Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - January 7, 2025, Winnipeg, Manitoba B2 ● WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM THE city department responsible for vet- ting and licensing taxi and limousine drivers wants to keep ride-hailing services drivers to the same standard. Personal transportation providers, includ- ing people who drive for services such as Uber and Lyft, are vetted by their respective companies. The city’s vehicle-for-hire office is respon- sible for verifying documentation, but some of the companies have been slow to get and maintain information, said department man- ager Grant Heather. “It’s prudent, from a safety standpoint, that we’re holding the companies who are respon- sible for gathering this information to ac- count,” he said Monday. “We have seen some deficiencies … the one way to kind of improve that is to have the city do it all.” The issue was outlined in the city’s annual vehicle-for-hire industry report, which will be discussed by city council’s public works committee Thursday. The report suggests the office will “likely be looking at a (personal transportation provider) driver and vehicle licensing regime in the near future.” Heather said most of the red flags caught by the city have come from smaller ride-book- ing companies that may not have the admin- istrative capacity to handle strict licensing guidelines. The change would also work toward ensur- ing taxis and ride-hailing companies operate under the same guidelines. “We have seen that in order to make the in- dustry work the way it needs to, to give prop- er enforcement powers, to make sure that passengers are in a position to have trust in the industry, bringing some more balance to it has had to happen,” he said. Other cities in Canada, including Calgary, have taken the same step, he said. The bylaw change would come after conversation with ride providers across the city, including big players such as Uber. “I don’t know if there’ll be pushback,” he said. “I’m sure they’ll have something to say about it, but I think it comes down to how it’s done, and the amount of notice we give them, that type of thing, and how it’s structured.” Uber Canada corporate communications lead Keerthana Rang said the company is looking forward to discussing the possible policy change with the city. The change would require council approval. An average of 2,712 personal transportation providers were on the road at any given time through 2024, data shows. malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca Lawyer Ian Histed, who represents defend- ant Monique (Cat Macaulay) Gauthier, asked Inness to adjourn the matter until potential unmarked graves associated with the cem- etery can be further investigated and whether pileated woodpeckers nest on the land can be further studied — and to bar tree cutting in the interim. He argued the developer’s actions contra- vened provincial cemetery legislation. Inness said no organizations, governments or people have come before the court to re- quest that relief, so she did not have the juris- diction to order the tree cutting halted. City council rejected an assisted living pro- posal for the site in September, after city plan- ners deemed a potential 5,000-bed, 2,500-unit facility too big for the property. The Manitoba Municipal Board is expected to hear an ap- peal of that decision in February. The developer obtained a permit to allow it to cut trees on the property in October, after the city ordered a halt to timber-clearing in September. John Wintrup, a planner for a proposal to develop the land, has said people opposed to the development have repeatedly trespassed on the land and prevented work from occur- ring. Louise May, a spokesperson for the Coalition to Save the Lemay Forest, said Monday the group’s actions, which includes an Indigenous sacred ceremonial fire on adjacent land has not impeded any access to the site, including for heavy machinery, in the past week. She said no one has attempted to get through in the past seven days. May said the group plan to look at legal op- tions, including applying for an injunction of its own to prevent tree cutting. “We’re looking forward to carrying on and getting this resolved as soon as possible,” said May. Morningstar Woman, another spokesperson for the group, said she was pleased with the Monday order as it would give the group time to organize and speak with governments to prevent development on the land. Toyne, lawyer for the property owner, said work is going ahead. “I expect in the next couple of days tree clearing will resume, and if individuals aren’t complying with the court order, a request will be made to the Winnipeg police to take steps to enforce it,” said Toyne. “The land owner intends to develop it, the trees are going to get cut down, and the land is going to be de- veloped.” Toyne said a public offer from the Manitoba Habitat Conservancy to purchase the land for about $5 million with help from the provincial and federal governments is too low for the land’s $8-million market price. erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca NEWS I LOCAL TUESDAY, JANUARY 7, 2025 MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS John Wintrup (left) is a planner whose client is the owner of Tochal Development Group. PHOTOS ● FROM B1 Woman tried to ‘redeem’ self before being shot dead in gang drug war A WINNIPEG man will spend at least a decade in prison for his role in a night of drug-stained bloodshed that claimed the life of a 49-year-old city woman and sent another woman and four men to hospital with gunshot wounds. Martin Faruq Luther, 20, pleaded guilty last month to one count each of second-degree murder, attempted mur- der and discharging a firearm with in- tent. Luther will return to court next spring, at which time Crown and de- fence lawyers are expected to recom- mend he be sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for at least 12 years. The minimum sentence for second-degree murder is life in prison with no chance of parole for 10 years. Luther entered his guilty pleas af- ter confirming his involvement in the March 2023 shootings were accurate- ly reflected in an agreed statement of facts read out in court. The facts, as provided to court, laid bare the cold brutality of the city’s il- legal drug trade and the lengths its players will go to maintain their grip on addicts. Police found 49-year-old Lori Gordon shot dead and another woman gravely injured in a laneway behind the 400 block of Beverley Street on March 7 at about 6 a.m. Hours earlier, six masked and armed males forced their way into a Welling- ton Avenue apartment suite and threat- ened three female occupants, includ- ing Gordon, over their “ties” to rival drug dealers. “In order to redeem them- selves in the eyes of the group, (the women) were ordered to participate in two separate missions to get blood from rival blood dealers,” said the agreed statement of facts. Sometime later, Luther, a youth co-ac- cused and an unidentified male, all armed with handguns, took one of the women to a Spence street apartment occupied by a rival drug dealer and had her knock on the door. The three males followed her inside and immediately opened fire on four males. The victims — one of whom was shot in the face — were taken to hospital in unstable condition, police said at the time. The attackers and the women re- turned to the Wellington Avenue apart- ment suite. A few hours later the males left with Gordon and another woman, bound for a Toronto Street drug house. “The purpose of this mission was to meet up (with a gang rival) or his drug dealer and kill them,” said the agreed statement of facts. Court heard the group was in the laneway between Beverley Street and Toronto Street when the three males “inexplicably and collectively” opened fire on Gordon and the second woman. Gordon was found dead with gun- shot wounds to her face and chest. The second woman was shot in the head and hand and spent two months in hospital. Police recovered 11 shell casings from the scene, later confirmed as be- ing shot from the same guns used in the first shooting. “It is unknown whether Luther’s discharged firearm caused the death of Gordon or injuries to (the second woman),” said the agreed statement of facts. Luther was identified as a suspect early in the police investigation, but re- mained at large until his arrest in Han- over on Sept. 26, 2023. dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca SUPPLIED Martin Faruq Luther DEAN PRITCHARD Schmidt said the education department looked to other provinces when building Mani- toba’s registry, but Hauseman pointed out other provinces have a more forthcoming system. The Ontario College of Teachers Find a Teacher registry lists a teacher’s qualifica- tions, their date of certification, their status with the college and any disciplinary history. It also publicly posts documents detailing disciplinary hearings and decisions against teachers accused of wrongdoing going back decades. Hauseman is concerned teachers who were previously disciplined in Manitoba could move to another province for work and have no paper trail of their discipline. “We had a chance to be a world leader when it came to dealing with teacher misconduct and pulling that curtain back,” he said. During the legislation’s implementation, the Manitoba Teachers’ Society advocated for revisions to the bill, including limiting the registry to names and teacher certifi- cate status, banning anonymous complaints and keeping open investigations confidential while ensuring teachers are on paid leave during them. In a statement, MTS president Nathan Mar- tindale said the union is analyzing the regis- try and website and will be meeting with the government on Jan. 16 for further discussions. “We’re pleased that an initial overview of the registry shows that the vast majority of teachers are in good standing,” the emailed statement said. The union leader encouraged teachers with questions about the registry to refer to the frequently asked questions document creat- ed by the Department of Education and Early Childhood