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First Nations man fights banishment from northern community

Dean Pritchard 4 minute read Tuesday, Jul. 29, 2025

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A Manitoba father of five is seeking a judicial review of a decision banishing him from his First Nation after he was charged with driving through a community checkstop.

Fifty-three-year-old Terry Wayne Francois of Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation filed a notice of application in federal court last week seeking to quash the banishment order, which prohibits him from going to the First Nation, which is 80 kilometres west of Thompson.

Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation, which includes Nelson House, has operated a permanent checkstop since 2019, allowing peace officers to search vehicles for contraband, detect human trafficking or gang activity, and ensure no one under banishment enters the community.

On Dec. 30, 2024, Francois was driving home from Thompson with his daughter when he stopped for the checkstop, says the review application.

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Patient accused of assaulting paramedic in ambulance, attacking driver in passing vehicle

Tyler Searle 3 minute read Tuesday, Jul. 29, 2025

A Pine Creek man is facing charges after police say he assaulted a paramedic and then wandered into traffic and attacked a passing motorist in front of a child.

A Mountie from the Winnipegosis detachment responded to the incident at 10:45 a.m. Monday, after receiving reports that a patient armed with shears had assaulted a paramedic in the back of an ambulance. The 38-year-old suspect was being transported from Pine Creek First Nation to a hospital in Dauphin, Manitoba RCMP said in a news release Tuesday.

“The officer met the ambulance on Highway 20, north of Winnipegosis. When the officer opened the back of the ambulance, the male was still in possession of the weapon, and despite continued requests to drop the weapon, he did not comply,” RCMP said.

“The male then aggressively approached the officer with the shear.”

Fire threat triggers mandatory evacuation order for northern community’s 300 residents

Chris Kitching 5 minute read Preview

Fire threat triggers mandatory evacuation order for northern community’s 300 residents

Chris Kitching 5 minute read Tuesday, Jul. 29, 2025

About 300 residents of a northern Manitoba community were ordered to leave their homes by 1 p.m. Tuesday because of an out-of-control wildfire, while evacuees from a First Nation were relieved to be finally headed home.

A mandatory evacuation order was issued for Cormorant, about 70 kilometres northeast of The Pas, after residents were told to begin packing bags late Monday night.

“It’s scary because the fire is so close,” said Marie Lavallee, who was getting her six children ready before they had to leave. “We’re on the edge of town where there’s forest.”

In a social-media post, Cormorant’s council said provincial crews were mobilizing to battle the blaze, and a fire break was being constructed.

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Tuesday, Jul. 29, 2025

SUPPLIED

During a wildfire update Tuesday, the Town of Snow Lake said ground and aerial crews contained several flare-ups, and continued to extinguish hot spots near the town and mining areas.
SUPPLIED During a wildfire update Tuesday, the Town of Snow Lake said ground and aerial crews contained several flare-ups, and continued to extinguish hot spots near the town and mining areas.

FP Features

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‘Innovative and inclusive’ approach to transform five Winnipeg properties into 700 housing units

Malak Abas 5 minute read Preview

‘Innovative and inclusive’ approach to transform five Winnipeg properties into 700 housing units

Malak Abas 5 minute read Monday, Jul. 28, 2025

Bryce Nelson knows how difficult it is for people with disabilities to live independently in Winnipeg.

Nelson has cerebral palsy, uses a wheelchair and lives with his parents. Living at home gives him the freedom to be active in his community while having disability supports — a quality of life not afforded to some of his friends who struggle to find housing that is both accessible and integrated with their communities.

“I want to move out eventually, but I don’t know what I would do and who would assist me if I moved out,” the 36-year-old said Monday.

He hopes new accessible housing in store for St. Boniface will change that.

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Monday, Jul. 28, 2025

RUTH BONNEVILLE / FREE PRESS

Mayor Scott Gillingham talks with Bryce Nelson (wheelchair) and his mom, Margy Nelson, Special Projects Director, CoHabit, after the news conference at 825 Tache on developers selected to build affordable housing on city-owned properties.
RUTH BONNEVILLE / FREE PRESS Mayor Scott Gillingham talks with Bryce Nelson (wheelchair) and his mom, Margy Nelson, Special Projects Director, CoHabit, after the news conference at 825 Tache on developers selected to build affordable housing on city-owned properties.

Leaf Rapids to lift wildfire evacuation order Monday

Nicole Buffie 3 minute read Preview

Leaf Rapids to lift wildfire evacuation order Monday

Nicole Buffie 3 minute read Yesterday at 7:03 PM CDT

Leaf Rapids residents can begin returning home Monday after more than two months away owing to wildfires.

The town announced on social media Thursday afternoon it will lift the evacuation order on Monday.

“I’m pretty ecstatic to get back out there,” said resident Mervin Dale. Dale stayed in Winnipeg and Thompson after residents were ordered out July 8.

Residents withe their own transportation can return to Leaf Rapids once the evacuation order is lifted, the post said.

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Yesterday at 7:03 PM CDT

Government of Manitoba

Scene from a Leaf Rapids wildfire in July. Residents of the town can begin returning home Monday after more than two months away owing to wildfires.
Government of Manitoba Scene from a Leaf Rapids wildfire in July. Residents of the town can begin returning home Monday after more than two months away owing to wildfires.

Northern First Nation sues province over moose hunting rights

Erik Pindera 6 minute read Preview

Northern First Nation sues province over moose hunting rights

Erik Pindera 6 minute read Yesterday at 6:53 PM CDT

A northern First Nation is suing the Manitoba government, arguing licensed moose hunting on its traditional territory infringes on its rights — the latest conflict over land use and hunting in the province.

