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WFP: Que. coroner calls for better pedestrian safety after death of girl (Dec1'25)
by Beth McKechnie 01 Dec '25

01 Dec '25

Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. Que. coroner calls for better pedestrian safety after death of girl MONTREAL — A Quebec coroner is recommending strengthened measures to protect pedestrian safety after the hit-and-run death of a seven-year-old Ukrainian refugee in 2022. Coroner Éric Lépine said in a recent report that the girl’s death was accidental, caused by the driver’s failure to stop fully at an intersection as well as the blinding morning sun. “My analysis of the facts leads me to conclude that the driver never saw (the victim) and that (the victim) never saw the vehicle,” Lépine wrote. “The collision resulted from a lack of vigilance on the part of the driver, due to an incomplete stop of his vehicle combined with poor visibility caused by glare from the sun.” However, he called on the city and province to take steps to improve safety at intersections, including adding sun glare as a criteria to consider when deciding which measures to put in place. Seven-year-old Mariia Legenkovska was walking to school with her brother and sister on Dec. 13, 2022, when a Jeep Grand Cherokee fatally struck her. The driver drove away without stopping but turned himself in to police later that day. He pleaded guilty in 2024 to failing to stop after an accident, and was later sentenced to a year of house arrest. Mariia and her family moved to Montreal in 2022 to escape the Russian invasion of their country. Her father, Andrii Legenkovska, was fighting for Ukraine’s territorial defence forces when she was killed, and he travelled to Montreal from the front lines to bury his daughter. Lépine’s Nov. 12 report redacts the victim’s name but notes that her death affected all of Quebec and prompted calls to better protect children in city streets. The report notes that the driver slowed down and looked both ways at the intersection where the girl was struck, but did not stop. The driver did not see the girl, but felt a bump under his tires, it states. He turned himself in to police a few hours later. The coroner noted that physical modifications such as bollards, speed bumps and curb extensions are the best way to improve pedestrian safety at intersections, and advised the city to continue adding them wherever possible. — The Canadian Press

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WFP: Child struck by vehicle Friday (Dec1'25)
by Beth McKechnie 01 Dec '25

01 Dec '25

Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. CHILD STRUCK BY VEHICLE FRIDAY A YOUTH was hit by a car while crossing the street on River Road near St. Mary’s Road just before 5 p.m. Friday. The child was sent to hospital as a precaution and is in stable condition, the Winnipeg Police Service confirmed Saturday. The driver remained at the scene and was co-operative with police.

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WFP: Pernicious cycle - Is there any strategy that can shift bike-theft crisis out of high gear? (Nov29'25)
by Beth McKechnie 29 Nov '25

