Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - May 1, 2025, Winnipeg, Manitoba – PROTECT THE SACRED – 5TH ANNUAL MMIWG2S+ WALK FOR JUSTICE MAY 5, 2025 5:30 P.M. OODENA CELEBRATION CIRCLE We are inviting you to join us at the Oodena Celebration Circle where we will hear from families and survivors of MMIWG2S+. We encourage all Peoples to attend. Indigenous and Allies together. This will be a family-friendly event and all will be accepted in this space who are there to support, love and stand with our communities A prayer walk will follow from the Oodena Celebration Circle to the Memorial Blvd Park where we will spend time drumming, singing and dancing in honour of our stolen Sisters, Mothers, Aunties, Grandmother's, Nieces, Daughters and Granddaughters. Round Dance to follow the walk. On May 5 we commemorate Red Dress Day, a solemn occasion to raise awareness of the devastating epidemic of violence against Indigenous Women, Girls, 2 Spirit and all Gender Diverse people. THURSDAY MAY 1, 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 Crown seeks 44 years for mother who forced children to have sex with her, each other and recorded acts ‘The abuse… cannot get any worse’ A WINNIPEG mother facing a pos- sible four-decade-long prison sentence for sexually abusing her two children claims she was under threat to record sex acts with the vic- tims by their stepfather’s gang associ- ates, a court heard Wednesday. The 36-year-old woman has pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual interfer- ence and two counts of making child pornography. Her 40-year-old for- mer partner has pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual interference. Court heard the two offenders, in- dividually and as a couple, repeatedly abused the woman’s son and daughter over a three-year period, ending when they were 15 and 12 years old, re- spectively. The children at the time lived with their maternal grandparents and were abused during bimonthly visits to their mother’s home. The maximum sentence for both sex- ual interference and making child por- nography is 14 years in prison. Crown attorney Alanna Littman argued the female offender’s “hein- ous” crimes justified a maximum total sentence of 56 years, before recom- mending it be reduced for totality to 44 years. The totality principle is invoked when consecutive sentences are imposed and recognizes sentences must not be dis- proportionate and must reflect the de- gree of responsibility of the offender. “The abuse that (the female offend- er) inflicted on her children… cannot get any worse,” Littman told provin- cial court Judge Stacy Cawley. “If ever there was a case for the maximum to be imposed, this is it…. These children have been sentenced to a life of dam- age, of hurt and suffering, as a result. For this family, time does not heal the damage caused.” Co-Crown counsel Kevin Minuk rec- ommended the male offender be sen- tenced to 28 years in prison. “Whatever sentence is imposed on these two individuals today, that sen- tence will end one day… and they will be able to step out of custody,” Minuk said. “The sentence for the children goes on forever…. The children will carry the load of this trauma like a boulder on their shoulders forever.” The two offenders sat in the prison- er’s box, separated by a Sheriff’s of- ficer, their heads hanging down, as a police officer played a sampling of the abuse videos for Cawley. DEAN PRITCHARD ● ABUSE, CONTINUED ON B3 New system would allow credit, debit payments Report calls for new transit fare system NICOLE BUFFIE A NEW city report is calling for Win- nipeg Transit to implement a new, $10.5-million fare-collection system that would allow mobile credit and deb- it payment. The report, going before the public works committee next week, says the new system would improve on short- comings from Transit’s current Peggo cards and address fare evasion, all with the ultimate goal of growing ridership, revenue and customer satisfaction. “We are looking to lower barriers here, so that you wouldn’t need to plan ahead to ride the bus,” Kirk Cumming, the report’s author and Transit’s man- ager of innovation and technology, told the Free Press. The new system would include fare-capping and open payments, giv- ing riders a “modern, stable, conven- ient fare-collection system,” the report says. Under a fare-capping system, riders using an app-based account are auto- matically charged for a pass once they have taken a certain number of rides in a day, week or month. Open payments would allow any tran- sit