People for Education explore convergence of public education and truth and reconciliation

A national charity is putting Manitoba’s school system under the microscope as it develops a plan to protect and bolster publicly funded classrooms across Canada.

“Winnipeg is a site of a lot of learning for the rest of the country on reconciliation in the school system and more broadly,” said Paris Semansky, co-executive director of People for Education.

“That doesn’t mean it’s perfect. That doesn’t mean it’s done, but there’s clear and demonstrable progress that — really critically — seems to cross partisan lines.”

People for Education, founded by a group of Toronto parents in 1996, has typically focused on research and policy-making initiatives in Ontario. The non-partisan organization’s latest project broadens its scope while acknowledging that education is under provincial jurisdiction.

Renowned composer, cellist Derksen dead after car crash

Award-winning Cree composer and cellist Cris Derksen, who had strong ties to Manitoba’s arts community, has died following a car crash in northern Alberta. They were 45.

Derksen, originally from Treaty 8 territory in Alberta, composed the music for the Royal Winnipeg Ballet’s 2024 production of Cameron Fraser-Moore’s ballet Tel: Wild Man of the Woods.

According to reports, the crash occurred while Derksen and their wife, singer Rebecca Benson, were travelling home from Derksen’s father’s funeral. Benson was reportedly left in critical condition in hospital.

“It is with profound, shattering sadness that we share the news of the sudden passing of our dear friend, client, and visionary artist, Cris Derksen, following a car accident yesterday,” Derksen’s agency, AIM Booking Agency, wrote in a statement on Facebook.

Despite cool temperatures, campers determined to enjoy Victoria Day weekend

BIRDS HILL — When Steven Cong and his partner Teresa Calderon arrived at their campsite in Birds Hill Provincial Park on Saturday, their first order of business was to get a fire going.

The Winnipeg couple rented a site on Grackle Bay in the provincial campground for three days, hoping to spend the May long weekend sleeping in a tent and enjoying the solitude of life outside the city.

But as temperatures hovered around 3 C shortly after 10 a.m., they wondered whether it was worth unpacking their gear.

“Normally, I would tough it out, but I’m getting older now,” Cong, 41, said with a chuckle. “If it doesn’t rain, then we’ll stay, but if it starts raining, that’s miserable.”

Elderly man badly burned, daughter devastated by fire

A Winnipeg woman says her father, who was severely injured after fire consumed their house in Weston Monday, can only nod yes or no and move three of his fingers.

“Right now, he has a 50-50 chance of he might or might not make it,” said Melanie Flett about her 73-year-old father, Alvin Flett.

“He’s able to hear us. He’s able to nod ‘yes’ or ‘no,’ but that is about it.”

Firefighters were called to the home around 7:55 p.m. They managed to get Alvin Flett out of the home, but he had suffered second- and third-degree burns to half of his body.

Cree-Métis elder spread knowledge through gardening

Most people met Audrey Logan in the garden.

Anna Sigrithur first saw her carrying a pitchfork down Broadway in 2011. She was preparing to carve through two feet of late winter snow to get at a crop of what Logan referred to as “sunroots,” which others call Jerusalem artichokes.

“I remember the feeling. Zap — I must know more about this person,” says Sigrithur, a literacy worker, perfumist and artist who was on her way with a friend to start their March seedlings.

In October 2018, Evan McIntosh felt drawn to join Audrey in the trenches of urban permaculture at the Deer Spirit Garden, a community-run project created by Logan in 2014 with support from Klinic Community Health and the West Broadway Community Organization.

Liquor Marts to sell last of U.S. booze set aside during boycott

The sale will involve Liquor Marts across the province, and availability will vary by location while supplies last.

Killer Lamb ordered to stay in halfway house another year

Shawn Lamb, who received statutory release in the fall after serving time for killing two Winnipeg women in 2012, must continue to live in a halfway house for at least another year.

The 66-year-old gained statutory release in November after serving two-thirds of his sentence for two counts of manslaughter. He was ordered to live in a halfway house or psychiatric facility for at least six months because he would otherwise pose an “undue risk” to reoffend, the Parole Board of Canada said.

In a May 11 decision, officials ordered that he continue to live at a halfway house — in an unspecific Ontario community — for 365 days.

He must continue to obey a number of other conditions, including that he not consume alcohol or drugs and must report all sexual and non-sexual relationships with women to his parole officer.