Brandon Sun – Breaking News, Sports, Manitoba, Canada

Fall colours adorn foliage on trees along the Little Saskatchewan River west of Brandon on a sunny Monday. (Tim Smith/The Brandon Sun)

Changing colours

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Sep. 25, 6 PM: 23°c Cloudy with wind Sep. 26, 12 AM: 18°c Cloudy with wind

Brandon MB

18°C, Cloudy with wind

Over 60,000 Manitobans relying on food banks

By Scott Billeck 3 minute read 2:00 AM CDT

WINNIPEG — Linda Smith first turned to Harvest Manitoba in the early 1990s when her husband became permanently disabled. Now, on a fixed income, she continues to access the food bank to make ends meet.

Smith is one of more than 60,000 Manitobans now relying on food banks each month as demand continues to grow, a new report by Harvest Manitoba reveals.

The organization said in its 2025-26 impact report, released Thursday, that 61,188 people accessed a food bank in the province in March. Nearly half of them were children. The number of people accessing food banks in the province since 2020 has ballooned by more than 150 per cent, including more seniors, like Smith, than ever before.

Smith, a mother of five now in her 70s, first went to Harvest Manitoba in 1991 when he husband was disabled, and then again in the mid 2000s following a major car accident that led to a brain stem injury that forced her out of the workforce.

Local

Second impaired conviction nets jail time

By Tessa Adamski 4 minute read Preview

Second impaired conviction nets jail time

By Tessa Adamski 4 minute read Yesterday at 11:08 PM CDT

A Manitoba judge asked what it would take for a woman to understand the severity of impaired driving after being sentenced twice for the offence — with the most recent case involving a blood-alcohol content nearly triple the legal limit.

Barbara Chartrand, 37, pleaded guilty in Brandon provincial court on Thursday to driving impaired on May 11, resulting in her vehicle flipping in a collision on 18th Street near the Keystone Centre.

Chartrand has a previous conviction for impaired driving from 2018.

“It is only your good luck and good fortune that you weren’t hurt, and that you didn’t hurt somebody else or kill somebody else,” Judge Patrick Sullivan told the woman.

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Yesterday at 11:08 PM CDT

Local

Brandon Police Service Chief Tyler Bates speaks at Monday’s city council meeting. Bates said the primary aim of the review is to “make sure the calibre of our training is the highest standard.” (Alex Lambert/The Brandon Sun)

City spending $175K to review BPS recruit training

By Alex Lambert 4 minute read Preview

City spending $175K to review BPS recruit training

By Alex Lambert 4 minute read Yesterday at 11:07 PM CDT

The City of Brandon will spend $175,000 for a review of its police recruit training program, with hopes to eventually have the Manitoba government introduce provincial standards.

The evaluation, which will be completed by consulting firm MNP, will look at any gaps that might exist in Brandon’s police training in comparison to other agencies, and identify positives and negatives of the current model.

“We want to make sure the calibre of our training is the highest standard,” Brandon Police Service Chief Tyler Bates said at Monday’s council meeting about the two recruit training classes BPS runs each year.

Council voted 9-1 to award the contract, with only Coun. Shaun Cameron (Ward 4) voting against the motion.

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Yesterday at 11:07 PM CDT

Local

The Brandon Police Service crest. (File)

Drugs; hatchet discovered; hunting deer with knife

3 minute read Preview

Drugs; hatchet discovered; hunting deer with knife

3 minute read Yesterday at 11:02 PM CDT

DRUG POSSESSION

A man was arrested on Wednesday morning after police allege he was in possession of methamphetamine and cocaine for the purpose of drug trafficking.

Officers stopped the man who was riding a bike in the 1900 block of Brandon Avenue around 11 a.m., police said in a news release on Thursday. Police said the man was in possession of unstamped tobacco.

When police told the man he was being arrested, he resisted, police said.

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Yesterday at 11:02 PM CDT

Local

Actor Dean Munchinsky is co-director of the award-winning musical “Dear Evan Hansen,” which will make its Manitoba debut tonight in Virden. (Tim Smith/The Brandon Sun files)

Thought-provoking musical opens in Virden

By Rylee Gerrard 3 minute read Preview

Thought-provoking musical opens in Virden

By Rylee Gerrard 3 minute read Yesterday at 10:45 PM CDT

The award-winning musical “Dear Evan Hansen” will make its Manitoba debut tonight in Virden.

Virden Theatre Productions will be the first amateur production company in the province to present the show and the second in the country, says co-director Dean Munchinsky.

“Having the opportunity to do something fresh here is so great,” Munchinsky said in a phone interview Thursday morning.

The story follows anxious high school teen Evan Hansen. When one of his classmates dies by suicide, Hansen lies about the relationship between the two of them and unexpectedly finds himself the face of an online social movement.

