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The Manitoba Justice Department didn’t take the necessary steps to prevent an employee of the Manitoba Youth Centre from enduring ongoing harassment from co-workers based on his sexuality.

In a report done by the Manitoba Human Rights Adjudication Panel, it said that the complainant, only known as T.M. in the ruling, has worked at the Youth Centre as a juvenile councillor from 2002- 2009. He had told a co-worker that he was gay a year into working there after being questioned.

The ruling said that after coming out to his co-worker, T.M was harassed with racial and homophobic slurs.

T.M. said that he was also the brunt of ongoing jokes about him being gay, including being paged as “Code Pink” when responding to emergency calls.

A paragraph in the decision said “Eventually, he said, that was all he was- the “gay guy” and while there was a core group who’s harassing was constant; a good 70 percent of the staff would from time to time make comments about his sexual orientation.”

The harassment continued and ramped up to the point where staff would make graphic comments related to sex with men, at which point, T.M. told begged his colleagues to stop.

He told the panel, that he believed a superintendent witnessed the harassment in its early stages and did nothing to stop it. T.M. added that he thought it was “futile to complain.”

The report went on to say that the ongoing harassment caused T.M. to suffer a panic attack at work, resulting in him being admitted to the hospital and taking 5 weeks off of work.

After another stress leave in 2010, T.M. was moved to another position in the Justice Department outside of the youth centre.

He was relocated to the Youth Centre again in 2012, when later that year, at a Christmas party where he says he was sexually assaulted and threatened by a co-worker.

It’s said that the only person aware of the incident at the time was T.M.’s husband.

T.M. brought forward a written complaint describing the harassment to management, but because he failed to provide names in the complaint, it was discarded without him knowing.

In 2014, he was told that his managers would attend sensitivity training, but the ruling said that there is no record as to who attended the training.

T.M. left his position with the Justice Department in 2017.

After a three-week hearing, the Human Rights Panel ordered that the Justice Department pay the complainant $75,000, and to undergo sensitivity training and hire a respectful workplace advisor.

The Human Rights Commission says that the Panel’s decision reinforces employers' responsibility to investigate complaints of harassment, and if an investigation is impossible, take steps to stop the harassment.

Details

Details around the manhunt that gripped northern Manitoba and the rest of the country have been released, thanks to a court challenge put forward by different media outlets.

The dozen warrant applications filed during the extensive search for Bryer Schmegelsky and Kam MacLeod, the teens responsible for 3 murders in northern B.C. unveiled some worrisome details about the murders.

The bodies of tourist couple, Chynna Deese and Lucas Fowler, had bullet entry wounds from the front and back. There were also a number of bullets lodged in the blood-soaked dirt around the bodies, suggesting that the teens kept shooting as the couple was helpless on the ground.

The autopsies performed on the bodies found 7 separate injuries sustained by Deese, and 5 suffered by Fowler. The details of those injuries have not been released.

When police discovered the body later determined to be UBC professor Leonard Dyck, he was lying on his back, bloodied and burned, with torn clothes and several wounds. It was not instantly noticed that he had been shot.

Around Dyck’s body were 13 items including cigarette butts, a Red Bull can, a Molson beer can, plastic flex-ties, and a red cardboard McDonald’s box.

The McDonald’s box is an odd discovery that appeared more than once in the warrants, as the nearest McDonald’s to the crime scenes was in Whitehorse, 8 hours away from the murder scene.

The warrant to search a torched vehicle near Dyck's body makes specific mention of firearms, ammunition and "edged weapons," noting that injuries on the newly discovered body implied a knife and a gun had been used. It also expresses a belief that "biological samples" could be taken from the flex ties.

Police initially believed that the boys were victims of murders themselves, but later discovered that was not the case.

After confirming the teens were in fact suspects and not missing, police went to their parents to try and find clues.

After talking with the boys’ parents, police found several indications that the teens were trying to cut ties with their hometown. McLeod’s girlfriend told police that he had sent her a text saying “Seriously sorry, but I’m not coming back.” When she tried to reach McLeod the night of the murders, he wouldn’t say where he was and ended the call quickly.

During the search, police tried to trace the teens through their debit and credit card purchases, but McLeod’s last purchase was at a Nanaimo sporting goods store (where police later found out that he bought a gun a 39-mm SKS, a non-restricted, semi-automatic rifle, along with a box of shells.)

Schmeglesky’s last purchase was gas at a station on the Alaska Highway.

Attempts to track the suspects through their phone proved fruitless as well, as Schmeglesky’s phone was out of service days before the murders, and McLeod’s phone was switched off with the SIM card removed after he sent one final text home on July 17th. Police later found the bent SIM card next to Dyck’s body.

After weeks of searching for the suspects nearly 3,000 km away from the murders, in Gillam, Manitoba, their bodies were found 8 km from the burnt-out vehicle they had stolen from Dyck in the community.

The pair left behind six videos on a digital camera they had also stolen from Dyck, that have never been released. Police describe the videos as suicide notes, and last wills and testaments

In the videos, the teens admitted to the three murders but failed to provide reasons why they killed the victims, or express any remorse.

