Exchange Sessions Featuring Sierra Noble

Netherlands Canada's top source for illicit meth shipments in 2018

OTTAWA — While Winnipeg was in the midst of its ongoing meth crisis in 2018, quantities of the drug were coming from an unexpected country, and through Canadians' most common mode of delivery.

According to documents obtained by the Free Press, there was an increase in "inbound seizures destined to Winnipeg addresses," of postal mail containing meth in 2018 from a year prior. "However, such shipments are likely for personal consumption,” as they were under 35 grams.

And though Canadian officials have called out meth smugglers in China and Mexico, the mailed drugs came from Europe.

"The Netherlands is the top transit country by number of seizures (of meth), while Mexico is the main transit country by quantity,” reads an internal Canada Border Services Agency report from mid-2018.

Fun drop-in last chance to mentor grads of inner-city school with excellent track record

Summer break may be in full swing, but Gonzaga Middle School invited graduates back to the building for water balloon fights and academic, employment and support services this week.

Roughly 30 alumni, including teenagers and twentysomethings, stopped by the grades 6-8 school in North Point Douglas on Tuesday afternoon. They were greeted with slime-making kits, ice cream sundaes and staff ready to answer questions.

The initiative — the final grad drop-in organized this summer — is a new extension of the mentorship and holistic programming baked into the funded independent school’s mandate.

“We have 22- and 23-year-olds coming back and checking in and asking for help on their university papers,” principal Rex Ferguson-Baird said.

Exchange Sessions Featuring Sierra Noble

Sierra Noble performs "I'll Keep You" during an Exchange Sessions for the Winnipeg Free Press.

Bombers bandwagon welcomes all

Don't let a lack of football savvy prevent you from pulling for Winnipeg on Sunday! Three fans provide advice on How To Hop on the Bombers Bandwagon… and Still Seem Legit.

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.

A mission to make hearing care easier to access

Armando Di Lello was four years old when he was diagnosed with hearing loss in both ears and received his first hearing aids. He doesn’t remember that moment, but he recalls moments that followed.

“Going through elementary, middle school, high school — it was definitely something that was not a positive experience for me,” he said.

Di Lello’s hearing aids were big, bulky and noisy, and he chose not to wear them much of the time.

“I didn’t perceive the benefit as a kid,” he said. “No kid wants to appear different.”