Brandon Sun – Breaking News, Sports, Manitoba, Canada

Brandon University students came out in force on the Clark Hall drop-off loop, which was festooned with six different Brandon food trucks on Tuesday during the noon hour. A large crowd of students lined the sidewalk to get a sandwich or fill that poutine craving for lunch. The food truck line was organized by the Brandon University Students' Union. (Matt Goerzen/The Brandon Sun)

Food Truck Day on campus

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NCR defence rejected over lack of evidence, denial

By Tessa Adamski 5 minute read Preview

NCR defence rejected over lack of evidence, denial

By Tessa Adamski 5 minute read Yesterday at 10:26 PM CDT

A not-criminally-responsible defence for a Brandon man with a neurocognitive disorder was thrown out by a Manitoba judge this week due to a lack of evidence and because the accused “flatly denied” murdering his mother with a hatchet in the fall of 2023.

Gabriel Paul Heymans, 47, was found guilty of second-degree murder in the death of his 71-year-old mother, Maureen Heymans, in a Brandon courtroom on Monday.

Defence lawyers for Heymans argued during his April trial that he should be held not criminally responsible (NCR) after he suffered a traumatic brain injury in a 1998 workplace incident.

A psychiatrist found Heymans was fit to stand trial despite past medical assessments showing the accused experienced significant problems with his short-term memory, a diagnosis of bipolar disorder and that he had reported hearing voices in 2001.

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Yesterday at 10:26 PM CDT

Local

The Brandon Police Service crest. (File)

Robbery; taxi attacked; suds swiped

3 minute read Preview

Robbery; taxi attacked; suds swiped

3 minute read Yesterday at 10:24 PM CDT

STABBING THREAT

A man was arrested after he allegedly threatened to stab a store employee when he was confronted for stealing on Monday, police say.

The man went to a business on the 1600 block of 18th Street and stole merchandise valued at $20, Brandon police said in a news release on Wednesday.

When staff confronted him, he took out a knife and threatened to stab them before riding away on a bicycle with the knife tucked into his sock, police said.

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Yesterday at 10:24 PM CDT

Local

Dauphin Progressive Conservative candidate Kayla Gillis. (Submitted)

Dauphin bank manager named PC candidate

By Alex Lambert 4 minute read Preview

Dauphin bank manager named PC candidate

By Alex Lambert 4 minute read Yesterday at 10:20 PM CDT

Manitoba’s Progressive Conservatives have nominated Kayla Gillis as the party’s candidate in Dauphin for the next provincial election.

Gillis, who works as a branch manager at RBC and has a background in agribusiness, said she is “excited” to make a run for the provincial office, currently held by MLA Ron Kostyshyn, the NDP’s agriculture minister.

“I’m very happy to start the journey, and I think it’s going to be an incredible one,” said Gillis, 38.

Gillis, who grew up on a farm and currently lives in Dauphin, said health care, community safety and affordability are her main concerns ahead of the election, which will take place no later than Oct. 5, 2027.

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Yesterday at 10:20 PM CDT

Local

Farmers and sisters Stefanie and Cassandra Lepp are shown with their dogs, Violet, Wiley and Myles, in one of their partially harvested wheat fields at their farm northwest of Rivers on Wednesday. The wet weather is having a major impact on farmers trying to get their crops off their fields. The Lepps have 200 acres of wheat and 1,300 acres of canola left to harvest. (Tim Smith/The Brandon Sun)

Late rains taking costly toll on harvest

By Connor McDowellLocal Journalism Initiative 6 minute read Preview

Late rains taking costly toll on harvest

By Connor McDowellLocal Journalism Initiative 6 minute read Yesterday at 10:19 PM CDT

Farmers are dealing with poor harvest conditions due to the high amount of rain that has fallen this month.

By Sept. 15, Brandon had received 74.7 millimetres of rain, a spokesperson for Environment and Climate Change Canada told the Sun on Wednesday. The amount is equal to 173 per cent of average rainfall for Brandon — with the past five years never seeing more than 38.8 mm during the month.

The wet conditions are causing crop loss and delays in harvesting, several Westman farmers told the Sun this week.

“At this point, it (could be) six figures of loss. And that all happens in days,” Cassandra Lepp, a Rivers-area wheat and canola farmer, said in a phone interview Wednesday. “We have good crops out there, and they are disappearing.”

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Yesterday at 10:19 PM CDT

Local

Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara praised the “team effort” that went into opening the Dauphin emergency department on Sept. 7. (Mike Deal/ Winnipeg Free Press files)

CT scanner operating in Dauphin next week

By Rylee Gerrard 6 minute read Preview

CT scanner operating in Dauphin next week

By Rylee Gerrard 6 minute read Yesterday at 10:19 PM CDT

Starting next Wednesday, Dauphin and area residents will have access to a CT scanner in the region for the first time since the city’s hospital closed on Canada Day.

A trailer-based mobile CT scanner is currently being set up on the grounds of the Dauphin Regional Health Centre and will begin taking patients on Sept. 23, Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara told the Sun in an interview on Wednesday.

“We were originally told it was going to take many months to have CT up and running … We said that timeline was unacceptable,” Asagwara said.

Dauphin’s emergency department reopened on Sept. 7, after the hospital was forced to close on July 1 due to significant flooding in the area. Floodwaters damaged the hospital’s basement and the mechanical and electrical systems throughout the building. Prairie Mountain Health said at the time that repairs would take nine months to a year.

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Yesterday at 10:19 PM CDT

Local

Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks with High Commissioner for Canada in the United Kingdom Bill Blair, left, as he arrives in Manchester, England, on Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang

Canada seeks full membership in U.K.-led military coalition

Nick Murray, The Canadian Press 4 minute read Preview

Canada seeks full membership in U.K.-led military coalition

Nick Murray, The Canadian Press 4 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 6:02 PM CDT

LIVERPOOL - Prime Minister Mark Carney met for the first time face-to-face with British Prime Minister Andy Burnham on Wednesday, bonding over common values, a love of sports and a shared loss of their fathers to Alzheimer's disease.