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In Manitoba, teachers’ records aren’t public knowledge.

The Canadian Centre for Child Protection wants that to be changed because between 2016 and September this year, over 20 teachers have been disciplined by Manitoba’s Education Ministry.

Out of those 20 cases, 14 were criminal charges that were sexual in nature.

The other 6 were professional misconduct that the province won’t go into depth on.

10 cases have led to teachers permanently losing their teaching certificates, while teachers had their certificates suspended in the other cases.

Not included in the 20 cases are 3 cases that have led to two teachers being criminally charged and one other facing allegations of professional misconduct since September.

The Canadian Centre for Child Protection wants the province to make teaching records public for transparency adding they say it would be a deterrent.

The centre uses Ontario as an example because disciplinary records get posted online even if it wasn’t criminal in nature.

The Manitoba Teachers’ Society is against public teaching records because they don’t think it would serve the public interest or their members.

Details

The Thanksgiving snowstorm that pummeled Dauphin and the rest of the southern part of the province was ranked #3 on the list of the top weather stories of 2019 by Environment Canada's chief meteorologist.

The storm resulted in the affected areas being locked in a standstill, and left thousands of Manitobans without power for days.

Environment Canada’s chief meteorologist David Phillip ranked the storm on his annual list of weird and wacky weather events of the previous calendar year.

Phillips said that he could have made a list of just Manitoba stories.

He added that on top of the immediate impacts of the snowstorm, the long term effects like the knocked out Hydro lines, halted harvest operations, and knocked over trees, made the story notable.

Another unfortunate weather phenomenon that Manitobans had to face ranked at #6- the horrible growing conditions that producers had to face.

It was so dry in the summer that by the fall, that RM’s in the Parkland and the Interlake declared states of agricultural disaster, due to the lack of feed.

Then the end of the growing season was overwhelmingly wet, resulting in delayed harvest, and damage to crops.

In his report, Phillips says that Winnipeg had the driest January to June on record, and the wettest fall on record.

He added that it was hard to narrow down a list of 10 big weather stories, as extremes in weather are becoming more and more common.

Details

The man arrested for armed robbery at the Husky gas station in Dauphin on June 24th has been sentenced.

18-year-old Michael Chartrand will be going to jail for 5 years.

On the evening of the incident, Chartrand entered the store carrying a long-barrelled gun and demanded money.

He then struck two employees with the gun, took cash and cigarettes, and fled on foot to a nearby apartment building and entered one of the units.

Officers evacuated tenants from nearby apartments and contained the area while a negotiator made contact with him.

Early in the morning he surrendered to the RCMP and was arrested.

The employees at the gas station had sustained minor injuries.

Details

An insurance company based out of Manitoba, with offices in the Parkland, has been the victim of a ransomware attack that the company hadn’t shared with the public.

Andrew Agencies which is based in Virden, but has offices in Ste. Rose and Russell, appeared on a list of targets posted online by an international cybercrime gang that is claiming it shut down the company’s machines and stole their data.

The company’s lawyer, Dave Schioler confirmed in an email that the company had indeed dealt with a ransomware attack. He added that the company has expended considerable resources into the investigation and remediation of the incident.

Since 2018, privacy laws in Canada require companies to report to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner (OPC) about any breach of personal information that could pose risks of significant harm to individuals.

On Tuesday, a spokesperson for the OPC said that they had not been notified of any ransomware attack at Andrew Agencies.

The company hasn’t said who has been notified of the attack, but they did announce that they have hired third-party experts to solve the problem.

The cybercrime gang known as Maze has claimed that they used malware to lockout 245 of the company’s machines, as early as October 21st.

Maze released a list of organizations that “don’t wish to co-operate with them, and are trying to hide successful attacks on their resources.” The gang reportedly has ties to North Korea, but its location of origin is unknown.

Maze’s website has a list of IP addresses that supposedly belong to Andrew’s machines. The addresses correspond with computers and other devices at all of the company’s locations in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta.

Maze has claimed to have stolen 1.5 gigabytes of information from Andrew Agencies, but it is not known what exactly was taken.

Schioler said that the attack has had “minimal impact” on the company’s operations.

According to Schioler, the company has not paid a ransom.

Details

If you’re wondering what to do over the holidays or are looking for something to do in the New Year, Parks Canada recommends checking out Riding Mountain National Park.

Parks Canada thinks very highly of RMNP, saying the park is a gateway to nature and represents the very best that Canada has to offer Canadians.

During the winter months, RMNP has lots to offer visitors, such as winter accommodations, cross-country skiing on groomed trails, Fat Bike winter biking, snowshoeing, skating, ice fishing and tobogganing.

The winter accommodation includes winterized oTENTiks in the Wasagaming Campground.

The oTENTiks include a wood stove with electrical heat, electrical and USB outlets, a BBQ, and insulated cook shack.

New this winter, is the possibility to reserve overnight stays in the two winterized oTENTiks at the Moon Lake campground.

Over the holidays, you can also join a Parks Canada interpreter for a guided experience. Snowshoe under the starry skies, get in on the secrets behind what makes Species at Risk so special, or enjoy a walk through the forest and learn about how trees communicate.

