Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - January 27, 2025, Winnipeg, Manitoba A2 ● WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM NEWS MONDAY, JANUARY 27, 2025 VOL 154 NO 65 Winnipeg Free Press est 1872 / Winnipeg Tribune est 1890 2024 Winnipeg Free Press, a division of FP Canadian Newspapers Limited Partnership. Published six days a week in print and always online at 1355 Mountain Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba R2X 3B6, PH: 204-697-7000 CEO / MIKE POWER Editor / PAUL SAMYN Associate Editor Enterprise / SCOTT GIBBONS Associate Editor News / STACEY THIDRICKSON Associate Editor Digital News / WENDY SAWATZKY Director Photo and Multimedia / MIKE APORIUS NEWSMEDIA COUNCIL The Winnipeg Free Press is a member of the National Newsmedia Council, which is an independent organization established to determine acceptable journalistic practices and ethical behaviour. If you have concerns about editorial content, please send them to: editorialconcerns@freepress.mb.ca. 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INSIDE Arts and Life D1 Classifieds B6 Comics D4 Diversions D5-6 Horoscope D2 Jumble D5 Miss Lonelyhearts D2 Opinion A6-7 Sports C1 Television D2 Weather C8 COLUMNISTS: Niigaan Sinclair A4 Gwynne Dyer A6 Aaron Epp B3 READER SERVICE ● GENERAL INQUIRIES 204-697-7000 CIRCULATION INQUIRIES MISSING OR INCOMPLETE PAPER? Call or email before 10 a.m. weekdays or 11 a.m. Saturday City: 204-697-7001 Outside Winnipeg: 1-800-542-8900 press 1 6:30 a.m. - 4 p.m. Monday-Friday.; 7 a.m. - noon Saturday; Closed Sunday TO SUBSCRIBE: 204-697-7001 Out of Winnipeg: 1-800-542-8900 The Free Press receives support from the Local Journalism Initiative funded by the Government of Canada Almost half of those lived in Israel, and more than one-in-six lived in the United States. At that time there were 5,800 survivors living in Canada. Most of the survivors are now over the age of 90. The Auschwitz museum has reported it expects about 50 survivors to attend the ceremony Monday. Lyons last visited Auschwitz in May 2024 as part of the annual March of the Living. It’s an event focused on studying the Holocaust and the roots of intolerance and hatred. “I know how disturbing it is to be on that ground where so many suffered so severely and so many died,” she said. “But it’s also to some extent an honour to be there to represent Canada and to represent the Jewish commu- nity.” Lyons will be in attendance at the event in Poland today alongside Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. She said Canadian Holocaust survivors will also be in attendance. Leger and the Association of Cana- dian Studies also released a survey conducted this month looking at where Canadians are getting information about the Holocaust. The survey, conducted between Jan. 17 and 19, involved 1,578 Canadians. In that survey, 22 per cent of Cana- dians under the age of 25 cited online sources as their primary source of information on the Holocaust, more than any other age group. Films and documentaries were the most common primary information source choice across all age brackets, cited by 34 per cent of all respondents. Lyons said she was encouraged by the fact that the poll reported 46 per cent of all respondents said they were interested in learning more about the Holocaust, with the highest interest reported among younger age cohorts. “So we have got to look at ways in which we can help people get the story of the Holocaust, even if it is not from a lived experience,” she said. Lyons pointed to a five-year, $5 mil- lion fund the government launched in December to help promote Holocaust education. “Whether we’re doing it as a public education, whether we’re doing it in the more formal school system, wheth- er we’re doing it through films and lectures or music or art, but getting the story out there in a way that people can relate to through their own human- ity, their own humanness,” she said. Lyons said that human connection is key to educating younger generations about an act of genocide that killed more than 6 million Jews. “What is so compelling and intensely disturbing about the Holocaust is that it happened over days, over weeks, over months, over years of planning. Of humans planning the deaths of others, of putting in place systems, in- frastructure to basically treat human beings like we would cattle,” Lyons said. “It is an incredibly fascinating and upsetting story about how we lose our humanity in the midst and depth of hatred. “So I think we owe it to our young people to find new and different ways of ensuring that they’re hearing about the Holocaust as a means of their own learning, of their own enrichment as a human being.” — The Canadian Press Condra said the vehicle was not running when he found the pair. He said the incident continued to play on his mind over the weekend. Condra helped the older man do chores around the apartment block. He said the man, whom he’s known for several years, was kind and helped tenants. Condra has known the younger man for a few years. Both men, who lived alone in the apartment block, celebrat- ed his birthday with him last summer, he said. The Winnipeg Police Service said the WFPS initially attended the scene for a medic call involving a car that was reported to be stuck in a snow- bank. Police were requested to attend shortly after the WFPS arrived. The incident is not considered suspi- cious, WPS spokesman Const. Stephen Spencer said Sunday. It is being “solely treated as acci- dental,” he said, noting an autopsy is scheduled to determine the man’s cause of death. Spencer said the car was “hung up” in the snow when emergency services arrived. In response to the incident, police encouraged people to make sure the exhaust pipe is clear of snow when a vehicle is running, and to avoid sitting in an idling vehicle for long periods of time without ventilation. chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca CAR ● FROM A1 HOLOCAUST ● FROM A1 JOHN WOODS / FREE PRESS The two men and dog were discovered in a station wagon in a small parking lot behind an apartment building at 688 Nassau St. S., between Arnold and Hethrington avenues, in Lord Roberts. JUSTIN TANG / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES Deborah Lyons, Canada’s special envoy on antisemitism and Holocaust remembrance, says the world faces a challenge as the number of living Holocaust survivors