29 Nov '25

Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. PERNICIOUS CYCLE Is there any strategy that can shift bike-theft crisis out of high gear? https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/2025/11/28/pernicious-cycle THERE’S perhaps no crime Winnipeggers are more likely to complain about. The hefty amount it costs Winnipeggers every year is impossible to calculate precisely, since the phenomenon goes as under-reported as it is seemingly omnipresent. Yet talk to local universities’ sociologists and criminologists, and they’ll tell you the crime — bike theft — isn’t particularly well-studied in Canada. The public’s picture of this “black market” is filtered mostly through aggravating personal experiences and news reports, which lately in Winnipeg have offered especially eye-catching headlines. Earlier this month, the Winnipeg Police Service told the public stolen bikes are being stripped down for parts that can be turned into weapons. And not just knives and sharp objects, but improvised shotguns. “We have concerns not only for the theft of bicycles that are being traded for money… or for drugs, but we’re also concerned about bicycles that are being taken apart and then used to create weapons,” said Insp. Helen Peters, adding a bike tube casing can be the right size to hold a shotgun shell. In August, city police shut down a bike chop shop at a riverbank homeless encampment in Point Douglas, charging two men with possession of stolen property and seizing dozens of bikes and hundreds of bike parts, as well as a gas generator, pressure washer and other materials. It’s believed to be the first time Winnipeg police secured and executed a search warrant for an encampment. The WPS also reported that people at the approximately 900-sq.-ft. camp — consisting of tarps on four sides, with multiple “rooms” — were working in shifts and did not necessarily appear homeless. Fabricating shotguns, engaging in shift work, stockpiling stolen goods in hidden dens, being thwarted by warrants — all this may at first give an impression that actors in Winnipeg’s black market for bikes are essentially, to use a loaded term, “organized” criminally. But talk to local outreach workers and to some of the actors themselves and a different picture emerges, one of a chaotic milieu driven by desperation, poverty and addiction. “What the police found (in Point Douglas) was more the exception than it is the rule… Generally, it’s very disorganized. It’s part of the flailing behaviour of drug addicts,” says Marion Willis, executive director of the non-profit St. Boniface Street Links, which works with people experiencing homelessness and addiction. Willis points to the hoarding tendencies of methamphetamine addicts, attributing some bike theft and chopping to the compulsive behaviours the drug can trigger. In fact, she says she’s lobbied city council for policies differentiating between hoarding disorders and meth addicts’ collecting behaviours so city workers don’t address the two with the same tactics. “People are attempting to frame (bike theft) as organized crime because there is, I think, at least a limited degree of consciousness around the idea of crimes of poverty,” says Bronwyn Dobchuk-Land, an associate professor in the University of Winnipeg’s department of criminal justice. Yet, she says, this doesn’t mean bike thieves aren’t “rational” or “organized” in other senses. “People organize to make the encampment safe for themselves. They steal bikes and organize (in ways) that arise from a shared set of problems in a particular context,” she says. “People are making choices based on a scan of their options…And that goes right down to choice of drugs. People take meth because they have to stay awake when it’s cold outside.” Point Douglas community activist Sel Burrows suggests there is often criminal co-ordination involved with bike theft, observing that a division of labour — between stealers, choppers and sellers — sometimes exists. But he agrees that it mostly falls well short of “organized crime” in the conventional sense. “There’s the professional bike thief who goes out looking for high-end bikes and has a battery-powered grinder… (and there’s) the two or three poor souls who definitely need their meth hit or whatever and they will chop up whatever bikes they can and take them down to the junkyard,” he says. ●●● Burrows and Willis, speaking from decades of experience working with underserved urban communities, both say bicycle theft is an important part of the economy fuelling the purchase of meth and fentanyl in Winnipeg, with bikes and bike parts often serving as currency. Illicit currencies can be laundered and in an informal sense this appears to be one of the roles chop shops play: a site not just for stripping bikes, but for spray-painting them, scratching off serial numbers and mixing and matching parts so that when bikes are resold, they can’t be easily identified. “(Stealing and chopping bikes) is part of the inner-city gig economy. You can’t get a job, you don’t have a car, so you can’t go delivering food and stuff like that… this is something you can do with very little skill,” says Burrows, who has held senior advisory roles with the provincial government. “It’s all about getting money to buy drugs or having something they can trade for drugs. That’s what it is. That’s the underground economy,” Willis says. Sellers of stolen bikes are known to offload their wares by a variety of means, such as online via Facebook Marketplace and Kijiji, or by selling them to passers-by on the street. James Audy, an outreach worker with Street Links, says dealers sometimes accept bicycles from customers, not to re-sell them, but for parts to tune up the look and function of their own bikes. He speaks candidly based not only on his experience with outreach, but as an ex-gang member who ended up homeless for a decade. “On the streets, the nicer bike you have, then the better the status you have, right?” he says. “If I was dealing drugs and if I seen a nice part, I’d buy it just to put it on my bike.” When vehicles are too expensive — and in a car-centric city with a floundering public transit system — Audy says bikes substitute as objects of pride and as means of transportation. So those drawn to using stolen bikes for lack of an affordable alternative ideally want to get around on something that doesn’t offend the eye and also provides a smooth ride, like virtually everyone else. ●●● “Someone’s always using a bike, it’s the hood… They use bikes — they don’t have money for transportation,” says Marty. He lives in one of downtown Winnipeg’s encampments and runs a makeshift bike shop outside his tent. He says he resells the bikes he works on usually for around $40 and sometimes services others’ two-wheelers in need of repairs. “You could just as easily throw them out,” he says of the old, loose parts scattered outside his tent. With a hint of humour, he describes his work as a form of recycling. Lee, who ran a makeshift bike shop in his yard before police intervened this summer, is hurt by the negative perception neighbours had of his family. He says he provides a kind of service for people wanting cheap bicycles and bike parts while making ends meet after an injury left him unable to work. “I had a couple people stop by — I give them a tire or nut… (later) the cops showed up and tried to say we’re drug dealers… People look at us like we’re bad people. But we’re trying to provide… (and) everyday is a struggle,” he says. “Everyone’s not perfect: the kids want to be tough. The kids and friends bring parts… and I go through them,” he adds. Lee says his family are not thieves, but if a few stolen