News briefs for Tuesday, October 21, 2025

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A collection of breaking news briefs filed on Tuesday, October 21, 2025

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A collection of breaking news briefs filed on Tuesday, October 21, 2025

Grand opening for new Red Sucker Lake school

12:27 PM

Red Sucker Lake First Nation now has a second school.

A grand opening for the new Grade 7 to 12 school was held Tuesday. Renovations at the existing kindergarten to Grade 12 school, which is now for kindergarten to Grade 6 students only, were completed in March. That work included reworking the electrical and mechanical systems, and adding four new classrooms.

Indigenous Services Canada spent $89 million on the entire project, which included construction of the new 2,811-square-metre facility and surrounding infrastructure, the renovation of the first school and 11 new facilities to house teachers.

Red Sucker Lake First Nation is an Anishininew community located more than 700 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg. It has about 1,200 members, with approximately 960 living there.

Vermette among Governor General’s Literary Awards finalists

11:50 AM

Winnipeg author katherena vermette has made the five-book short list for the 2025 Governor General’s Literary Awards for fiction for her novel Real Ones.

Published in September 2024, the novel follows two Michif sisters whose white, estranged mother, an artist, is exposed as a “pretendian.” Vermette won the Governor General’s Literary Award for poetry in 2013 for her collection North End Love Songs.

Also in the fiction category, Ebb and Flow First Nation author Kyle Edwards, now based in California (and formerly a Free Press intern), was named as a finalist for his debut novel Small Ceremonies, which follows the plight of two Indigenous teens in Winnipeg, and their struggling hockey team, over the course of a year. 

The drama category also features a number of Manitoba connections. Both Catherine Banks’ Downed Hearts and Tara Beagan’s The Ministry of Grace were published by Scirocco Drama, an imprint of Winnipeg’s J. Gordon Shillingford. Beagan’s play Rise, Red River, also a finalist, was inspired by the 2014 Drag the Red movement in Winnipeg.

Each of the winning authors (or translators) will receive $25,000; the winners will be announced Nov. 6.

Gillingham in Ottawa to talk bail reform

10:43 AM

Mayor Scott Gillingham is in Ottawa to speak before a House of Commons standing committee about bail reform Tuesday afternoon.

In a news release, Winnipeg’s mayor said he will call for more consideration of public safety in bail hearings, removing statutory release for repeat offenders who violate probation conditions, improving rehabilitation and bail enforcement measures, and increasing data collection and transparency on crime that offenders commit while on bail.

Gillingham began releasing repeat offender bulletins to draw attention to bail reform last month. He said Brandon Mayor Jeff Fawcett is expected to issue his first such bulletin Tuesday.

“I’m glad to see Mayor Fawcett be part of this effort,” Gillingham said. “Habitual offenders are a major driver of crime across Manitoba, and these bulletins remind governments why bail reform must protect the public.”

Gillingham released his fifth such bulletin Tuesday.

“Last week’s bulletin was delayed due to legal review,” the release said.

Two kids hurt in ATV rollover crash in Big Eddy 

10:34 AM

Two children were taken to hospital after an ATV rollover crash in Big Eddy, northwest of The Pas, last month.

The kids, aged 7 and 8, suffered minor injuries in the Sept. 28 incident. Neither was wearing a helmet or any other kind of safety gear, the Manitoba First Nations Police Service said in a news release Tuesday.

In the release, the MFNPS reminded the public about the importance of wearing such equipment.

Five face charges in separate drug raids

10:28 AM

Two men are facing charges after police seized nearly $40,000 worth of drugs, seven guns and nearly $114,000 cash after a drug-trafficking investigation in the Westdale area.

Officers obtained a warrant and raided the home on Shepton Bay late Saturday afternoon. Police seized about $25,000 worth of cocaine and smaller amounts of methamphetamine, psilocybin and oxycodone pills.

Two men, ages 55 and 52, were released on appearance notices and undertakings.

In an unrelated raid, police seized a sawed-off gun and about $600 worth of drugs from a home on the 500 block of Manitoba Avenue on Sunday. That bust followed a drug-trafficking investigation in the William Whyte neighbourhood.

Police seized the illegal .22-calibre rifle along with fentanyl, methamphetamine, psilocybin and $4,000 cash.

A 38-year-old man was charged and detained in custody, while a 48-year-old man and a 30-year-old woman are facing charges and were released.

Two men arrested after 2023 killing

10:04 AM

One man has been charged with second-degree murder and another with aggravated assault in a 2023 slaying.

Dion Trent Spotted Eagle, 36, was arrested on a warrant for the murder charge Thursday. Harry Andrew Bittern, 34, was arrested on a warrant for aggravated assault and on an apprehension and suspension warrant Sunday. Both men were detained in custody.

The two men and the victim, 33-year-old Treymaine Traverse, knew each other, the Winnipeg Police Service said in a news release Tuesday.

Traverse, a member of O-Pipon-Na-Piwin Cree Nation who lived in Winnipeg, was found dead in a hotel on the 600 block of Main Street on the morning of March 9, 2023.

The WPS appealed to the public for tips that might help their investigations in March 2024.

SUPPLIED March 9, 2024, marks one year since the homicide of 33-year-old Treymaine TRAVERSE. Treymaine was a member of the O-Pipon-Na-Piwin Cree Nation, South Indian Lake, Manitoba, and he resided in Winnipeg.
History

Updated on Tuesday, October 21, 2025 10:04 AM CDT: Two men arrested for 2023 killing

Updated on Tuesday, October 21, 2025 10:04 AM CDT: Two men arrested for 2023 killing

Updated on Tuesday, October 21, 2025 10:28 AM CDT: Five face charges in separate drug raids

Updated on Tuesday, October 21, 2025 10:34 AM CDT: Two kids hurt in ATV rollover crash in Big Eddy 

Updated on Tuesday, October 21, 2025 10:43 AM CDT: Gillingham in Ottawa to talk bail reform

Updated on Tuesday, October 21, 2025 10:47 AM CDT: Two men arrested after 2023 killing

Updated on Tuesday, October 21, 2025 11:50 AM CDT: Vermette among Governor General's Literary Awards finalists

Updated on Tuesday, October 21, 2025 12:27 PM CDT: Grand opening for new Red Sucker Lake school

Updated on Tuesday, October 21, 2025 1:05 PM CDT: Vermette among Governor General's Literary Awards finalists

Updated on Tuesday, October 21, 2025 1:05 PM CDT: Vermette among Governor General's Literary Awards finalists

Updated on Tuesday, October 21, 2025 1:14 PM CDT: Vermette among Governor General's Literary Awards finalists

Updated on Wednesday, October 22, 2025 12:10 PM CDT: Gillingham in Ottawa to talk bail reform

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