Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - January 21, 2025, Winnipeg, Manitoba RCMP have concluded its investigation into the death of a 10-year-old Mani- toba boy, saying a fatal collision was on private land where there are no age re- strictions for driving a snowmobile as long as there is adult supervision. The investigation found the boy was driving a 850cc snowmobile alongside a group of family members on a prop- erty near Rosebank on Dec. 22 at about 7:40 p.m., when the throttle got stuck, RCMP spokesman Sgt. Paul Manaigre said. “That’s a lot of power for a young child. You need body size and strength to control the machine,” Manaigre said Monday. The snowmobile side-swiped a fence, causing the boy to lose control and then collide with a tree, police said. The boy, who was wearing a helmet and other safety equipment at the time, was taken to hospital where he later died. The rules for operating snowmobiles are different on private land, Manaigre said. “If a family has a snowmobile and they are on their private property, there is no age restriction. You can have a six- year-old drive one if Mom and Dad al- low it,” he said. Another recent snowmobile-relat- ed fatality involved a 12-year-old girl who was thrown from a toboggan being pulled near Gods Lake Narrows. Man- aigre called it a “freak accident.” “They probably did this 100 times before and no issues, but this time something got hit. The snowmobile was going 30 to 35 km/h, which for a snow- mobile is slow, but for a toboggan that’s fast,” said Manaigre. The snowmobile was being driven at the time by a 12-year-old boy on Jan. 10 at about 8 p.m., on a trail near Gods Lake Narrows when the toboggan, with three passengers, all 12 years of age, hit a tree stump. The girl was thrown, hit a rock, and was taken to the nursing station suffering life-threatening injuries. She later died, Manaigre said. The incident is still under investiga- tion but, while no adult was present, he doesn’t know if there will ever be char- ges laid in connection with it. “At the end, a ticket doesn’t bring anyone back, he said. Yvonne Rideout, executive director of provincial snowmobiler group Sno- man, said anyone under the age of 14 must be supervised by an adult. Once riders turn 14, they can ride unsupervised, but anyone who wants to cross a road while driving the machine must have a valid driver’s licence, she said. Rideout said she sends condolences to the families of the victims. “It is very unfortunate — we hate see- ing that,” Rideout said. “Riding within your ability is a huge message we send out there.” Snoman has more than 5,300 mem- bers who are allowed to use 13,000 kilo- metres of trails in Manitoba. MPI spokeswoman Tara Seel said snowmobile owners still have to register their vehicles and get basic in- surance before going out on a trail off their own property. TUESDAY JANUARY 21, 2025 ● ASSOCIATE EDITOR, NEWS: STACEY THIDRICKSON 204-697-7292 ● CITY.DESK@FREEPRESS.MB.CA ● WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM SECTION B CONNECT WITH WINNIPEG’S NO. 1 NEWS SOURCE ▼ CITY ● BUSINESS FULL BLAST OF WINTER Jesse Wheatland (above) busts up a windrow for Antiok Apparel on Erin Street Monday as temperatures aver- aged about -28 C in Winnipeg. Cyclist Ryan Burchill (right) still managed to smile through the ice col- lecting on his scarf, clothing and eye- lashes as he rides through Assiniboine Park on his commute home. Today will be warmer for shovellers and cyclists, with a forecast high of -16 C with scattered flurries, according to Environment Canada. Second teen pleads guilty to inner-city slayings A SECOND teenager has accepted responsibility for his role in the unprovoked killing of strangers in Point Douglas in the summer of 2022. The 17-year-old pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree murder, while a third charge against him was stayed Monday without an explanation being given to the court. The boy was 15 at the time of the at- tacks, which occurred in and around Main Street early on Aug. 22. Danielle Dawn Ballantyne, 36, died that day, and Marvin William Felix, 54, died later after being taken off life-support. A second man, Troy Ba- guley, 51, also died from injuries in- flicted upon him. Last week, an 18-year-old man pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree for the killings of Bal- lantyne and Felix and one count of manslaughter in relation to Ba- guley’s death. The two teens had been AWOL from their group home in Wolseley; the younger boy had been reported missing on Aug. 9, Crown prosecutor Lisa Carson told King’s Bench Justice Shawn Greenberg Monday. No motive has ever