parts mix into the piles he has on hand, “I don’t find it that big of a deal.” Marty’s attitude is similar. “People just drop them off, I don’t ask,” he says. “I know some parts are stolen, but… I’m against stealing. I think about if someone was hurt.” He says he has often been the victim of theft, himself. “Sometimes people steal from me. It’s my fault, it’s in the open,” he says. “It could be the same people who ask me to fix the bike… People act like children, stealing each other’s toys: they’re mad at something, I can’t put my finger on it.” Audy isn’t surprised by this and describes the underground market for bikes in downtown Winnipeg as a sort of warped circular economy. “Everybody’s in survival mode,” he says. “Everybody steals off everybody. It’s a greasy environment. The next generation is seeing all these older guys … stealing and thinking it’s cool, so now they’re trying to step it up a little bit, right?” ●●● Bike theft is not just a “crime of the poor.” Petty thievery can tempt people of all socioeconomic backgrounds and, unsurprisingly, there’s hardly a unified social-scientific explanation for bicycle theft. Dobchuk-Land says studying bike theft is also complicated by the fact there exists a rift between crime reporting and crime itself. Certain neighbourhoods and demographics are policed more, skewing perceptions of crime. However, there is no shortage of studies highlighting how low socioeconomic status — including poverty, unemployment and inequality — correlates in complex ways with certain forms of street crime, like petty theft. The sociologist is often drawn toward thinking about social systems and structures, and how these might be reformed, when it comes to addressing “crimes of survival” including petty thievery. This could mean not solely improving social opportunities but also reforming how such crimes are policed in the first place, sparking heated debates and a range of policy possibilities. But for the Winnipegger who enters their garage to find their brand-new city cruiser lifted, often the first and last thought is simply: “What a f—-ing pest!” If this is close to the average Joe’s conception of the bike thief, one of cinema’s most celebrated films offers a more ambivalent image. In Vittorio De Sica’s Bicycle Thieves (1948) a struggling family in Italy’s economically desperate first years after the Second World War scrimps and saves for a bicycle needed for the father’s new job posting advertising bills around Rome. That bicycle is lifted from him by a thief on his first day of work, so he too, after much indecision, gives in to the temptation to steal a bike from a stranger, likely just as destitute as him. With a guilty conscience, he perpetuates a vicious circle. The social context is obviously very different: in Winnipeg, the meth and fentanyl addiction crises combine with forces like systemic poverty as factors encompassing bike theft. But the film highlights what academics less poetically term “victim-offender overlap,” a construct studied in fields like urban sociology. But recognizing the victim status of many thieves doesn’t make bike theft, particularly for poor and working families, any less vexing when it happens to them. “I mean, I use the example of one young woman who called me in tears. She finally had a job so… she bought her five-year-old a Princess bicycle at Canadian Tire for 100 bucks. And two days later, it was in the shed, and it was stolen,” Burrows says. Dobchuk-Land adds: “The impact of a low-level property theft will necessarily impact somebody who’s poorer — it’s more of a dent, literally, in their lives and their wealth.' ●●● The City of Winnipeg says about 3,000 bikes are reported stolen every year. It’s impossible to know what the actual number is, but Project 529, North America’s largest bike registry, estimates that only 15-20 per cent of bikes stolen in Canada are reported. If we assume a low average price of $150 per bike, that’s about $2.5 million in damages in Winnipeg, annually. Last year, as the Free Press reported, only 681 bikes were recovered and just 105 returned to their owners. This includes 64 returned by the city’s bicycle recovery officer, with help from Project 529’s free-to-use bike-registry app called 529 Garage. In April 2024, the City of Winnipeg began promoting the app to cyclists, and between April and December, residents registered 6,325 bicycles. In an interview with the Free Press earlier this month, Ins. Peters urged Winnipeggers to register their bikes, or at least take photos and record the serial number, and then report them when stolen, otherwise it becomes difficult for police to lay charges. “We know that bike chop shops can be linked to the creation of weapons — weapons such as zipguns — so obviously, it’s not just a theft concern then, it’s even more so a public-matter.” She added police have received an increasing number of calls about chop shops in the past year. Burrows has argued at crime-prevention conferences that bike registration should be mandatory at point of sale, with collaboration from retailers like Walmart and Canadian Tire, placing greater risk on thieves and making it easier for police to investigate and return stolen bikes. He’s not the first to float ideas like these, though they’ve rarely been implemented. Burrows also believes some working- class families are often reluctant to report stolen bikes and property because they mistrust police or fear reprisal. He emphasizes the need for a more “eyes on the street” approach, where communities feel empowered to monitor their own neighbourhoods and anonymously report crimes to a trusted liaison who, when need be, calls on law enforcement. (This is much like the approach of Burrows’ tip-line initiative, Point Powerline, which helped earn him induction into the Order of Manitoba in 2017.) “People feel powerless. They feel that nobody gives a shit about them and they’re mostly right,” he says. ●●● Because Willis, Burrows and Dobchuk-Land situate bike theft broadly in relation to more systemic issues of inner-city poverty, homelessness and addiction, punitive measures aren’t the first thing they talk about when they discuss bike theft-prevention strategies. “This whole idea of ‘broken windows’ policing has really effectively made its way into public consciousness,” says Dobchuk-Land. “We’ve got this association between disorder, low-level crime and danger to us that makes us feel violated… when really, assault and interpersonal violence are not correlated with low-level poverty crime.” In a similar vein, Willis is also troubled by what she sees as an overly punitive approach being taken in dealing with homeless encampments. She’s particularly critical of the city’s new encampment policy, introduced this fall. It prohibits camps in certain areas including near schools, playgrounds, seniors’ facilities, bridges, piers and transit stops, or where “life safety” issues exist. “I think it is an infringement of basic human rights to take something away without offering them either a shelter or a housing option that is real,” she says. Willis says we should be realistic and realize creating more social housing for people living in encampments wouldn’t solve all associated issues of theft and addiction. But she thinks it’s time Winnipeggers reflect more about the bigger picture surrounding nuisances like bike theft, which means more seriously acknowledging and addressing Winnipeg’s addiction and homelessness crises. “We normalized bike theft, we normalized homelessness, we normalized drug use, we’ve normalized encampment living — we normalized it all,” she says. conrad.sweatman(a)freepress.mb.ca<mailto:conrad.sweatman@freepress.mb.ca>

