News briefs for January 7, 2021

Teachers and school staff will have to wait a little longer until they are eligible for rapid testing to get COVID-19 results.

Last month, the province announced plans to launch a quick-turnaround testing pilot for Winnipeg educators and support staff in January. It was then the premier indicated Manitoba will be able to test every educator twice a month until the end of the school year, if necessary.  

Manitoba has earmarked at least $40-million for Songbird Hyris products — units that can help deliver 45,000 tests per month. 

"Further details will be available in the coming weeks," a provincial spokesperson said in a statement Thursday. 

A 37-year-old man from Long Plain First Nation has been charged with second-degree murder in the slaying of Tamara Benoit.

Benoit was reported missing to the Winnipeg Police Service July 10, 2020. On Sept. 3, the Manitoba First Nations Police Service found her remains were found in Portage la Prairie.

A joint investigation between the WPS, MFNP and RCMP was launched into her killing.

On Tuesday, a 15-year-old boy from Winnipeg was arrested and released without charges. On Wednesday, Ryan Peters was arrested. He remains in custody.

Further arrests are anticipated, police said.

The first COVID-19 doses earmarked for Indigenous communities in Manitoba are heading this afternoon to Peguis, Fisher River, Norway House and Cross Lake First Nations, the Southern Chiefs Organization confirmed Thursday afternoon. 

Pimicikamak Cree Nation (Cross Lake) Chief David Monias said he expected 199 doses to be flown to his community from Winnipeg today. In a message to the Free Press, he said the first batch is set to be given to personal care home residents, elders over 70 and elder care home staff. 

Other First Nation leaders are still waiting for more information about how the vaccine will be allocated across 63 different First Nations communities. 

As of late Thursday morning, Chief Eric Redhead of Shamattawa First Nation, one of the most remote communities in northern Manitoba, said he still had not been informed of when doses are headed into the community of about 1,000. Nearly half of residents have already contracted the virus and the community has had to call in the military for emergency help.

"I’m disappointed," Redhead said. 

Provincial health officials announced 208 new cases of COVID-19 and 12 more deaths in Manitoba Thursday.

There are 4,506 active cases in Manitoba, with 228 people in hospital, 31 of them in intensive care.
The five-day test positivity rate is 9.9 in Manitoba, and 10.5 in Winnipeg.

The new deaths include:
• a man in his 30s from Northern health region
• a man in his 60s from Prairie Mountain Health
• a woman in her 90s from Prairie Mountain Health, linked to the outbreak at Fairview Personal Care Home
• a woman in her 60s from the Southern Health–Santé Sud health region
• a woman in her 50s from the Winnipeg health region
• a woman in her 60s from the Winnipeg health region, linked to the Convalescent Home of Winnipeg
• a woman in her 70s from the Winnipeg health region
• a woman in her 80s from the Winnipeg health region
• a woman in her 80s from the Winnipeg health region, linked to the outbreak at the Concordia Personal Care Home
• a woman in her 80s from the Winnipeg health region, linked to the outbreak at the River East Personal Care Home
• a man in his 90s from the Winnipeg health region, linked to the outbreak at the Charleswood Care Centre
• a woman in her 90s from the Winnipeg health region, linked to the outbreak at the Bethania Mennonite Personal Care Home

Of the new cases announced Thursday, 105 are in the Winnipeg health region, 17 in Southern Health; 9 in Interlake–Eastern; 17 in Prairie Mountain; and 60 in Northern Health.

Valour FC has signed Venezuelan international forward Ronny Maza.

Maza, 23, joins Winnipeg’s professional soccer team from Trujillanos F.C. (Venezuelan Primera División) where he spent the 2020 season, making 17 appearances and scoring three goals in Venezuela’s top-flight professional league.

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers have signed American defensive backs Nick Taylor and Mercy Maston to one-year contract extensions. 

Lining up at both defensive halfback and the ‘dime’ position, Maston appeared in three regular season games and all three playoff contests during the Grey Cup run of 2019, registering 13 tackles, one interception and one sack.

Taylor played the final four regular season games and all three playoff contests. In postseason play, Taylor registered seven tackles, one interception and two pass knockdowns.

The Manitoba government said Thursday it has given more than $180 million in support to businesses hurt by COVID-19.

The province said around $16.7 million was paid out through three wage-subsidy programs announced last spring. In total, $46 million was earmarked for those programs.

Payments will continue to go out through early 2021, the province said.

The Winnipeg Police Service has charged a man with manslaughter in connection with the slaying of Leroy James Flett.

On Thursday, police announced they charged Evan Jaye Littlejohn with manslaughter in connection with the killing. He’s been detained in custody.

Flett was assaulted Dec. 30, 2020 but did not die until Jan. 2021. Police previously said his killing would be counted as a 2020 homicide.

But on Thursday police said Flett’s slaying would be counted as a 2021 homicide. The updated homicide total for 2020 is 43.

Manitoba RCMP will announce arrests and charges in a homicide investigation Thursday afternoon.

The announcement will be made at a 1 p.m. press conference at RCMP headquarters in Winnipeg.

Representatives from the RCMP, the Winnipeg Police Service and the Manitoba First Nations Police Service will be in attendance.

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers have re-signed Canadian fullback Mike Miller to a one-year contract extension. 

Miller, 31, had a superb 2019 where he was selected to both the West Division and CFL Players’ Association All-Star Teams and was the West Division’s Most Outstanding Special Teams Player, finishing as the runner-up for the league award to Frankie Williams of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

Miller started his CFL career in Edmonton before signing with the Blue and Gold in 2017. 

A 22-year-old man is facing several criminal charges after a historic home in Russell, Man., was burned.

RCMP responded to reports of a house fire on Pelly Avenue on Tuesday.

Two hours later, a 22-year-old man called 911 and confessed to setting the fire, police said.

Liam Flett was arrested. He’s been charged with arson, mischief and break and entering.

The investigation is ongoing.

Manitoba will begin shipping 5,300 doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine to First Nations today, the provincial government announced this morning.

“This is a historic day in our fight against COVID-19,” the news release states.

The Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak, Keewatinohk Inniniw Minoayawin and Southern Chiefs Organization have announced their initial priority groups for immunization, the province said. The groups include essential health-care workers, residents in personal care homes and elder care facilities, and other older people.

“This closely mirrors the priority groups that Manitoba’s Vaccine Implementation Task Force has established for the province as a whole, and reflects the importance of using our limited supply of vaccine to protect our health-care system and those most at risk of serious illness,” the government release states.