Special Coverage

American actor praises burgers at VJ’s Drive Inn

1 minute read Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026

American actor Blake Anderson gave a glowing shoutout to VJ’s Drive Inn on a recent episode of the This Is Important podcast.

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Mixed-media artist works slowly to examine rapid ramifications of social media

Conrad Sweatman 6 minute read Preview

Mixed-media artist works slowly to examine rapid ramifications of social media

Conrad Sweatman 6 minute read Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026

Charlotte Sigurdson has her hands full. The 37-year-old mother, painter and sculptor is talking on the phone, while moments earlier she was sewing one.

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Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026

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Charlotte Sigurdson gave up being a lawyer to be a full-time artist.

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                                Charlotte Sigurdson gave up being a lawyer to be a full-time artist.

Winnipegger Stone honoured to get Olympic call

Mike McIntyre 6 minute read Preview

Winnipegger Stone honoured to get Olympic call

Mike McIntyre 6 minute read Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026

Mark Stone feared he might have missed his one and only chance at the Olympics.

The Winnipegger was on the radar for Beijing in 2022, only to see the NHL withdraw from the Games due to the lingering impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Adding literal injury to insult, ongoing back issues became too much to bear, forcing him under the knife a few months later and casting uncertainty over his future.

“When I went down before my second surgery, I wasn’t even sure if I was going to play again. You know, it creeps into the back of your mind. The first surgery didn’t work,” Stone said Tuesday prior to his Vegas Golden Knights facing the Winnipeg Jets at Canada Life Centre.

Turns out the second time was the charm — both for his medical procedure and his dream of playing on the sport’s biggest stage. Stone was named last week to Canada’s Olympic squad, which will head to Italy early next month.

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Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026

Mark Humphrey / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILES

NHL veteran Mark Stone will play in his first Olympics this February after missing out on Beijing 2022 when the league withdrew from the Games over the lingering impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mark Humphrey / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILES
                                NHL veteran Mark Stone will play in his first Olympics this February after missing out on Beijing 2022 when the league withdrew from the Games over the lingering impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dedicated volunteers Kelly and Sandy Taylor receive prestigious Archery Manitoba award

Joshua Frey-Sam 5 minute read Preview

Dedicated volunteers Kelly and Sandy Taylor receive prestigious Archery Manitoba award

Joshua Frey-Sam 5 minute read Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026

Kelly and Sandy Taylor called it one of the greatest feats of their lives.

Bringing the largest event on the World Archery calendar to Winnipeg wasn’t easy, though.

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Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026

MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS

Sandy (left) and Kelly Taylor were named recipients this week of the 2025 Archery Manitoba Presidential Award for their instrumental role in bringing the World Archery Youth Championships to Winnipeg last summer.

MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS
                                Sandy (left) and Kelly Taylor were named recipients this week of the 2025 Archery Manitoba Presidential Award for their instrumental role in bringing the World Archery Youth Championships to Winnipeg last summer.

While difficult stories dominated news feeds, caring and community were everywhere this year

Eva Wasney 5 minute read Preview

While difficult stories dominated news feeds, caring and community were everywhere this year

Eva Wasney 5 minute read Monday, Jan. 5, 2026

Good news, everyone — 2025 wasn’t all bad!

Yes, plenty of horrific events transpired at home and abroad over the past 12 months — environmental disasters, humanitarian crises, economic uncertainty, political unrest, war.

But there were also many, many moments of human compassion.

If the goal of journalism is to shine a light on darkness, news organizations also need to cast a spotlight on lightness. Otherwise, we’re only telling one side of an exceedingly bleak story.

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Monday, Jan. 5, 2026

TAYLOR ALLEN / FREE PRESS FILES

Blue Bomber Brady Oliveira and his girlfriend Alex Blumberg spend the off-season rescuing dogs in Bali.

TAYLOR ALLEN / FREE PRESS FILES
                                Blue Bomber Brady Oliveira and his girlfriend Alex Blumberg spend the off-season rescuing dogs in Bali.