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WFP: Pedestrian deaths can’t be ‘business as usual’ (Nov29'25)
by Beth McKechnie 29 Nov '25

29 Nov '25

Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. Pedestrian deaths can’t be ‘business as usual’ https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/2025/11/28/we-cannot-treat-p… A CANDLELIGHT vigil held to remember a Winnipeg woman who died while crossing an Osborne Village street drew more than 100 people Friday, demanding safer streets in her memory. Dozens gathered at the intersection of Roslyn Road and Osborne Street, where Rosalie Tennison was struck while crossing the street on Nov. 21. The 67-year-old was hospitalized after the collision and was awaiting surgery on broken bones in her leg when she had an unexpected medical event and died the next day. “She was an incredibly outgoing and dedicated person,” said Matthew Bowman, rector at the Parish Church of St. Luke on Nassau Street North, where Tennison was a member. Although Bowman only knew the author and communications professional for six weeks, it was long enough for her to make an impression on him. “(She was) an incredibly organized and driven person, an incredibly generous spirit that genuinely tried to live out her faith and bring joy to others,” Bowman said. The church organized the vigil with advocates for safe streets and the Osborne Village BIZ. Steve West, who has lived in Osborne Village for more than 25 years, said he was shocked and saddened by Tennison’s death but not surprised. He is an avid cyclist who has had close calls with motor vehicles. “When you’re on a bike or walking you have a very different perspective of what’s going on in traffic,” said West, who volunteers with Bike Winnipeg and has long been an advocate for making Winnipeg’s streets safer. “Drivers are not only going very fast but they seem distracted.” Tennison is the ninth pedestrian killed on Winnipeg streets this year, and the 16th person killed in a vehicle collision, the Winnipeg Police Service said in a news release earlier this week. “Think of the cascading effect of that,” West said. “There’s her family and her church community and her condo community and her friends — for each person that’s killed or seriously injured in a traffic collision, there are so many people that are affected directly or indirectly.” Downtown resident Mandalyn Unger said she attended the vigil because it’s important to commemorate the deaths of pedestrians killed in collisions. “We cannot treat pedestrian deaths as business as usual or expected collateral damage from having such a car-centric city or such a car-centric corridor there on Osborne,” Unger said. She called on Mayor Scott Gillingham and Coun. Janice Lukes, chairwoman of public works, to invest in infrastructure to make Winnipeg’s streets safer for pedestrians. The City of Winnipeg is undertaking numerous initiatives to improve road safety, Lukes told the Free Press Friday afternoon. They include introducing traffic calming curbs and providing dedicated infrastructure for walking and biking. Lukes empathized with Tennison’s family and friends, and said that her father was killed in a car crash when she was 18. “When life is taken in a second, everything changes, nothing stays the same and it’s with you the rest of your life,” Lukes said. Parish Church of St. Luke held a service prior to the vigil to remember Tennison, said Susan Roe-Finlay, reverend deacon at the church and a friend of Tennison’s. “The service was to remember her and to remind people to respect life, and this (vigil) is to remind people that we need safer streets,” Roe-Finlay said. She added that with the advent season beginning Sunday, the church recently hung four advent-themed tapestries that Tennison made last year. “She was very much part of the church fabric,” Roe-Finlay said. aaron.epp(a)freepress.mb.ca<mailto:aaron.epp@freepress.mb.ca>

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WFP: Local author, beloved church member dies after being hit by car in Osborne Village (Nov25'25)
by Beth McKechnie 26 Nov '25

