Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - November 21, 2025, Winnipeg, Manitoba FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2025 A2 ● WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM NEWS VOL 155 NO 8 Winnipeg Free Press est 1872 / Winnipeg Tribune est 1890 2024 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. 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INSIDE Arts and Life C1 Business B5 Classifieds D7 Comics C5 Diversions C6-7 Horoscope C4 Jumble C6 Miss Lonelyhearts C4 Obituaries D7 Opinion A6-7 Sports D1 Television C4 Weather C8 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 Some of them described this grade inflation incident as “an open secret” in certain circles on campus. The faculty association formally alerted BU administration about a grievance on May 18, 2022. It alleged the dean breached a contract instruc- tor’s academic freedom, failed to follow university policies and was in a conflict of interest. The case resulted in a formal apology roughly two years later. “I write to offer my sincere apology for the stress and anxiety you suf- fered, and for any pressure you felt, in relation to our interactions, which concluded with my decision to change the grade of one of your students at the conclusion of the winter 2022 term,” Ardelli wrote in a letter addressed to the instructor, who is no longer em- ployed by the university. “With the benefit of hindsight, I now recognize that I ought to have discussed the grade change and grade appeal process with you in more detail and ensured that you were provided with sufficient information to know the basis for the decision.” Those comments were printed on university letterhead. The letter was not dated, but the Free Press has re- viewed a signed copy and confirmed it was received in November 2024. The course instructor declined an interview, citing how stressful the in- cident and its fallout has been for them and their family. Ardelli did not respond to multiple requests for comment. On Jan. 14, not long after the apology was delivered to the recipient, the BU senate — the governing board respon- sible for making academic-related decisions on campus — was scheduled to receive the first report from a newly created subcommittee to review grade-appeal protocols. University records show senators have debated ways for students to challenge grades, how subsequent in- vestigations should unfold and whether a dean should be able to unilaterally change a final course mark this year. “Some senators are uncomfortable with the dean being able to make a de- cision in contradiction to the will of the instructor and the chair,” according to minutes from a May 13 meeting. Although the undergraduate course calendar advises students of steps re- quired to make an appeal, the universi- ty does not have a formal policy to deal with situations of this sort. Faculty members revealed that senior administration defended the dean’s actions — which did not follow typical protocols or practices at BU — by reframing the course calendar’s contents as guidelines rather than formal policies during the grievance process. Leaked documents corrobo- rate their claims. The senate subcommittee’s draft is currently under review. Ardelli was promoted to the highest ranks of the university while the griev- ance remained unresolved. As of Jan. 1, 2024, she is the inaugural vice-presi- dent of research and graduate studies. She is midway through her five-year term. One of the students who took the lab-intensive course said it was “shock- ing” to learn this particular classmate earned an A+. “I assumed (the student) dropped the class,” they said, speaking on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution. The now-graduate said they regu- larly attended class but rarely saw the classmate — who ultimately received a higher mark — in attendance or partic- ipate in any labs or presentations. Faculty association president Gau- tam Srivastava originally declined to comment on the case. Following an initial deadline, he provided a state- ment to confirm a grade-appeal-relat- ed grievance “was resolved to BUFA’s satisfaction.” Srivastava said he’s confident grades and marking processes at the universi- ty “are fair and accurate.” Kofi Campbell, provost and vice-president (academic), did not answer repeated requests for an inter- view. University president Christine Bovis-Cnossen did not provide an interview or statement for attribution via her communications office. Spokesman Grant Hamilton issued a lengthy statement that he insisted be attributed only to “Brandon Universi- ty.” It was later copy-and-pasted into a mass email (subject line: “Sticking together through negative media attention”) that the president sent to employees and students on Nov. 7 prior to the story being published. The mass email included a warning for potential whistleblowers, citing the legal implications of leaking confiden- tial information about a student. “This article appears to be based in part on a leak of personal student information, which we are taking very seriously,” Bovis-Cnossen wrote in a memo she signed off with “Warmly, Christine.” “Our legal duty to preserve confi- dentiality and personal privacy puts us at a disadvantage in