwoman of council’s human rights committee, said married women were historically prevented from working in city jobs.

LOAD MORE