26 Nov '25

Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. Local author, beloved church member dies after being hit by car in Osborne Village Ninth pedestrian to die after being hit on Winnipeg streets in 2025 https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/2025/11/24/local-author-belo… A local author, beloved by her church and community, has died after a motorist struck her while she was crossing the street in Osborne Village Friday afternoon. Rosalie Tennison, 67, was hospitalized after the collision and was awaiting surgery on broken bones in her leg. She had an unexpected medical event and died early Saturday, her sister Lynette Tennison told the Free Press. She is the ninth pedestrian killed on Winnipeg streets this year, and the 16th person killed in a vehicle collision, the Winnipeg Police Service said in a news release. “Rosalie was a person who was always thoughtful of people’s challenges, always thinking about the other (person) first,” said Dolores Tjart, a close friend who is president of the condo board at the Roslyn Road building where she lived. Police said the collision occurred at the intersection of Roslyn Road and Osborne Street around 1:20 p.m. The victim was crossing Osborne when she was hit by a 2014 Ford Fusion that was travelling west on Roslyn. She was taken to the hospital in stable condition, the release said. Police have not indicated whether criminal charges are being considered. The 32-year-old man driving the vehicle remained at the scene. The investigation continues. News about the tragedy shocked those who knew and loved Tennison, said Susan Roe-Finlay, reverend deacon at the Parish Church of St. Luke on Nassau Street North, where Tennison was a member. The close-knit congregation of about 50 people learned about her death Saturday night, and dedicated the Sunday morning church service to their late friend. “At church yesterday, they were just reeling; people were just overwhelmed. We were encouraging them at coffee to share, and I think some of them — they just couldn’t put words together,” Roe-Finlay said. “She is very much part of the fabric of our church. She is amazing.” Roe-Finlay said Tennison joined the church around six years ago, where she quickly developed a reputation for being “welcoming and warm.” Tennison was an active member of the congregation who participated in services by reading, taking collection and greeting parishioners. “She’s been part of our fundraisers. She often appeared at church with crafts and things that she would sell. She loved books and reading,” Roe-Finlay said. “She just seemed to be able to latch on to what people would like or need.” Most recently, she was organizing a fundraising event for the church that included a private screening of a Christmas movie partially filmed there. That event is set to continue in her honour on Saturday, Roe-Finlay said. The church is considering hosting a tea party in her honour next spring. “People will have to wear hats because Rosalie loved hats.” Ev Strong, who was friends with Tennison for 45 years, said she last spoke with her around 8:30 p.m. Friday, while Tennison was in the hospital awaiting further exams. “She said… she saw (the motorist) coming,” Strong said. “She was almost at her curb and she waved at him and he wasn’t paying attention, and then she said her arm hit his car and the next thing, he hit her.” Strong described her longtime friend as “intrepid” and “an inspiration.” “Everything that scared her, she went and did,” Strong said. “For her whole life, she wanted to write a book, and she did it.” Tennison’s debut book<https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-life/entertainment/books/2025/05…>, Naomi’s Houses: A Memoir, launched with Heritage House Publishing last spring. It chronicled her childhood in rural Manitoba, where her family battled poverty, overcame tragedies and sought solace in one another. A biography on the publisher’s website noted Tennison was a longtime agricultural journalist whose career spanned weekly newspapers, agricultural trade magazines and a stint at a small-town radio station. She also worked in the communications department of the faculty of agriculture and food sciences at the University of Manitoba. Tennison earned a gold citation from the Canadian Farm Writers’ Federation and was a gold-medal winner of a 2022 Canadian Online Publishing Award, the biography said. A spokesperson from the publishing house called Tennison a “lovely and enthusiastic woman” and said they were deeply saddened by news of her death. Tennison contributed to the pages of the Free Press, including sharing her thoughts in letters<https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/2025/07/09/…> to the editor<https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/2022/09/09/…>, and writing a 2019 opinion column<https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/analysis/2019/02/23/rediscovering…> detailing her love for Manitoba winters. She was raised in Manitoba’s Swan Valley region, and later moved to Ontario where she was married and lived for about 25 years, her sister said. She returned to Winnipeg after her husband died about seven years ago. She did not have children, Strong said. Tennison will be buried in a family plot in Bowsman, a small community around 15 kilometres north of Swan River, in the RM of Minitonas. She is the second pedestrian killed by a motorist in Winnipeg this month. A 68-year-old man died after he was hit by a pickup truck at Salter Street and Selkirk Avenue at about 12:45 p.m. on Nov. 15. The driver was co-operative with police, and the investigation is ongoing, WPS said. Manitoba Public Insurance issued a warning last month to alert people to the vulnerability of pedestrians on the roadway. It said there has been an average of 19 pedestrian deaths in the province annually since 2019. As of Nov. 23, 16 pedestrians have died on Manitoba roadways this year, MPI said. In total, the data shows five people have been hit by vehicles at the intersection of Osborne Street and Roslyn Road in the past four years — including two people this year, one person last year and two more in 2022. Nobody was struck at the intersection in 2023. tyler.searle(a)freepress.mb.ca<mailto:tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca>

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WFP: Bike memorial for couple killed in crash vanishes, investigation underway (Nov22'25)
by Beth McKechnie 22 Nov '25

