On Wednesday afternoon, Brandon Fire and Emergency Service, Brandon Police Service, and Manitoba Hydro attended an area of Richmond Ave East for a natural gas leak. The odour of natural gas, along with a strong hissing sound were present in the area. Police closed Richmond Ave East from Douglas Street to Garwood Drive as a precautionary measure. After the scene was assessed and determined to be safe, the incident was left in the hands of Manitoba Hydro, and all emergency crews cleared within the hour.

Manitoba Infrastructure’s Emergency Measures Organization is reminding Manitobans the National Public Alerting System, Alert Ready, is scheduled to issue an emergency alert test message on multiple communications channels tomorrow, Wednesday, May 8 at 1:55 p.m. Not all Manitobans will receive the test alert on their wireless device.  This may occur for a variety of reasons including device compatibility, connection to an LTE network, cell tower coverage and individual device software and settings.   Visit www.alertready.ca/ to learn more.

On Tuesday afternoon, Brandon Fire and Emergency Services and Brandon Police Service responded to an apartment building at the intersection of 20th St and Queens Ave for a report of smoke in the building. Firefighter/paramedics gained entry and found smoke in the electrical room of the building. A positive pressure ventilation fan (PPV fan) was set up at the front door to vent the building of smoke. Nobody was injured, and crews were able to clear within the hour.

Source: Brandon Police Service Media Release At 9:30 this morning Brandon Police Service received a report of a lockdown at Earl Oxford School.  A woman who is unknown to staff at the school was located on site.  She made comments to the staff that she was being chased and threated by someone with a weapon.  The woman was contained in an office.  The staff then promptly initiated the lockdown, before calling police to respond.  Police attended and cleared the school finding no threat.  It was soon discovered that the woman was experiencing mental health issues, as members of the woman’s family attended to assist.  At this time police don’t believe anyone was chasing the woman. She has since been taken from the school to receive medical assistance.  No students had any contact with the woman. 

After presenting twice Nationally in 2018 Travis Blaine and Michelle Funk; Mediators with Westman Mediation Service (WMS) program of The John Howard Society of Brandon were invited to speak to an International audience on their experience with Post Sentence Mediation. Restorative Justice is typically utilized for first time offenders in minor cases. In 2011, an innovative Judge in Manitoba, Canada had an idea to include the victims and the community in the justice process, following a serious crime. What followed was healing and forgiveness for the offender, victims/community, and the first of many post sentence referrals for Blaine and Funk of WMS. Due to the success of the first case in the eyes of the victims and the affected community, Judges in the Western area of Manitoba have continued to send victim offender mediation cases, post sentence to WMS. The referrals sent are serious in nature including, for example, assault with a weapon, criminal negligence causing death, and arson, etc. Too often, victims and communities are completely cut out of the justice process, often finding no avenue for healing and closure. As well, offenders find they are unable to explain their story and provide the necessary context. Restorative justice is not a new concept. It has connections to Indigenous and many other cultural traditions, which historically used forms of restorative justice to resolve community issues. What we now consider a criminal act was dealt with as a violation of people, relationships and the peace of the community as a whole. In this approach, the community considered healing, reintegration and preventing future harm to resolve the issue. Restorative justice can help address the root problems that led to a person becoming involved in criminal behaviour, with the goal of preventing future offences. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) recently highlighted that offenders may themselves be victims of historical wrongs stemming from residential schools or the Sixties Scoop. In fact, the TRC has recently charged governments across the country to find ways to reduce over-representation of Indigenous people in the justice system, as offenders and as victims. Increasing the use of restorative justice is one way to help reduce Indigenous over-representation. Blaine and Funk will deliver a breakout session at the  IIRP Europe Conference, "Community Well-Being and Resilience,” May 15-17, 2019, in Kortrijk, Belgium.  The breakout presentation is titled Post Sentence Victim Offender Mediation: A Voice For Victims and Community. The John Howard Society of Brandon maintains contracts with the Manitoba Department of Justice for the provision of restorative justice solutions through out Westman and The Parkland regions.  For more information on mediation, restorative justice or the other programming the John Howard Society of Brandon provides please contact  Ross Robinson, Executive Director at rrobinson@brandonjohnhoward.ca or 204.727.1696