News briefs for October 23, 2020

Winnipeg police advised drivers to avoid Portage Avenue and St. James Street Friday afternoon as protesters held up traffic in both westbound and eastbound lanes.

A rally began on Portage at Dominion Street — in front of RCMP headquarters — around 4 p.m.

The rally, called “All Eyes on Mi’kma’ki,” is in support of Indigenous fishers in Nova Scotia who are locked in a dispute with non-Aboriginal fishers.

The Manitoba First Nations pandemic response team has reported 110 new First Nations COVID-19 cases had been identified as of Friday.

It puts the number of confirmed First Nations cases at 449. Of those, 294 people live off-reserve and 155 people live on-reserve.

There have been two deaths and 332 cases were considered active on Friday.

Twenty of Manitoba’s 63 First Nations have reported cases since the virus arrived in the province seven months ago.

On Friday, 15 communities had active cases. 

Red River College has opened three additional intakes for its COVID-19 nasal swab test course in an effort to increase the province’s testing capacity. 

The micro-credential is available free to health-care students and working professionals who want to learn how to safely perform a COVID-19 sample collection at an authorized test site. Successful students are added to a pool of eligible employees who can work at test sites as part of the program, a partnership between the college and provincial government. 

Less than 24 hours after unveiling the course, the college filled its first three intakes and racked up a waitlist of nearly 120 students.

The province’s police watchdog has cleared officers of wrongdoing in the arrest of two suspects injured during a police chase.

A 27-year-old man and 19-year-old woman were taken to hospital after they were injured driving into a field during a November 2019 police chase near St. Francis Xavier. The male suspect later claimed a police officer fired his gun during the chase, contributing to his injuries.

An investigation by the Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba concluded no actions by any police officer caused or contributed to injuries to either suspect, the IIU said in a news release Friday.

The two suspects remain before the court. A more detailed report will be made available after their cases have concluded, the IIU said. 

Winnipeg Mayor Brian Bowman says he won’t run for another term of office.

In a Friday announcement, the mayor said he won’t run for re-election on Oct. 26, 2022.

“In my view, Manitoba has far too many career politicians. I won’t be one of them,” the mayor told media during an afternoon press conference.

Bowman was first elected in 2014 and re-elected in 2018.

He should have quit while he was behind.

A Winnipeg man has been charged for the second time in 10 days with impaired driving. City police arrested a 20-year-old Winnipeg man on Oct. 21 after spotting him behind the wheel of a stolen car on the 800 block of Bannatyne Avenue. Police charged the man with impaired driving and possession of a sawed-off shotgun found in the vehicle.

Police arrested the man for impaired driving 10 days earlier after he was seen driving erratically at a high rate of speed in the area of Logan Avenue and McPhillips Street. When police tried to pull him over he collided with a cruiser car. 

Braedon Lee Gordon has been charged with several driving and weapons offences and possession of stolen property.

A 23-year-old Winnipeg man has been arrested after a high-speed chase with an infant in his car. 

Police say officers were conducting impaired driving checkstops around 2:20 a.m., Oct. 17, when a vehicle passed a checkstop van at a high rate of speed on Pembina Highway, near Grant Avenue. 

Officers saw an infant in a child seat in the car before the driver accelerated to 90  km/h and pulled away from police.

The driver came to a stop on Donald Street at Gertrude Avenue, got out of the car and was arrested.

Police have charged the man with impaired driving, failing to provide a breath sample and driving without a licence. He was also arrested on outstanding charges of robbery, assault, break and enter and weapons offences.

Public health officials have advised that outbreaks have been declared at Holy Family Personal Care Home, Concordia Personal Care Home, Saul and Claribel Simkin Centre Personal Care Home and Maples Long-Term Care Home, all in Winnipeg.

Fourteen Winnipeg care homes are now listed as having outbreaks.

All licenced personal care homes in the Winnipeg metropolitan region have been elevated to critical (red) level of pandemic restrictions.

Public health officials reported Manitoba’s 48th death due to COVID-19 today.

The man in his 80s from Winnipeg health region is the 15th Parkview Place resident to die from the virus since an outbreak was declared there in mid-September.  

Hospitalizations have climbed to 51 with eight people in intensive care.

The current five-day COVID-19 test positivity rate climbed to 6.5 per cent and 163 new cases of the virus have been identified: one case in Prairie Mountain Health region, eight cases in the Interlake–Eastern health region, seven cases in the Northern health region, 19 cases in the Southern Health region and 128 cases in the Winnipeg health region.

Police have arrested a 35-year-old Garden Hill First Nation woman after a man was found unconscious and seriously injured on a road early Friday morning.

The 35-year-old man was taken to the local nursing station around 3 a.m. and pronounced dead.  

Island Lake RCMP are treating the man’s death as a homicide and are continuing to investigate.

Ghanaian midfielder Raphael Ohin has signed a new deal to return for a third Canadian soccer season with Valour FC. 

Ohin, 25, joined the Winnipeg team in time for the 2019 season after spending the previous three seasons with WSA Winnipeg of the Professional Development League (PDL).

During the 2020 Canadian Premier League campaign, he appeared in all seven of Valour’s matches, totalling 503 minutes. 

“We are delighted to have Raphael back with us and to continue his development in Winnipeg,” said Valour FC head coach and general manager Rob Gale. “He’s shown discipline, tactical precision and has committed to improving his game. He’s a great role model in the community and is a popular figure with staff and players.” 

Eastbound lanes of traffic on Leila Avenue will be closed at the McPhillips Street intersection this weekend for a water main repair.

The closure will be in effect from 6 a.m. Saturday to 9 a.m. Monday.

For Transit re-routing and schedule information, visit winnipegtransit.com or call 311.

Updates on lane closures can be found on the City of Winnipeg website.

Three people have been arrested on drug charges after RCMP searched a home on Peguis First Nation this week.

Fisher Branch RCMP officers found 48 grams of cocaine, more than $19,000 in cash, weapons and other drug paraphernalia on Oct. 21, according to a news release issued Friday by the RCMP.

A 20-year-old man, a 22-year-old man and a 21-year-old woman have been charged with possession for the purpose of trafficking and are scheduled to appear in Peguis court on Jan. 19, 2021.

The police investigation is ongoing.

Municipal bylaw enforcement officers can now issue fines to people violating provincial COVID-19 emergency and public health orders.

The Manitoba government said in a news release today that it has made regulatory amendments to allow municipal bylaw enforcement officers to enforce public health orders in an effort to reduce the spread of COVID-19.

At the start of the pandemic, fines were set for breach of public health emergency orders. The fines were inceased Oct. 20 and are now set at $1,296 for individuals and $5,000 for corporations. 

Current orders under the Public Health Act restrict gatherings and limit group sizes, set out the distance individuals are required to observe from one another and require businesses to ensure their customers are able to maintain the required separation.  

Previously, public health orders were enforceable only by the RCMP and other police agencies, the Health Protection Unit, Manitoba Conservation and Climate, Workplace Safety and Health, and the Liquor, Gaming and Cannabis Authority. 

Three people were taken to hospital after an early morning house fire in St. Vital.

The fire started around 4:38 a.m. Friday in a bungalow in the first block of Ashton Avenue, and residents had already got themselves out before Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service crews arrived on scene. Crews took three people to hospital in stable condition and got the fire under control by 5:27 a.m.

The cause of the fire is under investigation and no damage estimates were available, according to a news release issued Friday morning.