22 Nov '25

Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. ‘Feels very disrespectful’ Bike memorial for couple killed in crash vanishes, investigation underway https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/2025/11/21/feels-very-disres… A GHOST bike memorial that honoured a Winnipeg couple killed in a collision involving an alleged impaired driver has gone missing, leaving their loved ones distraught and police investigating. The two-seat bicycle was chained to a metal pole next to Kenaston Boulevard’s southbound lanes, near Enterprise Drive, in memory of Kerry Bonner, 25, and Egor Popov, 31, who died Sept. 13. “I started crying. Who could do something like that?” Bonner’s sister, Julia Bonner, said of when she learned the bike was removed. “I was just in the moment of missing my sister and to hear that, I was devastated.” It’s not yet known who removed the bike or why. With the blessing of Bonner and Popov’s loved ones, the ghost bike was set up by members of Winnipeg’s cycling community during a vigil Sept. 26. The bike was gone when Samantha Beiko, a cycling community member, checked on it Tuesday night. “It just feels very disrespectful. It’s sort of like removing a grave marker,” Beiko said. A couple of severed chain links and a plastic flower, previously attached to the bike, were all that remained at the base of the pole. Painted white, the bicycle was welded together and non-functional. “For now, pretty much the working theory is somebody pulled up, cut the chain and took the bike for scrap,” Beiko said. “It just shows that this is how people view vulnerable road users.” She called the Winnipeg Police Service’s property crimes unit Wednesday morning to report the bike missing. Police spokesman Const. Claude Chancy confirmed an investigation is underway. The memorial was not removed by city staff, spokesman Adam Campbell said. Beiko posted appeals on social media in a bid to track down the bike, which was on a route used by tens of thousands of drivers per day. She contacted scrap yards in case someone tries to exchange the bike for cash. Bonner and Popov — survived by a young child — were on Kenaston’s southbound shoulder when the driver of a speeding pickup truck crashed into them and then fled the scene, police said in September. Police charged Kuldeep Singh Gill, 41, with two counts each of dangerous driving causing death, impaired driving causing death and failing to stop at the scene of an accident. He was granted bail in October. Court records show Gill was arrested for driving while impaired by alcohol in July 2016. After pleading guilty in provincial court, he was barred from driving for a year and fined $1,500. The cycling community and Bonner and Popov’s loved ones are discussing whether to put up a new ghost bike or a different memorial. Beiko said there are worries that a new ghost bike, if installed, would be removed, as well. Ghost bikes have been set up in cities around the world to remember cyclists killed in collisions. The memorials are intended to raise awareness about the risks cyclists face. Before it vanished, Beiko said advocates heard from some people who didn’t know what the bike on Kenaston symbolized. She said that demonstrates a need for more education. After the double fatal collision, Bike Winnipeg said Kenaston between Sterling Lyon Parkway and McGillivray Boulevard lacks safe infrastructure for pedestrians and cyclists, forcing them onto unprotected shoulders. Earlier this month, a driver crashed an SUV into a ghost bike — damaging a plaque — that was next to Wellington Crescent, near Hugo Street, and drove off, Beiko said. It happened the day after the city invited people to weigh in on a proposed temporary bike lane for Wellington between Academy Road and Stradbrook Avenue, she said. The bike paid tribute to Rob Jenner, 61, who was killed by a hit-and-run driver while cycling to work at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights in June 2024. Beckham Severight, then 19, was driving at least 159 km/h in a 50 km/h zone immediately before the crash, court heard in March. He received a three-year sentence and five-year driving ban for dangerous driving causing death and leaving the scene of a collision. chris.kitching(a)freepress.mb.ca<mailto:chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca>

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WFP Analysis: Finding a better option than bigger roads (Nov20'25)
by Beth McKechnie 20 Nov '25

20 Nov '25

Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. Finding a better option than bigger roads MEL MARGINET https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/analysis/2025/11/20/finding-a-bet… “IF the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.” When facing complex problems, governments often reach for the simplest and most familiar solutions. In Winnipeg, that tendency shows up in how we plan for growth of our transportation network. For decades, our go-to transportation investment has been roads for personal vehicles. Before disinvestment in public transit, Winnipeg had a robust, electrified system. Neighbourhoods, like mine in South Osborne, once saw streetcars gliding along the high street every few minutes. An everyday convenience that feels unimaginable today. Swoon! Many civic leaders appear unable to imagine growth without increasing car dependence. The proposed widening of Route 90 is the clearest example. No one disputes that Kenaston from Academy to Taylor and the St. James Bridge needs major repair. Less known is that the city froze its maintenance budget for this stretch of Kenaston from 1993 to 2023. That has had clear consequences. It is strange that a corridor now labelled as “critical” was allowed to suffer such neglect. I digress. This project isn’t just a repair. Tacked on to the budget is a plan to take on significant new public debt to add lanes to Kenaston, reconfigure and add a new span to the St. James Bridge and dramatically expand the intersections at Grant, Corydon and Academy. Does this portion of Route 90 experience congestion? Of course. But does it get significantly more congested than other parts of Route 90 or Henderson, Pembina, St. Mary’s, (insert your local road here)? Nope. And traffic counts show that volumes over the busiest stretch — the St. James Bridge — are roughly the same as they were 30 years ago. On top of that, truck traffic on Route 90 is only about four per cent of the total. Most travel is by personal vehicles, the vast majority being single occupant. We must move people and goods efficiently, not just on Route 90, but everywhere. With this project, the city argues that adding road capacity is worth increasing the project cost for two main reasons: maintaining traffic flow during construction, plus supporting trade and development, especially at Seasons of Tuxedo and Naawi-Oodena. The construction challenge is real, but hardly unique. Cities across North America routinely manage major reconstruction projects without permanently widening the roadway afterwards. Had this project been properly studied, councillors would today be reviewing other viable options and their respective returns on investment. Instead, no serious studies of transportation demand management strategies, that would be less costly and potentially more effective, were undertaken. Councillors are being warned of “traffic chaos” and an “Arlington Bridge scenario” if they don’t approve this widening. This is ironic given that 41 per cent of the project’s stated benefits come from travel-time savings only during construction. Nearly half of the benefits disappear after just two years. The second issue, car-oriented development, is something we have to solve, not just in southwest Winnipeg, but in all areas. We need to add affordable housing everywhere to meet current and future demand. But where and how we build it is of equal importance. We can no longer afford to make the personal vehicle the default mode of choice in new developments. We need to build fast and frequent transit as the centrepiece, with communities that make it easy for kids to walk to school and seniors to walk to appointments and services. Naawi-Oodena’s own master plan identifies the current and proposed infrastructure on Route 90 as a barrier to the walkable development envisioned. The mayor has said, in regards to induced demand, that in the case of Route 90, “demand isn’t being induced, it’s inevitable.” Building new development with no way to get in or out without a personal vehicle is, you guessed it: induced demand. Rather than endlessly adding more lanes, the city needs to explore the full toolkit of transportation demand management measures used elsewhere to reduce congestion. How do we solve congestion on Route 90 as well as on other major regional streets in Winnipeg? Reduce the number of people who drive alone, especially at peak periods. The city has plans and strategies, already approved and sitting on shelves at City Hall, that point the way forward. And there are proven carrot-and-stick measures implemented in other cities like ours that help manage congestion without exploding long-term debt. Winnipeg already has more kilometres of roadway per resident than many comparable cities in Canada, and far more than we can afford to maintain. The multi-billion dollar civic infrastructure deficit we are leaving to future generations is staggering. We owe it to those who come after us to live within our means by taking better care of our existing infrastructure and using it more efficiently. That will ensure that future Winnipeggers inherit a city that is more affordable, healthier and more sustainable than it is today. Mel Marginet is a sustainable transportation specialist at Green Action Centre and the publisher at Great Plains Press, which publishes The City Project. She contributed to Route 90 Expansion: Balancing on a House of Cards, which can be found at anatomyofapothole.ca.

