Barlow’s thirst for water justice rewarding

Barlow’s thirst for water justice rewarding

It’s difficult to fathom that a water crisis exists in Canada. As a hyper-privileged person on this planet, the lack of this public good and basic necessity for life seems like a problem that other people have. Think Flint, Mich.; Cape Town, South Africa; Chile; Shoal Lake 40 First Nation. Many Canadians live under the illusion that clean drinking water is in abundance, that it is somehow protected from the greedy reach of corporations and that we have designed a system of governance to ensure that we all have access to this most basic need.

But we couldn’t be more wrong. And thanks to Maude Barlow, a hero in the Canadian and global progressive movement and a founding member of the Council of Canadians, the battle to ensure our global thirst is quenched is ratcheting up. In Whose Water Is It, Anyway?: Taking Water Protection Into Public Hands, Barlow passionately describes the history of how water, on a global scale, has been systematically transformed from a public good to an economic commodity — right under our noses.

Through the development of international trade deals and the neoliberal forces that brought in waves of privatization in the 1980s and ’90s, Barlow succinctly connects the dots as to how powerful global entities such as the World Bank and the World Water Forum began to push a global agenda that saw even the UN support the ideological position that water should be bought and sold like any other product. The old story that the free market will somehow manage to produce just and efficient pathways of distribution of resources pervaded and persists.

Barlow describes the global movement of resistance that took place during the ’90s and early 2000s that sought (and continues to seek) to ensure that water is protected and that it is viewed as a fundamental human right. Through the leadership and determination of humans across the planet, Barlow notes that the UN General Assembly finally, in 2015, “recognized water and sanitation as two distinct rights in yet another unanimously adopted resolution.”

Disgraced former law dean arrested, facing extradition to Canada

Jonathan Black-Branch, the disgraced former dean of law at the University of Manitoba, has been arrested in Europe and is awaiting extradition to Canada on fraud charges, Winnipeg police say.

Black-Branch, who failed to defend himself in a lawsuit filed by the U of M and his disbarment proceedings, was ordered in May 2025 to repay more than $682,000 in misspent expense funds.

Winnipeg police confirmed his arrest and pending extradition Wednesday morning. “The extradition process is ongoing,” police said.

Black-Branch left the university in 2020 amid allegations he had misspent public dollars and schemed to evade oversight while running Robson Hall from 2016 to 2020.

Health Canada suspends plasma collection at Grifols Taylor Avenue clinic

Health Canada has suspended all plasma collection at Grifols’ Taylor Avenue facility while the private company continues to face scrutiny after two people died following donations at its Winnipeg clinics.

The suspension was issued Wednesday, although Grifols announced Aug. 13 it was pausing plasma collection in Canada a day after the federal department gave the Taylor Avenue site a non-compliant rating.

“Health Canada issued the suspension because Grifols had not effectively implemented some corrective and preventive actions and, overall, it failed to demonstrate that the Taylor Avenue site has implemented an effective quality management system,” the department said in a statement.

The Free Press has contacted Grifols for comment.

Decorated business vet Spiring announced as NSL Winnipeg president

Manitoba’s own Dayna Spiring is no stranger to the sports world, but her latest venture into the world of football — this time of the kick-about variety — is a whole new ball game.

“I’m getting up to speed on that as quickly as I can,” Spiring told the Free Press Tuesday, shortly after the accomplished business leader was announced as Northern Super League Winnipeg’s president.

Spiring joins an already stacked roster on the first women’s professional sports team in the Keystone province alongside the likes of NSL Winnipeg’s decorated co-founders Desiree Scott and Rob Gale.

And her own stats sheet is just as historic. Spiring was one of the first women to serve on the CFL’s Board of Governors and was the first woman to serve as chair of the Winnipeg Football Club’s board of directors. She is also the first woman to have her name engraved on the Grey Cup when the Winnipeg Blue Bombers captured back-to-back titles in 2019 and 2021.

Manitoba budget reveals province underspent on crucial departments related to justice, public safety

While concerns about homelessness and public safety continue to make headlines in Manitoba, the two government departments mainly responsible for addressing them came in under budget last year.

The 2025-26 public accounts, released Monday, show Housing, Addictions and Homelessness underspent its budget of $869 million by $18 million. Manitoba Justice underspent its budget of $994 million by $34 million.

The 247-page public accounts report attributes the underspending in justice mainly to “reduced impacts of contingency liabilities,” such as a court ruling or legal settlement.

The report did not explain how and why Housing, Addictions and Homelessness underspent its budget last year as the province addresses those critical issues.

Ignoring AI warning could be the death of us all

In the 7th century BC, the formative years of Greek literature, the poet Hesiod told the story of Pandora’s Box.