Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - January 29, 2025, Winnipeg, Manitoba WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 29, 2025 B2 ● WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM NEWS I CITY / PROVINCE Trapper tells court about finding slain man’s body TRAPPER Thomas Thomas and his cousin were on the northern fringes of Roseau River First Nation looking for game Aug. 11, 2020, when he got out of his truck and smelled what he thought was a dead animal, possibly a deer. “You could smell (it) almost immedi- ately,” Thomas told a jury Tuesday. Thomas followed his nose several feet into a ditch off the side of the road, thinking he could use a piece of the car- cass to bait his trap line. Thomas didn’t find a deer carcass, but a body of a man, 56-year-old Bud Paul, of Winnipeg. Paul was on his back, on top of a clus- ter of willows, Thomas said. “I could see his hands, they were upright, al- most closed, like a fist,” he said. “I walked backward, pushed (my cousin) backward and drove backward” a few hundred metres to the next road intersection, he said. “We were shocked and we just wanted to leave everything as it was. We didn’t want to disturb nothing.” Thomas said they drove to the local police station, didn’t find anyone, then drove home and called police, who ar- rived minutes later. Aaron Mousseau Abigosis, 43, is on trial charged with first-degree murder in Paul’s Aug. 3, 2020, death. Prosecutors allege Mousseau Abig- osis severely beat Paul, drove down a dead-end gravel road outside Roseau River, where he dragged Paul into the bush and used what was described as a bush ax to slice him in the abdomen. Paul’s burned-out vehicle was found on Queen Street, near Polo Park mall on Aug. 10. Paul’s naked body was in an advanced state of decomposition when discov- ered, and showed signs of blunt force trauma and sharp force wounds, chief medical examiner Dr. John Younes testified. “In my opinion, he had been dead at least a few days,” Younes said. Paul had worked at Palliser Furni- ture in Winnipeg for nearly two dec- ades. Amber Penner-Biernes, human resources manager at the company, testified she called Paul’s cellphone when he didn’t show up for work Aug. 4. Penner-Biernes said a man an- swered the phone, identified himself as “Buddy” and said he was “feeling under the weather.” Paul “never referred to himself as ‘Buddy,’” Penner-Biernes said. “That wasn’t something he would do.” Penner-Biernes said Paul didn’t show up for work again the next day. When she called his cellphone again, a woman answered and told her Paul “was not available.” Penner-Biernes called police on Aug. 7 and asked them to do a wellness check at Paul’s Hespeler Avenue apartment. A police constable testified he found no sign of Paul at his apartment. Neighbour Bruce Sinclair testified he last saw Paul driving away from his apartment Aug. 1 in the company of a man and woman, both of whom were Indigenous. Janine Atkinson, a one-time co-ac- cused alleged to have been present when Paul was killed, has been granted immunity from prosecution in return for her testimony against Mouseau Abigosis. She is expected to testify next week. dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca DEAN PRITCHARD “I’m asking to stick the pause button on this budget, move it to February and let’s do this thing right,” she said. In an email, Mayor Scott Gillingham said water and sewer rates have always been addressed separately from the budget process. “Staff are finalizing a report to en- sure councillors have all the necessary information to make decisions about funding the north end (sewage treat- ment plant). Once that report is ready, it will be dealt with publicly by council,” wrote Gillingham. The mayor’s statement noted Rollins was on EPC when the budget was draft- ed and tabled, and for several weeks after its release. “This is the first I’m hearing of these concerns, so I question the sincerity. At city hall, we don’t have confidence votes, we vote on the budget. If you support investments in public safety, housing, youth recreation and infra- structure, vote for the budget. If you don’t, vote against it. It’s that simple,” he wrote. Coun. Janice Lukes, a member of executive police committee, said she believes councillors do know enough to make an informed budget vote, while she also believes sewer and water rates are still being determined. Lukes (Waverley West) said an exten- sive effort was made in the budget pro- cess to keep taxes and fees reasonable. “We had a $200-million hit with COVID. We are scraping the bottom of the barrel, without a doubt. … All things considered, we are trying to make it as affordable as humanly possible,” said Lukes. She said she “100 per cent” supports the budget. joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca X: @joyanne_pursaga The new rules only allow fund- raising to support programs and experiences that are not cov- ered by provincial or divisional budgets. The Manitoba government al- locates per-pupil funding for gen- eral instruction, as well as school transportation and special educa- tion resources, every year. The 2025-26 allotments will be announced within the month. The