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Premier Wab Kinew is an imported Manitoban, born in Kenora and raised on Onigaming First Nation in Treaty Three (in northwestern Ontario) before his family moved to Winnipeg. He’s the son of well-known Anishinaabe leader and traditional knowledge keeper Tobasonakwut Kinew and Kathi Kinew.

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Mayor 2 puts positive spin 3 on city’s less-than-edsfxpected share of federal housing fund

The city will receive $122 million in federal government housing money, falling about $70 million shy of the municipal government’s original request. However, Winnipeg’s mayor stressed the amount is substantial and should leverage millions of dollars of additional investment.

First Nation calls for ferry service to resume

A northern Manitoba First Nation is urging the provincial government to resume a “lifeline” ferry service, after the boat was grounded by low water levels that have since increased.

York Factory First Nation declared a state of local emergency in July after the province halted the ferry on Split Lake for the rest of the season.

Chief Darryl Wastesicoot called on the Manitoba government to restore service before the lake freezes over so the First Nation can get important equipment and supplies delivered.

“The water is going up. There is an opportunity for the ferry to make a few runs, so we can bring in our school bus, garbage truck and a few loads of supplies for our trade school and lumber for houses,” he said in a news release.

Losing homelessness adviser disappointing, but new role ‘positive development,’ premier says

Manitoba’s premier says he would have preferred that his hand-picked adviser on homelessness stay in her role, after she resigned less than a year into the job.

But a day after Tessa Blaikie Whitecloud confirmed she had submitted her resignation, Wab Kinew said he remains confident his government’s Your Way Home strategy — aimed at ending chronic homelessness by 2031 — will stay on track.

“Tessa is somebody that I have a ton of respect for, and that I am very close to, personally,” Kinew said at an unrelated event Friday afternoon. “To see her move to the (Collaborative Housing Alliance Real Estate Investment Trust) gives me confidence that you’re going to have that crucial part of the equation — getting more housing units built — that we’ve got a very capable hand at the wheel there.”

Kinew appointed Blaikie Whitecloud in January to lead the NDP government’s effort to end chronic homelessness, at a starting salary of $177,745. Her mandate included moving people from encampments into stable housing supported by social services.

72-hour meth-detention bill fails to pass by deadline

The province’s plan to open a protective detention facility and hold people gripped in a methamphetamine psychosis for up to 72 hours won’t meet the Nov. 1 target.

Bill 48, the Protective Detention and Care of Intoxicated Persons Act didn’t pass before the legislature adjourned for the week on Thursday. It would replace the Intoxicated Persons Detention Act, which only allows for 24-hour detention.

Addictions Minister Bernadette Smith said the 72-hour protective care detention centre at 190 Disraeli Fwy. would be up and running Saturday if the legislation had passed in time.

“We’re ready to go Nov. 1,” Smith told reporters Wednesday. She said the necessary construction work in the provincially owned building — to hold and care for 20 intoxicated persons for up to 72 hours — had been completed.

RCMP investigating macabre display threatening rural officials in yard on ‘sovereign land’

Manitoba RCMP say they are investigating a disturbing display depicting threats toward elected municipal officials outside a home in the Rural Municipality of Taché after receiving a pair of complaints earlier this week.

The display, located on a Ste-Genevieve property on Municipal Road 41E, about 45 minutes southeast of Winnipeg, showed five life-sized dolls hanging by their necks from nooses on a makeshift gallows. Four of the dolls had different municipal ward numbers painted on, including wards two, four, five and six.

One doll hanging from the centre was dressed in a red cap, crown and wore a dollar-sign necklace.

The dolls also each had a letter attached which, combined, spelled “karma.”