DRONES HELP CLIMBER RESCUE

SQUAMISH — Two drones played key roles in the nighttime rescue of a climber stranded 77 metres up a British Columbia cliff face this week — one helping deliver a rope and the other lighting the way.

Squamish Search and Rescue says in a social media statement that the rescue happened Wednesday night on the famed Stawamus Chief some 60 kilometres north of Vancouver.

It says the climber became stranded on a climbing route known as the “Alaska Highway,” described by climbers community Mountain Project as a 167-metre climb with “an imposing system of overhanging corners and chimneys.”

WINNIPEG — Stony Mountain Institution officers seized about $103,000 worth of banned items, including THC concentrate, on Sept. 2, the Correctional Service of Canada says.

The federal department credited “vigilance” of staff members, but did not explain how the packages were discovered or delivered to the prison. Police were notified.

Officers intercepted $1.8 million worth of THC concentrate and other banned items in packages on Aug. 30.

The Union of Canadian Correctional Officers told the Winnipeg Free Press that staff spotted a drone delivering the packages that day.

WINNIPEG — Manitoba’s economy is poised to grow 1.2 per cent this year, a report by Signal49 Research forecasts.

The firm formerly known as the Conference Board of Canada expects Manitoba will be bolstered by private-sector spending, largely in the mining sector, and by public-sector projects over the next five years.

“Manitoba, it’s not unscathed from the trade war,” Richard Forbes, a Signal49 Research principal economist, said Thursday. “More … the uncertainty is affecting Manitoba than the direct trade impact.”

Forbes pointed to Alamos Gold’s Lynn Lake gold mine project, and a consortium buying Vale Base Minerals’ Thompson nickel mine for up to $280 million. Global demand for minerals should benefit the Prairie province, Forbes said.

WINNIPEG — A couple suing the city allege Winnipeg Police Service officers trying to execute a search warrant at their condominium complex rappelled down the side of the building, broke in their glass patio door and fired off a stun grenade before realizing they were in the wrong unit.

Saeid Ghavami and Shahla Shojaei, a married couple who are academics and scientific researchers at the University of Manitoba, filed the lawsuit in Court of King’s Bench last month over the Jan. 31, 2025 incident.

The claim names the City of Winnipeg and several officers involved in the operation, whose identities are, at this point, unknown to the couple, and are referred to as “John Does.”

Officers were attempting to execute the warrant on the third floor of the eight-storey Pembina Highway building, the court filing says. The couple lives on the fourth floor.

WINNIPEG — Manitoba is adding doctors at a record clip — but it’s also losing them at a rate not seen since the depths of the COVID-19 pandemic, a physicians advocacy organization cautioned Wednesday.

The number of registered family physicians, specialists and medical residents with a full certificate of practice reached 3,694 as of April 30, for a net gain of 196 doctors during the previous 12 months, the highest net gain since 2008 (the earliest records available online) and the third consecutive year of net increases.

The figures are outlined in the 2025-2026 annual report of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Manitoba, which was released Wednesday. The figures show a snapshot of registration on April 30, the final day of the fiscal year.

There were 1,792 family physicians, 1,823 specialists and 79 residents with a full scope of practice. Manitoba added 164 net new doctors in the previous fiscal year and 133 doctors in fiscal 2023-24.

WINNIPEG — A shortage of judges is forcing Manitoba’s provincial court to slash sittings across the province.

The court announced in a notice to the profession Wednesday it will be reducing the number of annual court sittings at nine rural circuit locations and St. Boniface provincial court in Winnipeg by 68 sittings, effective April 1, 2027.

The reductions are necessary to balance “access to justice needs with the complement of judicial resources currently insufficient to maintain the current court schedule,” said the notice, signed by provincial court Chief Judge Ryan Rolston.

Affected circuit courts include Altona, Arborg, Beausejour, Easterville, Cranberry Portage, Lundar, Grand Rapids, Moose Lake and Pine Falls.

WINNIPEG — A Manitoba doctor has denied he was working as a recruiter after an Ontario doctor accused him of misleading him about a position at the Carberry hospital.

Dr. Klevis Iliriani, who worked at the hospital in Carberry from May to August 2024, filed his statement of claim in Court of King’s Bench earlier this year.

Iliriani, who lives in an Ottawa suburb, has alleged recruiters negligently misrepresented the job at the Carberry hospital and breached the terms of his contract, which resulted in less pay than promised.

His court filing names defendants Dr. Dave Maharajh and Barry Banek as the recruiters.

WINNIPEG — Four teens have died in a collision near Winnipeg Beach.

Manitoba RCMP are investigating the two-vehicle crash, which happened at about 9:15 p.m. on Sunday.

A vehicle travelling west on Highway 229 was struck while crossing Highway 8, RCMP said in a news release Monday.

Everyone inside the westbound vehicle died at the scene, including the driver, an 18-year-old female from Winnipeg, and three passengers: an 18-year-old male from Gimli, an 18-year-old female from Sandy Hook and a 17-year-old male from Ear Falls, Ont.

Pats 6, Wheat Kings 4

First Period

1. Brandon, Muissu 1 (Allard, Grubb) 3:57 (pp).

2. Brandon, Muissu 2 (Bhathal) 11:41.

Pats 6, Wheat Kings 3

First Period

1. Regina, Mieyette 1 (unassisted) 5:34.

2. Regina, Moore 1 (unassisted) 7:52.