In early February from the 7th to 9th, Clear Lake Country and Parks Canada are hosting the annual Winter Adventure Weekend. Included in the packed weekend of winter adventures are skiing, snowshoeing, and fat biking.

More info is to come as the date gets closer.

If you'd like to make a reservation for accommodations in Riding Mountain National Park you can do so by clicking here or by calling 1-877-737-3783.

Details

The province’s Auditor General says that safety in the commercial trucking industry is inadequate.

Norm Ricard flagged issues around the way the province performs inspections and Manitoba’s safety programs in a report over 70 pages long.

In the report, Ricard says that the staffing hours at weigh stations don’t always reflect the peak times that trucks are on the road.

He says that for three major weigh stations, Headingly, West Hawk, and Emerson, the audit found that almost half of all commercial truck traffic occurred when the facilities were closed. Ricard also said that both weigh station hours and mobile were too predictable.

“Too little coverage and too much predictability will allow operators to work around the department’s staffing patterns,” said Ricard.

The Auditor General went on to say that the department’s safety programs need to be more rigorous. He says as it stands right now, when the department issues a safety certificate to a driver, they don’t check the driver’s safety knowledge or practices.

Ricard added that a driver’s safety grade isn’t impacted by a failed inspection.

In his report, Ricard makes 17 recommendations.

The report also found heavy commercial vehicles make up ten percent of licensed vehicles in Manitoba but in a 4-year span between 2014 and 2018, commercial trucks were involved in 16 to 27 percent of fatal collisions.

Details

The votes are in and the US House of Representatives has impeached President Donald Trump.

This is just the third time in history the house has voted to remove a president from office, Bill Clinton and Andrew Johnson are the only others to be impeached.

The vote on the charge of abuse of power finished 230 to 197, while the second vote on obstruction of congress finished almost the same at 229-198.

Just because Trump has been impeached doesn't mean he's no longer president, Trump can stay in office pending a trial in the Senate.

A majority of two-thirds in the 100 person Senate is what's needed to remove Trump which experts say is unlikely to happen as the Senate is largely controlled by the Republican party. 

Details

Tim Hortons in Dauphin now has new ownership in Greg Crisanti and Rhonda Pardy.

The two franchisees took over operations of the Dauphin location on Monday. Crisanti is very excited to own the Dauphin Tim Hortons.

“It’s a great opportunity for us and we’ve met so many great faces already, of our guests as well as the new team members that we have on board with us. We’re really excited that we have the opportunity to purchase Dauphin and be up in the Dauphin market now.”

Crisanti says there will be slight changes.

“As far as our guests go, I don’t think they’ll be seeing too much of that. As far as new uniforms go, maybe purchasing a couple of new ovens, changes to our showcase as far as bringing in new items and just changing things up that way. Just to try things out and switch things up a little bit.”

He says they like to give back to the community wherever they do business.

“We’ll be banking locally, we’ll be doing as much shopping locally, hiring locally, you name it. We hope to become members of the Dauphin Chamber of Commerce and everything.”

The Dauphin location is the 9th Tim Hortons that Crisanti and Pardy own, including all 5 Tim Hortons in Brandon, as well as the restaurants in Virden, Neepawa, and Moosomin.

Details

A judge in Manitoba says policies aimed at preventing suicide at correctional centres weren’t followed in the 2016 death of an inmate at the Dauphin Correction Centre.

On July 14th, 2016, Freeman Zong was found dead in a shower area of the jail.

In an inquest report into Zong’s death authored by Judge Christine Harapiak, it said that Zong was arrested three days before his death after his brother called 911 citing that Zong had fired a gun at his girlfriend and threatened to hurt himself.

Months before his death, Zong was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and had told his assessor that he was abusing prescription drugs and alcohol to try and cope with his mother’s death.

After his arrest, he was taken to the hospital for a cut on his arm. During the visit, he denied feeling suicidal, but the admitting officer ranked him at medium risk of harming himself due to the information on the prosecutor’s info sheet about the incident that resulted in his arrest.

According to the inquest report, none of the officers who had direct contact with him on the day of his death felt that he was at risk of harming himself.

The report went on to say that after a number of “upsetting” phone calls made from the jail, Zong went into his cell, and hanged himself from a vent behind a blind corner in the washroom as the shower was running.

Harapiak found that while Manitoba Corrections had developed adequate policies to prevent inmate suicides. When it came to Zong’s death, there were “multiple gaps” in the implementation of the protocol with Zong.

The Manitoba Corrections suicide policy requires direct, personal observation of how the inmate is doing every once every half hour, and that corresponding records are to be made. On the day of Zong’s death, there was no one designated to complete these reports.

In her recommendations, Harapiak suggested developing a simple checklist with all the components of the suicide prevention policy so that they can be reviewed daily by all staff who interact with an at-risk inmate.

She also recommended changing the vents in the correctional centre to security grade vents, which has already been done according to the report. She also recommends having corrections staff communicate with phone contacts requested by an inmate who is at risk of suicide and other measures to ensure that suicide prevention policies are followed through.

Details

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