In this week’s headlines, half of Winnipeg’s ERs are being cut, annual floods in Manitoba are protecting Winnipeg while First Nations communities suffer, Brian Bowman joins the Bear Clan Patrol, and Wab Kinew launches his bid for Provincial NDP Leadership.
Missing Persons Alert
UPDATE: Bianca Beauregard has been found safe.
UPDATE: Alexis Shuttleworth has been found safe.
Jeffery Benjamin Menard
Dauphin RCMP are looking for missing 40-year-old man who they believe might be in Winnipeg. Jeffery Benjamin Menard was last seen Wednesday night around 11:30 p.m. in Dauphin, Man.
Authorities are concerned for his wellbeing. He is six-feet tall and weighs 190 pounds and has brown hair and brown eyes. Police say he is driving a 2008 Nissan Maxima with Manitoba licence plate “HOTMAIL.”
Anyone with information can contact Dauphin RCMP at 204-622-5020 or call Manitoba Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-8477, submit a secure tip online or text “TIPMAN” plus your message to CRIMES (274637).
Christine Wood
The parents of a missing Manitoba woman renewed a plea for help Friday — which happens to be their daughter’s 22nd birthday. Sunday will mark six months since Christine Wood went missing. “We’re waiting for her every day and every second for her to call us,” said Melinda Wood, Christine’s mother.
“I wish I could hug her, tell her ‘happy birthday,’ I love her,” Melinda said on the phone from Oxford House.
The Wood family has searched tirelessly for their daughter who vanished on Aug. 19 in Winnipeg. But so far, their search hasn’t been successful. The Wood family told CBC their daughter came with them from Oxford House to Winnipeg to help a family member attend a medical appointment.
When Melinda and Christine’s father George returned home to their hotel room, Christine was gone. “I think of her all the time, wondering where she is, if she’s OK,” Melinda said.
The Canadian Centre for Child Protection also put out another call for help finding Wood on social media Friday. “My heart breaks for them,” said Michelle Ham, who works in the centre’s child safety division which is behind the website missingkids.ca, where Wood is featured. Ham said staff at the centre continue their efforts to find Wood — something she hopes gives some reassurance to Wood’s parents, who are now back in their home community of Oxford House.
“The search continues even when they’re at home,” Ham said. Ham said the centre has ads with a picture of Wood’s face on billboards across Canada. “Nothing’s going to slow down,” she added. Melinda said her family plans to return to Winnipeg when the weather warms up to continue their search for Christine. She begged anyone who may have seen her daughter to call police. “We want to know if she’s OK.”
Poverty & Community Outreach
- Superhero breakfast raises funds to get service dog for 11-year-old: CBC
- Manitoba stops tracking CFS wards in hotels: CBC, Winnipeg Free Press
- Mayor, police chief patrol Winnipeg’s North End with Bear Clan: CBC
- Syrian refugees have high praise for Winnipeg ahead of Thursday benefit concert: CBC
- Kelvin school community fights for gym project funding: CBC, Winnipeg Free Press
- ‘He’s our superhero’: young boy who died of cancer remembered at Comic Con: CBC
- A few good women: Winnipeg Free Press
- Police honour North Enders with spring feast: Winnipeg Free Press
Gender & Sexuality
- Taxicab Board fines Duffy’s driver accused of propositioning passenger: CBC
- Woman says cabbie’s fine ‘a slap on the wrist’: Winnipeg Free Press
- Missing sister of Tina Fontaine safely located: CBC, Winnipeg Free Press
- Younger sister of Tina Fontaine now missing, struggling with tragedy: family:CBC, Winnipeg Free Press
Refugees & Race
- Spring flooding in Manitoba changing route of asylum seekers: CBC
- ‘Everyone is suffering, we are worried about everyone’: Syrian refugees react to U.S. airstrikes: CBC
- 6-month processing time promised for provincial nominee program applications: CBC, Winnipeg Free Press
- Teens travelling alone among latest asylum seekers walking into Manitoba: CBC
- Emerson fire officials practice water rescues as asylum seekers cross flooded fields: CBC
Environment
- That fleece you’re wearing is starting to pill — and may be polluting Lake Winnipeg: CBC
- Flows on Assiniboine River increase as Red River recedes: CBC
- St. François Xavier prepares along Assiniboine River under flood warning: CBC
- Crest has passed, Red River starting to drop in Winnipeg: CBC
- Carman faces frustrating waves of floodwater due to ice jams: CBC, Winnipeg Free Press
- Brandon flood prep underway as Assiniboine River expected to crest next week:CBC
- Flood 2017: Manitoba’s hotspots and where the worst is yet to come: CBC
- Worst flood in decades threatens 300 properties in Carman, Man.: CBC
- Ice jam forces Swan River, Man., to declare local state of emergency: CBC
- Red’s crest ends threat in city; flood focus along Assiniboine, other areas: Winnipeg Free Press
- Flooding prompts evacuations in 4 First Nations, states of emergency in Manitoba communities: CBC