continues to dwindle. Trump does have leverage to wield over Jordan, which is a debt-strapped, but strategically important, U.S. ally and is heavily dependent on foreign aid. The U.S. is historically the single-largest provider of that aid, including more than $1.6 billion through the State Department in 2023. Much of that comes as support for Jordan’s security forces and direct budget support. Jordan in return has been a vital regional partner to the U.S. in trying to help keep the region stable. Jordan hosts some 3,000 U.S. troops. Yet, on Friday, new Secretary of State Marco Rubio exempted secu- rity assistance to Israel and Egypt but not to Jordan, when he laid out the details of a freeze on foreign assistance that Trump ordered on his first day in office. Meantime, in the United States, even Trump loyalists tried to make sense of his words. “I really don’t know,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, when asked on CNN’s State of the Union about what Trump meant by the ”clean out” remark. Graham, who is close to Trump, said the suggestion was not feasible. “The idea that all the Palestinians are going to leave and go somewhere else, I don’t see that to be overly practical,” said Graham, R-S.C. He said Trump should keep talking to Mideast leaders, including Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Sal- man and officials in the United Arab Emirates. “I don’t know what he’s talking about. But go talk to MBS, go talk to UAE, go talk to Egypt,” Graham said. “What is their plan for the Palestinians? Do they want them all to leave?” Trump, a staunch supporter of Israel, also announced Saturday that he had directed the U.S. to release a supply of 2,000-pound bombs to Israel. Former president Joe Biden had imposed a hold due to concerns about their effects on Gaza’s civilian population. Egypt and Jordan have made peace with Israel but support the creation of a Palestinian state in the occupied West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, territories that Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast War. They fear that the permanent displacement of Gaza’s population could make that impossible. In making his case for such a massive population shift, Trump said Gaza is “literally a demolition site right now.” “I’d rather get involved with some of the Arab nations and build hous- ing in a different location,” he said of people displaced in Gaza. “Where they can maybe live in peace for a change.” — The Associated Press GAZA ● FROM A1 Rain helps firefighters but creates risk of toxic ash runoff LOS ANGELES — Rain fell on parts of Southern California on Sunday and the scattered showers were expected to continue overnight, boosting the risk of toxic ash runoff in areas scorched by Los Angeles-area wildfires. Flood watches were in effect through 4 p.m. Monday for burn areas from recent fires that broke out around the Pacific Palisades neighbourhood in Los Angeles, Altadena and Castaic Lake, said Joe Sirard, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Oxnard. “All these fresh burns are very sus- ceptible to rapid runoff,” Sirard said, warning of even small amounts of rain in a few minutes’ time. “What that means is we have a fairly high danger of mud and debris flows once we get above those thresholds.” A portion of the Pacific Coast High- way in Los Angeles County was closed as of Sunday afternoon due to mud- flows in Topanga Canyon, the Califor- nia Department of Transportation said. A flood advisory was issued for parts of Ventura County through Sunday even- ing and forecasters expected snow to fall in the mountains. One benefit that could come from the rain: it may help firefighters who are reining in multiple wildfires after weeks of windy and dry weather. Los Angeles County crews spent much of the past week removing vege- tation, shoring up slopes and reinfor- cing roads in devastated areas of the Palisades and Eaton fires, which re- duced entire neighbourhoods to rub- ble and ash after breaking out during powerful winds on Jan. 7. The Palisades Fire, the largest of the blazes that destroyed thousands of homes and killed at least 11 people, reached 90 per cent containment Sun- day. The Eaton Fire, which broke out near Altadena and has killed at least 16 people, was 98 per cent contained. The Hughes Fire, which ignited last week north of Los Angeles and caused evacuation orders or warnings for more than 50,000 people, was 95 per cent con- tained as of Sunday evening. In San Diego County, there was still little containment of the smaller Bor- der 2 Fire as it burned through a remote area of the Otay Mountain Wilderness near the U.S.-Mexico border. Most of the region was forecast to get about an inch (about 2.5 centimetres) of precipitation over several days, but the National Weather Service warned of a risk of localized cloudbursts causing mud and debris to flow down hills. “So the problem would be if one of those showers happens to park itself over a burn area,” weather service me- teorologist Carol Smith said on social media. “That could be enough to create debris flows.” Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass issued an executive order last week to expedite cleanup efforts and mitigate the environmental impacts of fire-re- lated pollutants. LA County supervisors also approved an emergency motion to install flood-control infrastructure and expedite and remove sediment in fire-impacted areas. Fire crews filled sandbags for com- munities, while county workers in- stalled barriers and cleared drainage pipes and basins. Officials cautioned that ash in recent burn zones was a toxic mix of incinerat- ed cars, electronics, batteries, building materials, paints, furniture and other household items. It contains pesticides, asbestos, plastics and lead. Residents were urged to wear protective gear while cleaning up. Concerns about post-fire debris flows have been especially high since 2018, when the town of Montecito, up the coast from Los Angeles, was ravaged by mudslides after a downpour hit mountain slopes burned bare by a huge blaze. Hundreds of homes were dam- aged and 23 people died. The rain was expected to snap a near-record streak of dry weather for Southern California. Much of the re- gion has received less than 5 per cent of the average rainfall for this point in the water year, which began Oct. 1, the Los Angeles Times reported Saturday. — The Associated Press ;