Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - September 29, 2025, Winnipeg, Manitoba LEASING FOR NEW AND USED VEHICLES SCAN THE QR CODE TO START SHOPPING OR CALL (204) 663-6185 A2 ● WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM NEWS MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2025 VOL 154 NO 268 Winnipeg Free Press est 1872 / Winnipeg Tribune est 1890 2025 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. If you are not satisfied with the response and wish to file a formal complaint, visit the website at www.mediacouncil.ca and fill out the form or call toll-free 1-844-877-1163 for additional information. ADVERTISING Classified (Mon-Fri): 204-697-7100 wfpclass@freepress.mb.ca Obituaries (Mon-Fri): 204-697-7384 Display Advertising : 204-697-7122 FP.Advertising@freepress.mb.ca EDITORIAL Newsroom/tips: 204-697-7292 Fax: 204-697-7412 Photo desk: 204-697-7304 Sports desk: 204-697-7285 Business news: 204-697-7292 Photo REPRINTS: libraryservices@winnipegfreepress.com City desk / City.desk@freepress.mb.ca CANADA POST SALES AGREEMENT NO. 0563595 Recycled newsprint is used in the production of the newspaper. PLEASE RECYCLE. INSIDE Arts and Life C1 Business B4 Classifieds B6 Comics C8 Diversions C4-7 Horoscope C2 Jumble C4,6 Miss Lonelyhearts C2 Opinion A6,7 Sports D1 Television C4,6 Weather D6 COLUMNISTS: Melissa Martin A4 Brent Bellamy A7 Aaron Epp B3 Taylor Allen D1 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 COVID-19 presented a unique sit- uation, while measles is the opposite: we’ve long known that a full vaccine complement is nearly 100 per cent effective and a large segment of the population, anyone born before 1970, is considered immune. Schneider wonders whether years of push-back against COVID vaccines and restrictions — mostly in southern Manitoba, which is now over-repre- sented in measles hospitalizations and exposure sites — prompted the public health office to temper its approach. “We could surmise that the blow- back from COVID has contributed to government considerations about not discussing or promoting public health in relation to measles outbreaks,” he said. “That said, I think there is a duty of care and responsibility on the gov- ernment to promote public health and spotlight measles outbreaks, because this is a highly communicable disease, and all Manitobans are susceptible to it.” For years, chief provincial public health officer Dr. Brent Roussin was the face of COVID-19 information shared in Manitoba. He was the voice, too: 2021 television ads that were part of the province’s “Safe at Home” cam- paign, end with a soundbite from him, asking Manitobans to “Do a bit more of what keeps us all safe, for a little longer.” Roussin said much work is being done behind the scenes when it comes to the response to the measles out- break, which has seen 211 confirmed cases and 17 probable cases in Manito- ba since February. “It just might not be as visible as daily press conferences or things that we saw during COVID,” he said. Manitoba had the gift of foresight when measles cases began ramping up in the spring. Case counts had sky- rocketed in other provinces, including Ontario, where the number of infected hovered at 200. Roussin said officials here were able to gauge that there would be widespread transmission in pockets of the province that have low immunity, but transmission wouldn’t spread to the greater public. That, in part, has informed their ap- proach to getting the word out, he said. “It’s not the same approach as we saw with a novel virus, that at many times did put our health-care system at risk and where we saw pretty much universal susceptibility, at least at first,” he said. Instead of billboards across the province, information has been given out to physicians to give to their pa- tients. Letters describing the measles outbreak have been written in English, French and Low German. Social-media posts are to the point: a recent tweet from the Manitoba government posted on X features a cartoon of a baby with a rash caused by measles and the hashtags #GetIm- munized and #VaccinesWork. Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara said the messaging has been adapted. “We know that the attention span of folks on social media is a tight window and people scroll. We want to make sure that the way information is being distributed is evolving with the times, is really meeting people where they’re at.” A focus on pop-up testing and vaccination clinics in areas where exposures occurred gives people a chance to ask questions and speak with medical professionals in their own health region. While vaccination is the only way to prevent measles, staff are directed to advise on best practices if a person refuses the shot. That includes watch- ing for symptoms and seeking medical attention early. “We have to find ways to certainly broaden the recommendations if vac- cine uptake is still going to be low and we see this in other jurisdictions, who also have put in a tremendous amount of work doing outreach with vaccines,” Roussin said. Roussin doesn’t think “pandemic fa- tigue” — which describes exhaustion, de-motivation and apathy throughout a prolonged health crisis — plays a role in measles messaging. However, vaccine hesitancy, fuelled by misinformation and disinformation throughout the pandemic, has to be considered by public health officials. As vaccination rates decline, preventable illnesses such as mumps, chickenpox and even polio could become more prevalent or return, Roussin said. “We have to make sure we don’t get complacent. (Measles) is an example of what we see,” he said. “Once we start seeing diminished immunity, we’ll start seeing the transmission of once almost forgotten illnesses.” Many of the exposure locations recorded by the province are schools, medical centres and churches in south- ern Manitoba. The region had the lowest vaccine uptake rates in the province during the pandemic and continues to struggle with immunization. Briefings obtained by the Free Press via a freedom of information request in August found area