The two leaders watched the Wolverhampton Wanderers play the Everton Football Club — Burnham's favourite team — in a League Cup game in Liverpool, England.

When they had their first call in July, a readout from 10 Downing said Burnham told Carney he "hoped to be able to roll out the blue carpet" for him in the future — a reference to Everton's colours and the invitation to the game.

The two men sported the blue and yellow brooch of the Alzheimer Society on Wednesday, in recognition of Burham’s father who just recently died of the disease. In his own remarks, Carney noted that he too had lost his father to Alzheimer’s.

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Updated: Yesterday at 6:02 PM CDT

Lifestyles

Dr. Andrew Boozary, of UHN, is photographed at the site of a new Social Medicine Housing Initiative in Toronto on Wednesday, October 2, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young

Diverting intoxicated people from ER to recovery program ‘transformative’: study

Hannah Alberga, The Canadian Press 3 minute read Preview

Diverting intoxicated people from ER to recovery program ‘transformative’: study

Hannah Alberga, The Canadian Press 3 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 3:41 PM CDT

TORONTO - A new study suggests diverting intoxicated people from emergency rooms to a safe recovery space can help free up valuable health care resources and offer more suitable care.

The study, published in the Canadian Journal of Public Health this week, evaluated the first two years of a non-medical Stabilization and Connection Centre in Toronto launched in 2022.

The centre was created to redirect people who are intoxicated by alcohol or opioids and don't require medical attention from the ER to a 10-bed facility with support workers.

The University Health Network program partners with The Neighbourhood Group Community Services and Parkdale Queen West Community Health Centre, who staff the site.

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Updated: Yesterday at 3:41 PM CDT

Local

President Donald Trump speaks with reporters before boarding Air Force One at Shannon Airport, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026, in Shannon, Ireland. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Trump criticizes Canada over drugs but leaves it off list of drug-producing countries

Kelly Geraldine Malone, The Canadian Press 4 minute read Preview

Trump criticizes Canada over drugs but leaves it off list of drug-producing countries

Kelly Geraldine Malone, The Canadian Press 4 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 1:21 PM CDT

WASHINGTON - U.S. President Donald Trump is again accusing Canada of not doing enough to clamp down on drugs — but did not include it in a list of major drug-producing countries released Wednesday.

"After four years of open border chaos, seizures of fentanyl and other drugs being smuggled into the United States have been reduced by more than half, and drug overdose deaths have plunged," Trump said in a declaration submitted to Congress. "My Administration has saved tens of thousands of American lives from this scourge."

Every year, under U.S. law, the president must identify countries that have failed to meet their obligations under international counternarcotics agreements during the previous 12 months.

The new list cites Afghanistan, the Bahamas, Belize, Bolivia, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, India, Jamaica, Laos, Mexico, Myanmar, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Panama, Peru and Venezuela.

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Updated: Yesterday at 1:21 PM CDT

Local

Palestinian civil defense crews carry a body from the rubble of a collapsed building that housed displaced Palestinians and was heavily damaged during the Israel-Hamas war, in Gaza City, Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Building collapse in Gaza kills 19 as perilous conditions persist for Palestinians during truce

Jehad Alshrafi, Wafaa Shurafa And Toqa Ezzidin (), The Associated Press 3 minute read Preview

Building collapse in Gaza kills 19 as perilous conditions persist for Palestinians during truce

Jehad Alshrafi, Wafaa Shurafa And Toqa Ezzidin (), The Associated Press 3 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 12:47 PM CDT

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — A building housing about 100 people gave out in Gaza City early Wednesday morning, killing 19 people as they slept and injuring 25, and leaving rescuers digging through rubble for dozens more who'd been sheltering inside the structure.

The sudden collapse of the building, which was known to be unstable due to damage from Israeli strikes earlier in the war, underscored how perilous and desperate living conditions have grown for the majority of the enclave’s population as a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas stalls.

The 19 dead include at least 13 women and children, according to Zaher al-Wahidi, a spokesperson for the Gaza Health Ministry.

The toll was expected to rise as more bodies were recovered from the wreckage. Around 100 people, including 50 children, were living in the building, said Ramiz Alakbarov, the U.N.'s humanitarian coordinator for the Palestinian territories.

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Updated: Yesterday at 12:47 PM CDT

Local

People attend a vigil for the victims of a mass shooting in Tumbler Ridge, B.C., Friday, Feb. 13, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christinne Muschi

Secrecy and accountability ‘can coexist’: groups push for Tumbler Ridge gun details

Jim Bronskill, The Canadian Press 4 minute read Preview

Secrecy and accountability ‘can coexist’: groups push for Tumbler Ridge gun details

Jim Bronskill, The Canadian Press 4 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 2:27 PM CDT

OTTAWA - Five gun control advocacy groups are renewing pressure on the RCMP to disclose information about the firearms used in the mass shooting in Tumbler Ridge, B.C., saying public discussion of the details could help prevent another tragedy.

The RCMP says the force cannot reveal specific information because the investigation of the February shootings at a home and school in the small community is active and ongoing.

In a Sept. 14 letter addressed to RCMP Commissioner Mike Duheme, the groups say that as a new school year begins, students, parents, teachers and communities deserve verified information that could help address failures in gun control law or its enforcement before another mass shooting happens.

"In a mass murder investigation like the one at Tumbler Ridge, operational secrecy and public accountability can coexist," the letter says.

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Updated: Yesterday at 2:27 PM CDT