Boy dies in house fire in Sioux Valley

A child is dead, and a woman is in hospital with severe injuries after she attempted to save him from a house fire in Sioux Valley Dakota Nation over the weekend.

On Saturday evening, community members worked with the Sioux Valley fire department and local safety officers to extinguish the blaze.

The boy was pulled from the burning home and rushed to hospital, where he later succumbed to his injuries.

A 65-year-old woman who participated in the rescue efforts sustained serious injuries and was taken to hospital, where she continues to be treated.

A couple more Steer Burgers to go

Brian Kilborn is entering his final week as the owner of the Beef and Barrel Restaurant, with the well-known Brandon eatery slated to close its doors for good come Friday evening.

Humphries ready for Winter Fair

After taking over as the Provincial Exhibition of Manitoba’s new general manager this past fall, Mark Humphries has had a full plate to contend with, being tasked with spearheading Manitoba Ag Ex and now the Royal Manitoba Winter Fair.

Food Rescue looking to put hunger on ice

Brandon’s Food Rescue Grocery Store continues its campaign to eliminate food insecurity in the Westman region, with the hope that three new freezer units will allow organizers to better store perishable items for the long term.

MP threatens legal action against Global News

OTTAWA - Han Dong is threatening legal action against Global News and its parent company after the media outlet published an allegation the Toronto MP spoke to a Chinese diplomat about delaying the release of two Canadians.

"Yes, I am taking legal action against Global News and Corus Entertainment," Dong said in a statement on Monday. "I have retained a lawyer to begin legal action to its fullest extent."

The statement follows a Global News report last week, citing anonymous security sources, that alleged the Toronto MP spoke about Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig with a Chinese diplomat in Toronto in February 2021.

The two Canadian men had been detained by China in December 2018, just over a week after the RCMP arrested Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou in Vancouver on a U.S. extradition warrant.

Predators settle for second at Cats Classic

This Predators Volleyball Club team is hard-working and fearless. It plays the right way.

Gibson elected to lead Green Party

WINNIPEG — Janine Gibson broke out into song when she learned she would be the new leader of the Manitoba Green Party Sunday afternoon.

Ottawa names official for Indigenous corrections

OTTAWA - The federal government has appointed a deputy commissioner for Indigenous corrections in a move towards tackling the overrepresentation of Indigenous people in Canada's criminal justice system.

Correctional Service Canada announced Monday that it is promoting Kathy Neil, a Métis official, to serve in the role beginning May 1.

The hiring of such a position was a call to justice in the final report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, which released its recommendations in 2019.

Neil is currently the corrections agency's assistant deputy commissioner of correctional operations in the Prairies, was previously the warden of Saskatchewan Penitentiary and has also served as a community health worker.

Grocery aid, clean tech tax breaks in budget

OTTAWA - A second top-up to GST rebate cheques for low-income Canadians and "significant" new tax measures to keep Canada in the green technology game will be among the highlights in Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland's federal budget on Tuesday.

The document, Freeland's third since taking on the finance post in the early months of COVID-19, will try to balance demands from Canadians to help ease the bite of inflation, and the economic need to keep pace with allies, including the United States, on clean technology.

Marci Surkes, a political strategist at Compass Rose, and a former senior policy adviser in the Prime Minister's Office, said in 2021, Freeland had to table a COVID-19 response budget. In 2022, it was a budget peeking around the corner from COVID-19, but still heavily tied to the pandemic.

"This budget really needs to be the 'all that starts to come next' budget," said Surkes. "We are through the worst of the pandemic, let's hope. Now it's about how Canada needs to keep up and compete."

Utilities board to review proposed rate increases

Higher Brandon utility rates have taken one step closer toward reality.

UPDATED: RCMP cleared in man’s death

Manitoba’s police watchdog has found no wrongdoing after an investigation into a Prairie Lakes man who died in a fire after a shootout with police last year.

Canada-U.S. border deal sparks fear asylum seekers will be put in harm’s way

WINNIPEG — A new rule to disallow asylum seekers from making a refugee claim if they enter Canada at an irregular crossing — such as the well-worn Roxham Road in Quebec or a desolate stretch along the Manitoba-North Dakota border — is raising concerns more migrants could lose life and limb.