- Flooding creek cuts off roads, floods basements in western Manitoba First Nation:CBC
- Red Cross called in to help 4 flooded-out Manitoba First Nations: CBC
- ‘It gets tiring’: Manitoba First Nation wants long-term solution to flooding: CBC
- 181 Manitoba First Nation evacuees remain displaced from latest floods: CBC
- Peguis First Nation flood waters recede, 135 people still evacuated: CBC, Winnipeg Free Press
- Floodwaters force 84 people out of Peguis First Nation: CBC, APTN News, APTN News, Winnipeg Free Press
- 8 communities declare state of emergency due to flooding: CBC
- Flooding forces nearly 200 from homes: Winnipeg Free Press
- Flood fears recede in Winnipeg; states of emergencies declared outside city: Winnipeg Free Press
Health
- Donor says bequeathing body for medical research ‘the right decision’: CBC
- ‘On reflection,’ Pallister willing to accept PM’s word, negotiate health accord: Winnipeg Free Press
- Celebrating differences at ICS: Winnipeg Free Press
- ‘Of course it’s happening’: Manitobans who’ve paid for MRIs not surprised some are jumping the queue: CBC
- MRI wait times growing in Manitoba: report: Winnipeg Free Press
- Athletes and government officials sometimes get quicker access to MRIs: AG: CBC
- Polio survivors fight for proper treatment of post-polio syndrome: CBC
- Families with suicidal children plead for overhaul of Manitoba’s mental health system: CBC
- Federal health minister sounding hopeful on deal with Manitoba: Winnipeg Free Press
- Half of Winnipeg’s ERs closing in biggest health-care revamp ‘in a generation: CBC
- Loss of services at Concordia ‘huge blow‘, says MLA Wiebe: Winnipeg Free Press
- Emergency room closures, urgent care centres won’t overcome need for more beds, ER doctor says: CBC
- Is it an emergency? The difference between an ER and urgent care: CBC
- Health care models, funding in for an overhaul in Manitoba budget: CBC
- Major surgery or just a few stitches? Manitobans wait to see how Pallister wields his knife: CBC
- Daring to dream about emergency rooms that work: Winnipeg Free Press
- City’s hospital shakeup ‘long overdue‘: Winnipeg Free Press
- Health reform hitting hard: Winnipeg Free Press
Indigenous
- MMIW Inquiry extends deadline for those with vested interest in participating: CBC
- Remote First Nation under state of emergency after fire burns down grocery store: CBC, Winnipeg Free Press
- Brochet getting Red Cross assistance after grocery store burns: Winnipeg Free Press
- Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra wins Juno for residential school ballet score: CBC
- David Alexander Robertson and IsKwé stand up for missing and murdered Indigenous women: CBC
- Art exhibit that looks at 60’s scoop opens Friday in Winnipeg: APTN News
- Sen. Murray Sinclair blasts Globe and Mail for propagating ‘racist fallacy’: APTN News
- AFN holding outreach sessions for families of MMIWG in Manitoba: APTN News
- Election takes friendship centre off critical list: Winnipeg Free Press
- Highway 59 alterations will kill First Nation’s development, chief says: Winnipeg Free Press
Justice
- Courts failing to fight male violence against women: CBC
- Owners of condos with structural problems question city’s role in approving building plans: CBC
- Engineer disciplined over condos with structural issues but public not informed: CBC
- Structural weakness, coercion and duress: a condo project goes off the rails: CBC
- Man hugging, pretending to know elderly strangers in Winnipeg: police: CBC
- Meet the Winnipeg woman taking weapons from ISIS: CBC
- Drunk pilot who appeared to pass out in cockpit sentenced to 8 months: CBC, Winnipeg Free Press
- RCMP search bank records in Canada Post plant fraud investigation: CBC
- ‘We need to lift the veil of secrecy‘: Winnipeg Free Press, Winnipeg Free Press
- RCMP officers accused of inappropriate touching during arrest: Winnipeg Free Press
- Details of child’s death remain concealed: Winnipeg Free Press
- Cop justified in throwing jaw-breaking punch, IIU report concludes: Winnipeg Free Press
Politics
- Manitobans don’t back PC health-care and education cuts, poll suggests: CBC
- 4 things Winnipeg wants from Manitoba’s budget: CBC
- New children’s advocate chosen but name not released yet: CBC, Winnipeg Free Press
- Police board still without chair, down 2nd member when it meets this week: CBC
- Kinew determined to shake his past, NDP’s in bid for leadership: Winnipeg Free Press
- Lynn Beyak removed from Senate’s Aboriginal peoples committee: CBC
- Conservative senators defend Lynn Beyak, as media called ‘parasites’: CBC
- How Senator Murray Sinclair responds to why don’t residential school survivors just ‘get over it’: CBC
- Windsor law professor calls on Senator Beyak to educate herself about residential schools: CBC
- Senator Lynn Beyak continues to defend comments about residential schools: APTN News
- Author distances himself from Senator Beyak’s comments about residential schools: APTN News
Cultural
- ‘My religion has been assaulted‘: attacked cabbie: Winnipeg Free Press