News briefs for June 4, 2020

The Winnipeg Police Service has secured a Canada-wide arrest warrant for first-degree murder for Brennan Bruce MacDonald.

Police are warning the public not to approach MacDonald, 17, if seen, but instead to call 911. He is described as Indigenous, six feet tall, 133 pounds with a thin build.

Winnipeg police obtained a court order authorizing the temporary publication of MacDonald’s identity because he is a minor.

He is wanted in connection with the May 21 shooting death of 23-year-old Nairne Marshall James Chapais.

Portage la Prairie RCMP officers are thanking a civilian bystander for their efforts in rescuing three people from an inflatable raft trip gone awry on Lake Manitoba Wednesday. 

An 18-year-old woman called 911 just after 5 p.m. on June 3 to report that she and two others were on an inflatable raft that was being swept away from the shore at Delta Beach, a campground on the southern tip of the lake approximately 25 kilometres north of Portage la Prairie.  

The caller reported that her companions, an 18-year-old woman and a 17-year-old girl, had jumped off the raft and were attempting to swim to shore. Officers responded in a boat and arrived on scene to find a 52-year-old woman in the water with the 17-year-old waiting for assitance. The bystander had already helped the 18-year-old swimmer back to shore. 

Police picked up both swimmers and retreived the woman on the inflatable raft. The 17-year-old was transported to hospital with non-life threatening injuries. 

With no new COVID-19 cases reported in Manitoba Thursday, safety officers are turning up the heat at provincial park beaches.

Beach safety officers return to patrol the beach at Birds Hill, Winnipeg Beach and Grand Beach provincial parks, a government press release said. Visitors are reminded to know their limits and to supervise and keep children within arms’ reach at all times. Due to COVID-19, the province’s life-jacket loaner program will not be operating so beach-goers should bring their own life jackets/personal flotation devices if they are a non-swimmer.  

The total number of lab-confirmed positive and probable positive COVID-19 cases in Manitoba is 298, with just seven active cases and no one in hospital.

On Wednesday, an additional 899 laboratory tests were performed, bringing the total to 46,701.  

A 23-year-old woman has died following a single-vehicle rollover on May 30 north of Eriksdale. 

Lundar RCMP responded to the collision on Highway 6 just after 4 a.m. on Saturday. An investigation revealed the woman from the RM of Coldwell was driving southbound on the highway when she lost control of the vehicle and rolled into a ditch. 

The driver was transported to hospital with serious injuries and died on June 2. 

RCMP and a forensic collision reconstructionist continue to investigate.

Two years after a 59-year-old Winnipeg man disappeared, his family says they are still hoping for him to come home. 

“It’s been a long and difficult two years. Our only wish is for our dad to walk through our doors and finally say, ‘I’m home.’ It’s never too late to do the right thing, if you have any information, please help us bring him home," Eduardo Balaquit's family said in a statement provided by the Winnipeg Police Service Thursday. 

Balaquit went missing June 4, 2018, and police believe he was a victim of crime shortly after he showed up for work at 6 p.m. that evening in the 300 block of Keewatin Street.

Police are still looking for a blue SUV, a blue 2010-2015 Ford Escape SE, they believe was near Balaquit's workplace and was driven to Arborg that evening, the Winnipeg Police Service said in a news release issued Thursday to remind the public of Balaquit's disappearance. There may be relevant evidence between Winnipeg and Arborg, including in rural areas, according to the news release.

The Manitoba Metis Federation (MMF) is threatening the City of Winnipeg with legal action over homeless encampments next to its 150 Henry Ave. office, sites the federation claims are out of control.

On Tuesday, an MMF lawyer sent a letter to Mayor Brian Bowman, stating that MMF staff have been threatened and have also witnessed illegal drug use and sales, open fires, indecent exposure, public urination and defecation and a sizable amount of garbage at the growing encampments.

“Please be advised that I have been instructed to take all necessary legal action on behalf of the MMF against the City of Winnipeg with regard to this situation, including holding the city responsible for the costs of damages to MMF property and the extra costs incurred for upgraded security,” writes Murray Trachtenberg in the letter.

The MMF says it has spent more than $138,000 to address property damage and boost security around its office and alleges the city has failed to enforce its own bylaws at the sites.

The number of homes sold in Winnipeg was down 19 per cent in May compared to the same month last year, and the value of the transactions fell by 23 per cent as the COVID-19 shutdown took its toll on the housing market.

But the results in May were significantly less worse than April sales, which were off by 30 per cent compared to the year before.

Even more encourgaing, the Winnipeg Realtors Association notes that a recovery was starting to take hold in the second half of the month with sales from May 20-26 outpacing the number recorded the same week in May 2019.

The decline in the number of listings in May was only half as much as it was in April.

The Winnipeg Police Service is asking for the public's assistance in locating missing 16-year-old Kierra Hather.

Hather was last seen on May 22 in the Weston area of Winnipeg, WPS said Thursday.

She is described as Indigenous, 5-5, of average build, with brown hair and brown eyes.

Police are concerned for Hather's well-being and ask anyone with information to contact the WPS missing persons unit at 204-986-6250.

Diamond's Massage body rub parlour is the latest business to be fined for failing to comply with provincial COVID-19 public health orders.

According to the Manitoba government, the Sargent Avenue parlour was issued a $486 ticket for breaking public health orders that took effect on June 1.

The business was closed on June 3.

Other businesses fined in recent weeks include the Westwood Inn in Swan River, Ramallah Cafe After Hours, Pony Corral and the Daughter On Call care home in Carberry, according to the province.

The province can issue fines of $486 for individuals and $2,542 for corporations for defying current public health orders.