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Yesterday at 10:45 PM CDT

Local

The front doors of the Brandon courthouse on 11th Street. (Matt Goerzen/The Brandon Sun)

Little remorse shown for bear-spray attack

By Tessa Adamski 3 minute read Preview

Little remorse shown for bear-spray attack

By Tessa Adamski 3 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 11:20 PM CDT

A 19-year-old man showed little remorse following a targeted bear-spray attack against several youths who responded by brandishing machetes in a convenience store last summer, a Crown attorney said in Brandon provincial court Thursday.

Police were called to Circle K on First Street in Brandon on Aug. 24, 2025 after chaos erupted in the store when Xavier Huntinghawk chased and sprayed three male youths with bear spray, Easton Lacey told the court.

Police reviewed footage that showed Huntinghawk enter the store with a man about 30 seconds after the youths walked in.

After Huntinghawk sprayed the youths, the footage showed the group then “pulled out machetes and chased the two that had gone into the store after them out of the Circle K,” Lacey said.

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Updated: Yesterday at 11:20 PM CDT

Local

Dauphin Mayor David Bosiak is not running for re-election after serving one term. (Mikaela MacKenzie/Winnipeg Free Press files)

Mayors call it a day in Dauphin and Neepawa

By Connor McDowellLocal Journalism Initiative 3 minute read Preview

Mayors call it a day in Dauphin and Neepawa

By Connor McDowellLocal Journalism Initiative 3 minute read Yesterday at 10:42 PM CDT

A number of mayors have decided not to run for re-election in municipalities across western Manitoba.

Heads of council in Dauphin, Neepawa, Boissevain-Morton and Riverdale have bowed out of the race this year, leading to some acclamations and some contests ahead of the Oct. 28 civic election.

Final ballots were confirmed after candidate nominations closed on Tuesday.

Mayor David Bosiak is not running for re-election in the City of Dauphin after serving one term. A three-way race for the mayoral seat is underway between Coun. Steve Sobering and new candidates Keith Durston and Carter Taylor-Luke. Ten candidates entered the race for council; four are councillors running for re-election and six are new candidates. There are six council seats.

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Yesterday at 10:42 PM CDT

Business

An Air Canada Airbus A220-300 aircraft takes off from Vancouver International Airport, in Richmond, B.C., on Friday, July 31, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Poll finds some support for private airport operators, but more than a quarter unsure

David Baxter, The Canadian Press 4 minute read Preview

Poll finds some support for private airport operators, but more than a quarter unsure

David Baxter, The Canadian Press 4 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 3:18 PM CDT

OTTAWA - A new poll suggests a large number of Canadians support the government's idea to put private operators in charge of the country's largest airports — but more than a quarter aren't sure about it.

The Leger poll finds 43 per cent of Canadians are in favour of having private operators for the Toronto, Montreal, Calgary and Vancouver airports, while 31 per cent are against the idea.

Twenty-seven per cent of respondents said they don't know or are unsure about the proposal.

Andrew Enns, executive vice-president Central Canada at Leger, said there will always be a part of the population opposed to any kind of privatization in Canada, but he took note of the relatively low level of support.

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Updated: Yesterday at 3:18 PM CDT

Business

Rail cars and a locomotive are seen at CN Rail's McLean Yard near the Lions Gate Bridge, in North Vancouver, B.C., on Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Employer groups encouraged by Ottawa’s labour law changes but some want bigger steps

Craig Lord, The Canadian Press 6 minute read Preview

Employer groups encouraged by Ottawa’s labour law changes but some want bigger steps

Craig Lord, The Canadian Press 6 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 10:22 AM CDT

OTTAWA - Employer groups say Ottawa's proposed labour law changes are encouraging but some want the Liberal government to go even further to ensure industrial peace.

Unions are already describing the measures in Bill C-39, tabled earlier this week, as an attack on workers' rights.

The proposed legislation, if passed, would pave the way for streamlined project approvals across the country and make changes to the Canada Labour Code.

The amendments include new tools to encourage unions and employers to get a deal when there's been a history of fraught negotiations. Some changes could give the labour minister more power to end strikes affecting critical sectors of the economy.

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Updated: Yesterday at 10:22 AM CDT

Business

Vietnam's President To Lam arrives to attend the International Space Summit in Paris Thursday, Sept. 10, 2026. (Abdul Saboor/Pool Photo via AP)

Vietnam’s leader To Lam upgrades Canada to a strategic partner

Dylan Robertson, The Canadian Press 6 minute read Preview

Vietnam’s leader To Lam upgrades Canada to a strategic partner

Dylan Robertson, The Canadian Press 6 minute read Updated: 10:12 AM CDT

OTTAWA - Vietnamese President To Lam has upgraded ties with Canada to a strategic partnership, building on Prime Minister Mark Carney's efforts to get middle powers working more closely together to confront American and Chinese coercion.

"In a volatile world, trust, responsibility and shared interests in and of themselves are strategic values," Lam said Thursday through an interpreter in an address on Parliament Hill.

His one-day state visit involved numerous events, including a tree-planting at Rideau Hall and an address to parliamentarians and members of the diaspora.

Lam is the first Vietnamese president ever to visit Canada and he leads the country's communist party, making him its most powerful person.

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Updated: 10:12 AM CDT