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Floodwater from the swollen Assiniboine River covers pasture bordering Highway 250 north of Alexander on Tuesday. (Tim Smith/The Brandon Sun)

Overland flooding

Floodwater from the swollen Assiniboine River covers pasture bordering Highway 250 north of Alexander on Tuesday. (Tim Smith/The Brandon Sun)

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May. 13, 6 PM: 23°c Windy May. 14, 12 AM: 16°c Cloudy with wind

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Local

Shannon Morrow-Stritz, manager of the Rapid Access to Addictions Medicine (RAAM) clinic, and Dr. Ranjit Tatineni, a Brandon physician, pose for a photo at the 7th Street Health Access Centre in Brandon on Tuesday. (Tim Smith/The Brandon Sun)

RAAM clinic visits almost quadruple in five years

By Tessa Adamski 4 minute read Preview

RAAM clinic visits almost quadruple in five years

By Tessa Adamski 4 minute read Yesterday at 9:49 PM CDT

The number of patients seeking help to manage substance use and addictions at a Brandon drop-in clinic has “drastically increased” in recent years, with most people accessing treatment for opioid use.

Visits at Prairie Mountain Health’s Rapid Access to Addictions Medicine (RAAM) clinic almost quadrupled to 2,963 in 2025 from 773 in 2020, according to data from Shared Health.

It’s difficult to pinpoint what’s driving the increase in patient visits, but it could be linked to the accessibility of the services aimed at meeting people’s needs since the clinic opened in September 2018, said Shannon Morrow-Stritz, manager of the clinic located at the 7th Street Health Access Centre.

“By allowing it to be low barrier, they benefit from the fact that they can come when they feel that they need to at the time,” she said.

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Yesterday at 9:49 PM CDT

Local

Greg Brown, acting director of transportation services for the City of Brandon. (Alex Lambert/The Brandon Sun files)

NDP urged to restore 50-50 transit funding

By Alex Lambert 5 minute read Preview

NDP urged to restore 50-50 transit funding

By Alex Lambert 5 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 9:46 PM CDT

Calls to restore dollar-for-dollar funding for public transit are growing, with Brandon Mayor Jeff Fawcett and the city’s transit union urging the province to step up.

Fawcett said the city has been asking for a return to 50-50 funding from the province since it was scrapped in 2017 by the Progressive Conservative government.

“We have to try to do the best for cost recovery as we can,” Fawcett said. “It increases the cost of people participating in transit, and it just increases the cost locally to offer a service.”

Fawcett said the city has been forced to reduce transit services since the province stopped increasing its funding in step with the rising cost of the system. The number of buses running on some routes has fallen and fares charged to riders have increased, he said.

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Updated: Yesterday at 9:46 PM CDT

Local

Paul Souque, president of Blackbird Housing Inc., stands in front of the McKenzie Seeds building in downtown Brandon. Blackbird Housing purchased the historic building with plans to develop about 130 residential suites, medical and wellness-related commercial spaces and amenities such as a rooftop deck. (Abiola Odutola/The Brandon Sun)

Senior housing planned for McKenzie Seeds building

By Abiola Odutola 5 minute read Preview

Senior housing planned for McKenzie Seeds building

By Abiola Odutola 5 minute read Yesterday at 9:40 PM CDT

The sale of Brandon’s long-vacant McKenzie Seeds building to Manitoba-based Blackbird Housing Inc. has been finalized, with plans moving ahead to transform the landmark into senior housing.

The proposed development would include about 130 residential suites, medical and wellness-related commercial spaces and amenities such as a 10,000-square-foot rooftop deck. Developers are also exploring partnerships with senior housing operators who could lease and operate portions of the facility once construction is complete.

Blackbird Housing president Paul Souque said the $20-million project is fully funded through the company’s partnerships and does not currently require public fundraising efforts.

“We acquired the property from Brandon Fresh Farm about three months ago for $3.25 million,” he told the Sun. “Attainable senior living is our goal.”

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Yesterday at 9:40 PM CDT

Local

The Brandon courthouse. (File)

Crown calls for 25-year sentence in foster child sexual abuse case

By Skye Anderson 6 minute read Preview

Crown calls for 25-year sentence in foster child sexual abuse case

By Skye Anderson 6 minute read Yesterday at 9:39 PM CDT

A Crown prosecutor asked the court to impose a 25-year sentence on a Brandon man who made and distributed sexual videos and photos of his two young foster children.

The 38-year-old man — who lived in a residence where a home daycare was also operating — pleaded guilty in January to two counts each of sexual interference, making child sexual abuse material and distributing child sexual abuse material, along with a single count of possessing child sexual abuse material.

“The spectre of organized multi-victim abuse within the child-care setting has been a deep fear for a long time in the public mind. This case is that fear taking actual shape,” Crown attorney Rich Lonstrup said in Brandon provincial court on Tuesday.

The man’s lawyer, Jennifer Janssens, argued that a sentence in the range of 16 to 18 years would be more appropriate, citing his sincere remorse and that the time he has spent in custody has already had a strong impact on him due to the nature of his charges.

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Yesterday at 9:39 PM CDT

Local

The RCMP logo is seen outside the force's 'E' division headquarters in Surrey, B.C., on March 16, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Ste. Rose du Lac man, 53, dies from injuries in motorcycle accident

1 minute read Preview

Ste. Rose du Lac man, 53, dies from injuries in motorcycle accident

1 minute read Yesterday at 9:53 PM CDT

A 53-year-old Ste. Rose du Lac man has died after his motorcycle went into a ditch.

Ste. Rose du Lac RCMP responded to the accident on Highway 276 and Road 141 West, just north of the community, at around midnight on Monday.