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WFP Analysis: Federal funding cut derails better transit (Nov17'25)
by Beth McKechnie 17 Nov '25

17 Nov '25

Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. Federal funding cut derails better transit https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/analysis/2025/11/17/federal-fundi… THE Government of Canada has cut funding for transit agencies across the country. For all the talk of investment in the federal budget, the $3-billion annual Canada Public Transit Fund has been subsumed into the new Build Communities Strong Fund and weakened the federal government’s support for public transit. Transit agencies know they cannot fund capital projects without support from higher orders of government and will now operate in limbo. Rather than work on improving operational levels, tendering projects, or procuring new equipment that would be manufactured here in Canada, the cut and change to the federal funding model effectively derails transit expansion plans. Much of Canada’s transit capital assets are in a state of condition akin to the infamous Sea King helicopters. Montreal’s Metro cars have been in service since the 1976 Olympics; Edmonton and Calgary are running LRT trains that are more than 40 years old; and Toronto’s Line 2 subway cars date back to when Canada was navigating the first free trade agreement with the United States. Across the country, thousands of buses are also operating well beyond their design life, creaking away long after their planned life cycle. As of 2024, the country’s eight largest transit agencies faced a growing annual operating budget shortfall of $1.6 billion. That operating shortfall, keeping buses and trains moving, is exacerbated by a capital projects backlog that’s chronic with so much of Canada’s public infrastructure. Cutting federal funding levels is going to make this worse. The slated-for-elimination Canada Public Transit Fund was created to provide certainty for Canada’s transit agencies and end the annual parade of politics for budget allocations that derails prudent planning. By returning to the status quo ante, transit agencies and municipal leaders must now devote more resources to “collaborating” with Ottawa. It is ironic that Prime Minister Mark Carney repeatedly asks transit workers and bus manufacturers to join him for photo-ops. Just last week in touting a budget that cuts transit funding, he brought the Parliamentary press gallery to an LRT yard to promote it. Back in the spring, he held similar photo-ops at the site of bus manufacturers in Manitoba and Quebec. While the transit railcars and bus manufacturing industries in Canada may not get as much of the attention as the auto sector, thousands work building transit vehicles across Canada and have capacity to do more. The prime minister should maintain the dedicated funding stream that supports their work instead of just using them as a backdrop. Each agency could easily tell you today where they could address service deserts or increase service frequency to increase ridership, creating more equitable communities and a stronger economy, if the funding was there to enable it. Each agency also has a list of shovel-ready projects and vehicles they need to order as soon as possible that could get transit vehicle manufacturers working more. The Economic Benefits of Transit study conducted by the University of Toronto last year showed that for every $1 invested in transit, $7 in economic and social benefits are realized in the community. The thousands who make the buses in Winnipeg and Montreal, support the jobs of 65,000 transit agency staff across the country, who empower five million Canadians to get school, work, and support a functioning Canadian society. It is difficult to believe that a $3-billion annual dedicated transit fund turning into a broader annual catch-all fund for all types of municipal infrastructure is going to lead to better outcomes for riders. And worse, a bureaucratic reorganization of how the federal government allocates funding to support transit projects will lead to a lost year of action as they wade through this new state of paralysis. At the very time when Canada’s economy is struggling, this transit funding cut will make things worse. Public transit must not be viewed simply as a line item expense. It is an investment in our economy and communities that enables so much more. It also lowers climate emissions, reduces gridlock, and makes mobility more affordable for families who are already struggling with a rising cost of living on so many fronts. There is still time to fix this mistake. Members of Parliament can amend the budget to restore the Canada Public Transit Fund so transit agencies can reliably plan their work with federal support. If you ask any transit rider or worker if they would prefer better transit or more photo-ops for politicians after another six months of debating plans, the response would be unanimous. Ottawa must act to correct course before it is too late. David Cooper is a professional urban planner, leading transit expert, and principal and founder at Leading Mobility.

