Mining, mineral exploration projects ramp up, First Nations training lags

Mark Fedikow hunts for gold. Skilled labour can become a secondary search.

“You can find lots of folks on the reserves that are willing to work and learn, no question about it,” Fedikow, president of Mount Morgan Resources Ltd., said Thursday in Winnipeg.

“They need to get some training, they need to get some education in exploration.”

Fedikow and his team have been surveying roughly 7,400 acres in the Snow Lake area in northern Manitoba. They’re in “early days” of gold exploration. Results over the past two years of work have been promising, Fedikow said.

Denim-focused firm Duer sets up Winnipeg shop

A Canadian apparel brand known for its “performance jeanswear” is one of the newest tenants in Winnipeg’s largest mall.

Duer opened a retail shop in CF Polo Park at the end of August. It’s the first Manitoba storefront for the Vancouver-based company, which offers clothing for men and women, with a focus on denim.

Company founder Gary Lenett says Duer has built a demand in the province for its products through its wholesale and e-commerce channels, which drove the company’s decision to open a retail store in Winnipeg.

“We landed on Polo Park because it’s the busiest mall in the city and the best way to reach a wide group of people in one place,” Lenett said in an email.

Transparency paramount after cyberattacks to prevent future breaches: tech expert

After a ransomware attack, no news isn’t always good news, a tech expert warns.

Little public information has emerged since a cybersecurity breach last month affected door access and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning at Health Sciences Centre.

“It’s critical for all of us to ask for greater levels of communication after events like this so that we can minimize the potential for these events to recur,” said Ontario tech analyst Carmi Levy.

During a ransomware attack, cybercriminals use malicious software to encrypt, steal or delete data, then demand payment to restore it.

The plane truth about a dangerous president

U.S. President Donald Trump has crossed firmly into cutting-off-your-nose-to-spite-your-face territory.

Manitoba-Canada Defence Alliance unveiled

Despite Ottawa’s promises of increased defence spending, Jack Enns has seen slowdowns.

Tit-for-tat tariffs between Canada and the United States have lessened demand for some of A. Adams Supply (1969) Ltd.’s products, the firm’s general manager said.

The Winnipeg company ships specialized tools to aerospace manufacturers, metalworkers and transport firms.

More clients could be useful — and so would local companies winning defence contracts, Enns said. If that happened, vendors such as A. Adams Supply may get more orders, boosting business.

New Apple CEO unveils latest iPhone lineup, including a foldable model called Duo

CUPERTINO, California (AP) — Apple on Wednesday unveiled its latest generation of iPhones, including a widely anticipated foldable version called Duo.

The company's new CEO, John Ternus, who took over from Tim Cook on Sept. 1, introduced the latest lineup at the company's Cupertino, California headquarters.

After cycling through other updates to the iPhone, the Apple Watch and AirPods, Ternus told the audience inside the Steve Jobs Theater that “actually there is one more thing," in a nod to the trademark phrase from Jobs that the company's legendary late founder himself borrowed from the 1970s detective show “Columbo.”

The foldable phone has the “largest display ever on an iPhone, yet fits into your pocket,” Ternus said.

Winkler-based internet provider delivering high-speed service to 30 rural and First Nations Manitoba communities

Valley Fiber says it is undertaking one of its largest fibre optic projects and is building infrastructure that will deliver internet to 10,000 homes and businesses in rural and First Nations communities across Manitoba.

“These communities will now have access to the fastest internet network in Manitoba, and it will power their lives and their business,” Ryan Klassen, chief executive officer of the Winkler-based internet provider, said Tuesday from Fisher River Cree Nation.

The province has granted Valley Fiber use of two of its underused cables on the existing Manitoba Hydro fibre optic network for up to 20 years as part of the project, which will connect nearly 30 communities — including Buffalo Point, Hollow Water, Black River and Peguis First Nations, along with Fisher River and Fox Lake Cree Nations — to high-speed internet.

Construction should be finished by 2027.

Interprovincial trade missions on rise under tariffs pressure

Interprovincial trade missions are poised to become more common as a Canada-United States trade war persists.

Prairies Economic Development Canada is working with trade commissioners nationwide to create gatherings with business groups, including chambers of commerce, according to the federal cabinet minister overseeing the department.

