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Senior housing planned for McKenzie Seeds building

By Abiola Odutola 5 minute read Preview

Senior housing planned for McKenzie Seeds building

By Abiola Odutola 5 minute read Yesterday at 9:40 PM CDT

The sale of Brandon’s long-vacant McKenzie Seeds building to Manitoba-based Blackbird Housing Inc. has been finalized, with plans moving ahead to transform the landmark into senior housing.

The proposed development would include about 130 residential suites, medical and wellness-related commercial spaces and amenities such as a 10,000-square-foot rooftop deck. Developers are also exploring partnerships with senior housing operators who could lease and operate portions of the facility once construction is complete.

Blackbird Housing president Paul Souque said the $20-million project is fully funded through the company’s partnerships and does not currently require public fundraising efforts.

“We acquired the property from Brandon Fresh Farm about three months ago for $3.25 million,” he told the Sun. “Attainable senior living is our goal.”

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Yesterday at 9:40 PM CDT

Local

Shannon Morrow-Stritz, manager of the Rapid Access to Addictions Medicine (RAAM) clinic, and Dr. Ranjit Tatineni, a Brandon physician, pose for a photo at the 7th Street Health Access Centre in Brandon on Tuesday. (Tim Smith/The Brandon Sun)

RAAM clinic visits almost quadruple in five years

By Tessa Adamski 4 minute read Preview

RAAM clinic visits almost quadruple in five years

By Tessa Adamski 4 minute read Yesterday at 9:49 PM CDT

The number of patients seeking help to manage substance use and addictions at a Brandon drop-in clinic has “drastically increased” in recent years, with most people accessing treatment for opioid use.

Visits at Prairie Mountain Health’s Rapid Access to Addictions Medicine (RAAM) clinic almost quadrupled to 2,963 in 2025 from 773 in 2020, according to data from Shared Health.

It’s difficult to pinpoint what’s driving the increase in patient visits, but it could be linked to the accessibility of the services aimed at meeting people’s needs since the clinic opened in September 2018, said Shannon Morrow-Stritz, manager of the clinic located at the 7th Street Health Access Centre.

“By allowing it to be low barrier, they benefit from the fact that they can come when they feel that they need to at the time,” she said.

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Yesterday at 9:49 PM CDT

Local

Ste. Rose du Lac man, 53, dies from injuries in motorcycle accident

1 minute read Preview

Ste. Rose du Lac man, 53, dies from injuries in motorcycle accident

1 minute read Yesterday at 9:53 PM CDT

A 53-year-old Ste. Rose du Lac man has died after his motorcycle went into a ditch.

Ste. Rose du Lac RCMP responded to the accident on Highway 276 and Road 141 West, just north of the community, at around midnight on Monday.

Mounties believe the man was riding south when he went off the road on the wrong side after a curve in the highway, RCMP said in a news release Tuesday.

Police found the man lying beside his motorcycle in the east ditch, Mounties said.

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Yesterday at 9:53 PM CDT

Local

Brandon Police Service Chief Tyler Bates speaks during a press conference put on by the City of Brandon and Safe Work Manitoba at Brandon City Hall on Tuesday. (Tim Smith/The Brandon Sun)

Campaign reminds drivers to slow down in construction zones

By Alex Lambert 3 minute read Preview

Campaign reminds drivers to slow down in construction zones

By Alex Lambert 3 minute read Yesterday at 9:50 PM CDT

Officials are urging motorists to slow down and pay attention to the road as construction season ramps up.

City of Brandon staff and Safe Work Manitoba hosted a press conference outside city hall on Tuesday to highlight the need to keep construction workers safe.

“They’re not in your way, they’re at work. Slow down, let them work safely,” said Shawn Wood, the executive director of the Construction Association of Rural Manitoba, reading the 2026 Safe Roads campaign slogan.

Workers are people’s family, friends, colleagues and neighbours, and they deserve to get home safe every day, said Wood.

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Yesterday at 9:50 PM CDT

Local

Greg Brown, acting director of transportation services for the City of Brandon. (Alex Lambert/The Brandon Sun files)

NDP urged to restore 50-50 transit funding

By Alex Lambert 5 minute read Preview

NDP urged to restore 50-50 transit funding

By Alex Lambert 5 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 9:46 PM CDT

Calls to restore dollar-for-dollar funding for public transit are growing, with Brandon Mayor Jeff Fawcett and the city’s transit union urging the province to step up.

Fawcett said the city has been asking for a return to 50-50 funding from the province since it was scrapped in 2017 by the Progressive Conservative government.

“We have to try to do the best for cost recovery as we can,” Fawcett said. “It increases the cost of people participating in transit, and it just increases the cost locally to offer a service.”

Fawcett said the city has been forced to reduce transit services since the province stopped increasing its funding in step with the rising cost of the system. The number of buses running on some routes has fallen and fares charged to riders have increased, he said.

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Updated: Yesterday at 9:46 PM CDT

Local

Crown calls for 25-year sentence in foster child sexual abuse case

By Skye Anderson 6 minute read Preview

Crown calls for 25-year sentence in foster child sexual abuse case

By Skye Anderson 6 minute read Yesterday at 9:39 PM CDT

A Crown prosecutor asked the court to impose a 25-year sentence on a Brandon man who made and distributed sexual videos and photos of his two young foster children.

The 38-year-old man — who lived in a residence where a home daycare was also operating — pleaded guilty in January to two counts each of sexual interference, making child sexual abuse material and distributing child sexual abuse material, along with a single count of possessing child sexual abuse material.

