Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - October 23, 2025, Winnipeg, Manitoba Under the authority of The City of Winnipeg Charter, the Community Committee listed below will conduct PUBLIC HEARINGS for the purpose of allowing interested persons to make submissions, ask questions or register objections in respect of the application(s) listed below. Information or documents concerning the applications and a description of the procedure to be followed at the public hearings are available for inspection by calling 204-986-2636 to make an appointment at Unit 15-30 Fort Street, or by visiting the City Clerk’s Department, Susan A. Thompson Building, 510 Main Street between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., Monday-Friday, excluding holidays; or on-line at http://www.winnipeg.ca EAST KILDONAN-TRANSCONA COMMUNITY COMMITTEE PUBLIC HEARING Date: Wednesday, November 12, 2025 Time: 10:30 A.M. Location: City Hall To participate in the hearing, register online at winnipeg.ca/publichearings or by phoning 204-986-0552 by 12:00 noon the business day preceding the meeting. You may also participate in the process by submitting your comments in writing. THIS HEARING CAN BE VIEWED ON LINE AT: https://winnipeg.ca/council/video.asp ● WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM Police previously said a “person of interest” in a white pickup truck was seen driving at high speed southbound on Highway 59 shortly after the killings. “I’m relieved the arrests were made, even though I don’t feel happy,” said Glenn Thibert, Sly’s father. “I believe others were involved, but these two were the main cul- prits — now justice for Sly and Melissa can begin, through the courts or whatever path it takes. I want them to face the consequences every day for the rest of their lives. I will be at the trial, sitting up front; I want you to look me in the eye and see the emptiness you’ve caused. This was pointless — over a damn dirt bike. My son and Melissa lost their lives for something so senseless.” Friesen and Wilson’s stepmother, Bev Friesen, have struggled since the slayings. “For the both of us, it’s just day to day to day,” her father said recently. “We are both truly in survival mode, in no uncertain terms.” Patience, prayers and support have helped them endure the grief, they said. “I’ve told the investigators a few times… I don’t care if it takes a few more months or whatever — I want proper evidence. I want it to be accurate. I don’t want mistakes,” Kerby Friesen said. “I want it done right the first time. I want justice for our daughter. I want justice for us. I want justice for her children and grandchil- dren. The only way to do that is to have the stuff right.” Happy memories brought fleeting smiles to their faces during an interview earlier this month. They remembered Wilson as a multi-talented woman who loved deeply, created art passionately and embraced the outdoors. She grew up in Winnipeg, where the Friesens live, and graduated from Glenlawn Collegiate with honours while raising a one- year-old daughter. “She was an awesome mom,” Kerby said. “I was never not impressed with her and what she did with what little she had. She did what she had to do to make those kids’ lives better.” Wilson was a mother to four and a grand- mother to three at the time of her death. Her family said her compassion ran deep. She was also resourceful, the kind of mother who could make magic out of almost nothing. She sold her art and, later on, sold extrava- gantly designed cakes. “Put it this way: I can’t believe she could make, with whatever little bits would be in the cupboard and the fridge, just unbelievable meals,” Bev Friesen said. Wilson battled mental-health issues, includ- ing bipolar disorder. In recent years, she be- gan to advocate for mental-health education. “It was her biggest nemesis in life,” Kerby said. “She always wanted to be understood.” Her father would sometimes spend hours on the phone, long into the night and early into the morning, ensuring his daughter was OK. Wilson used to tell him he wasn’t allowed to die before her. “She would say that I was her rock and that she can’t go through life without her rock. That’s my anchor,” he said. “She got her wish,” his wife added. “Yeah. That’s the hardest part. She got her wish in a sense — in a sick sense,” Kerby Friesen said. Wilson loved Victoria Beach, where the family owned a cottage, and she spent her childhood summers learning to sail and teaching art. “She was happiest there,” Bev said. At the time of her death, Wilson drove a school bus for Sunrise School Division and worked part-time as an assistant caregiver in Beausejour, working with people with intel- lectual disabilities. She was known as the “cool school bus driv- er.” Bev compared her to Ms. Frizzle from the animated TV show The Magic School Bus. A month after her death, the family — along with Wilson’s ashes — took one final ride on the bus she had driven for a decade. About 250 people showed up to say goodbye. That was a testament, the family said, to the impact she had on so many. “It was truly a celebration of life, not a morbid funeral,” Bev Friesen said. “She was one of the most talented people I’ve come across, and I was so proud that she was my daughter,” Kerby added. “She will always be missed.” — with files from Dean Pritchard scott.billeck@freepress.mb.ca NEWS A2 THURSDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2025 VOL 154 NO 287 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. 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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 MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS FILES Officers at the scene of the double homicide on Hampton Road in the RM of Victoria Beach on June 20. Coun. Evan Duncan (Charleswood-Westwood-Tuxedo) reported 11 shelters along Grant Avenue with smashed glass throughout the summer. At the Dale and Roblin Boulevard bus stop, there have been complaints about people living in the shelter. “That’s not going to happen,” he said. “It’s just not something that I’m sup- porting, and that I’m actually pushing to make sure that it’s almost instanta- neous when somebody is reported to be staying in a (bus) shelter that they’re moved out.” Lukes (Waverely West) couldn’t say why the shelters were being smashed, but speculated addiction and men- tal-health issues are involved. “I don’t know if it’s because people are frustrated and they didn’t want people living in shelters, so they went out and did a little bit of smashing on their own,” she said. “Unless it’s on camera, we don’t really know.” Bus shelters in Winnipeg are not monitored by security cameras. Lukes said she’s not concerned the retrofitted bus shelters will become en- campments, noting the city’s incoming bylaw prohibits them in such locations. She hopes the province’s Your Way Home homelessness strategy will help get people out of bus shelters and into housing. The city’s new transit system also requires functional shelters. “Our new system is based on bus transfers because of the spine-and- feeder system … we have to be using these shelters for transit, not for home,” she said. Approximately 150 shelters were removed from stops across Winnipeg as part of the transit network’s launch, Logan said. — with files from Scott Billeck nicole.buffie@freepress.mb.ca HOMICIDE ● FROM A1 FACEBOOK SUPPLIED Melissa Julie Wilson (left) and Sly Thibert were slain on June 20 at a property on which they both lived. RUTH BONNEVILLE / FREE PRESS Staff Sgt. Sean Grunewald announces the arrests of two men at Manitoba RCMP headquarters on Wednesday. MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS A demonstration bus stop with the new glass. Work to install polycarbonate panels at 30 ‘high-use’ shelters across the city is underway at a cost of $150,000. SHELTERS ● FROM A1 ;