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Winnipeg Free Press
3 hours ago
- Politics
- Winnipeg Free Press
Ex-MKO employee defends video
A former Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak employee being sued for defamation by the organization and its executive director says information she posted online is true and fair comment. Stephan Thliveris, Loretta Rudrum's lawyer, said in a statement of defence filed Friday that Rudrum posted a YouTube video touching on numerous issues about MKO and its executive director Kelvin Lynxleg. They include 'governance, employment practices, fiscal responsibility, and accounting and reporting.' The information was 'fair comment on matters of public interest' and was 'based on truth from documentation, personal observations and experiences and communications,' the document states. 'There was a social, moral and even legal duty and interest of (Rudrum) to produce and publish the YouTube video as the contents deal with matters of public interest.' Rudrum worked at MKO, which represents northern First Nations, until resigning on Feb. 15, 2023. Rudrum said that after watching the YouTube video in September 2024, Keewatin Tribal Council Grand Chief Walter Wastesicoot asked her to prepare a report. The report was later given to the council and Indigenous Services Canada. She said the federal department then 'opened a file to undertake a formal analysis of the report' and that the analysis has recommended a forensic audit be done 'of all MKO programs that received federal funding.' 'If (MKO and Lynxleg) are the subject of public odium or contempt, it is the result of their own conduct and public comments and not as a result of the alleged defamatory statements,' Rudrum said in the statement of defence. MKO and Lynxleg filed a statement of claim in Court of King's Bench in May asking for general and punitive damages for various online postings by Rudrum starting in February 2023. They are also seeking a permanent injunction restraining Rudrum from continuing to publish allegedly defamatory statements and to delete them online. Both the statements of claim and defence include allegations that have not yet been proven in court. Kevin RollasonReporter Kevin Rollason is a general assignment reporter at the Free Press. He graduated from Western University with a Masters of Journalism in 1985 and worked at the Winnipeg Sun until 1988, when he joined the Free Press. He has served as the Free Press's city hall and law courts reporter and has won several awards, including a National Newspaper Award. Read more about Kevin. Every piece of reporting Kevin produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
Winnipeg Free Press
4 days ago
- Climate
- Winnipeg Free Press
Holy smoke! Winnipeg sets another unwanted record
Winnipeg has blazed its way to its smokiest year on record — and there are still nearly three months remaining in the wildfire season. The city had recorded 306 smoke hours as of Tuesday, compared with 304 in 1961. 'We're not even through the wildfire season, and we're already the smokiest,' Environment and Climate Change Canada scientist Christy Climenhaga said. 'The smoke this summer has been pretty relentless. We've had fires since the beginning of the season. It has been a very active smoke year in Manitoba.' The record comes days after Winnipeg recorded its smokiest month ever, with 189 hours in July. That was 26 more than the 163 in May 1961. Environment Canada meteorologist Crawford Luke said 2025 is the smokiest Winnipeg has been in 72 years of record keeping. 'We have been counting smoke hours from April 1 through Oct. 31 to try to reflect smoke from the wildfire seasons of the past,' Luke said Wednesday. 'A smoke hour is defined as an hourly observation where the weather observer observed the visibility to be six miles (9.65 kilometres) or less, with smoke as the visibility reduction. These observations are taken at the top of the hour at Winnipeg International Airport.' Environment Canada began recording smoke hours in 1953, when it recorded 66. There have been 13 years where the smoke hours were recorded as zero — the latest was 2020. While, for the most part, the number of hours remained in the low double digits for decades, they have been much higher than that in four of the past five years, including 2025. MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS FILES Winnipeg recorded its smokiest month ever, with 189 smoke hours in July. The 262 hours in 2021 was the highest count since 1961, and the first time since then that it was a three-digit number. In 2023, 125 hours were recorded, and 108 were recorded in 2024. There was only one hour of smoke in 2022, when Winnipeg set a record with its wettest year, with 739.9 millimetres of rain and snow recorded up to Oct. 24. Kevin RollasonReporter Kevin Rollason is a general assignment reporter at the Free Press. He graduated from Western University with a Masters of Journalism in 1985 and worked at the Winnipeg Sun until 1988, when he joined the Free Press. He has served as the Free Press's city hall and law courts reporter and has won several awards, including a National Newspaper Award. Read more about Kevin. Every piece of reporting Kevin produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
Winnipeg Free Press
29-07-2025
- Winnipeg Free Press
Suit claims assault by Knowles Centre therapist in '80s
A WOMAN is suing the Knowles Centre and the River East Transcona School Division for alleged sexual abuse by a therapist at the centre when she was a teen more than 40 years ago. In a statement of claim filed in Manitoba Court of King's Bench, the woman claims the abuse occurred when she was about 14 to 16 years of age, around 1982 to 1984. She claims the centre and the school division granted the therapist 'a position of power and authority,' which was used to turn him into 'a trusted authority figure to the plaintiff's family, and the plaintiff, who was young, vulnerable and in need of guidance.' The woman claims she was taken to the therapist's residence where the alleged assault took place. She claims the abuse 'continued on a repeated basis, increasing in frequency, nature and intensity as time progressed' and she was made to feel 'it was unsafe to report the wrongdoings.' The woman claims the defendants were negligent for failing to properly supervise the therapist, for not investigating his background and character, and for not protecting her. She says she suffered many damages including physical pain, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and anxiety, psychological injuries, addiction, sexual