“The spectre of organized multi-victim abuse within the child-care setting has been a deep fear for a long time in the public mind. This case is that fear taking actual shape,” Crown attorney Rich Lonstrup said in Brandon provincial court on Tuesday.

The man’s lawyer, Jennifer Janssens, argued that a sentence in the range of 16 to 18 years would be more appropriate, citing his sincere remorse and that the time he has spent in custody has already had a strong impact on him due to the nature of his charges.

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Yesterday at 9:39 PM CDT

Lifestyles

The hantavirus-stricken cruise ship MV Hondius is seen at anchor at the port of Granadilla in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, Monday, May 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Arturo Rodriguez)

French hantavirus patient is critically ill and on an artificial lung as outbreak grows to 11

Thomas Adamson And Russ Bynum, The Associated Press 5 minute read Preview

French hantavirus patient is critically ill and on an artificial lung as outbreak grows to 11

Thomas Adamson And Russ Bynum, The Associated Press 5 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 11:13 PM CDT

PARIS (AP) — A French woman infected in the deadly hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship is critically ill and being treated with an artificial lung, a doctor at the Paris hospital caring for the sickened passenger said Tuesday. The outbreak has now reached 11 total reported cases, 9 of which have been confirmed.

Three people on the cruise died, including a Dutch couple that health officials believe were the first exposed to the virus while visiting South America.

The French passenger hospitalized in Paris has a severe form of the disease that has caused life-threatening lung and heart problems, said Dr. Xavier Lescure, an infectious disease specialist at Bichat Hospital.

He said the woman is on a life-support device that pumps blood through an artificial lung, providing it with oxygen and returning it to the body. The hope is that the device relieves enough pressure on the lungs and heart to give them some time to recover. Lescure called it “the final stage of supportive care.”

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Updated: Yesterday at 11:13 PM CDT

Local

FILE - Israel's Iron Dome anti-missile system fires to intercept as air raid sirens sound in Tel Aviv, on Oct. 23, 2024. (Nathan Howard/Pool Photo via AP, File)

US ambassador to Israel says Israel sent Iron Dome batteries, personnel to UAE to defend country

Melanie Lidman And Jon Gambrell, The Associated Press 5 minute read Preview

US ambassador to Israel says Israel sent Iron Dome batteries, personnel to UAE to defend country

Melanie Lidman And Jon Gambrell, The Associated Press 5 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 8:59 AM CDT

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israel sent Iron Dome anti-missile batteries and personnel to operate them to the United Arab Emirates to defend the country during the Iran war, the U.S. ambassador to Israel said Tuesday.

The comments by Mike Huckabee underline the growing defense relationship between Israel and the UAE, countries long suspicious of Iran, as a shaky ceasefire still holds in the Iran war. It represents the first publicly acknowledged deployment of Israel's military to the Emirates, a federation of seven sheikdoms on the Arabian Peninsula home to Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

However, the narrow Strait of Hormuz remains in Tehran's chokehold and negotiations between the U.S. and Iran appear at a standstill for the moment — raising the risk of the conflict breaking out again. U.S. President Donald Trump is traveling this week to China for a summit with Xi Jinping, where Iran will likely be a topic. Beijing long has been a buyer of sanctioned Iranian crude oil and has been hurt by the strait's closure, which has sparked a global energy crisis.

Huckabee, a Baptist minister, former governor of Arkansas and one-time presidential candidate, made the comment on stage at an event in Tel Aviv, Israel.

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Updated: Yesterday at 8:59 AM CDT

Entertainment

Statistics Canada building and signs are pictured in Ottawa on Wednesday, July 3, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

MP calls on Canadians to fill out census as some express privacy concerns

Catherine Morrison, The Canadian Press 5 minute read Preview

MP calls on Canadians to fill out census as some express privacy concerns

Catherine Morrison, The Canadian Press 5 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 1:10 PM CDT

OTTAWA - As some Canadians claim that the federal government's national census violates their privacy, a Liberal member of Parliament is calling on them to fill out their 2026 census forms for the good of their communities.

Canadians have been asked to fill out the census form by May 12, though Statistics Canada says that's a "reference date" rather than a deadline.

While the federal Statistics Act states a census must be held every five years, and that every household and farm operator in Canada must participate, some Canadians have taken to social media to express their opposition to the census.

Several have posted pictures of ripped-up forms or envelopes marked "return to sender," sometimes with angry messages to Prime Minister Mark Carney.

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Updated: Yesterday at 1:10 PM CDT

Local

A composite image made from two file photographs shows Liberal MP Corey Hogan, left, during an interview in Calgary, Tuesday, April 29, 2025, and former Alberta premier Jason Kenney during an interview in Calgary, Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh

‘Kicking it into gear’: Jason Kenney says pro-Canada forces must counter separatism

Bill Graveland, The Canadian Press 3 minute read Preview

‘Kicking it into gear’: Jason Kenney says pro-Canada forces must counter separatism

Bill Graveland, The Canadian Press 3 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 9:48 AM CDT

CALGARY - Former Alberta premier Jason Kenney says it's high time federal MPs take a stand and fight against those who wish to see Canada torn apart.

Kenney, also a former federal cabinet minister, shared a stage at the University of Calgary on Monday with an unlikely ally — Calgary Liberal MP Corey Hogan.

"We may just be 150 days away from a huge rupture in our lives together … in our economy, in our political community, in our society," Kenney said at the Case for a United Canada event.

"Federalists need to start kicking it into gear here. I think we've allowed the separatists to almost completely dominate the debate on the process for the past year."

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Updated: Yesterday at 9:48 AM CDT