Manitoba Services

The charges against Ronald Léger stem from a period between 1983 and 2013. (Radio-Canada) A sexual assault trial for Winnipeg Catholic priest Ronald Léger that was set to begin this fall has been adjourned after his lawyer told court on Friday the man’s health is failing and he is in palliative care. “My client maintains his innocence. He has from the onset of these charges,” Léger’s lawyer, Saul Simmonds, told CBC News in a written statement.  “Unfortunately he is now in palliative care and is incapacitated. The trial has been…

RCMP received a report Saturday morning that a boater had gone fishing the previous evening and didn’t return to his campsite. (David Bell/CBC) A cottager who helped rescue a stranded boater on Lake Manitoba had no idea what to expect when a neighbour handed him a two-way radio dropped from an aircraft circling above his Lundar Beach cabin. Marty Danielson found himself talking to members of the Canadian Air Forces. “They’re saying that there’s a stranded boater that has been drifting for over a day. And he’s a long way out…

RCMP received a report Saturday morning that a boater had gone fishing the previous evening and didn’t return to his campsite. (David Bell/CBC) A search for a missing boater ended when searchers in the air spotted the man in his boat on Lake Manitoba. The search began on Saturday after Ste. Rose du Lac RCMP received a report of a missing 60-year-old man who was camping at Vakker Beach Campground.  The man was last seen fishing in his boat on the lake on Friday around 5 p.m. Local campers started…

Wakey, Wakey runs July 18 to 27 at the 2019 Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival. (Michael Osikoya/Visual Soul Studios) There are comedies and there are dramas — and then there are those shows that don’t fit neatly into either category. Whether they’re comedies with serious notes or dramas laced with laughs, there are plenty of shows billing themselves as “dramedies” at the 2019 Winnipeg Fringe. Here are CBC Manitoba’s reviews of six of those shows. The Open House runs July 19 to 28 at the 2019 Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival. (Sherab Rabzyor…

People in northern and central Manitoba could face some extreme heat over the next few days. (Jens Meyer/Associated Press) The next few days could test the heat tolerance of Manitobans living in the northern and central regions of the province. Manitoba Health issued an advisory about hot conditions in those regions beginning Sunday and climbing into Monday and Tuesday. Communities expected to be affected include Flin Flon, The Pas, Norway House, Lynn Lake, Thompson and possibly Grand Rapids.  Some communities could experience extreme heat for two or three days, the…

John Loewen marks his 24th year involved with Habitat for Humanity’s Cycle of Hope fundraiser. This year, his 15-year-old son Sam Loewen joined him for the first time. (Dana Hatherly/CBC) More than two dozen Winnipeggers who each cycled more than 1,250 kilometres were welcomed back to the city by supporters perched in front of a new home the cyclists helped raise money to build. The cycling tour took the group on a journey across three U.S. states along the TransAmerica Trail from Baker City, Ore. to Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. After two weeks on the road, riders in…

Joanne Seiff takes a photo of the smashed back window of her car, the first time it was vandalized. (Joanne Seiff) In June, I joined a large club that I wished didn’t exist. The Broken Window Club. My car was vandalized twice and two windows were broken.  The first episode happened as our sidewalks were being jackhammered by a city contractor. So we wondered if the SUV’s back window shattered due to the vibrations.  More likely, the property damage was criminal, even though the broken back window didn’t allow anyone easy…

Wendy Rutherford of Rutherford Farms near Gross Isle on her saskatoon orchard. She co-owns a Manitoba saskatoon experimental farm. (Bill Redekop/CBC) Health authorities are warning of a strange affliction sweeping through Manitoba that turns people’s tongues a dark shade of purple. In severe cases, individuals display purple-stained mouths and hands, too. Ah, saskatoon berry season is back. It’s that time of year when the luscious berry native to the Prairies ripens into a deep blue-purple hue for making pies, jams or just to roll into your mouth. “It’s the litmus taste…