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WFP: Pedestrian killed in north end after being hit by truck (Nov17'25)
by Beth McKechnie 17 Nov '25

17 Nov '25

Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. PEDESTRIAN KILLED IN NORTH END AFTER BEING HIT BY TRUCK A 68-year-old man is dead after he was hit by a pickup truck at Salter Street and Selkirk Avenue Saturday afternoon. It happened at 12:43 p.m. Saturday. Police and Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service personnel responded and the pedestrian was taken in critical condition to hospital, where he died. The driver was co-operative with police, and the investigation is ongoing. The Winnipeg Police Service is asking anyone who has any information on the collision, including dashboard camera surveillance, to call the WPS Traffic Division at 204-986-7085<tel:204-986-7085> or leave a tip anonymously at Crime Stoppers 204-786-TIPS or winnipegcrimestoppers.org.

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WFP: Close call sparks push for better bike safety (Nov14'25)
by Beth McKechnie 14 Nov '25

14 Nov '25

Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. Mother calls for bike lane installation and new green signal after son struck by car Close call sparks push for better bike safety https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/2025/11/13/close-call-sparks… A 10-YEAR-OLD boy needed seven stitches and suffered a chipped tooth after a vehicle collided with his bike and sent him flying at a South Osborne intersection. Crystal Adams said Wednesday her son Jakob, a Grade 5 student at Gladstone School, remained shaken one week after the collision. The mother of two is still processing the phone call she received around 9 a.m. on Nov. 5 and the subsequent events at Children’s Hospital in Winnipeg. “Jakob’s tears were coming through the blood. It was an awful scene,” she said. Jakob was travelling northbound and had the right of way when his bike collided with a vehicle that was making a left off Osborne Street onto Brandon Avenue, Adams said. Winnipeg Police Service spokesman Const. Stephen Spencer confirmed Thursday traffic officers were called to the collision just after 9 a.m. “Officers spoke to both parties at the scene and particulars were exchanged,” said Spencer, adding the child was sent to hospital. “Officers attended to hospital and followed up with the cyclist. The investigation determined there were no criminal offences.” After the collision, Adams said she heard from a handful of strangers who contacted her to share first-hand experience or knowledge about others who had been hurt at the same intersection. Her two sons used to bike to school together until Jakob’s older brother graduated from Gladstone in the spring. Adams said she had insisted the boys always cycle on the sidewalk because there is no bike lane in the area. Adams is now channelling her anger into calling for change, such as the installation of a bike lane and a new advanced green signal, which would allow for a protected left turn. The Free Press has undertaken an ongoing series examining school zone safety, which is enforced by the Winnipeg Police Service and its photo-radar contractor, throughout the 2025-26 academic year. The Winnipeg School Division was made aware of five pedestrian-involved collisions during the 2024-25 school year. A single incident was designated as “in-school,” meaning it either happened on division property or at a school-related event, during instructional hours or during the commute. The remainder were “external.” The board office did not release its current year-to-date tally on Wednesday, but it includes at least one “inschool” event, given Jakob was biking to school. “This was an unfortunate event and WSD is happy that the child is safe and recovering,” superintendent Matt Henderson said in an email. Division administration supports “all advocacy for traffic calming” and is currently studying “traffic hot spots” within its borders, Henderson said. At the beginning of the school year, the board of trustees penned a letter to city hall to request 30 kilometres per hour school zones be enforced 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Dozens of cyclists, parents and children attended a rally at the intersection Thursday as the rush hour began and school let out, to call for safer infrastructure and to support Jakob and his family. Among the attendees was Robyn Dyck, a board member of Bike Winnipeg and mom of a five-year-old boy who rides his bicycle to kindergarten. “If you’ve seen the pictures (of Jakob), I can’t help but see my own kid, and I want a Winnipeg that kids, everyone, can get around without being afraid of being hit by a 4,000-pound weapon,” said Dyck. The attendees held up placards and banners, including one that read “stop hitting kids with cars.” “Our four year old — a bike rider — keeps asking, ‘Are we going to put out a ghost bike?’” Joe Curnow said a day before the rally, referring to memorials that mark life-altering or fatal bike crashes. “It’s appalling he’s so fluent in ghost bikes.” Curnow, who helped organize the event along with the group Safe Speeds Winnipeg, has two young children and researches the evolution of social justice movements at the University of Manitoba. In addition to stitches, Jakob needs dental surgery. He could barely open his mouth in the 24 hours after the collision and an initial emergency visit to the dentist was “traumatic,” his mom said. “He is very, very self-conscious. I’m hoping, once the dental surgery is done, that will help, but he’s said he’s not going to get on his bike for a long time now.” Drawing on more than a decade of road safety advocacy, elementary school teacher Ian Walker said “the tide is changing,” and people like Adams deserve credit. “For the longest time, a child being injured by a car was just the cost of modernity, of having a modern transportation system,” said the father of two, whose resumé includes St. Boniface-area school trustee and Safe Speeds Winnipeg volunteer. Walker noted that near misses and non-fatal incidents are often overlooked. By sharing Jakob’s story, his parents are drawing attention to the serious consequences of road violence and infrastructure gaps, he said. — with files from Erik Pindera maggie.macintosh(a)freepress.mb.ca<mailto:maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca>

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