Family from the Democratic Republic of Congo navigates chilly firsts alongside IRCOM supports

AV Kitching 7 minute read Preview

Family from the Democratic Republic of Congo navigates chilly firsts alongside IRCOM supports

AV Kitching 7 minute read Friday, Jan. 2, 2026

All Clever Ganza wants to do this winter is build a snowman.

He’s not yet had the chance, as it hasn’t been the right kind of snow — although to the eight-year-old, all snow is snow.

It’s his second winter in Winnipeg after arriving in Canada with his parents and younger brother Travor, 5, in December 2024.

Clever has acclimatized pretty quickly.

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Friday, Jan. 2, 2026

MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS

Travor Ishmwe Ndihano (five, left), Minyone Mutoni, Clever Ganza (eight) and Ruhumuriza Mushumba Ndihano enjoy the snow in the IRCOM courtyard.

MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS
                                Travor Ishmwe Ndihano (five, left), Minyone Mutoni, Clever Ganza (eight) and Ruhumuriza Mushumba Ndihano enjoy the snow in the IRCOM courtyard.

Peterson rink wins Manitoba to earn spot in Scotties Tournament of Hearts

Thomas Friesen 6 minute read Preview

Peterson rink wins Manitoba to earn spot in Scotties Tournament of Hearts

Thomas Friesen 6 minute read Monday, Jan. 5, 2026

RIVERS — Kelsey Calvert has enough provincial finalist trophies.

She knew it’d take her best effort to avoid a fifth on Sunday, and that might not have been enough against an incredible Kaitlyn Lawes team. But the skip put Team Beth Peterson into position to have the hammer headed to an extra end, and suddenly won the RME Women of the Rings final 9-7 when Lawes tapped her stone onto the pin.

The back-to-back provincial women’s curling finalists soaked up their long-awaited championship moment.

“We’re thrilled,” said Calvert, who lost the 2019 and 2020 Alberta finals before moving to Manitoba in 2023 and now lives in Carberry, married to former world junior champion Braden Calvert.

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Monday, Jan. 5, 2026

Kelsey Calvert, from left, Beth Peterson, Katherine Remillard and Melissa Gordon-Kurz hoist Manitoba’s women’s curling championship trophy in Rivers on Sunday. (Thomas Friesen/The Brandon Sun)

Kelsey Calvert, from left, Beth Peterson, Katherine Remillard and Melissa Gordon-Kurz hoist Manitoba’s women’s curling championship trophy in Rivers on Sunday. (Thomas Friesen/The Brandon Sun)

Time running out for Chevy to salvage Jets’ season

Ken Wiebe 7 minute read Preview

Time running out for Chevy to salvage Jets’ season

Ken Wiebe 7 minute read Friday, Jan. 2, 2026

OTTAWA — Kevin Cheveldayoff finds himself squarely between a rock and a hard place in his quest for a life preserver.

The general manager of the Winnipeg Jets isn’t necessarily on borrowed time, but he fully understands time is of the essence for the team he assembled for the 2025-26 season.

As the Jets prepare to face the Ottawa Senators on Saturday to close out a three-game road trip, they’ve dropped eight consecutive games (0-5-3) and reside in the basement of the NHL in points and points percentage.

In one calendar year, the Jets have gone from the cream of the crop to dead last among the 32 teams.

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Friday, Jan. 2, 2026

FRANK GUNN / THE CANADIAN PRESS

Jets’ forward Gabe Vilardi looks skyward Thursday as the Toronto Maple Leafs celebrate after scoring late in the third period.

FRANK GUNN / THE CANADIAN PRESS
                                Jets’ forward Gabe Vilardi looks skyward Thursday as the Toronto Maple Leafs celebrate after scoring late in the third period.

Field guide focuses on variety of architectural styles in Canada

Conrad Sweatman 6 minute read Preview

Field guide focuses on variety of architectural styles in Canada

Conrad Sweatman 6 minute read Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026

Don Mikel is used to being compared to a bird watcher. The author and architectural enthusiast says he walked 40,000 steps in one day in downtown Winnipeg, his eyes peeled for our best examples of the Chicago School, Brutalism and quirkier, more regionally specific buildings.

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Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026

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The Canadian Museum for Human Rights.