announcement is anticipated to include permanent changes to ad- dress criticisms that the longtime equalization formula fails to ad- dress inequities between school division property tax bases. Henderson said WSD will build its budget accordingly, but lead- ers are optimistic their school budgets will be able to cover art supplies, field trips and related expenses next year. The fundraising policy was ap- proved by the board of trustees on Dec. 16. It was last reviewed in January 2018. Henderson, who has been at the helm of WSD since August 2023, has been vocal about his con- cerns surrounding “unfettered fundraising” and its inequitable impact on roughly 30,000 stu- dents attending classes in central Winnipeg. The superintendent takes issue with the acceptance of perceived “good schools” and “bad schools,” and on a related note, allowing families to raise money to reduce costs and bolster basic operations at their local public schools. He said he wants school staff and families to question status quo practises and the updated guidance reflects that. Fundraising has long resulted in disparities between program- ming and playground infra- structure in low-income and high-income neighbourhoods. Last year, the WSD board of- fice took on the responsibility of paying for outdoor play area up- grades in lieu of relying on volun- teer-run councils to cover them. Five elementary schools, in- cluding Shaughnessy Park, Pinkham, Wellington, River Elm and Prairie Rose, underwent board-funded playground reno- vations over the summer. These renewals, which began on the oldest playgrounds, are slated to continue at three schools every year. Parent councils and schools can still apply for external grants to speed up these projects and re- lated ones, Henderson noted. The superintendent said volun- teer-run groups of parents will continue to play a critical role in advising school administrators on hyperlocal challenges and col- lecting donations where appro- priate. While acknowledging many parents want to actively support their kids’ schools and he sup- ports that, Henderson said he wants to spark a wider discussion about what Manitobans and the provincial government should fund. He said his overarching goal is to reduce barriers for fam- ilies, especially those who live in poverty and have kept children home from school on past field trip days to avoid embarrassment because they could not pay fees. maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca FUNDRAISING ● FROM B1 BUDGET ● FROM B1 ‘Could have been a scary situation,’ Portage mayor says of grader theft A 29-YEAR-OLD man allegedly stole and crashed a City of Por- tage la Prairie grader through a public works compound’s fence while high Monday morning, stoking con- cerns about repeat offending. The incident could have had a more serious outcome if the suspect had managed to drive the piece of heavy machinery onto city roads, said Portage Mayor Sharilyn Knox. “That could have been a scary situ- ation,” she said. “It’s shocking, but I’m glad nobody was hurt.” The suspect is accused of assault- ing two police officers while they at- tempted to arrest him. Manitoba RCMP said officers were called to a “theft in progress” at a pub- lic works garage at about 9:40 a.m. When police arrived, the John Deere grader had already been driven through a chain-link fence, and the sus- pect was still inside the compound near the large vehicle. RCMP said the suspect refused to comply with officers’ demands and resisted arrest. The man was taken to the RCMP detachment in Portage once he was taken into custody. Police said the man was then taken to hospital for examination of a non-life-threatening injury. “Unfortunately, the accused was be- lieved to be high on a drug and was not in a proper state of mind when dealing with officers,” RCMP spokesman Sgt. Paul Manaigre wrote in an email. “He was extremely violent at the time of the arrest, (and) upon arrival at the detachment with officers and with (emergency medical services) person- nel who were attempting to assess him at the detachment and treat him for an injury he sustained.” RCMP said Broderick Tkachyk was treated and released from hospital, and remanded into custody on charges including operation of a vehicle while impaired by a drug, theft of a vehicle, mischief over $5,000 and two counts of assaulting a police officer. Court records showed Tkachyk had two prior convictions for driving while prohibited in 2021 and 2024. Knox said she felt frustrated after being told the suspect was well-known to officers. “It’s another example of the system not working,” she said. “I want to see our leaders really have the courage to make some real meaningful change.” Knox sent a letter to federal and prov- incial government officials that called for bail reform, strengthened warrant enforcement and the prioritization of public safety earlier this month. She wrote the letter after a 28-year- old woman was killed in a three-vehicle crash just east of Portage on Jan. 15. RCMP charged a 24-year-old man with offences including dangerous driving causing death, driving while impaired and failing to remain at the scene. Court records showed he was out on bail and