Homicide in Northern Manitoba - update

Norway House, Man.
February 20, 2008

On the morning of February 16, 2008 at 5 a.m., Norway House RCMP responded to a report of a stabbing at a residence located in the Rossville area of Norway House First Nation.

Alvin Dion Cromarty, age 18 was located at the residence and transported to the Norway House Hospital where he later succumbed to his injuries. A post mortem conducted at the Health Sciences Center on February 17, 2008 determined that Cromarty died from sharp force trauma.

Twenty-year-old Michael Evan Osborne of Norway House has been charged with second degree murder and remanded to Provincial Judges Court in Thompson on February 19, 2008.

Contact: Sgt. Line Karpish
(204)983-8397

mySteinbach.ca

Stabbing victim dies

A 20-year-old Norway House man is dead after a stabbing early Saturday morning at the northern Manitoba community.

RCMP say the man was found by officers in a home in the Rossville area of Norway House about 5 a.m., suffering from what appeared to be stab wounds.

Emergency crews took the man to Norway House Hospital but he died of his injuries later that day, RCMP said.

An autopsy was scheduled for yesterday morning in Winnipeg but RCMP did not release any further information about the homicide.

Norway House RCMP, the RCMP serious crime unit out of Winnipeg and the Thompson major crime and identification units continue an investigation. The man's name was not released last night.

Winnipeg Sun

Residential school survivors gouged?

Northern stores charge 1.5% cheque fee

Updated at 9:55 PM

By Alexandra Paul

Northern stores are acting as a bank of last resort for in remote communities looking for ways to cash $250 million in cheques.
But there's a price to pay for the service on reserves where there are no banks: Northern is taking a 1.5 per cent cut of each cheque.

About 12,000 people in Northern Canada are eligible for $250 million worth of cheques, averaging $18,000, with maximums as high as $30,000.

About 60 per cent of Manitoba's 5,000 eligible residential school survivors will receive cheques. The remainder will have the money deposited directly into southern bank accounts by the end of January.

Northern stores are processing the cheques for a fee of 1.5 per cent, offering $2,500 cash and the option of credit cards, debit cards or store credits.

"We're the only game in town," said Michael McMullen, executive vice-president with the North West Company, which runs 145 Northern stores in Canada, Greenland and Alaska. "We're trying to do the right thing. And maybe there are other choices people would like, but that's all we can do. We're not a bank."

Some northerners claim Northern's solution is cheating poor elderly people.

"I'm very concerned about this whole situation," said Gabby Munroe, who is a residential school settlement co-ordinator at Garden Hill, one of four fly-in communities in the Island Lake First Nations about 1,000 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg. He's outraged by the 1.5 per cent fee, which works out to several hundred dollars per survivor.

"This affects all the First Nations that have Northern stores. They're raking it in," Munroe said.

Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs Grand Chief Ron Evans noted that just two northern communities, Norway House and Cross Lake, have banks, yet all First Nations deal with them, even if it's long distance.

"I'm going to try and put something together, with the other leaders and the banks, so it'll be easier for survivors," Evans said. His first meeting was with the Royal Bank Tuesday.

In Garden Hill's sister community of St. Theresa Point, band officials talked a credit union into opening up a branch just for the cheques, worth an estimated $3.5 million there.

"We got a credit union in our community to give our people an option, so Northern won't get the 1.5 per cent. Median (Credit Union) set up two weeks ago," St. Theresa's settlement co-ordinator Marcel Mason said.

Fred Harper in Red Sucker Lake, another Island Lake First Nation, said he took his cheque to Northern and expected a bank draft back. Instead, he received $2,500 and the option of a pre-paid MasterCard, a Northern Cashlink card that acts like a debit card or a gift card redeemable only at Northern.

"That's what happens to you if you cash it at Northern. They want to keep the money," Harper said bitterly.

Without banks, money usually gets stashed, but this time there's just too much cash for trappers to tuck into baggies or mothers to hide in bras.