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                                The Canadian Museum for Human Rights.

Series continues to mine later-life feminine reality for laughs, insight

Jen Zoratti 6 minute read Preview

Series continues to mine later-life feminine reality for laughs, insight

Jen Zoratti 6 minute read Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026

The Judy Blumes of menopause are back.

Small Achievable Goals, the workplace comedy about menopause from creators, executive producers, writers and stars Jennifer Whalen and Meredith MacNeill (Baroness Von Sketch Show), returns to CBC tonight for a second season of boundary-pushing TV.

“It’s kind of like we’re always in labour,” Whalen jokes.

Season 1, which premièred last winter, put Whalen and MacNeill firmly in the menopause cultural zeitgeist. Here, finally, was a frank and funny coming-of-middle-age comedy, with relatable characters played by women roughly the same age — Whalen is 55, MacNeill is 50 — who weren’t making hackneyed open-freezer hot-flash jokes or wallpapering over reality with euphemisms.

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Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026

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Meredith MacNeill (right) and Jennifer Whalen explore the realities of later life.

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                                Meredith MacNeill (right) and Jennifer Whalen explore the realities of later life.

L’Intelligence artificielle vue par les professeurs de l’Université de Saint-Boniface

Marie Wielgocki 6 minute read Preview

L’Intelligence artificielle vue par les professeurs de l’Université de Saint-Boniface

Marie Wielgocki 6 minute read 2:00 AM CST

Depuis son introduction dans le monde universitaire, l’intelligence artificielle générative a soulevé plusieurs questions éthiques sur son utilisation dans un contexte d’éducation formelle.

La Liberté a rencontré trois enseignants-chercheurs de l’Université de Saint-Boniface pour comprendre les défis auxquels doit faire face le monde universitaire dans l’utilisation de cette nouvelle technologie.

Pour Pierre Minkala-Ntadi, enseignant en littérature et en langue française à l’Université de Saint-Boniface, l’IA est “un artefact qui peut faciliter la réflexion,” mais précise qu’elle doit être admise comme “une aide, et non un moyen en soi.”

“La problématique de l’innovation technologique a toujours été la même, quand une nouvelle technologie se met en route, beaucoup adoptent une posture prophétique qui invite à croire que celle-ci va résoudre tous les problèmes du monde,” souligne l’enseignant-chercheur qui rappelle que “la technologie s’insère dans des processus et des pratiques sociales déjà en cours.”

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2:00 AM CST

Marta Guerrero photo

Pour Pierre Minkala-Ntadi, enseignant à l’USB, il faut ‘adapter et mettre à jour les politiques universitaires existantes pour encadrer l’IA.’

Marta Guerrero photo
                                Pour Pierre Minkala-Ntadi, enseignant à l’USB, il faut ‘adapter et mettre à jour les politiques universitaires existantes pour encadrer l’IA.’

Jets GM continues to preach patience despite club’s basement status

Mike McIntyre 8 minute read Preview

Jets GM continues to preach patience despite club’s basement status

Mike McIntyre 8 minute read Monday, Jan. 5, 2026

Winnipeg Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff isn’t ready to abandon ship — or even declare a “mayday” — despite the fact his hockey club has sunk to the very bottom of the NHL standings.

Instead, the longtime architect is still preaching patience as the Jets hit the midway mark of a season that began with Stanley Cup aspirations and is now teetering toward unmitigated disaster.

“To this point, obviously it’s been very disappointing. Top to bottom, it starts with me,” Cheveldayoff said Monday during a 30-minute state-of-the-union media session marked by pointed questions and few concrete answers.

“I think everyone would feel like there’s a level of responsibility here that we need to find a way to be better. Your record is your record and all you can do is control what’s in front of you. Adversity is part of this game, it’s part of life.”

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Monday, Jan. 5, 2026

John Woods / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES

Winnipeg Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff spoke to media Monday after the club recorded their ninth straight loss Saturday.

John Woods / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES
                                Winnipeg Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff spoke to media Monday after the club recorded their ninth straight loss Saturday.