“I think the idea of interprovincial trade missions is (an) incredibly efficient and sensible way for businesses to learn about one another,” Eleanor Olszewski, Minister of Emergency Management and Community Resilience and Minister Responsible for Prairies Economic Development Canada said.

She visited Winnipeg last week and spoke to the Free Press on Friday.

Online harms now top threat to Canadian children, new report says

OTTAWA - Online harms now constitute the top threat facing children in Canada, ahead of bullying, poverty and child abuse, Children First Canada said Tuesday in a new report.

It is the first time online harms have been in the top 10 list of threats, the report said.

"We've seen how now it's permeating the lives of every kid in Canada, from birth all the way through adolescence. This is no longer a conversation just about teens on social media," said Sara Austin, CEO of Children First Canada.

"In the past year alone, we've seen particularly the rise of AI-amplified harms," she added.

Quebec school finds creative ways to help students with visual impairments learn

MONTREAL - At Jacques-Ouellette school, learning can mean reading braille, making out large print, or relying on touch — and no two students learn quite the same way.

The hallways of the Longueuil school, just south of Montreal, came back to life last week with the arrival of 55 students between the ages of four and 21.

Funded by Quebec's Education Department, Jacques-Ouellette is the only French-language school in the province specializing in students with visual impairments.

"Their vision has to be at a certain level to be admitted to our school," principal Geneviève Blondin said after the start of the school year.

Culture, language confront the almighty algorithm

If the only public discourse that counts occurs solely online, and if the online spaces are controlled by bots, propagandists and American corporate interests, can Canada even make and enforce our own laws any more?

Transcona's Flamingo car wash promises 'soapy disco' for your ride

For Kyle Thompson, foam is where the heart is.

As a high school student at Winnipeg’s Transcona Collegiate, one of his classes required him to create a business plan. He was cleaning vehicles part-time at the Chamois Car Wash and Detail Centre, so he used the assignment to envision a car wash of his own — one with a Regent Avenue address.

Fast forward some 25 years later and that dream is a reality. Thompson is the co-owner and general manager at Flamingo Express Car Wash.

Located at 868 Regent Ave. West — east of the row of car dealerships that call the thoroughfare home and across the street from an Amazon distribution hub — Flamingo opened last month.

Neighbours relieved after fire strikes Quickie Mart

As Janina McNaughton watched the Quickie Mart on River Avenue go up in flames on Tuesday, she felt relieved.

“The first thing I see is flames, like a fireball of flames inside,” McNaughton said about watching the blaze from her bedroom across the street.

On Wednesday, the bright green building, at 292 River Ave., was boarded up and charred on the outside.

Crews from the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service responded at 8:13 p.m. Tuesday to battle the blaze, said the city in a news release. It was under control within the hour.

Canada’s first drive-thru-only McDonald’s opens in Winnipeg

One Grimace and dozens of smiles were on display Wednesday as McDonald’s staff and supporters celebrated the grand opening of the fast-food chain’s first drive-thru-only restaurant in Canada.

SOCAN sues Suno, alleges AI company copies Canadian music without paying creators

Canada’s largest member-owned music rights organization is suing U.S. artificial intelligence company Suno, alleging the AI music generator copied songs in its repertoire — including Nickelback’s 2005 hit “Photograph” — without permission or compensation.

OpenAI faces 30 new lawsuits from witnesses to mass shooting in Tumbler Ridge, B.C.

VANCOUVER - Artificial intelligence company OpenAI and founder Sam Altman are facing 30 new lawsuits from witnesses to the deadly mass shooting in Tumbler Ridge, B.C., with plaintiffs including a teacher who described trying to protect pupils from the shooter, and a teenage student who recalled his classmates arming themselves "with kitchen knives and heavy tools."

"My colleagues and I are haunted by the memory of shielding children with our own bodies as our ears rang from the sound of continual gunshots and high-pitched screams. An entire generation of young lives, gone in a second," teacher Deidre Rushlow said in a statement provided by Vancouver-based law firm Rice Parson Leoni and Elliott.

"And for what? So OpenAI could get to an IPO? Were the lives of my students and educational assistant just the cost of doing business?"

