Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - September 10, 2025, Winnipeg, Manitoba Small Gift, Mighty Heart The second gift to The Foundation, known as the Widow’s Mite, was left anonymously in an envelope and contained three gold coins — a value of $15. That simple gift became The Foundation’s philosophy: it’s not the size of the gift, but the act of generosity that matters. Today, every gift to The Foundation carries forward that same spirit. To learn more visit wpgfdn.org Donate Today www.movementcentre.ca/support Mounties said Hilton fled the scene and was later arrested. He was wanted on an arrest warrant at the time of the crash, owing to several bail breaches from other charges. The St. Norbert facility is some- times used as an alternative to jail for people whose criminal matters have been remanded or, in some cases, where custody sentences are served. Best was in the courtroom July 7 when provincial court Judge Jean McBride approved the move to the facility on the second day of Hilton’s bail hearing in Portage. The reasons for her decision, and information presented by Crown prosecutor Clifford Anderson and defence lawyer Brett Gladstone, are subject to a publication ban and cannot be reported. “We went through the bail hear- ing and put our faith in the justice system that this would be the best outcome for Mr. Hilton to be able to attend a treatment centre and possibly do better and be a better person,” Best said. Hilton’s bail included several con- ditions, including that he must live at the treatment facility and obey staff instructions. He must abstain from alcohol and drugs, comply with a curfew and cannot be in the driver’s seat of a vehicle, among other things. If Hilton left for any reason, he was to immediately turn himself in to police, McBride ruled. His next court appearance had been scheduled for Tuesday. “This is an outrage. James Hilton was released to an unsecured treat- ment facility while he awaited trial,” Tory Leader Obby Khan said at the morning news conference. “The court knew he had a long history of violating his release conditions, yet Hilton was sent to an unsecured treatment facility where he was ordered by a judge not to leave that facility, but that’s exactly what he did.” “Despite his repeated failures to comply with conditions of his re- lease, James Hilton was not outfitted with an ankle monitor,” said Portage la Prairie MLA and deputy PC leader Jeff Bereza. “It’s outrageous to think that a repeat offender who is known to skip bail and break the conditions of his release wouldn’t be ordered to wear an ankle monitor so police could track his whereabouts if he disappeared again.” Best said victim services told her that Hilton was not wearing an ankle monitor. She said the judiciary shouldn’t grant bail when there’s evidence of drug use because the public is at risk. “We know that there is never a de-escalation because you get bail,” she said. “There is an escalation once you get bail.” The justice minister told report- ers Tuesday that the NDP govern- ment brought back ankle monitors after the Tories got rid of them when they were in power. Wiebe said they’ve since doubled the num- ber of monitoring devices to 200 and, as of Aug. 28, 128 were in use. “It is an effective tool and it’s something that can keep people safe,” Wiebe said. “We’ve made it clear that we want to see them used on people who are at risk of breach- ing their bail conditions,” he said, refusing to comment on Hilton’s release conditions. “It’s at the discretion of the judi- ciary to decide who gets these — that would be for them to answer, exactly, in this case, why it was used or why it wasn’t used.” carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca TOP NEWS A3 WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 10, 2025 ● ASSOCIATE EDITOR, NEWS: STACEY THIDRICKSON 204-697-7292 ● CITY.DESK@FREEPRESS.MB.CA ● WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM A provincial court judge will spend the next several weeks deliberating whether convicted sex offender Peter Nygard’s Winnipeg charges should be tossed out because records of the com- plainant’s original interactions with po- lice in 1993 have been destroyed. Nygard, an 83-year-old disgraced fashion mogul, is set to stand trial in December on charges he sexually as- saulted and forcibly confined a then-20- year-old woman in 1993 at his former corporate headquarters in Winnipeg. On the day of the alleged assault, a concerned family member in B.C. who couldn’t reach the woman contacted RCMP in that province who, in turn, reached out to Winnipeg police to re- quest a wellness check. WPS officers spoke with her, as did Mounties when she returned to her Vancouver home days later, provincial court Judge Mary Kate Harvie heard Monday. She did not report the alleged sex assault and forcible confinement until 2020, when she spoke to Winnipeg po- lice. Nygard’s defence lawyer, Gerri Wiebe, brought forward a motion to have the case tossed from court on Monday. She argued the WPS and Vancouver RCMP’s destruction of their records of those meetings consti- tutes “unacceptable negligence” and breached Nygard’s right to a fair trial. It’s unclear what exactly was in the re- cords or when they were destroyed. Saskatchewan Crown attorney Rob Parker — who is prosecuting the case on behalf of the Manitoba government — argued Tuesday the destruction of the records was reasonable in the circumstances and that it did not rep- resent “unacceptable negligence” as argued by Wiebe. Based on the recollection of the al- leged victim and of the Vancouver RCMP officer who spoke with her in British Columbia, Parker said the woman did not raise allegations of sex- ual assault when meeting with either Winnipeg or Vancouver police in 1993. In the alleged victim’s statement in 2020, she said she told Winnipeg police in 1993 something to the effect of, “I’m safe, I am fine, I will be fine,’” and let them go, court heard Monday. “We don’t have a report of sexual misconduct… the (Winnipeg) police are contacted on behalf of the mother of the complainant for the purposes of checking on the welfare, the well be- ing of her daughter,” said Parker on Tuesday. The RCMP officer who spoke with the woman in 