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Manitoba First Nations Police officers seized cash, drugs, and several weapons at a home on Sandy Bay First Nation this week.

On Wednesday, Dec. 16^th at around 7:00 a.m., officers executed a search warrant at a home on Ridge Road South.

Police recovered over $2,500, 24 grams of suspected methamphetamine, 3 pellet guns, a sawed-off .22 calibre rifle, ammunition, an altered cattle prod, bear mace, and multiple other drug-related paraphernalia

A 24-year-old man and a 27-year-old man from Sandy Bay First Nation and a 23-year-old woman from Portage la Prairie all face multiple charges including possession of a weapon for dangerous purposes and possession of methamphetamine with the purpose of trafficking.

The woman was released and is to appear in court at a later date.

Details

Contributed by Tess Kovach

Published: Dec 19, 2020 - 7:55 am

A number of residents at the Grandview Personal Care Home have been relocated to other facilities in the region due to a water line break.

Prairie Mountain Health says a sprinkler system water line break caused significant damage to the east wing of the care home overnight.

Seventeen residents are reportedly being relocated by ambulance to other locations in the health region, including Gilbert Plains and Grandview Health Centre.

A release from the regional health authority states families have been notified and will be updated as plans are developed.

It’s anticipated that significant restoration work is needed before residents can be moved back into the affected area.

Prairie Mountain Health could not offer a specific timeline at this time. The cause of the break is under investigation.

The Grandview Personal Care Home is currently dealing with an outbreak of COVID-19 -- 35 positive cases have been identified, with 25 among residents, and two deaths.

Details

Contributed by 730 CKDM

Published: Dec 18, 2020 - 4:21 pm

A traffic stop in Dauphin Friday morning led to the recovery of a stolen vehicle, a rifle, and other weapons.

Around 10 a.m. on Friday, Dec. 18, Dauphin RCMP conducted the traffic stop on a white pickup truck at Main Street and 1st Avenue North.

The vehicle had been reported stolen by Roblin RCMP on Tuesday, Dec. 15.

Police arrested the man driving the truck, and also recovered bear spray, two machetes, a firearm and ammunition inside the vehicle.

A rifle and several weapons were seized from the stolen truck | Photo supplied by RCMP

Further investigation revealed the firearm had been stolen in 2011 from a home in Dauphin.

The man remains in custody and will face a number of charges including weapons offences, possession of stolen property and failing to comply with court-ordered conditions.

Two RCMP units were on the scene Friday morning | Photo by CKDM

Details

Contributed by Matt Hamel

Published: Dec 18, 2020 - 3:06 pm

Manitoba health officials are reporting 350 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday.

Ten deaths are also being announced — including a man in his 80s from the Gilbert Plains Personal Care Home.

The full list of the most recent deaths in Manitoba can be found at the bottom of this article.

Manitoba’s acting deputy chief provincial public health officer, Dr. Jazz Atwal, says "54 of 63 First Nations communities have had a case of COVID-19.”

Dr. Atwal also reminded Manitoba’s to refrain from all non-essential travel — both within the province and outside of Manitoba — over the holidays.

The current five-day COVID-19 test positivity rate is 13.6% provincially and 13.1% in Winnipeg. The total number of lab-confirmed cases in Manitoba is 22,397. There are 5,602 active cases and 16,248 individuals who have recovered from COVID-19 in Manitoba.

There are 305 people in hospital with 43 people in intensive care due to COVID-19. The total number of deaths due to COVID-19 is 547.

Today’s COVID-19 data shows:

• 40 cases in the Interlake-Eastern health region
• 89 cases in the Northern health region
• 31 cases in the Prairie Mountain Health region
• 57 cases in the Southern Health–Santé Sud health region
• 133 cases in the Winnipeg health region

According to the province’s data, there are active cases in the following Parkland health districts: Dauphin (5), Riding Mountain (9), Swan River (3), Porcupine Mountain (77), Duck Mountain (17), Asessippi (6), Little Saskatchewan (6), Whitemud (3), and Agassiz Mountain (4). Brandon has 164 active cases.

