Hard-working Colombian beetles clean garbage, retire as pets

Judge rejected bid from Balaquit killer’s lawyer to take case away from jury

A week before a jury convicted him of manslaughter in the death of Eduardo Balaquit, lawyers for Kyle Pietz were urging a judge to rule there was no evidence to support a finding of guilt and take the case out of the jury’s hands.

Jurors deliberated less than one full day before reaching the guilty verdict early Wednesday evening in a case distinguished by the fact Balaquit’s body hasn’t been found.

In a directed-verdict motion heard in the absence of the jury on April 28, defence lawyer Amanda Sansregret argued “a properly instructed jury” did not have enough evidence before it to reach a guilty verdict in the case.

Balaquit, 59, disappeared on June 4, 2018, after leaving home for Westcon Equipment and Rentals on Keewatin Street, where he had a contract as a cleaner.

First Inuk GG sparks hope for new relationship

More than five years after he refused to intervene in a young man’s death by suicide in High Park, then lied about being on another call, a Toronto police officer has been demoted in rank for two years for his “serious” misconduct.

Kripps headlines Canada's bobsled team for Beijing

After piloting his two-man sled to glory at the Pyeongchang Olympics, Justin Kripps turned his attention to perfecting his four-man driving.

Kripps headlines Canada's 18-member bobsled team for the Beijing Games, and the defending two-man champion is hoping to climb the medal podium twice this time around.

"I've traditionally had more success in the two-man, and so I wanted to get the four-man up to speed and we've definitely done that and had a lot of success over the last four years. I'm really excited about the four-man in Beijing," Kripps said from Konigssee, Germany, where the Canadian team is in a holding camp before travelling to Beijing.

Cynthia Appiah and Christine de Bruin headline the talented women's bobsled team, announced Thursday. Olympic veterans Jane Channell of Calgary and Mirela Rahneva of Ottawa and rookie Blake Enzie of Calgary are Canada's three skeleton athletes.

Quiet opening fitting for controversial site

One of this city’s most loudly debated facilities — after all the angst, all the opposition and all the vocal support — began operations in the most low-key way possible.

There was none of the usual fanfare that accompanies a new social or medical offering, no news conference, no speeches. Only a quiet Tuesday, around which was woven a lot of hope, and a great deal of worry.

Winnipeg’s first supervised drug consumption site has been a long time in the making. It’s been just over two years since the province first announced it would partner with the Aboriginal Health and Wellness Centre to design and open the site; advocates had been calling for a supervised consumption facility for years.

But the launch, originally eyed for 2025, was repeatedly delayed as the province and service providers sorted out approvals and negotiated community concerns. In the meantime, the drug crisis in Winnipeg kept growing, with paramedics burdened by a skyrocketing number of overdose calls.

Grim outlook for airport authority

The Winnipeg Airports Authority revealed a particularly grim outlook of their consolidated financial statements at their annual public meeting Thursday morning.

A year marred by COVID-19, executive members from the airports authority said urgent support is needed from the federal government to save them from their dire future beyond the pandemic, outlining the many ways in which Ottawa has failed regional airports like Winnipeg's so far.

Nicole Stefaniuk, vice-president of finance and administration, said 2020 was the worst year in the airport's history — mostly because passengers typically make up about 90 per cent of airport revenue and because almost 80 per cent of costs are fixed items the authority has to continue paying (such as utilities, personnel employment and taxes).

Passenger traffic fell from an average of 12,300 travellers per day to less than 250 people on a good day for Winnipeg's airport — a symptom of mandated lockdowns, border closures and travel restrictions across Canada.

Time to consider Indigenous names

Indigenous people have had a long connection to the land on which our city is built. Traditional place names were descriptive of the land and practised through a complete and meaningful understanding of locality. The names reflected the animate tendencies within Indigenous languages, which were illustrative of nature.

When colonialism forcibly displaced Indigenous people, Indigenous lands and their names were either modified or removed. Places were renamed after settlers, or assumed names taken directly from Europe to reflect the settlers’ own culture and history. Names were altered from Indigenous languages to English or French adaptations, such as in the case of Winnipeg, which derived from the Cree word “Win-nipi” or “murky waters.”

The loss of Indigenous place names contributed to the loss of Indigenous languages and traditions, including oral histories.

Today, the reclamation of space, land, culture and language has risen for Indigenous people. Histories and contributions of Indigenous people within our city are moving toward being recognized and restored. Additionally, the city has begun to acknowledge the hurt caused by place names and monuments that represent colonial figures who advocated for the erasure of Indigenous people.