Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - September 16, 2020, Winnipeg, Manitoba C M Y K PAGE B2 B 2 WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2020 ● WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COMNEWS HUMAN RIGHTS ADJUDICATION PANEL IN THE MATTER OF: A complaint by William Webb against LHS HOLDINGS INC. o/a Manigaming Resort, Sandra Carlson and Lennard Carlson, alleging a breach of section 13 of The Human Rights Code; AND IN THE MATTER OF: The Human Rights Code, C.C.S.M., Chapter H175, as amended. NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING TAKE NOTICE that there will be a hearing of a complaint alleging discrimination, pursuant to section 13 of The Human Rights Code, with respect to service available or accessible to the public or to a section of the public, unless bona fide and reasonable cause exists for the discrimination, on September 21, 22 and 23, 2020 at the Delta Winnipeg Hotel, Assiniboia Room, 350 St. Mary Avenue in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The hearing will commence each day at 9:30 a.m. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, measures have been implemented for participants. Please visit www.manitobahumanrights. ca or contact the Commission at (204) 945-3007 or hrc@gov.mb.ca for more information. Karine Pelletier Adjudicator Notice of Public Hearing Legals CITY LEGAL SERVICES GETS $728-K BOOST COUNCIL’S finance committee approved a $728,000 budget boost for the city’s legal services department on Tuesday. In July, the department asked the com- mittee to add $800,000 to its 2020 budget to cover external legal costs and catch up on outstanding work. The committee delayed that vote, after Coun. Shawn Nason (Transcona) questioned whether approving the overrun was the best use of tax dollars. On Tuesday, the committee opted to approve a reduced over-expenditure, after the department spent less money on some contracts than it had initially expected. Nason cast the sole opposing vote. CITY MULLS VIRTUAL MEETING EXTENSION REMOTE participation in city hall meetings could last until April 30, 2021, if council approves. That remote access has allowed council- lors, city staff and members of the public to join meetings by telephone or video link, an option that began in April and is currently set to expire on Oct. 31, 2020. A city report calls for the extension to help ensure broad remote access to council and committee meetings, as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spark calls for social distancing and gathering size limits. The report also calls for council to devote about $64,000 in the 2021 budget to hire one temporary full-time audio-visual techni- cian to help support the new remote access options. EPC is set to vote on the plan Sept. 21. HIGHWAY 59 FLOODWAY BRIDGE TO BE REPLACED THE province has started the tendering process to replace the bridge over the Red River Floodway on Highway 59 North near Springfield Road. Construction is set to begin this fall on the 56-year-old bridge that is crossed by 17,000 vehicles each day. North and southbound bridges will be built to replace the structure and roadway realign- ments will take place. The bridge replace- ment will have an increased clearance of 1.5 metres in height to meet new floodway standards, the release said. Construction is expected to be completed by fall 2023. TWO CHARGED AFTER DRUG SEIZURE TWO people from The Pas have been charged with drug offences after two residences in the northern town were searched. Mounties say they found about $2,000; 412 grams of cocaine; 225 grams of marijuana and 327 “illicit pills.” A 57-year-old male and 40-year-old female have been charged with possession for the purpose of trafficking, cannabis possession for the purpose of trafficking and posses- sion of property obtained by crime. They are expected to appear in court on Nov. 10. A warrant has been issued for 35-year-old Joshua Duff of Winnipeg, who is facing the same charges. CRASH WITNESSES SOUGHT ON PERIMETER RCMP are looking for witnesses after a multi- vehicle crash on the Perimeter Highway last month. A gravel truck heading east on the Perim- eter Highway hit several other eastbound vehicles between St. Mary’s Road and St. Anne’s Road around 3:20 p.m. on Aug. 21. Several people were taken to hospital, treated and released. On Tuesday, RCMP said a child remains in hospital. Police said they want to talk to anyone who witnessed the crash or the moments just before it. Wit- nesses are asked to call 204-984-6913. MÉTIS WOMEN TO HELM SCHOOL BOARD THE province’s largest school board has elected two Métis women to lead the division into a school year unlike any other. The Winnipeg School Division’s board of trustees voted in Betty Edel as chairwoman and Jamie Dumont as vice-chairwoman dur- ing a meeting late Monday. Edel said her priorities include ensuring both staff and students feel safe at school and promoting equity within the division. “For me, it’s about equity — making sure that our staff and volunteers are reflective of the communities that we serve and making sure that we are mindful in our processes and thoughts around suspension, and that we’re connecting the various policies,” said Edel. Two of the board’s positions remain vacant, one year after two trustees left their posts when they were elected as MLAs in the 2019 provincial election. The COVID-19 pandemic pushed back the trustee byelection in the spring and a new date has not been scheduled. P ROFITS at Winnipeg hookah loun-ges are going up in smoke as the provincial government continues to impose fines on them for breaching public health orders during the pan- demic. Public health officials have levied 15 fines, totalling $34,000, against six es- tablishments that serve hookah since late May, according to the Manitoba government’s latest health protection report. The message being sent — that