Portage

A statement of claim was made Wednesday, Sept. 18, by Sandy Bay Child and Family Services (CFS) to recover over $10 million from its former executive director, Richard De La Ronde.

Multiple events were recorded by the Central Plains RCMP in their weekly report from one day. A recap of September 10 is provided below.

Shortly before 7:00 a.m., Portage la Prairie RCMP received a call of an abandoned vehicle at Highway 16 and Road 227. Officers had the vehicle towed as it was impeding road traffic. A short time later, a report was received that this vehicle had actually been stolen from an address on 19th Street SW in Portage la Prairie. The suspect had caused considerable damage to the vehicle. 

The defence for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers has taken a hit.

The Blue and Gold are going to be without linebacker Adam Bighill for the remainder of the season due to season-ending knee surgery. 

Bighill shared the news on Instagram saying, "Unfortunately today I’m going in for surgery on my knee that will end my season."

The coach of the MacGregor Collegiate Institute's Mustangs Senior Varsity Boys Volleyball team is extremely proud of his team's effort at the Treherne Invitational last weekend.

Marc Gaudet mentions that everyone contributed to the team's victory in the tournament for the second consecutive year.

"Defending the championship with a new group of guys, some returning, some new, is nice. It was a good feeling for us to come home to start the year with the championship."

Wednesday, September 18th

Classes are back in session for the 2024-25 school year, with a noticeable difference across Manitoba schools: a provincial government-imposed ban on cell phones.

Camille Sanderson teaches Grade 7 at La Verendrye School and says cell phones were certainly becoming a hassle to deal with during the previous school year.

United Way West Central Manitoba has kicked off its Portage la Prairie campaign, aiming to support eight local agencies while providing some services of their own.

In 2023, United Way was able to raise over $185,000. Those funds were split among the Bear Clan, Service for Seniors, Family Resource Centre, CMHA Central, Big Brothers Big Sisters Central Plains, CFS Central, Sunset Palliative Care, and the Portage Learning and Literacy Centre.

The Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba (IIU) has investigated an incident concerning the Manitoba First Nations Police Service (MFNPS) in Sandy Bay First Nation.

The incident occurred during an arrest in which a police dog bit a man who was a suspect.
 
On September 27, 2023, the Manitoba First Nations Police Service informed the IIU about an incident on September 26.

Bill C-379 was defeated on September 18 in its second reading in the House of Common; Yeas: 149, Nays: 170, Paired: 2.

Original story:

Members of Parliament from across the country gathered Wednesday for their regular weekly caucus meeting. Portage-Lisgar MP Branden Leslie noted it was nice to get back to the office. He mentioned the day was set for a vote in Parliament on one of his colleague's pieces of legislation, Bill C-379, aimed at ensuring repeat offenders remain behind bars.

There's some good news for Canada's pulse sector as industry representatives gather this week in Winnipeg for the Annual Pulse and Special Crops Convention.

India announced late last week that it would once again extend the timeline for duty-free imports of yellow peas until December 31st, 2024.

India originally lifted the duties on pea imports on a temporary basis in December of 2023 and has continued to issue temporary extensions since then, while the import duty exemption on lentils is in place through March 31, 2025.