had breached his release con- ditions at least five times, including on New Year’s Day. Repeat offenders are tying up a lot of resources, including the time of emer- gency services, said Knox, who had not yet received a damage estimate for the grader that was driven through the fence. Portage is about 70 kilometres west of Winnipeg. In September 2023, millions of dol- lars in damage was caused when a man broke into a City of Winnipeg water treatment plant and drove an excavator into several buildings and vehicles. — with files from Dean Pritchard chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca CHRIS KITCHING SUPPLIED A 29-year-old Portage la Prairie man has been charged after a municipal grader was stolen Monday morning. Clear Lake zebra mussel battle a lost cause: officials BRANDON — Zebra mussels appear to be here to stay in Riding Mountain National Park. Parks Canada said hundreds of live juvenile zebra mussels were found in the fall, attached to docks and infra- structure near the east end of Clear Lake. That is a different part of the lake from where they were first found, in 2023, and where a containment curtain had been installed to try to prevent them from spreading. Parks Canada last year banned most personal watercraft, including non-motorized vessels such as canoes and stand-up paddle boards, from the water. The department says trying to eradi- cate zebra mussels from the lake is not feasible and, for this year, it is looking at allowing watercraft back on the lake if they are not used in any other body of water. “With input and advice from Indigen- ous advisers, the Province of Manitoba, and leading scientific and international experts, Parks Canada has determined that eradicating zebra mussels from Clear Lake in Riding Mountain Nation- al Park is not feasible,” the department said in a news release Tuesday. “The (prevention program) at Riding Mountain National Park should reduce the risk of spreading zebra mussels from Clear Lake to outlying water bod- ies and reduce the risk of introducing new invasive species.” Under the “one boat, one lake” pro- gram, boaters will select a lake and that’s the only body of water they can use for the season. If the boat is taken out of a lake, it must be decontaminat- ed and pass an aquatic invasive species inspection before it can be launched elsewhere. Zebra mussels are an invasive species that can cause ecological damage and harm water treatment infrastructure. George Hartlen, CAO of Friends of Riding Mountain National Park, who works closely with Parks Canada and is a member of the Wasagaming Chamber of Commerce, said the news came as no surprise. “This is a scenario where we are trying to find the best path forward to deal with what we have,” Hartlen said. “At least this will allow those who want to take their watercraft, personal or otherwise onto a lake, be able to do so, as long as they follow the rules and regulations inside the park and outside the park.” He said the ban on watercraft last summer had mixed reviews. “Some people really enjoyed having no watercraft on the lake. Others were definitely missing the access to the top of the water.” Zebra mussels were found in Clear Lake in November 2023, when a clump of 48 live mussels was found. The issue persisted into the summer of 2024, with additional discoveries of living juvenile mussels, an adult mussel found by snorkelers, and several found in Boat Cove. In May 2024, the federal government closed Clear Lake to all watercraft, fol- lowed by the installation of an under- water containment curtain in August, which had to be removed in September when it was damaged by heavy wind and waves. The public can weigh in on the “one boat, one lake” plan at the park visitor centre this weekend or online at http:// wfp.to/A0v. — The Canadian Press, with files from the Brandon Sun TIM SMITH / BRANDON SUN FILES Boats will be allowed back on Clear Lake. FREE ENTRY TO PROVINCIAL PARKS ENTRY to provincial parks is free next month. Vehicle permits are not required in February, but Snopasses are still required for snowmobiles using designated trails. Manitoba Winter Trails Day will be celebrated for the first time on Feb. 8. Park interpreters are available that day for a guided snowshoe trek at Birds Hill and at Spruce Woods for a guided hike on the Epinette trail. MAN CHARGED WITH SEX CRIMES A BIRDTAIL Sioux First Nation man has been charged with sex crimes after police were told he was in a sexual relationship with a teenage girl. The Manitoba First Nations Police Service received a complaint about the 27-year-old man on Sept. 18. Investi- gators determined the man started a relationship with the 14-year-old girl through messages. They eventually had sexual relations, police said. Police searched the man’s home, seized “numerous electronic devices” and arrested him, the MFNPS said in a news release Tuesday. The man is charged with three counts each of sexual assault and sexual interference, a single count of luring a child by telephone and seven counts of breach of a prohibition order. He has since been released from custody. “The accused will not be named to protect the identity of the victim,” the MFNPS said. IN BRIEF ;