hook- ahs have been banned amid the pan- demic — does not appear to be sinking in with some owners. Two restaurants have been fined more than $10,000 each for repeat violations. A hookah is an instrument trad- itionally used to smoke shisha, a mix- ture of tobacco and molasses sugar or fruit. Under normal circumstances, some Winnipeg restaurants operate as hookah lounges by offering customers the ability to smoke tobacco-free herbal shisha. Ibex Ethiopian Restaurant and Lounge at 626 Sargent Ave. is the latest establishment to have its knuck- les rapped. On Sept. 11, the owner was handed a single ticket for $2,542 for “al- lowing use of hookah on the premises.” It was the eatery’s first offence. Attempts to reach Ibex’s owner for comment were unsuccessful. Leading the pack has been 7 Arabian Dreams at 775 Corydon Ave., which has been issued six tickets and fined $15,252 since August. Those tickets re- sulted from four inspections of the res- taurant on Aug. 1, Aug. 27, Sept. 8, and Sept. 10. Amanjot Singh Bajwa, the co-owner of 7 Arabian Dreams, could not be reached for comment but has told the media he would fight the fines because they are “unfair.” Singh Bajwa said hookah is safe. “When the customer is done, we wash and sanitize everything. We change the water. Everything,” he told CTV Winni- peg recently. But 7 Arabian Dreams is not the only establishment to be fined more than once. Siraj Café and Lounge — which is also on the 700 block of Corydon Av- enue — has been fined five times for a total of $10,168. Those tickets stem from two incidents at the restaurant on July 20 and Aug. 11. “Public health focuses on the educa- tion on the public health emergency orders and did so with businesses in re- spect of the use of hookahs. However, as the businesses continued to permit the use of hookahs in their premises, they have been ticketed,” a provincial spokeswoman said in a written state- ment. “The prohibition on the use of hook- ahs was ordered… based on the risk of transmission of COVID-19 that they present. Public health is looking at ac- tions that may be taken if businesses continue to permit the use of hookahs in contravention of the public health emergency orders.” Other hookah lounges cited for viola- tions include Arabesque Hookah Café and Lounge on Corydon Avenue (May 27, $5,542); Ramallah Café After Hours on Pembina Highway (May 28, $486); and Layla’s Café and Hookah Lounge on Scurfield Boulevard (Aug. 18, $486). Layla’s was fined for breaching pub- lic health orders by allowing customers to smoke hookah, while Ramallah Café After Hours and Arabesque Hookah Café and Lounge were ticketed for fail- ing to comply with social distancing rules, the health protection report said. ryan.thorpe@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @rk_thorpe Hookah lounges frequent target of health inspectors RYAN THORPE ONE of Manitoba’s most revolutionary medical professionals is being memor- ialized by Canada Post. A set of five commemorative stamps announced this week honour six Can- adian physicians and researchers, among them Winnipeg-born Dr. Bruce Chown. Chown is best known for his work in producing a treatment for the once- widespread and deadly Rh disease, which occurs when the Rh blood types of a mother and child are not compat- ible, administered to mothers during pregnancy and after delivery. Chown was born in Winnipeg in 1893. He attended the University of Mani- toba, graduated from medical school in 1922, and later returned to be a profes- sor and head of the department of pedi- atrics. A bust of his likeness sits at the Innovation Plaza on the U of M campus. “The fact that he is clustered with folks who’ve made huge contributions to HIV and cancer care, the discovery of stem cells, tells you what a giant of a presence he had in the Canadian medic- al community,” U of M Rady Faculty of Health Sciences and Max Rady College of Medicine dean Dr. Brian Postl said. In 1967, Chown was made an officer of the Order of Canada and was in- ducted posthumously into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame in 1995. He died in Victoria in 1986. Hematologist and researcher at Prin- cess Margaret Cancer Centre in Toron- to, Dr. Jean Wang, who also sits on Can- ada Post’s stamp advisory committee, first brought up the possibility of the collection in spring 2018, with the in- tention of recognizing influential Can- adian medical professionals who may not be well-known to the general public. “I thought it would be cool to have something to mark some of the really amazing achievements that Canadian researchers and physicians have made where their stories are not really well known,” she said. Wang’s decision to suggest including Chown in the collection came from his key role in understanding Rh disease, his work in producing the treatment, and his devotion to personal care when working with patients. “He really made an impact on a lot of families, just through his direct care, but then ultimately a huge, huge impact through his research and the clinical trials,” she said. “It’s a really amazing story.” Also honoured in the stamp series are: Dr. Julio Montaner (HIV/AIDS research); Dr. Balfour Mount (pallia- tive care); Dr. M. Vera Peters (Hodgkin lymphoma, breast cancer); Dr. James Till and Dr. Ernest McCulloch (stem cell science). malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: malakabas_ IN BRIEF Ibex restaurant and lounge is the latest hookah lounge in the city to be fined. New stamp honours Manitoba medical pioneer MALAK ABAS RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS CHECK-UP TIME A City of Winnipeg worker inspects the structural supports under the St. James Bridge at Kenaston Boulevard on Tuesday. The bridge gets regular inspections using a unique crane and bucket. Today’s forecast calls for mainly sunny skies with a high of 10 C. B_02_Sep-16-20_FP_01.indd B2 2020-09-15 10:47 PM ;