News briefs for April 4, 2022

Shawn Mendes, the Grammy-nominated pop star from Toronto, will play the Canada Life Centre on July 7 as part of a 27-stop North American tour.

Tickets go on sale April 8 at 10 a.m. at Mendes’s website, wonderthetour.com, although there is a fan club presale scheduled for April 6. Prices haven’t been released.

Also announced Monday, Nashville-based country singer Kip Moore will play the Burton Cummings Theatre on July 25. Tickets for the show go on sale April 8 at 10 a.m. at Ticketmaster.ca for $45 to $65 plus fees.

Manitoba RCMP have charged five people in the homicide of an inmate at Stony Mountain Institution.

The 36-year-old man was found unresponsive in his cell at about 2:10 a.m. New Year’s Day after being assaulted. He died in hospital Feb. 7.

Xavier Rattie, 24, from St. Malo and Brandon Ferguson, 24, from Winnipeg have been charged with second-degree murder, while Thunder Bay resident Tyler Boily, 35, was charged with party to the offence of second-degree murder.

Brendin Swanson, 36, from Oakbank and Ontario resident Michael Simard, 36, were charged with accessory after the fact to aggravated assault.

Health care union leaders called for the removal of a newly appointed Shared Health board member on Monday.

Manitoba Nurses Union president Darlene Jackson, CUPE 204 president Debbie Boisseneault and Manitoba Healthcare Coalition director Thomas Linner said the provincial government must revoke the appointment of Brenda Martinussen to the board.

Martinussen’s appointment was announced by the province last month. Her Shared Health biography lists her as the chief operating officer for Nurse Next Door, a private, for-profit company providing home care services through franchisees across Canada.

“It is ridiculous on the face of it that the government would appoint a private competitor to the public home care system on the board that oversees public home care in Manitoba,” Jackson said in a statement.

The Free Press has reached out for comment from Health Minister Audrey Gordon and Martinussen.

Winnipeg police are seeking the public’s help to locate a missing 16-year-old girl. 

Janessa Wood was last seen near Mountain and Selkirk avenues March 21.

She has been in touch with her guardian via social media, but there are concerns for her well-being, said police. 

Wood is 5’2" and 100 lbs with a slim build, long brown hair and brown eyes. 

Coun. Scott Gillingham, who previously confirmed it’s “very likely” he will run for mayor, has resigned as chair of council’s finance committee.

“With the 2022 budget now complete and a financial plan for the city laid out for the year ahead, I believe now is the time for me to step back from these roles so that I can dedicate more of my time and attention to participating in the important debate we all need to have over the coming months about our city’s future,” said Gillingham, in a Monday press release.

The release said the St. James councillor’s decision to leave his finance role, which will also result in his removal from the executive policy committee, is not meant “to stage an artificial break” from his colleagues on EPC or city council, stressing he’s proud of his work on both.

Gillingham was first elected to council in 2014.

The next city council election will take place on Oct. 26, 2022.

RCMP in The Pas have arrested a 30-year-old man who was wanted in connection with a shooting that left the victim with serious injuries. 

Police put out a public appeal last Friday to locate Shane Knutson, who is from Opaskwayak Cree Nation (OCN). 

A warrant for his arrest was issued after a 40-year-old man, also from OCN, was shot on March 30 at about 8:30 a.m. on Hone Street in The Pas.