Your forecast
Periods of snow, amount 2 to 4 cm. Wind from the northwest at 30 km/h. High -11 C, wind chill near -23.
What’s happening today
🎭 The Shoestring Players bring Carol Shields’ Departures and Arrivals to the Forrest Nickerson Theatre at 285 Pembina Hwy., opening tonight at 7:30 p.m. Ben Waldman has a preview here.
Departures and Arrivals is set within the old Winnipeg International Airport. (Wayne Glowacki / Free Press files)
Today’s must-read
Like most Canadians, Mari dreams about having a bigger home for her boyfriend Rob and their dog, Trouble, a mutt of undefined origins.
The trio currently resides in an eight-by-10-foot dwelling at A Better Tent City, Kitchener’s tiny-home community for homeless people. But Trouble, who is 18 months old and earns his name each and every day, is a big reason why Mari would like more space.
Having said that, Mari, 42, is in no hurry to leave ABTC, which has provided her with a safe and stable place to live for the last five years. “Before I lived here, I was living in a tent anywhere I could,” Mari said. “The last place I had been was the parking lot at the soup kitchen. Before that, I lived in a field across from the U-Haul.”
Mari says A Better Tent City offers a sense of security and community. (Laura Proctor)
Communities like ABTC are gaining in popularity in Canadian municipalities seeking an effective way of reducing the number of homeless people living rough on the streets. In Winnipeg, most housing options have involved more traditional low-rise apartments. There is one “tiny-home village” operating in the city, Astum Api Niikinaahk, a 22-unit complex of bachelor-style apartments on Austin Street east of Main Street and managed by Mawi Wi Chi Itata Centre.
Currently, Winnipeg city council is doing a feasibility study for a temporary “managed encampment” for this upcoming spring and summer but has stopped short of investigating the permanent, tiny-home model that has been embraced by Kitchener and about a dozen other cities across Canada. Dan Lett has the story.
On the bright side
There is a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it scene in Universal Language, the 2024 absurdist comedy set in a re-imagined version of Winnipeg, showing a lead character seated on a bus bench bearing the likeness of a local real-estate agent known as much for his dishevelled crop of hair as his yawn-inducing advertising slogan — “I never sleep.”
“Ha, that’s news to me. No, I didn’t have a clue,” says Rod Peeler, the hirsute agent-in-question, when asked if he was aware of his cinematic moment in the sun courtesy of the Canadian-made flick, winner of the Audience Award at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival.
Peeler, who is currently toasting his 45th year in the “biz,” chuckles, detailing an episode of The Ellen DeGeneres Show from a decade ago when his recognizable mug was also front and centre. David Sanderson has more here.
Rod Peeler has long been Winnipeg-famous for his “I never sleep” slogan and for his mop of hair, reminiscent of Rod Stewart. (Mike Deal / Free Press)
On this date
On Feb. 20, 1970: The Winnipeg Free Press reported premier Ed Schreyer was considering increasing Manitoba’s sales tax by one percentage point to alleviate the municipal tax load, but was concerned about the psychological effect of the hike. In Ottawa, prime minister Pierre Trudeau declined to define what external affairs minister Mitchell Sharp meant when he said Canada had jurisdiction over all waters of the Northwest Passage and between the islands of the Arctic Archipelago. Search our archives for more here.
Today’s front page
Get the full story: Read today’s e-edition of the Free Press.
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