Wednesday, September 22, 2021
Serving the Hub of the North since 1960
Thompson RCMP release sketch of suspect in Sept. 13 sexual assault Thompson RCMP have released a sketch of the suspect in a sexual assault that took place Sept. 13. The likeness was produced with the help of the Winnipeg Police Service forensic artist. The suspect is described as Indigenous in appearance and approximately 5'8” tall and average weight with thin eyebrows, a crooked nose and a short beard. He was wearing a black Nike sweater, black pants, black Air Force 1 sneakers, a black tuque and a black medical mask around his neck. The sexual assault of a 16-year-old female took place on a trail from Lynx Crescent into Deerwood Park around 9:30 p.m. Sept. 13 and was reported to Thompson RCMP shortly before 10 a.m Sept. 14. The victim, who was grabbed by an unknown male and sexually assaulted, was transported to hospital in Winnipeg for treatment of her injuries. Anyone with information can call Thompson RCMP at 204-677-6909 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800222-8477. Tips can also be submitted online at www. mantoobacrimestoppers.com. RCMP have not had any other reports of sexual assaults in the area but caution the public to avoid walking on trails alone, to walk without headphones to maintain awareness of the surroundings and, if confronted, to be loud and yell for help.
EDITOR@THOMPSONCITIZEN.NET
In a stay-the-course election that saw Canadians elect a new Parliament very similar to the previous one, Northern Manitobans did not buck the trend, re-electing NDP incumbent Niki Ashton for a fifth term as Churchill-Keewatinook Aski Member of Parliament Sept. 20. Ashton, first elected in 2008, captured 7,639 votes according to Elections Canada’s unofficial election night results. “Thank you so much to the people of Churchill-Kewtinook Aski for your vote, for your support, Ashton said in a statement posted on social media and sent to the Thompson Citizen. “I am honoured to receive such
Man dies while in Thompson RCMP custody after being arrested for intoxication BY IAN GRAHAM
EDITOR@THOMPSONCITIZEN.NET
RCMP sketch On Sept. 17, Thompson RCMP released this sketch of the suspect in a sexual assault that took place in the Deerwood area Sept. 13.
Niki Ashton elected to fifth term as ChurchillKeewatinook Aski MP in Sept. 20 election BY IAN GRAHAM
Volume 61 • Issue 36
support from First Nations, Métis and northern communities. Thank you to everyone who came out during these challenging times to have your voice heard for action, for fairness, for justice. Thank you to all who donated, volunteered and helped share our message.” Ashton’s total put her 3,126 votes ahead of Liberal candidate Shirley Robinson, who was in a dead heat with Conservative candidate Charlotte Larocque, who got 4,330 votes. People’s Party of Canada candidate Dylan Young received 900 votes and Green candidate Ralph McLean got 552 votes. “Congratulations to the other candidates on a good race,” Larocque said in a statement to the Citizen. “I
want to thank my volunteers and the people that voted for me. I got the opportunity to hear from so many people about the issues important to them. I will continue to work hard to represent the voice of the north and our communities. No matter the final results, I look forward to continuing to create prosperity and positive change in this region.” Tturnout in Churchill-Keewatinook Aski was 36.17 per cent of 49,579 registered voters, not including those who registered on election day. For Canada as a whole, the Liberals gained three seats over what they had at dissolution of the 43rd Parliament, taking 158. The Conservatives were unchanged at 119. The NDP
gained one seat with 25 while the Bloc Québécois gained two to finish with 34. The Green party took two seats, the same number it had when Parliament was dissolved. “A new Parliament means the same old fights,” said Ashton. “It still means holding Liberals and Conservatives to account when they cater to the billionaire class, instead of everyone else. It still means fighting for justice for Indigenous peoples. It means standing up for working people. It means calling for urgent action on climate change. it means fighting for fairness for our region. I’m honoured to have been trusted with another mandate. I’m looking forward to keeping up the fight for you.”
For the second time in less than 20 months, a person detained for public intoxication in Thompson has died while in police custody. Manitoba’s police watchdog agency – the Independent Investigation Unit (IIU), which looks into all serious incidents involving on and off-duty police officers – has launched a probe into the death of a man who was arrested Sept. 13, found unresponsive in the cell later that night and transported to Thompson General hospital, where he died Sept. 14. Thompson RCMP told the IIU that the man was arrested under the Intoxicated Persons Detention Act around 6 p.m. He was found unresponsive around 11 p.m. The IIU recently issued its investigation report into a 2020 death of a 44-year-old woman in Thompson RCMP cells after her arrest under the IPDA. It said the woman’s cause of death was a combination of acute alcohol intoxication and a subdural hematoma – a collection of blood outside the brain, usually caused by a head injury. Video footage from McDonald’s, where the woman was detained for public intoxication before being lodged in RCMP cells under the Intoxicated Persons Detention Act (IPDA), showed her falling off a stool twice and appearing to strike her head on the floor, the IIU said. The woman was medically assessed by Thompson Fire & Emergency Services paramedics prior to being placed in the drunk tank. The woman had also been treated in Winnipeg two weeks earlier for an intercranial brain bleed and told officers that she had seizures. Before that, it had been 12 years since someone arrested by Thompson RCMP died while in their custody. In July 2008, 37-year-old Jeffrey Ray Mallett was found dead on the floor in the corner of the cell near the door when the prisoners were being moved out for meals. The cause of his death was determined to be pneumonia following an autopsy conducted by Dr. Thambirajah Balachandra, then the chief medical examiner of Manitoba, who said he believed Mallett had probably been dead for six to 10 hours before his death was discovered when an RCMP officer entered the cell shortly after noon to move Mallett to a holding cell, because he was going to be charged for breaching an undertaking not to consume alcohol. In her report on an inquest into Mallett’s death held in 2012, 2013 and 2014, provincial court Judge Doreen Redhead recommended that Thompson establish a detoxification centre similar to the Main Street Project in Winnipeg to provide rehabilitative services and programs to people with substance abuse problems. She also recommended that medical assessments be done before a person is lodged in RCMP cells under the IPDA to ensure they do not have any pre-existing medical conditions, a procedure that had already been put in place before her inquest recommendations were issued. Prisoners lodged in cell at the Thompson RCMP detachment are supposed to be physically checked every 15 minutes and those in the drunk tanks are woken up every four hours to assess their condition.