Riel poems sell for $31,050 at auction

City MP, nurses want safety standards for increasingly violent health facilities

While there have been hundreds of violent incidents reported at two Winnipeg hospitals over two years, there haven’t been provincial or national safety standards established for health-care facilities, something one local union and a Winnipeg MP are pushing for.

From October 2016 to October 2018, there were 444 violent incidents reported at the Health Sciences Centre and 175 such cases at Grace Hospital, according to freedom of information results obtained by the Free Press.

The statistics encompass incidents of verbal abuse and threats of violence, plus instances of physical aggression. Some incidents stem from deliberate acts, while others involve patients with dementia or those disoriented from a medical condition, who may have no control over their actions.

A Winnipeg MP who spent years working as an emergency room physician is trying to draw attention to health-care violence nationally, tabling a petition Friday that asks Ottawa to tackle an issue in which he has first-hand experience.

Troubadour of tears

Field Guide, for all his sad songs, is dressed exclusively in vibrant colours. His beanie is mustard yellow, his jacket and shirt are forest green, his Blundstones are burgundy. His short, scruffy beard is Spalding-ball orange.

Firefighter’s death fuels cancer fight

The United Fire Fighters of Winnipeg is mourning the loss of Winnipeg firefighter Darrel Maynard while continuing its work to raise awareness of occupational cancer and improve health protections for firefighters.

Maynard, a senior firefighter II and acting lieutenant with the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service, died Aug. 5 at age 41 after a three-year battle with occupational cancer.

He served Winnipeg for nearly two decades and leaves behind his wife Francine and sons Colin and Christian.

“Darrel was an incredible, incredible person, an incredible firefighter, and really, really special to all of us,” said Nick Kasper, president of UFFW.

Planting the seeds for a better growing season

After experiencing the worst drought in 70 years on the Prairies, the annual meeting of Keystone Agricultural Producers served both as a debrief on the rough experience many Manitoba producers faced last year and a chance to set the stage for the year ahead.

KAP’s annual meeting is typically the first major agricultural event of the year and Manitoba’s new agriculture minister, Derek Johnson, took the opportunity to speak (virtually) to KAP’s membership for the first time.

He was able to announce record levels of AgriInsurance coverage for 2022 which is expected to exceed $4.66 billion.

With the expectation that commodity prices will remain strong, average coverage is estimated at $463 per acre, compared to $321 per acre in 2021.

Manitoba makes clean sweep at Canadian junior curling championships

CALL it — most appropriately — a Manitoba sweep. Or, perhaps, a buffalo stampede.

The curling-crazed province flexed its mighty rock-tossing muscle again Sunday in Langley, B.C., as Manitoba teams charged off with victories at the Canadian junior curling championships.

Altona’s Mackenzie Zacharias was the class of the women’s draw from the very moment the first stones were delivered last Saturday, capping a perfect week with a resounding 10-3 triumph over Abby Marks of Alberta in the morning championship contest.

She celebrated the achievement with her younger sister, Emily, who plays second, along with third Karlee Burgess and lead Lauren Lementine.

Report slams Omnitrax in fatal derailment

A Hudson Bay Railway derailment south of Thompson which resulted in the death of a conductor occurred after the track was washed out because of high water levels due to heavy rain.

But the 44-page report released by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada on Thursday also condemned the railroad's former owner, Omnitrax, saying that in the months before the derailment, while the company still owned it, "because the rail line was for sale, much of the other infrastructure maintenance was being deferred.

"In general, HBR, under Omnitrax, performed only a minimum amount of maintenance to keep the remaining portion of the rail line open while remaining in regulatory compliance. With a reduced engineering force, the track infrastructure began to deteriorate."

The TSB also found Omnitrax's reduction of its beaver control program also left the track vulnerable to a washout, its emergency response plan didn't include anything about responding to a train derailment, and the plan had never been reviewed by the regulator.