News briefs for October 2, 2020

Laurent Brossoit will back up goalie Connor Hellebuyck next NHL season for the Jets, his third in Winnipeg.

Brossoit’s agent Ray Petkau confirmed that the 27-year-old netminder has agreed to a one-year contract.

The deal is worth $1.5 million, according to the report.

Provincial public health officials are warning people they may have been exposed to COVID-19 on a Winnipeg Transit bus and at the Shark Club.

A person who has tested positive for the coronavirus rode two buses: the Route 10 starting at Provencher Boulevard and Rue Saint-Jean-Baptiste to Portage Avenue and Donald Street where they then got on the Route 14 bus to Ellice Avenue and Simcoe Street.

The individual travelled on each of the buses on both Sept. 23 and 24 between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m.

The other possible exposure took place at the Shark Club in a private room on Sept. 26 from 10 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. 

A pilot project to test out weekly curbside composting collection in Winnipeg will begin on Monday.

Some of the collections will take place on Oct. 5, with more information expected at that point, a city spokesperson confirmed.

The two-year, $1.8-million source-separated organics pilot will serve about 4,000 residents of Linden Woods, St. George, Inkster Gardens, Mission Gardens and Daniel McIntyre.

The pilot is designed to collect food waste, including fruit/vegetable scraps, meat and bones, which would otherwise end up in the landfill.

The province’s police watchdog is investigating after a teenager suffered a broken arm while being arrested.

The Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba said on Friday that an 18-year-old woman was arrested by Winnipeg police on July 11, after officers saw a fight on Balmoral Street.

The teen was detained and released, but later she went to the Health Sciences Centre complaining she had a sore arm. She was diagnosed as having a broken right humerus.

The IIU said it didn’t get the complaint right away because the initial complaint went to the Law Enforcement Review Agency.

LERA later told police about the injury and the IIU was notified on Sept. 29.

Witnesses with information or video footage are asked to call the IIU at 1-844-667-6060.

The Winnipeg High School Hockey League season appears to have been saved.

Commissioner Dana Gordon said Friday the league, which normally has 37 varsity boys squads playing in three divisions, will begin play some time in November with a reduced number of teams.

The recent addition of two entries from St. Paul’s High School brought the total number of committed teams to 12, including nine from the metro area and three rural. 

The COVID-19 pandemic prompted a number of school divisions and individual schools to withdraw from participation.

More specifics will be determined next week.

Two men and two women have been arrested after a robbery at a house in Norway House.

RCMP said on Friday that residents had been threatened by a man with a handgun before he and others fled on Oct 1, at about 5:40 p.m.

Other officers heading to the scene spotted the vehicle the suspects fled in and arrested four people. A BB handgun and a set of brass knuckles was found in the vehicle.

A 38-year-old man and a 30-year-old woman, both from Norway House, have been charged with possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose and unauthorized possession of a firearm, while a 32-year-old Norway House woman is facing charges of carrying a concealed weapon and robbery and a 38-year-old Winnioeg man is facing charges of uttering threats and possession of a dangerous weapon.

The investigation is continuing.

A fire caused by leaving a stove unwatched forced people inside a Salter Street duplex to evacuate on Friday.

Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service said on Friday the blaze broke out inside the duplex in the 300 block of Salter Street at about 11:02 a.m.

Firefighters arrived and launched an offensive attack, getting it under control in about half an hour.

No one was injured.

The cause of the fire was determined to be because of unattended cooking.

A 25-year-old man was arrested Thursday after threatening and shooting in the general direction of RCMP officers on his property near Moosehorn in the RM of Grahamdale, just north of Ashern.

Police say they were called to the property at about 2:45 p.m., and when they arrived, the man, who police say appeared to be intoxicated was carrying a loaded rifle. He was told over loudspeaker to put down the weapon, and RCMP allege he then began shooting in their general direction. Nobody was injured, and police say they didn’t fire their weapons.

At 5:30 p.m., when it became clear the man was out of ammunition, he was arrested and put in a police vehicle.

The man now faces one charge of unauthorized possession of a firearm, three charges of discharging a weapon with intent, one charge of recklessly discharging a firearm, and possession of a firearm contrary to a firearm prohibition.

A 17-year-old has been arrested after a man was stabbed in an Ebb and Flow First Nation store.

Ste. Rose RCMP said on Friday that a 24-year-old male victim is being treated in a Winnipeg hospital after being severely injured. The victim was in critical, but stable, condition.

RCMP said the man was stabbed in front of the store on Thursday at about 2 p.m.

The teen turned himself in a short time later. He has been charged with aggravated assault and possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose.

A man shooting at RCMP officers was arrested after he ran out of bullets.

A 25-year-old man began shooting at Lundar and Ashern RCMP officers when he was ordered to put down his weapon on a rural property in the RM of Grahamdale near Moosehorn on Thursday at about 2:45 p.m., acc

More than two hours later, when officers realized the man was out of ammunition, they arrested him.