households were sending non-immunized children who had been exposed to measles to school. The May 22 issue of the Winkler Morden Voice includes a column that criticizes rumoured “measles parties” in the region. Two-thirds of Manitoba’s 15 mea- sles-related hospitalizations occurred in the Southern Health catchment. It’s a painful statistic, said Dr. Da- vinder Singh, a medical health officer in that region. “These are severe outcomes. If you’re a parent (or a) family member, it’s terrible,” he said. “It would be terrible to have your child admitted to the hospital or go to the ICU for something that is pre- ventable with an effective and safe intervention, like an immunization.” Singh said case counts are a fraction of the circulation rate in Manitoba. He said he’s not confident any approach could sway the vaccine naysayers. “Unfortunately, I think this is going to take a long-term sort of effort to turn around,” he said. “Because I think that the people who have wanted to get immunized, due to the change in circumstances, this being a large measles outbreak, have had various opportunities to do so. “So, the people who have chosen not to get immunized at this point, may be, unfortunately, more set in their posi- tion to not choose to get immunized, or immunize their kids.” He also believes the work needed to improve vaccine uptake will be at the “individual, local level.” “That’s something that we can support at the provincial level, but unfortunately, it’s not something that we can do for each community,” he said. “They need those local, trusted people.” Robert Dyck, one of the partners at building company Goodon Industries Ltd., witnessed the province’s measles strategy first-hand when an employee was diagnosed with the disease in May. Dyck said a public health nurse reached out to the company, based in Boissevain, a community of 1,500 in the Prairie Mountain Health region near the North Dakota border, to let them know they were an exposure site and discuss the possibility of setting up an on-site vaccine clinic. They were “more than happy” to host the clinic, he said. Some staff got vaccinated, others didn’t. There hasn’t been a recorded exposure at the busi- ness since then. Today, he said, he appreciates what he describes as a “localized response” — getting contacted by a local nurse, who came to answer questions and offer immunizations in a low-pressure setting. “I appreciated that, because I think a lot of people are still a little bit, I don’t know what you’d call it, numb, to the response that COVID did bring about,” he said. “Perhaps (they are) asking them- selves whether or not that could have been handled in a different way as well.” malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca The groups say they worry the government will focus only on advanc- ing policies and programming dealing with employment equality and will pull back on services addressing gen- der-based violence or safety at Pride festivals. Brice Field of Fierté Canada Pride, which advocates for Pride festivals, said far-right violence and threats are causing Pride organizers to scale back or cancel their festivals entirely. That’s despite the fact that Ottawa has allocated $1.5 million to Pride festival security over three years. The Manitoba Pride Alliance announced this month that Steinbach Pride had to cancel its festival “due to credible safety threats connected to far-right extremism” in a conservative part of that province. “There is a significant amount of Pride festivals in this country that are not going to have access to the funds to keep their communities safe,” Field told the Canadian Pride Caucus event. “My co-workers are just trying to make sure that the people in the parade aren’t going to — and let’s be honest — are hoping that we don’t get shot.” Hunter said sexual assault is on the rise and gender-based violence tends to increase at times of economic hardship. The prospect of cuts has the sector on edge, she said. She pointed out that funding to ex- pand access to childcare allows more women to work and helps to drive the economy. “We’re not in a situation where Can- ada has achieved gender parity when it comes to key things like equal pay,” said the former Ontario MPP. She noted that Carney chose not to appoint a minister for women and gen- der issues in the temporary cabinet he assembled before the spring election, but did restore the position afterwards. Hunter said the government has been listening to their concerns, particularly those coming from organi- zations that rely on funding Ottawa announces in limited-term allotments. “We would like to see permanent funding for the national action plan on gender-based violence,” she said. “Our concern is around strength- ening the capacity of organizations across the women’s movement, so that we can be ready in these very chal- lenging times that we know we’re all facing as Canadians.” Earlier this month, Sen. Marilou McPhedran attacked the prospect of cuts to programs for women and point- ed out that the Liberals were re-elect- ed in the spring in part due to support from women. “We’re seeing a real pattern here with Prime Minister Carney, with the troika of white corporate men who are now at the peak of government,” she said at a press conference on Parlia- ment Hill. “We are hearing from women who are part of the government who are very concerned about this,” she said, without naming names. This year’s Pride Caucus event in- cluded Conservatives; no Tory senators or MPs attended last year’s event. MPs Scott Aitchison and Greg McLean attended this year’s Pride Caucus, along with various Liberal, NDP and Bloc Québécois MPs who have been present in previous years. The two Conservative MPs who pub- licly identify as LGBTTQ+ — Melissa Lantsman and Eric Duncan — are not part of the Pride Caucus. — The Canadian Press CUTS ● FROM A1 MEASLES ● FROM A1 TIM SMITH/ BRANDON SUN FILES Robert Dyck, a partner at building company Goodon Industries Ltd., praised the province’s measles strategy after seeing first hand the response after an employees was diagnosed. ;