Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - March 28, 2024, Winnipeg, Manitoba L E H M A N t r i l o g y t h e G ET YO U R TI C K ETS TO DAY ! Photo of Ari Cohen, Jordan Pettle and Alex Poch Goldin by Dylan Hewlett By Stefano Massini Adapted by Ben Power WINN IPEG FREE PRESS O N N O W T O A P R I L 1 3 PRODUCED BY WINNIPEGHOMEANDGARDENSHOW.COM 2-FOR-1 *On Regular Adul t Admiss ion Only SCAN QR CODE & BUY TICKETS ONLINE Promo Code: FREEPRESS Courtesy of: APRIL 4 - 7 RBC Convention Centre SERVING MANITOBA SINCE 1872. FOREVER WITH YOUR SUPPORT. THURSDAY, MARCH 28, 2024 WEATHER SUNNY. HIGH 1 — LOW -11 COMMUNITY REVIEW HIGH SCHOOL FISHING DERBY HOOKS STUDENTS Advocates warn it’s not about numbers Care-home crunch snares 1,000 Manitobans MORE than 1,000 Manitobans are waiting for a long-term care bed in the province — a sign that many families are struggling to find the right fit for their loved ones. “It means we probably have a lot of families that are deeply in trou- ble trying to support individuals,” said local long-term care advocate Joyce Kristjansson. As of mid-March, there were roughly 1,062 Manitobans on waiting lists for beds at a publicly funded long-term care facility of their choice anywhere in the prov- ince, according to figures provided by each health region and compiled by the Free Press. Of that number, about 897 people were waiting for a personal-care home bed to open up close to home, in their local health region. The data comes as no surprise to Kristjansson, a retired registered nurse who worked in long-term care. It’s well known that wait lists are long and hospital patients go to the front of the line, creating anoth- er bottleneck in the health system. As the current executive director of the Association of Regulated Nurses of Manitoba, Kristjansson said it’s not just about adding more beds, but about having the kinds of services that seniors — and younger residential-care recipients — need. “Absolutely, there’s need for more spaces in long-term care, but I’m actually quite concerned about the state of the current facilities… and how many of them are in poor repair because funding hasn’t been provided to keep them up,” she said. Private long-term care is avail- able for those who can afford it; they are not reflected on provincial wait lists. The number of long-term care beds Manitoba needs has been a “moving target,” Kristjansson said, coupled with the constant demand for nurses and aides to staff them. “If we added a thousand beds to the system, let’s say, we would be needing somewhere around 300 nurses. They don’t exist. So that’s one of the pieces we need to look at as we try and figure out, how do we build care services that will meet the needs of the people and that we can actually sustain?” Manitoba has fewer than 10,000 licensed personal-care home beds. KATIE MAY Critical systems not expected back online before Monday Cyberattack delays U of W by a week A CYBERATTACK that shut down the University of Winnipeg Monday will delay the end of the winter term and exams by a week, officials said Wednesday. “This was a targeted criminal attack,” said university president Todd Mondor, adding university officials have filed reports with the Winnipeg Police Service and the RCMP. He and other officials did not elaborate on the nature of the attack. Officials don’t expect critical sys- tems to be back online until next week. U of W chief information officer Kim Benoit said the once its technology team became aware of the attack on Sunday, it shut down all systems. “We took the network down to protect the university and its data. Please be assured that our entire team is working very hard to address this incident and work toward restoring services for the campus community,” Benoit told the town hall, which was attended digitally by 1,000 students and faculty. “We have retained outside assistance from experts.” The experts are conducting a foren- sic examination of the attack. At this point, the university is not aware of the loss of any personal information, Mondor said. Critical systems, Benoit said, include WebAdvisor and Nexus accounts. The former allows students to access finan- cial information, grades and register for courses, while the latter is used to store and disseminate course material. ERIK PINDERA AND TYLER SEARLE Suspects plead not guilty in human smuggling deaths ST. PAUL, MINN. — A man accused of helping smuggle people across the U.S.-Canada border into Minnesota, including four members of an Indian family who froze to death in 2022, pleaded not guilty Wednesday to seven counts of human smuggling. Harshkumar Ramanlal Patel, 28, who prosecutors say went by the alias “Dirty Harry,” entered his plea during a brief teleconference with U.S. Magis- trate Judge Leo Brisbois of Duluth. Steven Shand, 49, was hired by Patel to drive the Indian nationals from the Canadian border to the Chicago area, authorities said. Shand, of Deltona, Fla., pleaded not guilty during the same hearing to four counts contained in an updated indictment against them that was unsealed last week. Shand was arrested and charged with human smuggling two years ago. He remains free on his own recogni- zance. Proceedings in his case had been put on hold several times before Patel’s arrest last month. Patel remains in federal custody. In a recent court document, an agent with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said Patel has been refused a U.S. visa at least five times, including four at U.S. consulates in India and once at the U.S. consulate in Ottawa. He is in the U.S. illegally, the agent said. STEVE KARNOWSKI MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS OH NO, NOT COCOA Record prices for cocoa futures — driven by disease and poor weather in western Africa, home to the majority of the world’s cocoa beans — are expected to soon show up on Winnipeg shelves. Helen Staines, owner of Decadence Chocolates, moulds an Easter egg and is ‘100 per cent concerned’ about a spike in her costs when her supplier’s contract is renewed in May. See story on page B5. SUPPLIED Harshkumar Patel Indian family died trying to enter the U.S. from Manitoba ● DELAYS, CONTINUED ON A2 ● SMUGGLING, CONTINUED ON A4 ● CARE HOME, CONTINUED ON A4 ;