Get in tune with parents’ needs to ease shame

A Life's Story: Woman fought for better outcomes for others amid cancer fight

Catherine Mary Burke was strong and motivated in ways many of us could never imagine.

She was known for fighting the good fight, and she fought as hard as she could for as long as she could. But something set her apart. Even when it was too late for her, she insisted cancer survival rates had to be better for other women. And they are today because of her fierce determination.

Burke died on Nov. 29, 2025, at age 67 after courageously facing breast cancer for more than a decade.

“Cathy was born happy,” said her husband, Patrick Burke. “She was a glass-half-full person. What a gift this attitude was to me and the boys. She never once said ‘Why me?’ or complained. She was just so happy to be alive.

Get out and about, have a sip at local beer, wine events

Beer and wine fans in Winnipeg can enjoy the dog days of summer and the first days of fall with a bumper crop of events coming in the next month that are sure to please most palates.

On Monday, the Manitoba chapter of the Canadian Association of Professional Sommeliers (CAPS) presents the Rosé the Night Away event on the rooftop of the Metropolitan Entertainment Centre (281 Donald St.) from 7-9 p.m.

A range of pink wines will be available to taste alongside small bites. Tickets are $42 for CAPS members and $55 for non-members and are available at wfp.to/iRV.

On Saturday, Aug. 22, the Winnipeg Beer Festival returns, with more than 20 producers pouring samples, including core pours and small-batch brews at Le Patio 340 (340 Provencher Blvd.).

HSC weapons scanners effective, needed at other hospitals: nurses union

The AI weapons scanners at Health Sciences Centre have detected close to 2,000 items since they were installed at Manitoba’s largest hospital.

From March 6, 2025 to the beginning of this month, a total of 1,973 items had been flagged by the scanners and identified for further review, Shared Health said this week.

Knives, Swiss army knives and other multi-tools, drugs, alcohol, box cutters, syringes and other injection devices were detected, it said. The technology set up at entrances to the adult and children’s emergency rooms and the crisis response centre is designed to identify a wide range of objects that may require review under site safety protocols.

But Manitoba Nurses Union president Darlene Jackson said the technology isn’t available everywhere at HSC, and a sawed-off rifle was discovered in the adult ER earlier this month.

Trailblazing Western Scrap Metals heavy-equipment operator relishes role at massive crane’s control

Less than five per cent of heavy-equipment operators in the country are women but that number is trending upward, according to a study conducted by trade magazine Crane & Hoist Canada.

It was reported that in Ontario roughly eight per cent of jobs in the transport and heavy-equipment field are currently held by women. Furthermore, in 2024 almost 20 per cent of graduates at an Edmonton-based heavy-equipment operator training school were female, the article stated.

That brings us to Harmony Guspodarchuk, the first female crane operator in the 70-year history of Western Scrap Metals, a family-owned business at 18 Sutherland Ave.

Three years ago, Guspodarchuk literally stepped into the driver’s seat of a 27,500-kilogram, Liebherr C 924 Heavy Lift Litronic crane. The 29-year-old hasn’t looked back much since.

Three security guards charged with assault after Sea Bears star injured outside nightclub

Three security guards are facing assault charges, accused of injuring a Winnipeg Sea Bears player at a nightclub earlier this month.