Mounties believe the man was riding south when he went off the road on the wrong side after a curve in the highway, RCMP said in a news release Tuesday.

Police found the man lying beside his motorcycle in the east ditch, Mounties said.

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Yesterday at 9:53 PM CDT

Agriculture

Saskatchewan crop farmer Jeremy Welter seeds a portion of his approximately 400-hectares of land near Kerrobert, Sask., in this undated handout photo. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Handout - Jeremy Welter (Mandatory Credit)

Saskatchewan seeding delayed by cold temperatures, wet soil but farmers undeterred

Dayne Patterson, The Canadian Press 4 minute read Preview

Saskatchewan seeding delayed by cold temperatures, wet soil but farmers undeterred

Dayne Patterson, The Canadian Press 4 minute read Updated: 8:49 AM CDT

When you ask Brett Halstead what challenges he expects to see with seeding at his farm in Saskatchewan, his answer is simple.

"Everything."

Seeding in Saskatchewan has been delayed because of cold temperatures and stubborn spring snow, particularly in the north and east of the province.

On top of the common issue of moisture, farmers in Canada's breadbasket are dealing with war-driven commodity pricing.

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Updated: 8:49 AM CDT

Local

From left, NASA's Artemis II astronauts Jeremy Hansen, Christina Koch, Victor Glover and Reid Wiseman prepare to ring the closing bell at the Nasdaq MarketSite in New York on Thursday, April 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Hansen, Artemis II crew talk about future space missions in Ottawa

David Baxter, The Canadian Press 2 minute read Preview

Hansen, Artemis II crew talk about future space missions in Ottawa

David Baxter, The Canadian Press 2 minute read Updated: 10:12 AM CDT

OTTAWA - The astronauts who captured the world's imagination with their journey to the far side of the moon last month visited Ottawa to talk about the future of space travel Wednesday.

Canadian Jeremy Hansen and his Artemis II crewmates have a series of events scheduled in the capital that began with a morning meeting with Prime Minister Mark Carney in his office.

The 10-day mission took Hansen, mission commander Reid Wiseman and astronauts Victor Glover and Christina Koch farther from Earth than any humans before them.

Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jenni Gibbons, who was part of the team at NASA's Mission Control Center in Houston during Artemis II's journey, is taking part in the Ottawa tour.

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Updated: 10:12 AM CDT

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Agriculture

The Statistics Canada offices in Ottawa are seen on Tuesday, May 1, 2013. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

Controversies and consequences: Five things to know about the census

Catherine Morrison, The Canadian Press 5 minute read Preview

Controversies and consequences: Five things to know about the census

Catherine Morrison, The Canadian Press 5 minute read Updated: 8:49 AM CDT

OTTAWA - People across the country completed their census forms this week, sharing details about their lives, which languages they speak and — for those who got the long-form census — information about their social and economic situations and access to housing.

Here are five things to know about the questionnaire.

The census is more than 350 years old

The federal government's website says the first census in Canada was launched by Jean Talon, colonial administrator for New France, in 1666.

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Updated: 8:49 AM CDT

Lifestyles

Passengers are disembarked from the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship MV Hondius at the port of Granadilla in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, Sunday, May 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

What we know about hantavirus now that people linked to outbreak are back in Canada

Nicole Ireland and Hannah Alberga, The Canadian Press 7 minute read Preview

What we know about hantavirus now that people linked to outbreak are back in Canada

Nicole Ireland and Hannah Alberga, The Canadian Press 7 minute read Updated: 1:19 PM CDT

TORONTO - The outbreak of hantavirus on the MV Hondius cruise ship has captured the attention of Canadians and left many with questions. Here's what we know so far. 

WHAT KIND OF HANTAVIRUS WAS ON THE SHIP?

Passengers on the ship got Andes virus, which is found in Argentina and Chile. It is the only type out of dozens of hantaviruses known to be  capable of transmission between humans. Hantaviruses originate in rodents, including mice and rats. 

HOW MANY PEOPLE HAVE RETURNED TO CANADA AND WHERE ARE THEY?

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Updated: 1:19 PM CDT

Local

FILE - Israel's Iron Dome anti-missile system fires to intercept as air raid sirens sound in Tel Aviv, on Oct. 23, 2024. (Nathan Howard/Pool Photo via AP, File)

US ambassador to Israel says Israel sent Iron Dome batteries, personnel to UAE to defend country

Melanie Lidman And Jon Gambrell, The Associated Press 5 minute read Preview

US ambassador to Israel says Israel sent Iron Dome batteries, personnel to UAE to defend country

Melanie Lidman And Jon Gambrell, The Associated Press 5 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 8:59 AM CDT

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israel sent Iron Dome anti-missile batteries and personnel to operate them to the United Arab Emirates to defend the country during the Iran war, the U.S. ambassador to Israel said Tuesday.

The comments by Mike Huckabee underline the growing defense relationship between Israel and the UAE, countries long suspicious of Iran, as a shaky ceasefire still holds in the Iran war. It represents the first publicly acknowledged deployment of Israel's military to the Emirates, a federation of seven sheikdoms on the Arabian Peninsula home to Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

However, the narrow Strait of Hormuz remains in Tehran's chokehold and negotiations between the U.S. and Iran appear at a standstill for the moment — raising the risk of the conflict breaking out again. U.S. President Donald Trump is traveling this week to China for a summit with Xi Jinping, where Iran will likely be a topic. Beijing long has been a buyer of sanctioned Iranian crude oil and has been hurt by the strait's closure, which has sparked a global energy crisis.

Huckabee, a Baptist minister, former governor of Arkansas and one-time presidential candidate, made the comment on stage at an event in Tel Aviv, Israel.

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Updated: Yesterday at 8:59 AM CDT

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