The man is facing several charges, including reckless discharge of a firearm, and has been detained in custody.

The federal and provincial governments are helping 77 eligible first-time Manitoba home buyers make down payments on a home and helping to build 16 new homes for first-time homeowners in Winnipeg and Brandon.

A total of $1.23 million will be used to provide down-payment assistance through civic and community organizations to prospective first-time buyers in Winnipeg, Brandon and The Pas, while $723,000 will be used to help build 16 new homes for first-time buyers in partnership with three organizations in Winnipeg and Brandon.

The organizations were selected following a request for proposals process that closed in March. The initiatives are funded through the National Housing Strategy.

Public health officials reported the 21st death in Manitoba related to COVID-19. The man in his 70s was a resident of Parkview Place in Winnipeg, and was a previously announced COVID-19 case. 

Winnipeg has 29 of the 43 new COVID-19 cases reported, with seven cases in the Prairie Mountain Health region, six in the Interlake-Eastern health region and one case in the Southern Health region.

The Canada West Universities Athletic Association has postponed a decision on whether second-term conference play will go ahead in 2021.

Now, a decision is expected no later than Nov. 2. An initial deadline, announced after first-term sports were cancelled in June, was slated for Oct. 8.

Canada West, which includes the Brandon University, University of Winnipeg and University of Manitoba, said it needed to take more time to assess the feasibility of conference play due to the changing COVID-19 situation.

 A key member of the 2020 edition of Valour FC is returning in 2021.

On Friday, the Canadian Premier League club announced it had picked up the option on the contract of defender Andrew Jean-Baptiste.

The 28-year-old Brooklyn, N.Y., native joined the Winnipeg side on Jan. 14 after spending the previous season with Umeä FC of Swedish Division 1. He is also a member of the Haitian national squad.

Former Winnipeg Police Service chief Devon Clunis has been appointed to a new role created to help reform policing in Ontario.

Clunis will serve as that province’s first inspector general of policing, a new oversight role that’s expected to “enhance policing services delivery and increase public trust,” according to an Ontario government press release.

The release notes Clunis will set up an arm’s length “Inspectorate of Policing,” which will inspect police services, inspect police service boards and investigate policing complaints.

Clunis joined the Winnipeg Police Service in 1987 and became the first Black Canadian to become a chief of police in 2012.

The announcement follows protests held throughout Canada in recent months calling for changes to policing in the wake of deaths during interactions with police officers.

The Manitoba government is crying foul about a federal decision to block provinces from purchasing a new rapid test for COVID-19 on their own.

Central Services Minister Reg Helwer said the province attempted to purchase the Abbott ID NOW rapid test within 24 hours of its approval by Health Canada.

When Manitoba officials contacted Abbott to place an order, they were told Ottawa is blocking the sale of this test directly to provincial governments.

“This is a completely unacceptable action by the federal government,” said Helwer. “Although the federal government has secured its own supply, it has indicated that it will decide how that supply will be allocated. Provincial governments are the front-line providers of health care in this country and are best able to determine their own needs.”

Three men have been charged with drug trafficking after police found fentanyl during two raids last June.

Raids in the 500 block of St. Mary Avenue and 800 block of Waverley Street on June 22, found a total of 780 grams of Fentanyl worth a street value of $375,000, Winnipeg police said Friday.

Keaton Brayden Ellis, 26,  Branden Anthony Ellis, 27, and Jonathan Michael Pace, 29, have been charged with possession of a drug for trafficking and possession of proceeds obtained by crime worth over $5,000.

All three have been released on appearance notices.

Esther Salud, a 77-year-old woman last seen in the Garden City/Maples area, whom police requested public assistance locating early Friday morning, has been found safe.

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Winnipeg Police Service Inspector Max Waddell will make an announcement and take questions from media regarding Winnipeg drug arrests at 11 a.m. Friday.

Manitobans are more likely than people in most other provinces to feel COVID-19 messaging from their premier is unclear, according to a new poll.

While the poll, which was released Friday, says nearly two-thirds of the country overall believe information given about COVID-19 by their premier to be clear, Manitobans are especially split on the issue, with 50 per cent of those polled saying they felt direction from premier Brian Pallister was not simple to understand.

This number is only surpassed by Alberta, where 51 per cent of those surveyed felt similarly.

Police are searching for 77-year-old Esther Salud, who was last seen Oct. 1 in the Garden City/Maples area near Seven Oaks Hospital.

Salud is described as Filipino in appearance, 5′ tall with a slim build, straight black hair with grey roots and brown eyes. She was last seen wearing a floral windbreaker and brown pants while carrying a dark bag and grocery bags.

Anyone with information should contact the Winnipeg Police Service Missing Persons Unit at 204-986-6250.