CANADA: Man Who Beheaded Passenger Wins Right To Live Alone

Vince Li is pictured at a court appearance in a Portage La Prairie, Man. August 5, 2008. Li, the man who beheaded a fellow passenger on a Greyhound bus in Manitoba, has changed his name and is seeking more freedom.

A Criminal Code Review Board has approved a plan that would allow Vince Li to eventually move out of a group home.

A man who beheaded a fellow passenger on a Greyhound bus in Manitoba has won the right to eventually live on his own.

A Criminal Code Review Board has approved a plan that would allow Vince Li to at some point move out of the group home where he now lives.

Li — who has changed his name to Will Baker — killed Tim McLean during a bus trip along the TransCanada Highway near Portage la Prairie in July 2008.

He was found to be not criminally responsible for the murder due to a mental illness — schizophrenia.

The board reviews Baker's file annually and has ruled that he could move out on his own following an updated assessment report that would include conditions for living in the community.

Baker was originally kept in a secure wing at the Selkirk Mental Health Centre, but the board has granted him increasing freedoms almost every year.

The request for more freedom came from Baker's medical team, which said he has been a model patient and understands the need to continue to take anti-psychotic medication.

Even living on his own, he would be subject to several conditions that would include daily monitoring, regular check-ins with mental health professionals and random drug tests.

Baker sat next to the 22-year-old McLean on the bus after the young man smiled at him and asked how he was doing.

Baker said he heard the voice of God telling him to kill the young carnival worker or "die immediately.'' Baker repeatedly stabbed McLean who unsuccessfully fought for his life.

As passengers fled the bus, Baker continued stabbing and mutilating the body before he was arrested.

He won the right to leave the hospital and live in a group home last year.

Supporters say Baker and other people deemed not criminally responsible for their actions deserve the right to rehabilitation and freedom. But opponents, including some politicians and McLean's mother, have opposed the board granting Baker increasing freedom.

"The Crown has the ability to view Will Baker ... as a designated high-risk not criminally responsible person, but they have chosen not to," Conservative MP James Bezan wrote in a statement this week.

"They have blatantly ignored the rights of the victim’s family, and compromised the public safety of our community in (their) decision."

CANADA: Winnipeg Human Rights Museum Wins Tourism Award

The Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg won a Canadian Tourism Award on Wednesday. It was also named one of the best-looking buildings in Canada by an Australian travel website.

The Canadian Museum for Human Rights was honoured on Wednesday at the Canadian Tourism Awards, and it didn't stop there — on the same day, Traveller, a website that posts travel advice for Australians, named the museum one of Canada's best-looking buildings.

The museum won the National Cultural Tourism Award in Ottawa, making president and CEO John Young and his team proud.

"Canada's new national museum is contributing to the transformation of Winnipeg into an international tourist destination and hub of human rights education," he said in a press release Thursday.

"Our first year of operation — in a building that's already become a Canadian architectural landmark — has been a truly amazing experience for everyone."

Best architecture in Canada,on the same day it received the award in Ottawa, the human rights museum was named one of seven best-looking buildings in Canada by Traveller.

The museum was the first location listed, and the write-up praised the museum's appearance inside and out.

"A swirl of glass, stone, steel and concrete is faintly reminiscent of folded dove wings, while the 100-metre-high Tower of Hope, which is illuminated at night, stands as a symbol of enlightenment," it said.

"Yet it's the interior experience that's truly awe-inspiring: climbing the walkways of the museum that opened in the Manitoba capital in 2014 is designed as a poignant journey from darkness to light."

A nighttime view of downtown Winnipeg, including the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, where the Tower of Hope is visible in the night sky.

Habitat 67 in Montreal, Toronto's Art Gallery of Ontario, Vancouver's Marine Building, Montebello, Quebec's Fairmont Le Château, the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa and St. John's Jellybean Row made the list, too.

Winnipeg restaurant also awarded, RAW: almond, a temporary restaurant framed by tarp and metal where patrons can walk or skate to their seats, won the Brewster Travel Canada Innovator of the Year Award in Ottawa on Wednesday.