In the Interlake, the Eriksdale/Ashern health district has 30 active cases, while Fisher/Peguis has 30, according to the province’s latest update.

Public health officials advise 10 additional deaths in people with COVID-19 have been reported today including: 
• a male in his 40s from the Southern Health–Santé Sud health region
• a male in his 50s from the Southern Health–Santé Sud health region, linked to the outbreak at the Morris General Hospital
• a female in her 60s from the Winnipeg health region
• a female in her 70s from the Southern Health–Santé Sud health region
• a female in her 80s from the Interlake–Eastern health region, linked to the outbreak at Kin Place
• a male in his 80s from the Prairie Mountain Health region, linked to the outbreak at the Gilbert Plains personal care home
• a male in his 80s from the Southern Health–Santé Sud health region, linked to the outbreak at the Salem Home
• a female in her 90s from the Winnipeg health region, linked to the outbreak at the Convalescent Home of Winnipeg
• a female in her 90s from the Winnipeg health region, linked to the outbreak at the Charleswood Care Centre
• a male in his 90s from the Southern Health–Santé Sud health region

Details

Contributed by Matt Hamel

Published: Dec 18, 2020 - 2:16 pm

This morning Stephen Chychota announced a gift card program to help local businesses during the pandemic.

Chychota phoned into the Al Morning Show to make the big announcement this morning.

“Super excited about this, we have currently 25,000 dollars in monies to put toward a gift card program. So, trying to support businesses heavily impacted by COVID and get some money directly to them in this way.”

$10,000 is coming from the chamber, another $10,000 is from the City of Dauphin, and $5,000 has been contributed by the Dauphin Community Foundation.

Chychota says they’re branching out to everyone with the program, but the details are still evolving.

“This is also a program that’s not just chamber member specific. But I think the program will allow that we’ll spend maybe a little bit more when we go to a chamber member location. Because they are putting money into us with their memberships and any other programs that they participate, so we’ll probably end up putting a little more back into the chamber members than non-chamber members. But, this pandemic branches to everyone, so we’ve got to look after everybody as best as we can. So, all businesses are included.”

The gift card distribution model hasn’t been determined yet and Chychota says to watch out for anything.

Chychota says they're open to having any other businesses or organization, that's doing really well right now, help with the program.

Details

Contributed by Isaac Wihak

Published: Dec 18, 2020 - 12:34 pm

An additional 900 priority healthcare workers in Manitoba will be immunized against COVID-19 next week.

Premier Brian Pallister made the announcement on Friday, following confirmation of Manitoba’s second shipment of the Pfizer vaccine.

The first few hundred doses of the Pfizer vaccine were administered this week to 900 front line healthcare workers.

As the vaccination requires two doses, a second appointment is required in 19 to 23 days.

Manitoba’s only immunization clinic is currently operating at the University of Manitoba’s Rady Faculty of Health Sciences campus — but the Premier says additional vaccination clinics will be set up throughout the province.

The earliest doses of the COVID-19 vaccine arriving in Manitoba are only available for eligible health-care workers at this time:

• those who work in critical care units, born on or before Dec. 31, 1970
• work in acute care facilities, born on or before Dec. 31, 1960
• work in long term care facilities, born on or before Dec. 31, 1960
• be assigned to COVID-19 immunization clinics

Pallister says eligibility criteria will be expanded once additional shipments are confirmed by the federal government, “so we can work toward providing a vaccine to all Manitobans who wish to receive one.”

Details

Contributed by Matt Hamel

Published: Dec 18, 2020 - 12:30 pm

A 29-year-old female is dead after being hit by a vehicle while walking on Provincial Road 513 Wednesday evening.

At 6:55 p.m. on December 16^th, Gypsumville RCMP officers responded to a report of a vehicle-pedestrian collision 4km east of Gypsumville. The victim from Lake St Martin First Nation was pronounced deceased on scene.

