Brittany Hobson, The Canadian Press

The national chief of the Assembly of First Nations says the fourth victim of a Winnipeg serial killer has been identified as Ashlee Shingoose.

Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak says she has spoken with the woman's parents and offered her condolences.

"My heart goes out to all the families of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls," she said.

Police are scheduled to confirm the identity of the victim, who was given the name Buffalo Woman, at a news conference Wednesday afternoon.

Winnipeg police are to provide an update today on an investigation into the death of an unidentified woman who was slain by convicted serial killer Jeremy Skibicki.

Police have provided few details about the young Indigenous victim, who was given the name Buffalo Woman by a group of Indigenous grandmothers.

Skibicki's murder trial heard he met the woman sometime in March 2022 outside a homeless shelter and brought her back to his place before killing her.

Manitoba's Opposition Progressive Conservatives are calling for an investigation after Premier Wab Kinew accepted private travel with Winnipeg's professional football team to go to two Grey Cup games.

The Tory caucus has asked the ethics commissioner to investigate the trips, saying accepting flights through a private charter goes against the province's Conflict of Interest Act.

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers invited Kinew on a private charter to the 2023 game in Hamilton and the 2024 game in Vancouver.

The Manitoba government expects new designs of a long-promised flood prevention project will be completed later this year after the province asked the federal government to pause environmental assessments to address concerns from local First Nations.

The Lake Manitoba and Lake St. Martin outlet channels project was featured heavily in the NDP government's latest budget released Thursday.

The spending plan outlines the province's commitment of $809 million for various infrastructure projects, including building the two channels.

A First Nations-led project to redevelop the former Hudson's Bay Co. building in downtown Winnipeg to advance reconciliation has doubled in cost. 

The Southern Chiefs' Organization says the price tag is currently at $310 million, more than double the original estimate of $130 million.

Grand Chief Jerry Daniels says the rise in cost is related to supply chain pressures, inflation and U.S. tariff threats on construction materials.

A second set of remains found in a Winnipeg-area landfill have been identified as Marcedes Myran, who died at the hands of a serial killer in 2022, RCMP said Monday.

The news comes after one set of remains found during a search of the Prairie Green landfill was confirmed earlier this month to belong to another victim, Morgan Harris.

A health-care group that represents physicians in Manitoba is renewing calls to eliminate sick notes for short-term absences from work as the process puts a burden on a health-care system already burdened by a shortage of family doctors. 

Doctors Manitoba says physicians write roughly 600,000 sick notes per year and by eliminating them it can free up more than 300,000 visits for patients. 

The organization released survey data suggesting well over 90 per cent of Manitobans, including the public and employers, support eliminating or limiting sick notes. 

The interim leader of Manitoba's Progressive Conservatives apologized Wednesday to the families of two slain First Nations women after refusing to search a landfill for their remains.

Wayne Ewasko made the apology in the house to the families of Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran, following last week's discovery of potential human remains at the Winnipeg-area landfill.

"We lost our way in regards to empathy and also lost our way in regards to closure being brought forward to the families of the victims," he said.

Talks with employers have stalled days before thousands of health-care workers are set to strike in Manitoba, says their union.

The Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals, which represents 7,000 allied health professionals working in public health care, met with employers Sunday.

"We still have not enough movement for us to be able to consider making a deal at this time," union president Jason Linklater said Monday.

Relatives of two murdered Indigenous women expressed shock, hope and anger Thursday, after receiving news that potential human remains have been found at a landfill where their loved ones were believed to have been taken.

"I think the shock of everything has finally hit me," Melissa Robinson, a cousin of Morgan Harris, said at a press conference sitting beside other relatives

"To every one of you that said no (to a search), to every one of you that didn't believe in us, do better," said Harris's daughter Elle Harris.