The award, and the one taken home by the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, has Manitoba Tourism, Culture and Heritage Minister Ron Lemieux inviting those who live outside the city to come and see what all the fuss is about.

"Manitoba's tourism opportunities are extraordinary and unique, and these honorees are a shining example of how our province truly is where Canada's heart beats," he is quoted as saying in the press release.

"We want the world to come and experience the province with us, and it's great to see our tourism industry receives this kind of recognition."

CANADA: Winnipeg Airport Passenger Traffic Up 4% For First Six Months Of 2015

Winnipeg Airport celebrated with a special cake the launch of Sunwing Airlines’ new winter seasonal service to Ixtapa in Mexico. The launch of services to Ixtapa has helped the Canadian airport achieve an average growth rate so far in 2015 of 4%, with 3.8 million passengers expected to be handled by the end of the year.

Winnipeg Airport celebrated with a special cake the launch of Sunwing Airlines’ new winter seasonal service to Ixtapa in Mexico. The launch of services to Ixtapa has helped the Canadian airport achieve an average growth rate so far in 2015 of 4%, with 3.8 million passengers expected to be handled by the end of the year.

Winnipeg is situated right in the heart of Canada and is the capital of Manitoba Province. The city is known for its strong mixed culture and numerous festivals, including the famous Festival du Voyageur, an annual 10-day winter festival that celebrates Canada’s fur-trading past and unique French heritage through entertainment, arts and crafts, music, exhibits and displays. One of anna.aero’s favourite sites in the city is The Forks, a historic meeting place in downtown Winnipeg that has a history dating back 6,000 years to the early Aboriginal people. Of course, the best way to get to Winnipeg and experience this history is to fly, and this summer you can reach Winnipeg from 22 non-stop destinations according to OAG Schedules Analyser data.

Passenger numbers up 4%
For the first half of 2015, passenger traffic out of Winnipeg has risen 4%, resulting in just over 74,000 additional passengers passing through the facility when compared with the same time period in 2014. Over the six months between January and June this year, the latter was the best performing so far, seeing an increase in passenger traffic of 5.3%. If the average rate of growth continues for the rest of this year at 4%, Winnipeg can expect to see just under 150,000 extra passengers travel through its facility, resulting in approximately 3.8 million people using the airport in 2015.

SVID says “Excellent”
Winnipeg recorded a SVID score of 0.70 (“Excellent”), placing the airport eighth out of the 50 plus airports that have been analysed so far this year. The result means that Winnipeg sits between Chennai and Belo Horizonte airports respectively. To gain a comparison within the Canadian market, two airports with similar passenger traffic figures to Winnipeg have also been analysed. Halifax Airport scored 3.36 (“Good”), while Ottawa Airport performed better than Winnipeg by scoring a very respectable 0.19 (“Excellent”), the best score recorded so far in 2015 by any airport.

Toronto Pearson remains top
Toronto Pearson remains the number one route from Winnipeg in relation to seat capacity, helped by the airport pair seeing an increase in seat availability of 7.6%. Of the remaining top 12 routes, only Calgary (3.7%), Montreal (9.3%), Saskatoon (0.1%) and Churchill (74.4%) showed growth. The route in the top 12 that has seen the biggest decrease in capacity is Ottawa, which is down -47.6%, meaning that Montreal now takes fifth spot when compared to the same time period last year when it was sixth. One major change to the top 12 is that Denver has fallen from 12th last year to 14th in S15, a result of capacity being shrunk on the sector by -28.3%. Two new airports that have entered the top 12 for S15 are Churchill and London (highlighted in light green), which have replaced Thunder Bay (-42%) and Denver.

Calm Air fastest growing airline
Calm Air (highlighted in light green) is the only airline in Winnipeg that is showing a growth in capacity when compared to the same time period of last year. The regional airline has grown capacity by 47.3%, allowing the carrier to become the third largest airline at the Manitoba airport, overtaking Delta Air Lines (-4.6%) and United Airlines (-42%). Both Air Canada and Westjet are reporting marginal declines in capacity when compared with S14, with the national carrier reporting a fall of -1.0%, while Canada’s largest LCC is reporting a drop of -1.1%. However both remain the top two carriers out of Winnipeg.