Brittany Hobson, The Canadian Press

First Nations leaders are to choose a new head for the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs after the sudden death of Cathy Merrick last year. 

The advocacy group representing 63 communities is hosting a byelection in Winnipeg to fill the role of grand chief. 

The four candidates in the running are Kyra Wilson, Glenn Hudson, Leroy Constant and Bava Dhillon. 

Wilson, the former chief of Long Plain First Nation in southern Manitoba, played a central role in calls to search a Winnipeg-area landfill for the remains of two slain First Nations women.

A Manitoba police chief believed to have died in a house fire is being remembered as a dedicated leader and an advocate for the safety and well-being of First Nations communities.

The Manitoba First Nations Police Service said in a statement Wednesday evening it is believed Chief Doug Palson died in a fire at his home earlier that day.

Police have charged a man with sexually assaulting two children at an unlicensed daycare in Winnipeg.

They say the man was charged in September with three counts of sexual assault and two counts of sexual interference. 

The man was an adult at the time of his arrest, but police are not releasing his name because they say some of the charges date back to when he was under 18. 

Police say the accused was not an employee at the daycare but had access to the home where it was operating. 

Excavation and sifting started Monday of a section of a landfill believed to hold the remains of two slain First Nations women.

Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew said he was at the site when the first truck moved a load of refuse from the area to a Quonset hut, where searchers are manually sifting through it in the hope of finding the remains of Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran. 

Police believe the remains of the women were sent to the Prairie Green landfill north of Winnipeg in May 2022.

A new report from the Manitoba Advocate for Children and Youth paints a picture of the state of addictions services for young people in the province and what needs to change. 

It draws on feedback from dozens of young people and more than 120 service providers that work with youth. 

Tackling high grocery prices, freezing hydro electricity rates and commissioning a new statue reflecting Manitoba's past and present are some of the priorities for the coming year the NDP government highlighted Tuesday in its second throne speech. 

The speech largely repeated the government's efforts to address health-care system challenges, public safety and affordability. 

The government is looking at introducing legislation to address anticompetitive contracts that Premier Wab Kinew said drive up the cost of groceries. 

A public memorial honouring former judge, senator and chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission into residential schools, Murray Sinclair, is set to take place in Winnipeg on Sunday. 

The event, which is being organized by the federal and Manitoba governments, will be at Canada Life Centre, home of the NHL's Winnipeg Jets.

Sinclair died Monday in a Winnipeg hospital at the age of 73. 

The mother of a 17-year-old victim in a mass slaying in Manitoba is suing a child welfare agency for allegedly failing to protect the girl.

Juliette Hastings claims in the lawsuit that Winnipeg Child and Family Services, the General Child and Family Services Authority and the director of Child and Family Services were "reckless, careless and negligent in their statutory duty" to her daughter, Myah-Lee Gratton.

The lawsuit was filed Monday in Court of King's Bench. A statement of defence has not yet been filed and the allegations have not been tested in court.

A man who pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the deaths of his common-law partner and their two children is to serve a life sentence with no parole eligibility for 16 years. 

Court of King's Bench Justice Chris Martin agreed Thursday to a joint recommendation from Crown and defence lawyers at the sentencing hearing for Trevis McLeod in Winnipeg.

"It's horrible, just horrible," the judge told court, calling it "one of the worst cases I've dealt with in my career." 

"At the end of the day, nothing takes away the pain, nothing takes away the shock."

The effort to find the remains of two slain First Nations women believed to be in a landfill is on track and excavation in the target area is set to start in early December, Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew said Wednesday.

"I hope that everybody in the province and across the country sees that Manitoba values and honours Indigenous women," Kinew told reporters as he stood at the Prairie Green Landfill north of Winnipeg.

Kinew also addressed the families of Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran, who joined him at the site.