The lawsuits were to be filed Wednesday in California on behalf of "injured and traumatized students and educators" at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School in the northern British Columbia community, the law firm said. Six of the eight victims who died in the shootings were killed at the school.

‘One-stop powwow shop’: Trail Creations opens doors to traditional, ceremonial clothing

Spoons hang on the wall — small, silver and, unlike most items in the shop, not for sale.

One from Saskatchewan, another from Florida. Each represents a place Jessica Lavallee and her family visited during a powwow circuit. The 32,000-kilometre trek led Jessica to 3096 Portage Ave.

She opened Trail Creations, a Winnipeg store selling materials to make traditional Indigenous garb, in the space last month.

“We want it to be a one-stop powwow shop,” Lavallee said.

Schwartz’s Deli swaps black cherry soda for local alternative as U.S. tariffs bite

On a typical summer day at Schwartz’s Deli, in Montreal, there's a lineup at the door as tourists and locals wait to get their smoked-meat sandwich. But now, something has changed.

Local demand surges for Canadian-made food and household goods, but retailers lag

Food and household goods companies in Canada say they're seeing a surge in demand as Canadians prioritize shopping local amid the ongoing trade war, but they say some retailers are slow to give more shelf space to products from this country.

Despite the strain of higher prices at the grocery store, many shoppers are going out of their way to buy Canadian-made products, food and household goods, companies told The Canadian Press.

However, they say some retailers are slow to react to the shift in demand, leading to a rise in selling directly to consumers.

"We aren't really built for direct-to-customer sales but we're doing it because of the demand we're seeing," said Kathleen Chapman, president of aVenco Ltd., a Bowmanville, Ont.-based parchment paper company.

Security company rolling out Indigenous ambassador program

A Winnipeg security firm has put an Indigenous community ambassador in a downtown Dollarama store, as companies and advocates seek new ways to build bridges and prevent trouble.

Impact Security owner Ron D’Errico said he is planning to expand the new program to additional retailers and communities, and hire up to 20 more ambassadors to work alongside his company’s security guards.

“Security companies need to be better. That’s just the nature of this industry,” he said. “We’re far gone from the days where we hire a guy to sit in a store or watch an empty building. We’re at an age now where people need to understand cultural sensitivity, roots of the problems, layers of why crimes happen and how to deal with challenges such as confrontation.”

D’Errico said the program is the first of its kind in Manitoba. It stems from a Feb. 28 incident where an Impact Security guard allegedly used brass knuckles while assaulting an Indigenous man at the Dollarama at 295 Portage Ave.

Author says Trump’s ‘Lake America’ order driving hits to guide on ditching U.S. tech

FREDERICTON - Canadian author Paris Marx says there's been a renewed interest in his list of alternatives to U.S. technology since President Donald Trump signed an order renaming Lake Ontario to "Lake America."

Marx, who hosts the Tech Won't Save Us podcast and is based in St. John's, N.L., maintains a catalogue of email services, mobile phones and other tech created by firms outside the United States.

For example, he suggests Switzerland's Proton for its email, cloud storage and password manager. There's also a phone alternative he recommends called Fairphone that runs on an open-source European operating system and was made in the Netherlands.

And, of relevance, Marx offers map alternatives in his "Getting off US tech" guide, such as Estonia's Organic Maps, OpenStreetMap out of the United Kingdom and the Dutch-made Here WeGo.

Beware invasive, ‘frightening’ waterhemp

There’s a threat lurking on the edge of Manitoba farmers’ fields this fall that’s even scarier than the escalating trade war with their biggest customer.

Provincial extension advisers are warning farmers to watch for a weed known as “tall waterhemp,” which, true to its name, may already be towering above ready-to-harvest crops.

Those wispy tentacles waving in the breeze look pretty innocuous from a distance. But this highly invasive member of the pigweed family produces hundreds of thousands of seeds that are just itching for dispersal through farmers’ combines and across their fields.

Each of those tiny seeds — one small pill container filled halfway holds 44,000 — can produce plants with stems the width of saplings and heights of two to five metres. One or two plants can quickly turn into a patch. If waterhemp takes over a field, it can choke out the growing crop and cut yields by more than 90 per cent.