user to pay using debit or credit. There are no plans to replace exist- ing cash fare boxes, and paper products would be used until the new system is launched and tested, Cumming said. “If you’ve got something in your pocket, you just board the bus without having to worry about purchasing prod- ucts ahead of time or whether you’ve got enough change,” he said. The system would require a $4-mil- lion loan above the $6.5 million allotted for the project in the 2024 budget and cost the city about $2.1 million annual- ly. It would be anticipated to start in mid-2027. The debt could be subsidized by the federal government, which promised the city $11.5 million annually to sup- port transit infrastructure if the Lib- erals were re-elected Monday, Coun. Janice Lukes said. Terry Duguid, the federal minister responsible for Prairies Economic De- velopment Canada told a news confer- ence in March the funding would con- tinue for 10 years as part of a broader program, if the Liberals remained in power. ● TRANSIT, CONTINUED ON B2 MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS SPRING CLEANING SWEEPS THROUGH WEST END General Wolfe and Isaac Brock students and staff and Belgian-Alliance Credit Union volunteers took part in the 32nd Sweep Off community cleanup Wednesday. Hosted by the West End BIZ, the cleanup is ‘about building pride in our neighbourhood,’ said BIZ director Joe Kornelsen. Police believe driver in fatal crash was impaired A 30-YEAR-OLD Winnipeg man killed in a weekend crash north of the city is being remembered as a loving father, devoted husband and a warm presence in the local motorcycle community. Winston Supena died Saturday afternoon when his motorcycle — af- fectionately nicknamed “Silver” — collided with a three-ton truck at the intersection of Highway 9 and Mitchell Bay in the RM of St. Andrews. He was pronounced dead at the scene. RCMP say Supena had been travel- ling southbound on Highway 9 when the truck turned west onto Mitchell Bay, crossing into his path. Investigators be- lieve alcohol was a factor in the crash, though no charges had been laid as of Wednesday. The 67-year-old truck driv- er’s licence has been suspended under the Highway Traffic Act. The crash ended what had started as an ordinary day — one that includ- ed Supena’s early morning shift as a health-care aide, followed by brunch with his wife, Mica, and two young chil- dren — six-year-old Warren and four- year-old Mina — at a Salisbury House on Henderson Highway before meeting up with his biker buddies. “That was the last time we saw him,” Mica said Wednesday. She was at work in south Winnipeg later in the day when friends reached out, urging her to call one of Supena’s riding friends who was at the scene. She was told emergency crews were performing CPR on her husband, and STARS Air Ambulance had been dis- patched. She didn’t get there in time. “The friend’s voice cracked, and he told me they were putting a white cloth over Winston,” she said. “I feel like I died in the car because I couldn’t do anything. I was stuck in traffic.” A close friend of Supena’s says he’s still struggling to come to terms with the crash that claimed the life of one of his closest friends, describing him as someone who would “always have your back.” Rafael Bactol said Wednesday that he and Supena shared a deep friend- ship that grew even stronger over their shared love of motorcycles. “We would bond over everything,” Bactol said. “I got him into riding (motorcycles) last year. I was really happy. And I went with him to buy his first motorcycle.” That first bike was eventually sold, Bactol said, and just days before Sat- urday’s fatal crash, Supena had pur- chased a new bike, travelling to B.C. with friends to bring it back to Winni- peg. “It was his new baby,” Bactol said. On the morning of the crash, Bactol received a message from Supena ask- ing if he wanted to go out riding. “I ignored the text because I was bringing my bike to the shop to get it fixed,” he said. “It’s just hard. I’m still processing it all.” Bactol said the crash should never have happened. He emphasized the dangers of impaired driving and the needless risks it creates for others on the road. Supena’s wife echoed that message. “He shouldn’t have been driving at all if he had been drinking… it’s a com- mon-sense thing we learn throughout our lives,” she said. “And his poor de- cision cost my children their father. My kids are too young. SCOTT BILLECK SUPPLIED Winston Supena with son Warren, daughter Mina, and wife Mica. ● COLLISION, CONTINUED ON B2 ;