1993 said in a recent statement that the woman did not indi- cate that she was held against her will in Winnipeg. The woman, however, told police in 2020 that she had told the Mountie she had been forcibly confined. The Moun- tie did keep in touch with the woman out of suspicion more had occurred than she let on, conceded Parker. Parker argued expecting law en- forcement to retain records that didn’t contain criminal allegations indefinite- ly would be unreasonable. He argued if Harvie were to stay the charges as a result of the destroyed records, it would impose an undue burden on po- lice. “If you rule otherwise, you will be imposing a legal obligation on police forces to retain virtually all records of contacts with persons when no crime is reported for virtually, potentially, forever, on the mere possibility that some decades later there’s a report of a sexual assault or some other crime arising out of that initial contact,” he told Harvie. “It’s a bridge too far.” Harvie said she needed time to delib- erate the motion, but told the lawyers Tuesday she aims to have a decision in about a month. Nygard appeared via video from an Ontario prison, where he is serving an 11-year sentence after being convicted last September of sexually assaulting four women at his Toronto headquar- ters from the late 1980s to the mid- 2000s. This is not the first time Nygard’s lawyers have tried to have his case tossed. Last spring, Wiebe argued a mo- tion alleging former provincial attor- ney general Kelvin Goertzen had no grounds to seek a second opinion on the case from the Saskatchewan Pub- lic Prosecutions Service in November 2022, amid what Wiebe described as media and political pressure more than a year after the Manitoba Crown attor- ney’s office decided it would not pursue charges against Nygard. The Saskatchewan review ultimately resulted in prosecutors in Manitoba au- thorizing the charges. Harvie ultimately ruled that al- though Goertzen’s actions constituted an abuse of process, staying the char- ges against Nygard wouldn’t be “an ap- propriate remedy.” erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca Carney condemns Israeli strike on Qatar that killed Hamas officials DYLAN ROBERTSON O TTAWA — Canada condemned Israel’s military strike on Qatar on Tuesday, saying the attack undermines the Gulf country’s sovereignty and risks escalating conflict across the Middle East. An explosion killed Hamas officials Tues- day in the Qatari capital of Doha. Israel said it targeted senior Hamas leaders it holds re- sponsible for the brutal October 2023 attack. Hamas said its main negotiator Khalil Al-Hayya survived the attack, which killed his son, four Hamas officials and a Qatari officer. In a social media post, Prime Minister Mark Carney called the strike “an intoler- able expansion of violence and an affront to Qatar’s sovereignty.” “Regardless of their objectives, such at- tacks pose a grave risk of escalating conflict throughout the region, and directly imperil efforts to advance peace and security,” he wrote. Carney said Canada has supported Qatar’s “highly constructive role” in attempts to broker a ceasefire in Gaza, which includes efforts to secure the release of Israeli hos- tages held by Palestinian militants for near- ly two years. Ottawa has also worked with the emirate to secure the release of Ukrainian children taken by Russia. Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand echoed Carney’s statement, adding that Hamas is a terrorist organization that must immediately release all hostages and dis- arm. “The Middle East faces serious challen- ges, and sustainable peace and security must be prioritized over any actions that could lead to a broader conflict in the re- gion,” she wrote. “Today’s attacks undermine critical nego- tiations; Canada calls for a return to negoti- ations to achieve an immediate and perma- nent ceasefire in Gaza.” In a statement, the Qatari embassy in Ot- tawa said the country is investigating “this reckless Israeli behaviour.” “This criminal assault constitutes a bla- tant violation of all international laws and norms, and poses a serious threat to the sec- urity and safety of Qataris and residents in Qatar,” the embassy wrote. Initial reports suggested U.S. President Donald Trump approved of Tuesday’s at- tack, but the White House insists Trump felt “very badly” that it happened to Qatar, a country that is a “strong ally” to the U.S. Qatar has cultivated close ties with Trump and even gave him a free replacement for Air Force One. The attack on Qatar shocked the region and could deepen Israel’s already unprecedented international isolation. Qatar hosts thousands of western troops, including Canadian soldiers. For years, the oil-rich country has paid the salaries of civil servants in the Gaza Strip, provided direct cash transfers to poor fam- ilies and offered other kinds of humanitar- ian aid to Palestinians in Gaza, propping up the Hamas-run government in the territory. Israel allowed these financial flows into Gaza as part of past ceasefire arrangements with Hamas, but became critical of these payments after the Oct. 7, 2023 attack. During that attack, Hamas-led militants abducted 251 people in Israel and killed 1,200 more, mostly civilians. Forty-eight hostages are still inside Gaza and around 20 of them are believed to be alive; most of the others were released in ceasefires or other deals. Hamas says Israel’s bombardment of Gaza and restrictions on food and other aid reaching the territory have killed more than 64,000 Palestinians, including combatants. The Hamas-run government and police have largely vanished but Hamas is still able to mount guerrilla-style attacks on Israeli forces. Four soldiers were killed Monday when a bomb was thrown into a tank. — The Canadian Press, with files from The Associated Press ERIK PINDERA Judge to rule on Nygard motion to stay charges in a month JUSTICE ● FROM A1 MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS Meechelle Best, (centre) Kellie Verwey’s mother, says the best outcome of the bail hearing was for Hilton to receive treatment. RCMP HANDOUT James Hilton, 25, was arrested Tuesday. SUPPLIED Kellie Verwey, 28, was killed in a three- vehicle collision on Jan. 15. ;