CHVN

Funeral For:  John Friesen 
Funeral Date: June 2, 2025 
After a rich life, John Friesen, of Winnipeg, passed away at the age of 94 on May 24th, 2025.
He was predeceased by his wife, Charlotte Perry, his parents, Isaac and Maria Friesen, and two sisters and two brothers. He is survived by his stepdaughter, Lianne Perry, five sisters, and four brothers.

Smoke from multiple wildfires burning across Manitoba is triggering air quality warnings and special statements across much of the province.

As of Friday morning, 25 wildfires are actively burning in Manitoba, with 14 considered out of control.

The largest, fire EA061 in Nopiming Provincial Park, has grown to 124,238 hectares. A second major blaze near Flin Flon has reached 37,959 hectares.

There's no rain in the forecast for Flin Flon, Manitoba, over the next week as crews there fight a wildfire that's raging nearby.

Temperatures throughout the weekend are expected to range from the low to high 20s, before cooling off.

Thousands have evacuated the northwestern Manitoba city, including municipal government officials and health-care professionals.

Flin Flon mayor George Fontaine said on Friday that unless things changed, the fire was projected to take chunks out of the town.

Ottawa probably can't help overhaul how municipalities raise funds in the near future, because the federal government is now focused on major, nation-building projects, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Friday

"We're building on what has worked. We're learning lessons from what hasn't," Carney said at an event held by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities.

The group represents cities and towns that have lobbied Ottawa for years to give them more independent means of financing their operations.

The national chief of the Assembly of First Nations says she doesn't blame First Nations leaders who are voicing frustration with governments promising to fast-track development in their territories in the name of national unity.

"I don't blame them. They're frustrated and they're being disrespected," National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak said Wednesday morning.

"If we're not at the table making these decisions right off the bat, this is what happens and it causes the Canadian government more problems later."

1 Thessalonians 4:16-17

"For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever."

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2 Corinthians 12:8–9

It is not God’s will that everyone be physically healed.

Those who believe it is, usually support their claims with the words of Isaiah:

He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed (Isaiah 53:5).

Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew says thousands more evacuees are expected and the city of Flin Flon is virtually deserted as wildfires continue to rage in his province.

Kinew told a Friday news conference that the mayor, councillors, health-care staff, and other officials have had to depart Flin Flon.

"The only folks remaining on the ground are firefighters and folks in the office of the fire commissioner and RCMP, who are there to battle the blaze," Kinew said.

"We do expect some very, very challenging conditions in Flin Flon and in the surrounding community."