dysfunction, nightmares and night terrors, and difficulty in establishing intimate relationships. The woman said she also dropped out of school. The woman says she has had to undergo medical and psychological treatment throughout the years and will need to continue them for the rest of her life. She says she is seeking unspecified general, special, punitive and aggravated damages. Both the woman and her British Columbia-based lawyer could not be reached for comment. A spokesperson for the school division said they can't comment because the matter is before the courts, while a spokesperson for the Knowles Centre could not be reached for comment. No statements of defence have been filed and the matter has not been adjudicated in court. Kevin RollasonReporter Kevin Rollason is a general assignment reporter at the Free Press. He graduated from Western University with a Masters of Journalism in 1985 and worked at the Winnipeg Sun until 1988, when he joined the Free Press. He has served as the Free Press's city hall and law courts reporter and has won several awards, including a National Newspaper Award. Read more about Kevin. Every piece of reporting Kevin produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
Winnipeg Free Press
11-07-2025
- Winnipeg Free Press
Homicide detectives hope for a break 10 years after Thelma Krull went missing
It has been a decade since Thelma Krull was seen walking in view of a neighbour's surveillance camera during an early morning outing in the Valley Gardens area of Winnipeg. Krull left her house, in Harbourview South in the Grassie Boulevard area, on Saturday, July 11, 2015, at 7:23 a.m. Despite an intensive search and police investigation, no one knew where she was until hunters found her remains in a wooded area in the RM of Tache on Oct. 27, 2018. Her killer or killers have never been identified, but officers in the Winnipeg Police Service historical homicide unit are trying to crack the case. WPS HANDOUT / FREE PRESS FILES Thelma Krull was last seen on July 11, 2015. Her remains were found in a wooded area in the RM of Tache on Oct. 27, 2018. 'Despite thousands of hours of work that's gone into this investigation, by both our agency and the RCMP, it sadly remains unsolved,' the unit said in a statement on Friday. 'The case remains open and active and we will continue to investigate all tips submitted to our agency.' 'We believe the answer is still out there and we are hopeful that, with the help of the community, we can find justice for Thelma Krull and her family.' Krull's family and friends couldn't be reached for comment. Police believe Krull, a grandmother who was 5-4, weighed 170 lbs., and had short dyed blond hair with a purple streak in it, was in the civic park and Kildonan East Collegiate vicinity by 8 a.m., and that's where she was attacked, dragged away, slain and then driven out of Winnipeg. Sundays Kevin Rollason's Sunday newsletter honouring and remembering lives well-lived in Manitoba. Several of Krull's belongings, including her glasses and cellphone, were found in the area. As for where Krull's remains were found, police are convinced 'this location is significant and that the suspect was familiar with this area and may live, work or is somehow connected to this location and had a reason to be there.' Police said on Friday they thank Winnipeggers for the hundreds of tips they have received about the case. Anyone who has any information can call the unit at 204-906-6051 or put in an anonymous tip to Crime Stoppers at 204-786-TIPS (8477) or Kevin RollasonReporter Kevin Rollason is a general assignment reporter at the Free Press. He graduated from Western University with a Masters of Journalism in 1985 and worked at the Winnipeg Sun until 1988, when he joined the Free Press. He has served as the Free Press's city hall and law courts reporter and has won several awards, including a National Newspaper Award. Read more about Kevin. Every piece of reporting Kevin produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
Winnipeg Free Press
20-06-2025
- Sport
- Winnipeg Free Press
Special Olympics finds new pool for swim competitions
Athletes with Special Olympics Manitoba are back in the swim for their annual summer games this weekend after the University of Manitoba closed its pool in April. Originally scheduled for the Joyce Fromson Pool at the university, the 57 athletes, starting at age 15, were forced to look for a different aquatic facility when a leak forced the closure of the pool. The university later decided to replace it. Now the athletes, whose Special Olympics oath is 'Let me win, but if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt,' are diving into the Selkirk Community Pool at the Lord Selkirk Regional Comprehensive Secondary School this weekend. The first competitions began Friday. Michelle Stamm, manager of the Selkirk pool, and herself a Special Olympics swim coach, said when she got the call from the organization, she immediately agreed to let the athletes go there. Then her own facility was forced to close last month after developing leaks in two pumps. Stamm said the school's maintenance department was able to fix the pumps earlier in the week just in time for the competition. 'This is a very special event,' she said. 'We can't hurt them. They train all year for this.' It will be a short opening for the pool, though. Another pump has started to leak, so as soon as the competition ends, the pool will close again. Special O's sport director, Colleen Lowdon-Bula, said the only unfortunate part of the pool switch is it means many of the athletes, whose competitions are still at the university, won't be able to cheer on the swimmers and vice versa. 'Things like this happen, you deal with it as it comes,' Lowdon-Bula said. 'It pays to know people. I have known Michelle for a long time and I asked her for help and Michelle said 'absolutely.' The difference for the athletes is instead of sending the buses to the University of Manitoba, we are sending them to Selkirk instead. 'It is really amazing.' Meanwhile, the university has said the replacement for its 60-year-old pool is scheduled to open this spring. Kevin RollasonReporter Kevin Rollason is a general assignment reporter at the Free Press. He graduated from Western University with a Masters of Journalism in 1985 and worked at the Winnipeg Sun until 1988, when he joined the Free Press. He has served as the Free Press's city hall and law courts reporter and has won several awards, including a National Newspaper Award. Read more about Kevin. Every piece of reporting Kevin produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
