News briefs for May 15, 2020

The University of Winnipeg announced the Ted Nolan Foundation recently pledged $75,000 over the course of three years to establish the Rose Nolan Memorial Scholarship at the school.

Beginning this fall, a $5,000 award will be given annually to a female First Nations student at the U of W who demonstrates a superior level of commitment to both academic success and community involvement. 

The scholarship honours Ted Nolan’s late mother, Rose.

“Creating meaningful opportunities for female Indigenous students aligns with our core values of inclusion and academic excellence, and also brings us closer to reconciliation,” said Dr. Annette Trimbee, President and Vice-Chancellor. “We are pleased that Rose Nolan’s passion for education will live on at The University of Winnipeg.”

Red River College has given layoff notices to 31 more employees this week, bringing the total number of college staff laid off since the coronavirus pandemic began to 54.

The Manitoba Government and General Employees’ Union confirmed Friday that notice was given on Thursday to building service workers on the Notre Dame campus for June 16.

"We expect that they will be called back to work once the COVID-related closure of the Notre Dame campus is over," said MGEU president Michelle Gawronsky in an emailed statement to the Free Press.

Previous layoffs affected employees in the print shop, campus store, food services and parking departments. Twenty-six term positions have also been terminated early.

Public health officials reported no new cases of COVID-19 in Manitoba.

The total number of lab-confirmed positive and probable positive cases in Manitoba is 289. There are three individuals hospitalized, with one in intensive care. There are 28 active cases and 254 people who have recovered. The number of deaths remains at seven.

As of Thursday, an additional 814 laboratory tests were performed. This brings the total number of tests performed since early February to 33,045.

Winnipeg Police have arrested and charged a 31-year-old man and a 31-year-old woman in connection with an assault that spilled onto a transit bus earlier this week.

The 24-year-old victim was confronted and stabbed by the two suspects on Wednesday. He fled and boarded a bus, where he was stabbed again. 

Police responded to the incident at 4:10 p.m. and the victim was transferred to hospital with significant injuries. The man remains in hospital in stable condition.

The suspects and victim were not known to each other and police believe the assault was a case of mistaken identity.

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Bachman Cummings has rescheduled its 2020 tour, which was to include a free concert to celebrate Manitoba 150 at the Manitoba legislature grounds on June 27, to 2021.

Randy Bachman posted the announcement on his Twitter account Friday morning, adding that Sony Music Entertainment was about to launch a box set, The Bachman Cummings Collection. His post mentioned no future concert dates.

Former Guess Who bandmates Bachman, 76, and Cummings, 72, were to team up in 2020 under the Bachman Cummings moniker, but the Manitoba 150 concert, which was to be a centrepiece of their latest musical reunion, has been cancelled, owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The box set is said to include five Guess Who albums Bachman and Cummings recorded together between 1969-71, along with two others that will focus on Cummings solo records and Bachman’s hits with Bachman-Turner Overdrive. No date has been set for the box set’s release.

The City of Winnipeg has expanded its online permit application portal to homeowners embarking on outdoor and backyard projects. This service was previously only available to contractors and licensed professionals. 

Permits Online now includes new construction on detached garages, decks, carports, outdoor pools, hot tubs and structures larger than 108 sq.-ft.

City staff process online permit applications Monday to Friday between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.  

Some 16 First Nations people living outside reserves in Manitoba have tested positive for COVID-19.

Fourteen of those people reside in Winnipeg, while there is one case in both the southern and Interlake-eastern health regions.

The Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs’ health secretariat released that data Friday at noon, after mounting calls to make such figures public.

Manitoba nurses have been asking anyone who tests positive since April 2 whether they are Indigenous, but it’s up to groups like the AMC to decide whether to make those data public.

As of Thursday, no First Nations living on reserves have tested positive. The data do not include Métis or Inuit people in Manitoba.

The Independent Investigation Unit has charged a Flin Flon RCMP officer with assault after an investigation into injuries sustained by a 15-year-old girl during arrest. 

The IIU announced its investigation into the incident on Nov. 5, 2019. 

RCMP constable David Mitchell Eardley was issued a summons on April 20 after the IIU investigation found reasonable grounds that a criminal offence occurred during the arrest. Eardley will appears in provincial court in Flin Flon on July 14. 

Winnipeg city council looks set to officially reverse its controversial police pension plan changes, after accepting an arbitrator’s decision that it lacked the authority to impose them.

Council had voted to unilaterally change police officer benefits, which included removing overtime as a pensionable police earning, increasing employee pension contributions and forcing officers to reach a minimum age of 55 before they’re entitled to full pensions.

A public service report now recommends that council retroactively repeal bylaw amendments that support those changes, which were set to take effect on April 1, 2020.

The report says member deductions and benefits weren’t actually altered on April 1, since the arbitrator’s decision was released prior to that date.

If council approves the changes, it will also need to find $37 million of savings it expected to achieve from the altered plan by the end of 2023.

An inquest has found no wrongdoing by police or emergency responders in the in-custody death of a 20-year-old Winnipeg man.

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Taumas Justin LeBlanc died Feb. 13, 2017 after police responded to a report from his father that he was intoxicated and needed to be removed from his home. LeBlanc became violent with police and, following a struggle to restrain him, suffered a heart attack.

An autopsy determined LeBlanc suffered from severe coronary artery heart disease and had an enlarged heart.

An inquest report released Friday made no recommendations to prevent similar deaths in the future.

“In my opinion, the police officers and the paramedics all performed in accordance with the relevant policies and their training,” provincial court Judge Julie Frederickson wrote. “Their actions did not exacerbate the situation and, given the circumstances, kept Taumas as safe as possible.”