News briefs for June 17, 2021

A woman has been charged with the city’s 16th slaying of the year after an injured man died.

Winnipeg police said on Thursday Carla Bridgette Duck, 38, of Winnipeg, has been charged with manslaughter.

Duck has been detained in custody.

Police said officers responded to an assault at Main Street and Dufferin Acenue on Wednesday at about 1:36 p.m.

An injured man was rushed to hospital suffering serious injuries, but later died.

Adam Albert Laforrest, 33, of Winnioeg, has been identified as the victim.

Police are asking anyone with information to cal homicide investigators at 204-986-6508 or Crime Stoppers at 204-786-TIPS (8477).

A new child welfare program between the province and General Child and Family Services Authority will “ensure that children grow up with their family members,” starting this fall, the province announced Thursday. 

The Supported Guardianship Program will enable individual authorities to create programs that encourage families or adults considered to be family of children and youth in care to make a life-long commitment to provide stable child protection, said Families Minister Rochelle Squires in a release Thursday.

The program will be for children who are permanent wards or in cases where an agency intends to seek a permanent order, according to the release, which states a child’s culturally appropriate authority will be required to approve supported guardianship. 

Supported guardianship candidates include family members who have been caring for a child for at least six continuous months. 

If a family placement is not possible or “in the child’s best interest,” another adult viewed by the child and family as family, and has been caring for the child for at least two years may be a candidate. 

“When children grow up in stable, loving homes with family members, they are much more likely to have positive life outcomes and thrive as adults. This new program will help ensure that happens for more children in our care,” said Jay Rodgers, chief executive officer of the General CFS Authority, in the release. 

Manitoba RCMP have deployed emergency response police, police dogs and aerial surveilance in the search for alleged killer Eric Paul Wildman, 34, who was last spotted in the Whiteshell Wednesday night. 

RCMP said on Twitter officers are also working closely with Ontario Provincial Police and officers from across southern Manitoba are involved in the search. 

The suspect was last spotted in Whitemouth, which is about 75 kilometres from the Manitoba-Ontario border. 

RCMP said to expect a heavy police presence in the Whiteshell, which has numerous cottages and a provincial park. 

Wildman is wanted in the June 7 disappearance and suspected death of Clifford Joseph, 40. He has been driving a rented, grey 2020 Chevy Equinox with Manitoba license plate KGE 368.

Provincial health officials announced 183 new cases of COVID-19 and one more death in Manitoba Thursday.

There are 2,532 active cases in Manitoba, with 246 people in hospital, 60 of them in intensive care.

The five-day test positivity rate is 8.8 in Manitoba and 8.5 in Winnipeg.

The new death is:
• a woman in her 60s from the Winnipeg health region, linked to the B.1.1.7 variant of concern.

Of the new cases announced Thursday, 90 are in the Winnipeg health region, 27 in Southern Health; 12 in Interlake–Eastern; 20 in Prairie Mountain; and 34 in Northern Health.

Manitoba doctors are calling on the provincial government to create a plan and task force to tackle a surgery backlog they say has ballooned to more than 39,000 delayed surgeries — including life-saving procedures.

Doctors Manitoba released a report Thursday estimating the province has a pandemic backlog of more than 110,000 procedures (including surgeries, diagnostic tests and screenings like mammograms and endoscopies). They want the government to commit to clearing the backlog by a fixed date, release a surgery renewal plan similar to B.C.’s, and start a task force to address the problem. They want the province to commit to publicly reporting on the backlog monthly.

"In a word, this backlog is staggering and it is growing larger every day," said Doctors Manitoba president Dr. Kristjan Thompson.

Surgeons reported to the organization that their waitlists have more than doubled. Waitlists for neurosurgery and cardiac surgery have tripled, the report states. 

The province has set up an Indigenous elders advisory council to help address the overrepresentation of Indigenous people in the criminal justice system.

The eight-member council, chaired by Manitoba Justice, meets on a monthly basis. Its mandate is to guide and enhance the work of the department with the Indigenous community through meaningful, respectful involvement and innovative solutions.

“Our government understands the urgent need to engage in conversations with Indigenous community leaders to face challenges like the overrepresentation of Indigenous people at all stages of the criminal justice system,” Justice Minister Cameron Friesen said in a news release.

The grassroots, non-partisan group of community members  reflects the vast diversity in gender, language, nationhood and lived experience of Indigenous people in Manitoba, it said. 

Families Minister Rochelle Squires and Jay Rodgers, CEO of the General Child and Family Services Authority, will make an annoucement at 1:30 p.m. on guardianship of children in care. 

The announcement will be livestreamed on the province’s website and YouTube channel. 

Walk-in vaccine availabilities at the Winnipeg supersite at 770 Leila Ave. were snapped up quickly Thursday morning.

The Manitoba government said it would no longer accept walk-ins at the clinic located at the Winnipeg Soccer Federation complex 20 minutes before the clinic was set to open. 

"Response to the Leila #COVID19Vaccine walk-in has been incredible. All available doses for today have been assigned and no further walk-ins will be taken," the government said in a tweet at 8:40 a.m. Thursday. 

The clinic was scheduled to run from 9 a.m. to 3:45 p.m. and was offering first doses of the Pfizer vaccine to people. 

The province has said beginning Sunday, 10 per cent of the vaccine supply available at clinics in Brandon, Dauphin and Morden, as well as the supersite at 770 Leila Ave. in Winnipeg will accept walk-in clients during regular operating hours.  

The vaccine available for walk-ins will be Moderna. 

Appointments for Moderna shots are also available as early as this weekend. 

OTTAWA — CN Rail is earning government approval for spending $95 million to upgrade its Manitoba rail lines.

The company says it’s replacing 47 kilometres of rail, installing about 118,000 new railroad ties and rebuilding 17 road-crossing surfaces, and doing other maintenance on bridges, signals and culverts.

CN Rail is expanding its North American operations, amid a sustained ramp-up in oil shipments, including through Winnipeg. It has also upgraded safety protocols after a cross-country rise in derailments, though this is not specific to CN Rail.

“This announcement will help create good middle-class jobs and help move goods efficiently to market, and people to their destinations,” wrote federal Transport Minister Omar Alghabra, in a news release, while the Pallister government praised the jobs involved.

The firm employs about 2,400 Manitobans.