Bird River Bible Camp gets power back as fire draws closer and firefighters spray down buildings

Power has been restored to a Bible Camp in the middle of a fire burning in Nopiming Provincial Park. 

Southland Church announced Thursday via Facebook that surveillance cameras at Bird River Bible Camp had turned back on, allowing them to see how things are going. 

"We can see firefighters on the cameras, and they are spraying down Black Bear Lodge and Beaver Lodge," said Stefan Duerksen of Southland Church in a post on Facebook. "Please pray the power stays on and the pumps keep going to supply them with water."

Lionsgate teams up with Mel Gibson on highly anticipated ‘Resurrection of the Christ'

Award-winning director and producers Mel Gibson and Bruce Davey have partnered with Lionsgate as they prepare to release the follow-up to their film The Passion of Christ

Their Icon Productions banner has chosen Lionsgate as their studio partner on The Resurrection of the Christ. 

Uniting for a cause: MS Walk returns to Kildonan Park

Canada has one of the highest rates of multiple sclerosis (MS) in the world, with an estimated 90,000 Canadians currently living with the disease. On average, 12 people in Canada are diagnosed with MS every day. The chronic autoimmune condition affects the central nervous system—specifically the brain and spinal cord—with symptoms ranging from fatigue and muscle stiffness to numbness, tingling, and vision problems. 

Manitoba Hydro races to restore power as wildfires rage in eastern Manitoba

Manitoba Hydro is working around the clock to restore power to eastern Manitoba, where wildfires continue to wreak havoc on the area.   

Two fires remain out of control in Lac du Bonnet and Nopiming Provincial Park.

Since Wednesday, crews have been able to restore power to about 900 customers along the Lee River, while about 500 other customers in various other areas in the wildfire zone are still without power.

With some areas now safe enough for crews to get to, work has started on fixing burnt and fallen poles, power lines, transformers and other equipment. 

Community rallies for sons of couple killed in Lac du Bonnet wildfire

Friends and family are rallying behind the children of a couple who died as a result of an out-of-control wildfire in Lac du Bonnet after they were left without a home or parents. 

On Tuesday, Lac du Bonnet RCMP were told that two people were trapped in the fire. However, due to the extreme conditions, emergency crews could not reach the pair. 

Early the next day, Lac du Bonnet RCMP found two bodies, a woman and a man, who friends have identified as Sue and Richard Nowell, just off Wendigo Road, in the RM of Lac du Bonnet.

Prosecutors seek prison for men guilty of human smuggling in Manitoba border deaths

U.S. attorneys have filed sentencing submissions for two men convicted after a family froze to death while trying to walk across the Canada-U.S. border in Manitoba.

A Minnesota jury found Steve Shand of Florida and Harshkumar Patel, an Indian national arrested in Chicago, guilty last year of human-smuggling charges.

The parents and two children from India were found in the snow metres from the U.S. border in January 2022.

In court documents filed Wednesday, the U.S. attorneys requested Patel be sentenced to a little more than 19 years in prison.

City starts tree pest control program on Tuesday

With the return of caterpillars, the annual tree pest caterpillar control program is coming back next week. 

Weather permitting, the City of Winnipeg will start spraying for tree pest caterpillars on Tuesday, May 20, targeting insect management areas:

  • IMA 25 (Crescent Park, Point Road, Wildwood)
  • IMA 32 (Rockwood)

Spraying is expected to happen each weekday for the next four weeks, weather permitting.

In Canada's housing crisis, are modular homes a cheaper and faster solution?

When a church in Toronto's west end was converted into affordable housing nearly 15 years ago, the group behind the project was already thinking ahead. 

Andrea Adams, the executive director of the non-profit developer St. Clare's, said she was "daydreaming" about what could be built on the yard next to the 20-unit building on Ossington Avenue. 

She was eventually introduced to Assembly Corp., a company that builds mass timber modular housing, around the same time that the city was looking for proposals for "shovel ready" affordable housing projects. 

Canadian campers going 'elbows up' this summer amid U.S. trade war

Some outdoorsy Canadians are planning to build their tents with elbows up this summer as the season unofficially kicks off this long weekend.

Sally Turner says she and her husband plan to do their camping, canoeing and biking this year in Canadian national parks, including at Jasper National Park this weekend, because of the U.S. trade war and U.S. President Donald Trump's calls to make Canada a 51st state.

"I have, in the past, camped in the United States, but that's not going to happen in the near future," Turner said while shopping for camping gear in Edmonton.

Verse of the day: May 16

Zephaniah 3:17

"The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing."

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Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.