Misipawistik Cree Nation filed the lawsuit Wednesday in the Court of King’s Bench, asking the court to cancel licences issued for three game hunting areas on its traditional land northwest of Lake Winnipeg. The suit says the harvesting infringes on the community’s right to hunt moose for food amid dwindling populations.

“What we’re trying to do is force the province into a better moose management system. And our treaty rights that are constitutionally protected need to have the top priority after conservation before any licences can be issued,” Chief Heidi Cook said Thursday.

Manitoba’s natural resources minister said he wants to work with Indigenous and non-Indigenous hunters and fishers alike to develop fair wildlife management strategies across the province.

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Yesterday at 6:53 PM CDT

Tim Smith / The Brandon Sun files

Chief Heidi Cook said Misipawistik Cree Nation was surprised to learn in May that the province issued 136 licences and 68 tags for bull moose for three areas in the territory.
Tim Smith / The Brandon Sun files Chief Heidi Cook said Misipawistik Cree Nation was surprised to learn in May that the province issued 136 licences and 68 tags for bull moose for three areas in the territory.

Court hears recording of key meeting between RCMP informant and Hells Angel on trial for role in massive drug-trafficking ring

Dean Pritchard 4 minute read Preview

Court hears recording of key meeting between RCMP informant and Hells Angel on trial for role in massive drug-trafficking ring

Dean Pritchard 4 minute read Yesterday at 6:50 PM CDT

A year after infiltrating a massive drug-trafficking network, the informant known as Agent 66 was finally face-to-face with one of the organized-crime group’s alleged leaders, full-patch Hells Angel Damion Ryan.

It had been a long road to this lunchtime meeting at a Montreal restaurant, Dec . 9, 2021, a journey secretly recorded by RCMP every step of the way.

“Mr. Wolf, how’s it going?” the agent said by way of greeting, referencing one of Ryan’s many criminal aliases used in his alleged role within the Wolf Pack Alliance, an organized-crime group comprised of various high-level Canadian gangsters and drug traffickers.

“Nice to meet you, bud,” the man alleged to be Ryan replied.

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Yesterday at 6:50 PM CDT

THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES/John Woods
THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES/John Woods

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Police target heroin-meth ‘chitta’ traffickers in separate investigations

Staff 4 minute read Preview

Police target heroin-meth ‘chitta’ traffickers in separate investigations

Staff 4 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 6:16 PM CDT

More than a dozen people have been charged after Winnipeg police busted two sophisticated drug-trafficking rings selling a mixture of heroin and methamphetamine called “chitta.”

The first investigation, “Project Khallas,” began in May 2024 and ended in October. A second probe dubbed Project “Black Dragon” operated this year between June and September.

Project Khallas involved mobile traffickers — also called “dial-a-dealers” — selling the drugs, the Winnipeg Police Service said in a news release Thursday.

After obtaining search warrants, the drug-enforcement unit raided homes on Oakburn Place in the Maples, Peter Sosiak Bay in Transcona and Daylan Marshall Gate in the Leila North neighbourhood, and on Lewin Lane in West St. Paul, on Oct. 30.

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Updated: Yesterday at 6:16 PM CDT

(John Woods / The Canadian Press files)
(John Woods / The Canadian Press files)

Accused in home invasion has lengthy record of weapons offences

Nicole Buffie 4 minute read Preview

Accused in home invasion has lengthy record of weapons offences

Nicole Buffie 4 minute read Yesterday at 2:00 AM CDT

The accused in a Monday-evening home invasion that sent an elderly man to hospital with a stab wound was previously warned he could kill someone one day because of the weapons he was repeatedly caught with.

Ryan Chase George, 23, is accused of barging into a Garden City home and stabbing a man in his 80s and assaulting a woman in her 70s while they were relaxing in their living room.

George has a lengthy criminal record dating back to when he was 18, including multiple weapons-related offences involving knives, homemade guns, machetes, swords and throwing stars.

During a 2024 hearing for a weapons-related charge in which he was linked to a homemade gun, Crown attorney Adam Gingera said George was slowly graduating to deadlier weapons the older he got.

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Yesterday at 2:00 AM CDT

THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES/John Woods
THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES/John Woods

Agent 66 pushed to meet with supplier, court hears

Dean Pritchard 6 minute read Preview

Agent 66 pushed to meet with supplier, court hears

Dean Pritchard 6 minute read Wednesday, Sep. 17, 2025

The death of a B.C. drug dealer set a police informant and investigators on a winding course that would lead them to identifying Hells Angel Damion Ryan as an alleged key leader in a massive international drug trafficking network, a court heard Wednesday.

Prosecutors laid out the journey in a series of police wiretap recordings made between August and September of 2021.

Ryan is on trial accused of conspiring to sell cocaine, meth and fentanyl and possessing the proceeds of crime for the benefit or under the direction of the Wolf Pack Alliance, an organized-crime group comprised of various high-level Canadian gangsters and drug traffickers.

Ryan was one of 22 people arrested in early 2022 following a years-long RCMP investigation dubbed Project Divergent that netted the largest drug seizure in Manitoba at the time: 110 kilograms of cocaine, more than 40 kilograms of methamphetamine, three kilograms of fentanyl, 500 grams of MDMA, as well as 19 guns and more than $445,000 in cash.

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Wednesday, Sep. 17, 2025

RCMP handout

Damion Ryan, a full patch Hells Angels member, was arrested in Ontario in 2022 as part of a large drug bust.
RCMP handout Damion Ryan, a full patch Hells Angels member, was arrested in Ontario in 2022 as part of a large drug bust.

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