A national working group of federal officials, First Nation leaders and commercial executives spent months anticipating problems with the residential school payouts, and trying to solve them.

In the end, the group couldn't settle the problem of no banks. They left it to each community to work out. That's when Northern stepped in.

Store managers worked out the details with chiefs and councils and sought advice from RCMP on what to do. Store managers say they are bending over backwards to be as helpful to customers as possible.

"We expected more (help). But it didn't occur," McMullen said. "The banking institutions didn't move any resources up here to handle this."

alexandra.paul@freepress.mb.ca

Winnipeg Free Press

Ferry freed from ice in northern Manitoba town

Last Updated: Wednesday, November 28, 2007 | 9:08 AM CT

CBC News

Manitoba's Amphibex icebreaking machine has freed a ferry that had become stuck in ice over the weekend near Norway House, cutting off the community's access to supplies.

The community of 6,000, located about 460 kilometres north of Winnipeg, uses a ferry to move food and other supplies in and out in until the Nelson River freezes enough to allow heavy truck traffic.

Normally when the river channel first begins to freeze, a machine is used to break up the ice ahead of the ferry.

But Coun. Mike Muswagon told CBC News an inexperienced operator did not use the icebreaker on Saturday and the ferry became lodged in the ice.

The provincial government's large Amphibex icebreaker arrived Tuesday. Muswagon said workers have since been able to drag the ferry to shore.

The Amphibex is continuing to break up ice on the river in an attempt to create a path for the boat.

The community ran out of gasoline Tuesday. Officials believe other key supplies could run out by Thursday.

A long line of cars and semi-trailers carrying supplies is waiting on the far side of the channel.

Local government officials have declared a state of emergency, giving them the authority to issue orders to prevent or limit loss of life or damage to property or the environment.

If supplies aren't replenished by Thursday, the Norway House band plans to ask the province to fly in supplies, which could cost thousands of dollars more than expected.

CBC News

Fingers crossed at Manitoba reserve as icebreaker arrives, frozen ferry moved

NORWAY HOUSE, Man. - A big machine that smashes ice was giving hope Wednesday to a remote Manitoba reserve cut off from its supplies.

The Norway House Cree Nation was under a state of emergency because a ferry that ships food and fuel to the community became stuck in ice last weekend and supplies for the reserve's 6,000 residents were running short.

Councillor Mike Muswagon said the province's ice-breaking machine arrived late Tuesday and worked through the night.

Crews managed to move the ferry ashore early Wednesday morning and there was hope it could be returned to the Nelson River and continue on its way once the icebreaker cleared a channel.

Norway House is about 460 kilometres north of Winnipeg.

Canadian Press

State of emergency in Norway House

A state of emergency has been declared in Norway House, a Northern Manitoba first nation...
A ferry that delivers food and fuel to the community has been stuck in thick ice in the Nelson River since Saturday.
Band councillor Michael Muswagon says the community of six-thousand could run out of such essentials as milk, eggs, and bread as soon as Wednesday.
An icebreaking machine is on its way to Norway House, 460-kilometres north of Winnipeg.

CJOB news

New dialysis stations added across province

By PAUL TURENNE, SUN MEDIA

Manitoba will add 26 new dialysis stations across the province, Health Minister Theresa Oswald announced this morning.

The units, promised in last week's government throne speech, will be located in Winnipeg, Peguis, Norway House, Russell and Berens River.

Dialysis helps rinse toxins from the body, a task that is normally performed by properly functioning kidneys.

It is not a cure for kidney problems but is simply a treatment to stabilize patients' lives.

An additional 10 stations at Winnipeg's Health Sciences Centre can accommodate another 60 patients per year in the city, while the additional rural units increase the rest of Manitoba's capacity by 72 patients, according to Manitoba Health.

The new stations will cost the province about $20 million.

Winnipeg Sun