Your hearts are pulling in opposing directions

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.

Five things we learned from Wilson-Raybould

OTTAWA - Five things Canadians learned from former attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould, in her testimony Wednesday at the House of Commons justice committee.

1. Wilson-Raybould said there were at least 10 phone calls and 10 different meetings, as well as several text messages, about the SNC-Lavalin case, between her or senior members of her staff and 11 people in the Prime Minister's Office and other departments, between Sept. 4, 2018 and Dec. 18, 2018. One of those meetings was between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

She said she began to be concerned immediately about what she viewed as pressure on her to overturn the decision not to negotiate a remediation agreement with SNC-Lavalin but that her concerns were heightened as the calls and meetings continued even after she said she had made up he mind not to arrange for a deal.

2. Wilson-Raybould was informed on Sept. 4 that the director of public prosecutions had decided not to pursue a remediation agreement with SNC-Lavalin, but rather continue with a criminal prosecution of SNC-Lavalin. She said she conducted her own due diligence and by Sept. 16 had made up her mind that she would not overrule the director's decision or take over the prosecution herself. The law gives her the authority to do either but Wilson-Raybould said an attorney general has never taken over a prosecution and directives to the public prosecutor have been used only for general policies, not specific cases.

Long journey to home ownership for Eritrean couple

Solomon Ghebru and his family have been building a life together in Winnipeg for the past three years after years of living apart in various countries. Now, they are working toward a new goal: owning a home.

Their story is the focus of this year’s Habitat for Humanity Manitoba Cycle of Hope fundraising ride, a seven-day cycling event through southern Manitoba that begins Monday. The ride aims to raise $150,000 to support Ghebru, his wife, Mehret Awate, and their two daughters as they work toward affordable homeownership.

The couple’s journey to Canada started in Eritrea, where they grew up and attended the same church together. They left Eritrea separately, hoping to build a better life together out of the country. Ghebru travelled through Sudan and Libya before reaching Malta, while Awate travelled to Sudan and then Uganda.

After he found work in Malta, he tried to have his family join him, but government policies prevented them from reuniting. The couple married in Uganda in 2016, and their first daughter, Peniel, was born there the following year.

Winnipeg author’s novel a product of rejecting long-held beliefs

Growing up in an evangelical church in the 1960s, I was well-acquainted with Operation Auca, the story of the killings of five American missionaries at the hands of Waorani Indigenous people in Ecuador.

The deaths of Peter Fleming, 27, Jim Elliot, 28, Ed McCully, 28, Roger Youderian, 31, and Nate Saint, 32 on Jan. 8, 1956 made headlines across North America and sparked a continent-wide Christian missionary movement.

The men and their wives had gone to that South American country to evangelize the tribe, known to them as Aucas in the Quechua language, or “savages.”

Members of the tribe, who were known for their ferocity, avoided contact with the outside world. The missionaries were determined to reach them and convert them to Christianity.

Hospital transfers hastened mother’s death, family says

The family of a senior with dementia who died after being transferred between two Manitoba hospitals is calling on the province to end patient transfers, especially for the elderly.

Of the 331 hospital patients sent far from home since last October under Manitoba’s inter-regional patient-transfer protocol, it’s unknown how many are elderly, how many have dementia or how many died soon after being transferred.

Shared Health is not disclosing any of that information publicly, and there is no demographic data to show which groups of Manitobans are hit hardest by the transfer policy.

Joyce Rivard, 84, fell and dislocated her hip on Feb. 1 and died at Concordia Hospital on Feb. 25. Before she died, and despite her dementia and frail state, Rivard was transferred to a health centre in Treherne, 126 kilometres away, to free up a bed in Winnipeg. Within 24 hours after the ambulance ride, she dislocated her hip again and was sent back to Concordia.