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CTV News
6 days ago
- CTV News
‘Despicable incident': Charges laid in racially motivated assault in Winkler
Three men have been charged following what police call a racially motivated assault in Winkler, Man., last month. On June 15 at approximately 1:26 a.m., the Winkler Police Service received a report of screaming in the Harmony Lane area. Upon arriving, officers found a man who was assaulted and had his turban removed. Three male suspects, residents of Winkler who fled the scene on foot, were also reported to have yelled racial slurs at the victim, according to Winkler Police Chief Ryan Hunt. Winkler Mayor Henry Siemens said the incident was 'despicable' in a statement, adding that it's not something the city in southern Manitoba is used to seeing. 'We are generally a safe and welcoming community,' said Siemens. 'Personal crimes like this are uncharacteristic in Winkler.' Hunt said random assaults are 'very uncommon' in the city, particularly those that are racially driven, and said the suspects are known to police. Steve Reynolds, executive director of the Winkler branch of Regional Connections Immigrant Services, said the incident is upsetting. 'Seeing something like that happen in the community is jarring for people and shocking for people, and I guess especially considering the kind of a big draw for newcomers in Winkler—and places like Winkler—that we hear about all the time is the safety of the community.' According to Statistics Canada, immigrants make up over 25 per cent of Winkler's population, which was 13,745 in 2021. A 16-year-old, an 18-year-old and a 19-year-old have been charged with several offences, including assault, after being located nearby with the assistance of the Morden Police Service. Two of the accused teenagers were also charged with resisting arrest. None of the charges have been proven in court.
CBC
14-07-2025
- CBC
Assault with racial overtones upsets Winkler, Man., known for its safety
An assault with racial overtones in Winkler has upset residents of the southern Manitoba city, which prides itself on its reputation for safety. Early in the morning of June 15, the Winkler Police Service responded to a 911 call about an assault on Harmony Lane, a residential street on the north side of the city. According to a police news release, officers found a man who had been assaulted and had his turban torn off. Police then found and charged three suspects with assault and other offences. One of the suspects in the attack remains in custody in Winnipeg, while the two others were released with a promise to appear in court in Morden, police said. Steve Reynolds, who helps newcomers settle in Winkler, said his community is shocked because one of the city's biggest draws is is reputation for being safe. "We hear that from newcomer clients all the time too, that they love the kind of safety and peacefulness of settling with their family in a smaller community, so it kind of shakes all that up," said Reynolds, who works with Regional Connections Immigrant Services. Reynolds said some newcomers may now feel less safe than they used to in Winkler, which is about 100 km southwest of Winnipeg. "It definitely would feel that way for a lot of people today, after seeing that something like this can happen here," he said. According to Statistics Canada, immigrants made up 26 per cent of Winkler's total population of 13,745 in 2021. More than a fifth of the city's newcomers that year were recent arrivals who planted roots no earlier than 2016, according to the 2021 census.
Winnipeg Free Press
14-07-2025
- Winnipeg Free Press
Hate charges possible after Winkler man taunted, had turban pulled off
Winkler police say hate-related charges may be laid in a case in which a newcomer was taunted with racial epithets by three suspects who tore off his turban. Chief Ryan Hunt said while the three accused are known to police, the hate-related nature of the incident came as a shock. 'Anybody should be able to freely walk anywhere at any time, without the fear of being assaulted, regardless of religion or beliefs. And then in our community here in Winkler, an assault like this is essentially non-existent, we very rarely get random assaults,' he said Monday. 'The fact that it happened at all is is out of the ordinary, and the fact that there was racial motivation to it, or a hate crime connected to it, possibly, makes it concerning. It's despicable. It's not acceptable.' Hunt said hate crime charges are being considered. The 24-year-old victim was injured, but didn't need to be hospitalized after the incident on June 15, around 1:26 a.m. When police officers arrived, the victim were flagged them down; he said he had been walking home from work when he was attacked. Turbans are worn by some who practise the Sikh religion, along with a number of other cultures and faiths. The victim had received support from Regional Connections, the central immigrant resource network in Pembina Valley, when he moved to the city. The organization provides settlement support, including literacy and language classes; help seeking employment; and cultural diversity training to employers. 'We have reached out directly to him and his family, and we're just waiting to see how we can help them,' said Steve Reynolds, the executive director of the Winkler branch of Regional Connections. The organization will hold a drop-in counselling session Tuesday and offering counselling to anyone who wants help dealing with the attack. They're figuring out how employees of Regional Connections, many of whom are newcomers, can 'unpack' the incident, he said. 'There's been lots of great experiences and success stories, and people immigrating here and staying here because they're having really good experience in the community,' he said. 'But when something like this happens, it's a pretty shocking wake-up call that there's a lot of work to do as well.' Winkler, which had 13,745 residents as of the 2021 census, has had a large influx of newcomers in recent years. Starting in 2022, 700-plus people have arrived in the small community yearly, partly owing to the arrival of Ukrainians following Russia's invasion of that country. Reynolds said that number has dropped to 500 over the past year. Andrew Froese, the city's deputy mayor, said their integration into the community has been smooth. 'Hopefully (newcomers to Winkler) understand and recognize that, hopefully, this is an isolated incident and and they continue to feel part of our community every day in their everyday life,' he said. Reynolds agreed, but said some staff and clients had reported feeling targeted by anti-immigrant sentiment. In recent months, part of their work has been combating misinformation about immigration that clients or staff hear, be it online or through other channels. 'Our concern has definitely been in the last year, as immigration is politicized and the way it's reported and talked about, that manifesting at the local level,' he said. Police have charged Trevayne Thomas, 18, Landon Disbrowe, 19, and a 16-year-old boy with assault. Thomas also faces charges of resisting arrest and failing to comply with a probation order. The youngest accused was charged with resisting arrest and possession of a deadly weapon. He and Disbrowe were released on an undertaking and Thomas remains in custody in Winnipeg. Malak AbasReporter Malak Abas is a city reporter at the Free Press. Born and raised in Winnipeg's North End, she led the campus paper at the University of Manitoba before joining the Free Press in 2020. Read more about Malak. Every piece of reporting Malak 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.