Learning. The registry can be accessed at: http://wfp. to/Ab4. nicole.buffie@freepress.mb.ca Police searching the man’s phone discovered hundreds of videos and photos, some of which featured adults and children in “various stages of undress” in the pool’s family change room. The alleged offences at the pool are believed to have hap- pened in April 2023 and May 2024. Matthew James Mousseau is accused of several offences against five victims, all girls aged 12 to 17, including three stu- dents in a program in which he was their mentor, according to police, who launched a months-long child abuse image and sex- ual exploitation investigation last July. The charges in all three cases have not been tested in court. scott.billeck@freepress.mb.ca FOREST ● FROM B1 Health board member quit before ‘they chuck the regions under the bus’ CAROL SANDERS A PARAMEDIC and municipal councillor from rural Mani- toba who quit the board of Prairie Mountain Health says the provincial government is setting up the health region to take the blame for a $40-million budget shortfall. “It’s not a political thing or an axe to grind with one party,” said David Moriaux, who resigned from the regional health authority’s board last month. He was appointed three years ago by the previous Progressive Conservative government. Moriaux, the deputy mayor of Swan River, said the vast re- gion covered by Prairie Mountain Health regularly goes over budget thanks to huge private nursing agency and overtime costs. The annual overspending has been accepted by government as a necessity, he said. The Regional Health Authorities Act requires boards to present balanced budgets. In previous years, the health au- thority presented a deficit budget that was accepted, and would use its reserves to cover cost overruns. Those reserves have been depleted over the years, Moriaux said Monday. When the region presented its 2025-2026 financial blueprint in the fall, the province didn’t provide enough funding to cov- er the expected $40-million over-expenditure for the year ahead, Moriaux told the Free Press. “To me, that’s just being dishonest with ratepayers and tax- payers,” he said. “If you know the cost on the front end and you know you’re going to be over, then report it that way. Don’t just lie to them and tell them, ‘It’s going to be this cost,’ and tell them 12 months later, ‘We’re over budget by $40 million’. … I’m not going to be on the bus when they chuck the regions under the bus for these over-expenditures.” He said he decided to resign from the board Dec. 16 after Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara and Finance Minister Ad- rien Sala held a news conference blaming much of the prov- ince’s $1.3-billion deficit — $513 million higher than expected — on health-care administration spending. “What got me riled up was the ministers of health and fi- nance got in front of the cameras and laid the blame squarely on regions … when they know that they’re not funding the re- gions appropriately,” Moriaux said, noting Prairie Mountain’s administration costs are among the lowest in the province. In September, Asagwara directed health regions to reduce spending on administration by eight per cent, and that is a concern, he said. “You can only cut that bone until there’s nothing left to trim,” he said. Treena Slate, CEO for Prairie Mountain Health, responded to the former board member’s concerns in an email Friday after Moriaux’s resignation became public. She confirmed the over-expenditure is largely related to agency nursing and OT costs, and said the authority continues to work with the province “to be fiscally responsible and to deliver quality patient care to residents within the region.” Asagwara thanked Moriaux for his time and service on the board but isn’t concerned about his resignation. “It’s important to have members on board who are excited to do this work,” Asagwara told the Free Press. The health minister said the former government didn’t have a good working relationship with the regional authorities and did not address the soaring costs of using private, for-profit nursing agencies. “We believe in partnership and collaboration. Prairie Moun- tain Health, like other regional health authorities, was not well supported,” said Asagwara. A critical shortage of nurses working in the public health system — many of whom went to work for private agencies, where they enjoy better pay and more flexible work schedules — has increased reliance on the expensive alternative. “We cannot stop using private agency nurses right this second,” Asagwara said, adding the over-reliance on the for-profit sector took seven years to happen and will take more than a year or two to fix. “We have to do the work to retain and train more nurses.” carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca REGISTRY ● FROM B1 RUTH BONNEVILLE / FREE PRESS FILES A Manitoba judge has ordered that protesters cannot impede contractors from cutting trees at Lemay Forest. City wants responsibility for vetting person behind the wheel of your Uber or Lyft ride MALAK ABAS ;