‘Maybe in 2026, we can start scoring some goals’: Jets’ losing streak continues

Ken Wiebe 6 minute read Preview

‘Maybe in 2026, we can start scoring some goals’: Jets’ losing streak continues

Ken Wiebe 6 minute read Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025

Another day, another one-goal loss for the Winnipeg Jets.

Despite a late push, the Jets were unable to overcome a sluggish first period and fell 2-1 to the Detroit Red Wings on Wednesday night at Little Caesars Arena, closing out 2025 on a seven-game losing skid (0-4-3).

Six of those seven defeats were one-goal losses, the lone exception coming on Monday when the Jets lost 3-1 to the Edmonton Oilers after a late empty-net goal from Zach Hyman.

The Jets drop to 15-19-4 for the season and they’ll continue a three-game road trip on Thursday against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

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Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025

Detroit Red Wings centre Andrew Copp (18) is pursued up the ice by Winnipeg Jets centre Cole Perfetti (91) during the third period of Wednesday’s game in Detroit. (Duane Burleson / The Associated Press)

Detroit Red Wings centre Andrew Copp (18) is pursued up the ice by Winnipeg Jets centre Cole Perfetti (91) during the third period of Wednesday’s game in Detroit. (Duane Burleson / The Associated Press)

Music ’N’ Mavens plans biggest season yet with addition of evening shows

Conrad Sweatman 3 minute read Preview

Music ’N’ Mavens plans biggest season yet with addition of evening shows

Conrad Sweatman 3 minute read Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025

It’s a full season of songs and speakers for Music ’N’ Mavens.

The annual series of concerts and lectures features 19 programs from Jan. 6 to March 26, including the debut of After Dark, a four-concert evening series.

Karla Berbrayer, Music ’N’ Mavens’ founding producer, says the evening concert series responds to popular demand, which has steadily climbed after a few rocky post-pandemic seasons.

“It’s just been quite remarkable. I mean, the biggest complaint we get is, ‘I can’t get tickets,’” she says.

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Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025

SUPPLIED

The Very Groovy Things Band

SUPPLIED
                                Clockwise from left: ‘60s tribute act the Very Groovy Things, Indigenous adviser Sheila North and Prof. Evelyn Forget are part of Music ‘N’ Mavens daytime programming in 2026.

Changes long overdue as Jets’ tailspin continues with loss to Oilers

Mike McIntyre 8 minute read Preview

Changes long overdue as Jets’ tailspin continues with loss to Oilers

Mike McIntyre 8 minute read Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2025

With each passing game — and each mounting loss — the biggest question surrounding the Winnipeg Jets grows louder:

At what point will enough be enough?

Look, Monday’s 3-1 setback to the Edmonton Oilers before a sold-out crowd at Canada Life Centre would be perfectly acceptable in its own little bubble. The Jets played a strong overall game, outshooting the visitors by a whopping 42-21 margin and doing many of the things that will land you on the right side of the final score more nights than not.

A legitimate argument can be made Winnipeg deserved better.

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Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2025

Fred Greenslade / THE CANADIAN PRESS

Oilers goaltender Calvin Pickard (right) makes a save while Jets’ centre Morgan Barron (left) and the Oilers’ Spencer Stastney look for a rebound Monday night in Winnipeg.

Fred Greenslade / THE CANADIAN PRESS
                                Oilers goaltender Calvin Pickard (right) makes a save while Jets’ centre Morgan Barron (left) and the Oilers’ Spencer Stastney look for a rebound Monday night in Winnipeg.

Made you look: From tiny beads to sweeping statements, 2025’s art exhibitions had an impact

Jen Zoratti 4 minute read Preview

Made you look: From tiny beads to sweeping statements, 2025’s art exhibitions had an impact

Jen Zoratti 4 minute read Monday, Dec. 29, 2025

Winnipeg’s art galleries, large and small, played host to a ton of exciting, groundbreaking and thought-provoking exhibitions in 2025.

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Monday, Dec. 29, 2025

MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS files

Bria Fernandes with her show, Things Left Unsaid, at Gallery 1C03

MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS files
                                Bria Fernandes with her show, Things Left Unsaid, at Gallery 1C03

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