According to the investigation, a 20-year-old man from Dauphin River was travelling east on PR 513 when the vehicle collided with the female, who was walking on the road.

The driver of the vehicle stopped at the scene and then immediately called 911.

RCMP believe that the very dark lighting conditions and also that the victim was wearing dark clothing were factors in the collision. Alcohol and speed are not involved.

Details

Contributed by Isaac Wihak

Published: Dec 18, 2020 - 9:15 am

Public health officials are introducing a pilot project to test the effectiveness of rapid testing for asymptomatic personal care home staff.

The project is being launched in three personal care homes, two in Winnipeg and Country Meadows Personal Care Home in Neepawa, which is a part of the Prairie Mountain Health (PMH) region.

Health, Seniors and Active Living Minister Cameron Friesen made the announcement yesterday saying protecting the health of the most vulnerable Manitobans is a top priority.

“This pilot project will expand the asymptomatic testing that is already underway in personal care homes by testing staff who do not have any symptoms and is the first step in plans for an expansion of this work to other sites in the weeks ahead.”

This project implements broader asymptomatic surveillance, by testing where there are no symptoms and no known exposure. Staff will be asked to participate on a voluntary basis, with testing performed once a week. 

The pilot project will use Abbott Panbio COVID-19 rapid antigen test, which provides a result in approximately 20 minutes. Staff at the participating sites will be trained to perform the test using the equipment. Results received as ‘positive’ will be reported to public health as probable cases and will be confirmed by a lab-based test.

Friesen noted the project will also allow officials to test the effectiveness of the new rapid testing equipment to better understand how it can be deployed and used in other settings. 

Testing is expected to begin on Dec. 21 and will be conducted for four weeks at each site.

It’s expected the project will be expanded in the weeks following the initial results.

Details

Contributed by Isaac Wihak

Published: Dec 18, 2020 - 6:54 am

Prairie Mountain Health (PMH) has followed up with more details about Grandview's hospital and emergency department services resuming next week.

Starting Monday, Dec. 21 at 8 a.m., the emergency department in Grandview will be open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

The temporary suspension of hospital services was announced by Prairie Mountain Health on Nov. 26th, while some staff were reassigned to support the Grandview personal care home dealing with a COVID outbreak.

PMH says the situation at the personal care home has sufficiently stabilized to allow the return of hospital services — and are also thanking the health care staff for their flexibility and support of the residents.

Details

Contributed by Matt Hamel

Published: Dec 17, 2020 - 7:08 pm

A man from Laurier is facing a list of charges after police say he assaulted officers after fleeing from a traffic stop.

On Tuesday, Dec. 15, Ste Rose du Lac RCMP noticed a vehicle going 147 km/h in a 100 km/h zone near Ste. Amelie.

Police say the vehicle refused to stop and fled, and officers later found the vehicle abandoned at a dead end on 134 N.

Ammunition and a driver's licence were found in the vehicle.

Footsteps in the snow led police to a farmhouse, where it was learned the suspect was picked up by someone in a truck.

Police later located the truck and initiated a traffic stop, and say the passenger — who was determined to be the same person on the driver's license — exited the vehicle and aggressively approached officers

Police say the man charged officers, and a taser was used to apprehend the suspect.

Upon arrest, police say the man continued to be combative and assaulted the officers, and damaged the police vehicle.

The driver of the truck was initially arrested but was later released with no charges. Officers searched the suspect's vehicle and located a loaded firearm.

Cody Zastre, 32, of Laurier, has been charged with:

• Flight from Police
• Possession of a Firearm while Prohibited
• Possession of Ammunition while Prohibited
• Possession of a Firearm knowing it's Possession is Unauthorized
• Assault on a Police Officer x2
• Resisting Arrest
• Possession of a Firearm in a Vehicle when Unauthorized
• Mischief

He has been remanded into custody.

Details

Contributed by 730 CKDM

Published: Dec 17, 2020 - 3:46 pm