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Governments chip in for housing at Portage Place, Market Lands, other city locations

A new government partnership will aim to speed up home construction, largely in downtown Winnipeg, with a goal to produce at least 740 affordable housing units.

The Build Canada Homes partnership, funded by the governments of Canada, Manitoba and Winnipeg, will support at least 821 housing units. The vast majority (811) will be in Winnipeg, while the rest will be added in Swan River.

Federal Housing Minister Gregor Robertson said the partnership will tackle substantial housing needs in Manitoba, at a time home prices are out of reach for many Canadians.

“Far too many people (are) sleeping outside, sleeping rough, unsheltered. Far too many people … can’t find a home they can afford,” said Robertson.

Wearing the Maple Leaf lived up to the hype for DeMelo

When Dylan DeMelo stepped into the dressing room and saw his name and number on the back of a Team Canada namebar, that’s when things really sunk in.

The Winnipeg Jets defenceman was already excited about the prospect of suiting up for his country in an international event for the first time of his career at the age of 33 before he even got overseas for the 2026 IIHF men’s world hockey championship, but the experience definitely lived up to the advance billing.

“It was kind of like a dream come true feeling,” DeMelo said on Tuesday after the Jets held a captain’s skate. “I never had that chance ever. For me, it was super cool.

“It was an amazing experience and it just gave you a boost of confidence coming into the year.”

All that glitters … could work here

Sometimes, it’s hard to even suggest a change, because it seems there is always a plethora of people ready to tell you that your idea just won’t work.

Shtetl story: Rainbow Stage, WJT stage classic Yiddish tale

Reb Lazar Wolf (Dov Mickelson) marched down Selkirk Avenue last Friday afternoon to collect sustenance for his Fiddler on the Roof castmates, who’ve spent the past two weeks rehearsing at the Ukrainian National Federation Hall.

“Rugelach?” Mickelson offered after making a quick stop for a bag of sweet pastries at the 89-year-old Gunn’s Bakery, following in the footsteps of his parents’ and grandparents’ generations, those Jews who sought refuge in this neighbourhood after the world they once knew in Eastern Europe was obliterated by continental campaigns of anti-semitism which ultimately led to the Holocaust.

The pre- and post-war focal point of Winnipeg’s Jewish community, the North End became for thousands of refugees and immigrants a stand-in for shtetls — the small, yet sprawling communities that existed under tenuous and ever-threatened autonomy as satellite communities across the Pale of Settlement, the region within the Russian Empire where Jewish people were allowed to reside.

Under the rule of the Tsar — pheh — opportunity was scarce and any expression of Jewish joy or celebration — a bar mitzvah morning, a wedding night or a bris for a newborn boy — could occasion brutal suppression by either the ruling class or by the villagers at the gate.

For newcomer pizza purveyors, it’s all about crafting solid foundations

A recent poll conducted by an Internet-based market-research firm determined that close to 20 per cent of people eschew their leftover pizza crust.

Some argued that the residual crust lacks flavour. Others submitted that it’s too hard or crunchy to enjoy sans toppings. Given that information, what are we to make of Crusty Craft Pizza, a five-month-old takeout spot whose owners are so confident in their European-style pizza crust that they’ve chosen to highlight it in their business moniker?

Whenever somebody informs them they don’t like pizza crust, their response is, well, they haven’t tried theirs, says Oleksii Samokvhal, who together with his wife, Iryna Mehedyn, opened Crusty Craft Pizza in early April, at 1311 Day St. in Transcona.

“It’s thin in the middle, with raised edges we hand-form ourselves,” says Mehedyn, a native of Ukraine who, like her Kyiv-born husband, relocated to Winnipeg to escape the conflict in their home country.

‘We belong… and we are giving back”: Sikh celebration enlivens downtown Winnipeg

Downtown Winnipeg came alive with vibrant sights, sounds, and scents on Sunday, as Manitoba’s Sikh community flocked to Memorial Park to celebrate its annual Nagar Kirtan procession and festival.

This year marked the 422nd anniversary of the completion of the Guru Granth Sahib, the holy scripture central to the Sikh faith. Shortly after 1 p.m., a palanquin bearing a copy of the scripture was led in parade through downtown Winnipeg, with musical accompaniment.

“This is a chance to tell the public and the whole community where we come from and who we are,” said volunteer Prabh Grewal shortly before the procession got underway. “In a community there are people from every race and every country, and our main objective is to have everybody live in peace and harmony together.”

Before, during, and after the procession, the park hummed with life. As many as 55,000 people converged on the site, with the majority dressed in festive traditional attire. Near the height of the day’s 30 C heat, families relaxed in patches of shade, enjoying plates of Punjabi cuisine dished out for free at dozens of tents sponsored by local businesses.