A witness broke down during the first day of the manslaughter trial for Keifer Mecas, 34, as the witness demanded the accused admit he had a role in the death of his 11-week-old daughter.

A provincial board has upheld a City of Winnipeg decision rejecting plans to build an assisted-living facility on a piece of hotly disputed land known as the Lemay Forest.

People living in Winnipeg neighbourhoods plagued by burnt-out and partially demolished buildings hope a host of proposed new bylaw offences lead to the cleanup of more problem properties.

Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew and Nunavut Premier P.J. Akeeagok have signed a memorandum to work together on a proposed hydroelectric and fibre optic project and ask Ottawa for capital funding.

The Winnipeg Jets are heading into their first-round playoff series against the St. Louis Blues this weekend with high hopes—coming off a Presidents’ Trophy win and setting a franchise record in wins.

While expectations are high among Jets fans, the same can’t be said outside of Winnipeg.

Legal gambling sites, like Odds Shark, have the Jets outside of the top five teams with the best odds to win the Stanley Cup, despite their league-leading record.

“Winning the Presidents’ Trophy— a lot of Jets fans think that automatically makes them the Cup favourite, but the Jets are fighting ghosts of the past right now,” said Sean Reynolds, Sportsnet reporter. “We’ve seen this team have a lot of success in the regular season, and then they get to the playoffs and have a lot to figure out.”

Reynolds says that while the Western Conference is tough, he’s seen signs throughout the season that lead him to believe the Jets will perform much better this postseason than in previous years.

“Big games—like when they needed to play the Dallas Stars for first overall—there was concern Dallas might catch them. But the Jets came out with their best performance in that game. They’ve had a lot of those moments this season,” Reynolds said. “That’s a sign of a team learning how to be comfortable in big moments. So I expect them to be in the big moments in the playoffs this year.”

“Winnipeg doesn’t get any respect, and the only way we’re going to earn it is if we go deep in the playoffs. I really think this run is important,” said Greg Burnett, a longtime Jets superfan.

Burnett, a die-hard Jets supporter since 1976, has attended every home game this season. He says he’s expecting a big run.

“We just gotta get out of the first round, and then whatever happens, happens—because the first round is one of those dragons I think the Jets need to slay,” said Burnett.

He says within Jets fan circles, the belief that the Cup could finally come to Winnipeg is real—a moment he’s been waiting for his entire life.

“Well, I’ve got a shirt I’ve been wearing for about five years—a T-shirt—and it says, ‘Just one before I die.’ That’s pretty much it right there,” Burnett said.

The post Winnipeg Jets enter playoffs with high hopes  appeared first on CityNews Winnipeg.

More concerns are being raised about a Winnipeg landlord renting what some claim are low-quality rentals at high prices creating problems for vulnerable tenants, but the landlord says Manitoba’s Residential Tenancies Branch is the body to rule on concerns tenants have brought forward about the properties.

Last week, CityNews reported on Winnipeg mother Samantha Zebrasky’s experience with Ember Realty Group Ltd. after she says the landlord used fake ads to deceive her and tried to put her and her family into a home she says was in a state of disrepair.

Now, others have come forward to share their experiences of rental woes, saying something must be done to prevent what they claim is predatory behaviour by the landlord who they allege is more than willing to take cash for rentals, but is absent when there’s work to be done. 

“It was a dead-end,” said Janet Parliament, describing what it was like trying to get help from the Winnipeg landlord and property management company during her tenancy, which started in April 2024.

Parliament and her daughter are now out of the troubled suite on Lansdowne Ave. which she leased under the promises of extensive repair and cleaning, as there were some issues with the place from the start.

“She had to get maintenance to take the screws out of the door, because it was screwed shut,” she said. “There were boards on the front window. There was a huge mess inside and she had told me: ‘It’ll be clean. It’ll be painted. It’ll be fixed when you move in.’”

However, when she actually started living in the residence, problems with the property remained, including a flooded ceiling in the kitchen, but instead of responding to the issue quickly, Parliament says emails and requests for repairs were ignored.

“I’m a very upfront person. I went to Ember and said: ‘Look, my ceiling has been leaking every night and it’s not just leaking, it’s flooding,’” but even her in-person request went unanswered, a person at the office saying: ‘You just have to wait for maintenance.’” 

It was only after saying her ceiling was caving in, did she get a response, eventually being told it was plugged fixtures upstairs that resulted in the water in her suite. 

“So I was getting disgusting toilet and sewer water leaking into my kitchen,” she said, adding she feels the conditions at the apartment were contributing to making her ill, as she lives with a compromised immune system. 

“Then, the flooding got worse,” she said.

Within days, she claims the water was pouring out of the ceiling and into the basement where the master bedroom is located, forcing her to shut off water to the house, or see her property destroyed. 

In a video sent to CityNews shot by Parliament’s partner, a bucket collects water from what appears to be a large hole covered with drywall in the kitchen, the ceiling badly stained.

“You want a long-term tenant there, then you need to fix things,” she said.  

Information from the City of Winnipeg Licensing and Bylaw Enforcement indicates, generally speaking, it’s been involved in all of the Ember Realty properties listed for rent on the firm’s site, with five cases currently open. 

CityNews spoke with Daniel Unruh, one of the listed directors of Ember Realty Group Ltd. on Wednesday, and said if there’s a breakdown on repairs between the landlord and tenant, it’s there’s bodies to deal with the matter. 

“If the tenant has maintenance issues and they can’t sort it out with the landlord, then it’s absolutely the RTB’s responsibility to issue an order,” he said.

However, when asked specifically why several tenants have had to resort to the RTB to get repairs done, instead of Ember doing the repairs voluntarily, he failed to answer, declining to answer further questions on camera. 

Parliament says she hopes awareness is brought to Ember’s behaviour and they properly fix their homes.

Over the course of CityNews’ reporting, Ember Realty’s website has also experienced several changes, as while there were numerous rental listings on the site earlier this month, all of them appear to have been removed. 

Other attempts to reach officials with Ember Realty have gone unanswered.

The post ‘It was a dead-end’ more tenants come forward about absentee Winnipeg landlord appeared first on CityNews Winnipeg.

Manitoba is rolling out a vaccination campaign for those at the highest risk of developing serious outcomes from COVID-19, aiming to get people vaccinated before summer, when virus circulation might increase, the province says.