been given for the slayings. Carson is seeking adult punishment for the teens, which would amount to automatic life sen- tences, while their lawyers are seek- ing youth senten- ces. Sentencing won’t be sched- uled until later this year. Winnipeg police officers arrested the older teen at a sweat lodge affili- ated with the group home a day after the slayings. He was still wearing the T-shirt and ball cap he had worn when he killed the victims. The 17-year-old was arrested in Long Plain First Nation by the Mani- toba First Nations Police Service five days after the attacks. Ballantyne was found badly injured in a Jarvis Avenue apartment close to the scene at which Baguley had been attacked around 4:20 a.m. She was lying in a pool of blood; handprints on the walls matched the 17-year-old’s, Carson said. Ballantyne, who had head trauma, was pronounced dead at about 9 a.m. Felix was asleep in his wheelchair in front of the Bell Hotel on Main Street, when the boys came upon him at 4:38 a.m., Carson said. He was attacked “completely un- provoked” and pulled from his chair, beaten and stomped on, she said. He was taken off life-support four days later because of his serious head in- juries. A second-degree murder charge against a boy, who was 13 at the time, in relation to the attack on Baguley was dismissed earlier, the Free Press has confirmed. Tristan Colten Moose, 23, who had been charged with second-degree murder, pleaded guilty to aggravat- ed assault last year in relation to Ba- guley’s death. erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca ERIK PINDERA SUPPLIED Marvin William Felix was 54. RUTH BONNEVILLE / FREE PRESS MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS MAGGIE MACINTOSH LOCAL JOURNALISM INITIATIVE REPORTER MANITOBA Education made sweeping changes to speed up the teacher-certifi- cation process by slackening training requirements — even though confiden- tial documents reveal there was rea- sonable support for moderate tweaks among key stakeholders. There is a stark contrast between a spring blueprint a senior bureaucrat, citing early feedback from employers, union leaders and faculties of educa- tion, described as a relative consensus on the desired outcomes of a recent regulatory review versus what was introduced four months later, accord- ing to government slide decks obtained by the Free Press through a freedom of information request. “Eliminating these requirements is doing an experiment on all of our grade school and high school students and we don’t know how the results are going to turn out,” said Andrew Frey, a physics professor at the University of Winni- peg. Frey has joined academic colleagues in affected disciplines, ranging from mathematics to geography, to petition for the reinstatement of requirements for teacher candidates to gain exper- tise in specific subject areas to become certified. As of Nov. 12, anyone who aspires to teach in the kindergarten-to-Grade 12 system no longer needs to special- ize in a list of approved subject areas, also known as major and minor “teach- ables,” during their post-secondary studies. The wide-ranging regulatory update included the removal of an obligation for K-8 stream candidates to complete extra training in mathematics, science, one of Canada’s official languages, and either history or geography. It has been touted as an initiative to reduce red tape, especially for inter- nationally trained educators, align Manitoba with other Canadian jurisdic- tions and streamline entry into educa- tion faculties while making admissions processes more equitable. The teachers union, school boards association and dean of the largest fac- ulty of education in the province have publicly endorsed the changes, but a growing number of Manitobans is rais- ing concern about their unintended consequences. Mira Koop, a math tutor and facilita- tor at an after-school art program, said she’s concerned the loosening of re- quirements will worsen social accept- ance of disliking math and avoiding it. “Math anxiety is glorified” as it is, she said. The 23-year-old noted she is often met with shock and “I hate math” com- ments when she meets new people and tells them she is studying the subject at U of W. “It’s devastating listening to students share the fact that they’re struggling and they aren’t being offered solutions or support or help because their teach- ers are also struggling,” she said. Changes to certification process for teachers went too far ● CERTIFICATION, CONTINUED ON B2 Safety preached after recent child deaths on snowmobiles KEVIN ROLLASON ● SNOWMOBILE, CONTINUED ON B2 SUPPLIED Danielle Dawn Ballantyne was 36. ;