responding to the erroneous claims put forward by the reporter.” Several sources confirmed the student was given multiple extensions to complete coursework. The student failed to meet extended deadlines, they said. Faculty members pointed out the dean had many options, such as insert- ing an “incomplete” into the grading database until the student submitted late work and it could be marked by a third party. BU administration’s prepared state- ment indicated “conflicts of interest (real or perceived) are inevitable — as are interpersonal conflicts” given the small size of the university. It noted BU has a senate subcommit- tee — the statement failed to mention the group was created in response to the 2022 incident — to ensure its grade appeal policy is “as good as it can be.” Bovis-Cnossen called the univer- sity’s policies “robust” in her Nov. 7 email. maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca GRADES ● FROM A1 More than four hours later, hospital security saw the accused and detained him until police arrived. Ermiyas Isaac Dangerfield, 27, has been charged with sexual assault and was detained in custody. In a memo sent to staff Thursday, St. Boniface Hospital president and CEO Nicole Aminot said security measures are under review. The memo lists enhancements made to the parkade in the last two years, including key-card access to the stairwell, overnight security staff, additional mirrors, improved lighting and security cameras. “That said, we will always consider doing more to help ensure the safety of our staff and we promise you we will do what we can to reduce the risks to our staff as much as reasonably possi- ble,” Aminot wrote in the memo. “We are discussing the issue with (the Winnipeg Regional Health Author- ity), and are already in talks with Win- nipeg police to discuss neighbourhood safety and to arrange some safety presentations for staff. We want this to be a safe place for everyone.” Jackson described the memo as “too little, too late.” “I am sick and tired. Every employer has been reactionary,” she said. Currently, nurses who work at the Thompson General Hospital are partic- ipating in a vote to decide whether to grey-list that facility. The vote ends this afternoon. Jackson said she isn’t surprised union members at other hospitals are pursuing grey-list designations for their workplace. “If we have to grey-list every hospi- tal, every health-care facility in this province, in order for the employer and government to take safety seriously, that’s what we will do.” At the St. Boniface Hospital parkade Thursday, staff members said they are concerned about the potential for violent incidents, which are becoming far too common across the province. “I have my tracker on my phone, so my husband can find me, and a little signal that I send my sister, if, ever, somebody sketchy is around me, then she’ll follow up. If I don’t answer, then she knows, send my location, call the police,” said Kris Lyn, a lab technician student who’s finishing her studies at St. Boniface Hospital. She said she had worked at a Dynacare lab where there were two violent assaults in a year, one of which resulted in a staff member being knocked unconscious. “I don’t think that the systems are actually set up to keep us safe, unfortunately… it just seems like there’s been numerous assaults and the response time is just super, super long,” she said. “Like, if the person was going to kill you, you’d be dead before anyone’s going to get there to help you.” The Nov. 8 incident in the parkade took place four days after Dangerfield, who has an extensive criminal history, was released from custody, court records show. He had been sentenced to three months of time served for one count of robbery under $5,000. In March, Dangerfield pleaded guilty to one count of assault with a weapon and was sentenced to the equivalent of nine months in jail, all but 12 days of which he had already served. Dangerfield pleaded guilty in July 2024 to two counts of sexual assault and was sentenced to four months in custody. In 2023, a 33-year-old woman told po - lice a man had sexually assaulted her downtown on the afternoon of June 23. At the time, police said the man said something inappropriate and grabbed the victim, who worked in the area, in an unwanted sexual manner after she declined to buy chocolate from him. Later, police arrested a man at Gra- ham Avenue and Donald Street; he had a bag of chocolate bars, but a police spokesman said at the time that he was not raising money for a cause. At an August 2021 sentencing hearing for robbery and a number of administrative breaches, including breaching a bail order, a judge said Dangerfield’s crimes were tied to an untreated, chronic mental illness and drug abuse. Charges were laid after staff mem- bers at a restaurant on the 100 block of Isabel Street declined to serve Dangerfield after closing on Feb. 18, 2021. He grabbed a tablet from a table, hit a staff member who tried to take it back and ran away with the tablet. The woman was treated in hospital for minor injuries. The judge noted Dangerfield likely traded the tablet for street drugs. Dangerfield was sentenced to a year in jail, less time already served. Once released, he was subject to two years of