Winnipeg

Last Wednesday during an executive policy committee meeting, the mayor said that he was  open to the idea of replacing the pesticide malathion with permethrin, surmising that the federal government may outlaw malathion in the future.

Meanwhile, Councillor Gord Steeves wants to research a 1982 Clean Environment Commission decision that resulted in buffer zones, as he wonders whether they are too large.

Starting this morning and running til Saturday, thousands of aboriginal residential school survivors are meeting in Winnipeg for the first national event of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

The gathering is a follow-up to the Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement reached in 2006. The agreement gave roughly 80,000 former students about $1.9 billion in compensation, and it also set up the Commission as a forum for their stories to be heard and recorded.

The Winnipeg Free Press reports that LUSH Cosmetics intends to turn its 44 Canadian outlets into campaign centres against the Alberta tar sands. LUSH plans to showcase images of deforestation, open-pit mining, and oil fields in its shop windows, and will hand out leaflets to store customers encouraging them to support the Rainforest Action Network’s campaign to stop tar sands development.

The CBC has reported that a teenager who was called a "punk" by a judge during a court hearing has lost an appeal for reduced jail time. The appeal was based on claims the remark showed bias towards him.

Earlier this year, the teen was given a nine-month youth sentence for brandishing and pointing a loaded, sawed-off shotgun in a public place. The sentence was three months longer than prosecutors were seeking.

Winnipeg's City Council will have voted in secret this morning on a deal to privatize part of the city's water treatment program.

If the deal is authorized, Veolia would design and build upgrades to two plants, and would manage and run the plants for 30 years.  Veolia claims that they would save the city between 10 and 20 per cent of the expected total $1.2 billion operating and capital costs.

An hearing will be held later this month to determine who can participate in the inquest into the death of Wilfred Asham.  

Asham, who was 19 years old, died on September 2, 2007 in the Public Safety Building in an interview room.

On Sunday morning, police shot and killed 42-year-old Lance Trevor Muir. 

Police have not yet commented on the circumstances that led to Muir's shooting, but said officers were confronted in some manner by him.

Michalyshen couldn't confirm how many times Muir was hit, or if more than one officer fired at him.  Residents in the area say that they heard 4 shots fired.

On Saturday, May 1st, 200 people marched in Winnipeg to mark International Workers' Day. This year, march organizers announced a theme of "Bread and Roses" to honor women's work and contributions to the labor movement.

MayWorks, a festival of labour and the arts, will continue throughout the month of May.

The Province of Manitoba is offering increased legal funding for the family of Brian Sinclair to participate in an inquest into his death. Sinclair, a 45-year old double amputee died of a preventable bladder infection while he was waiting to be treated at the Winnipeg Health Sciences Centre.