supervised probation, banned from possessing weapons for 10 years and ordered to provide his DNA to the national database. In 2018, Dangerfield was arrested and charged with robbery and aggra- vated assault after a customer was stabbed at a convenience store on the same block of Isabel Street on March 6. Police said an employee told a man to leave after recognizing him in connec- tion with a theft one month earlier. The customer intervened after the suspect grabbed two drinks and tried to leave, police had said. The customer, a 38-year-old man, was stabbed once by an unknown person, police said at the time. Both suspects ran away. A canine unit tracked one of them, and Danger- field was arrested and charged with robbery and aggravated assault. He was 20 at the time. — with files from Dean Pritchard malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca HOSPITAL ● FROM A1 TIM SMITH / BRANDON SUN FILES Concerns about a 2022 incident in which a student’s grade was changed from an F to an A+ resurfaced at Brandon University this fall. SUPPLIED Bernadette Ardelli is currently the vice-president for research and graduate studies at Brandon University. ‘Encounter’ with First Nations man second-such occurrence RCMP’s body-cam video in IIU hands after fatal shooting T HE police watchdog review of a fatal shooting by an RCMP officer on a Manitoba First Nation earlier this week will, for just the second time, use video from a body camera worn by a Mountie. Manitoba RCMP began equipping some front-line officers with body cam- eras last November. Footage from the Tuesday-morning incident at Sagkeeng First Nation “is now restricted to only a few investiga- tors within the RCMP, and videos are not shared,” a spokesperson said. Shay Houle, 29, died after he was shot by an RCMP officer early Tues- day morning. In a statement, the RCMP said they responded to two 911 calls re- porting a man armed with a knife at a Sagkeeng home shortly after 6:30 a.m. “An encounter occurred” when police arrived and an officer shot the man. The statement did not provide further details. The officers administered medical care until emergency crews arrived, according to RCMP. Houle was taken to hospital, where he later died. Houle’s family can ask the Independ- ent Investigation Unit — Manitoba’s civilian-led agency that reviews po- lice-involved injuries and deaths — to see the video, RCMP said. “We want to see it,” said Taryn Bruere, a close friend of Houle’s. That’s unlikely to happen, according to Christopher Schneider, a professor of sociology at Brandon University, who has studied body-worn cameras in policing and has authored a book on the subject that will be released in January. “In the Canadian context, the privacy legislation is very strict, and it’s feder- al,” Schneider said. “So this basically re- stricts police from releasing body-worn camera footage in a public context. “There are some rare exceptions where it could be released, but as a gen- eral practice, this is not something that happens in Canada.” He said if someone wants to see foot- age of themselves taken by a police camera, they have to make a freedom of information request, which could take months. Bruere, who said her nephew was in the home and witnessed the confronta- tion and shooting, wants to know how the situation escalated as quickly as it did. “Why did they have to shoot him?” she said. “Why couldn’t they have used a Taser or rubber bullets? They didn’t have to shoot him in the chest.” Bruere said Houle suffered from depression and had suicidal ideations recently. She and her nephew think it’s possible Houle may have tried to attack the officer “because he couldn’t do it himself.” RCMP said the officers involved were wearing body-worn cameras acti- vated upon their arrival at the home. The officers weren’t injured. The video footage was turned over to the IIU, which investigates police-in- volved injuries and deaths. That was the case last May, when an RCMP officer with the Carberry detachment shot a 54-year-old woman acting erratically on the Trans-Canada Highway. The woman had been walk- ing into traffic and climbing on vehicles while armed with a “bladed weapon,” Mounties said at the time. Police said she was shot after ignor- ing repeated commands to drop the weapon and then “advanced quickly” towards an officer. “So, all of this is meant to suggest that body-worn cameras in the Can- adian context is that we, the public, and individual family members, and indeed the First Nations people on this reserve, are going to have to rely on the narrative that’s provided both by the RCMP and the IIU,” Schneider said. “In other words, believe us when we tell you that the person had a knife and the use of force (was necessary)… there really is not any transparency in the Canadian context.” For weeks, the Free Press has sought updated data on the body-worn camera rollout in Manitoba. RCMP said they planned to release more information Wednesday — including whether all of- ficers in the province are outfitted with the cameras — but will now do that next week. scott.billeck@freepress.mb.ca SCOTT BILLECK MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS ‘I don’t think that the systems are actually set up to keep us safe,’ says Kris Lyn. ;