What a way to fly — if you’re rich

When my husband and I were catching a flight from Roatán, Honduras, to Toronto earlier this year, we shared a taxi to the airport with an acquaintance.

He was an amiable guy and we made small talk. I noticed he got jostled travelling over the bumpy island roads same as we did, even though he was one of those annoyingly well-put-together travellers who seemed unfazed by the crushing humidity that was making my hair stick to my neck and forehead. Perhaps he was wearing one of those breathable fabrics that wicks away moisture.

And though I had heard he had travelled to many parts of the world, I noticed his luggage wasn’t quite as “seasoned” as ours.

We shook hands at departures, and the light rhythmic whir of his pristine wheelie bag quickly faded as he melted into the throng at Juan Manuel Gálvez International Airport while we were still gathering our bags.

Painter honed art of volunteering at Lower Fort Garry historic site

When visitors wandered around Lower Fort Garry National Historic Site in the summer of 2023, they encountered a rather unusual volunteer: artist JD Hawk at his easel, busily working on his live paintings.

Hawk engaged with visitors as he painted, encouraging them to come and ask questions about what he was working on.

The paintings he produced during his tenure were never intended for exhibition, however. They were rough drafts for him to reference later in the year when creating his final paintings.

“There’s no fine detail, they’re not masterpieces. I consider them like a scrapbook, exploring the colours I would need to use for my master paintings,” he explains, adding that when he wasn’t painting he would walk around taking photographs for further reference material.

How great managers adapt without playing favourites

One of the most common pieces of leadership advice is also one of the most misunderstood: “Give each employee what they need to perform at their best.”

It sounds simple enough, until you become a manager and discover the minute you treat people differently, someone inevitably says, “Why does she get that?” or “How come he gets special treatment?”

Middle managers often find themselves caught, well, in the middle. Senior leaders expect them to bring out the best in every employee, while employees expect everyone to be treated the same. Those two expectations can feel completely at odds.

The truth is good management has never been about treating everyone identically. It has always been about treating everyone fairly.

Kids Market ringing up joy at Victoria Beach

If Maude Delaquis ever runs a fashion empire, she can say it all started at the beach.

The 11-year-old is one of more than 30 budding merchants who will hawk their wares at the Village Green Bakery Kids Market in Victoria Beach on Sunday.

The annual event is meant to encourage creativity and entrepreneurial spirit by giving children under the age of 14 a place to sell homemade items.

Maude will be promoting Bonjour Soleil, a line of T-shirts featuring a Victoria Beach-themed decal she created. It’s her fourth year participating.

FIFA World Cup, youth job gains gave the labour market a lift in June

OTTAWA - The FIFA World Cup and a better summer jobs market for young workers appeared to drive steady gains in Canada's labour market last month.

Employers added 18,000 jobs in June, Statistics Canada said Friday, mostly in part-time and private sector work.

That pushed the unemployment rate down a tenth of a point to 6.5 per cent, back to where it stood in January.

Employment gains narrowly topped economists’ expectations heading into the release but mark a slowdown from the 88,000 jobs added in May.

Apartment rents continue to climb in Manitoba

Winnipeg saw a marginal increase — 0.9 per cent — to $1,678, according to a July 2026 Rentals.ca report, which shows June data.

Celebrating an important milestone in their new country

Fourteen high school graduates gathered at Zaytoon on Wednesday to celebrate a milestone that represented years of hard work and adjustment.

The recent grads, all newcomers or refugees, arrived at the Osborne Village restaurant to find it decked out with balloons and flags from various countries for a special graduation dinner to honour their achievements.

The event was hosted by the Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization of Manitoba, which supports newcomer youth through programs including an after school program and homework and education for youth program.

“This is one of the biggest milestones in their life,” said Arshdeep Virk, IRCOM after-school program educator. “For some of them, coming from countries of war and different situations, them being able to come here and then graduate from high school is a big thing.”

Winnipeg Beach staple Playland back in action

Tyler Bennie and Melanie McFarlane needed a change of pace, so they bought an arcade.

‘Iconic institution’ Halal Meat Centre for sale

Formally, Manitoba’s oldest halal shop is called Halal Meat Centre. But to many in the Muslim community, the outdoor sign could just as easily read “Yusuf’s.”

Until now.

After 36 years, owners Yusuf and Roshanara Abdulrehman are retiring. The 206 Maryland St. building and turnkey business are listed for $795,000.

“I’m here every day … I don’t take any day off,” Yusuf said. “It’s about time. I should let it go, let somebody else enjoy and benefit this place that I’ve been enjoying and benefiting.”

Work permits extended to 2027 for international grads

The federal government is offering a reprieve for international graduates who found work and settled in Manitoba, giving the province more time to process a backlog of provincial nominee applications.

Craft ministry crochets scarves, tuques, more for vulnerable Winnipeggers

It’s a sunny summer’s day with barely a cloud in the sky but Winnipeg’s bitter winter is already on the minds of the folks gathered in the small library at Epiphany Lutheran Church (200 Dalhousie Dr.).

Every first and third Wednesday of the month, armed with needles and hooks, they knit and crochet for two hours, transforming “oodles of yarn” into scarves, tuques and headbands, to be distributed to the city’s most vulnerable residents.

The church’s volunteer craft ministry was resurrected in early 2023 by Lynnette Stamler, a retired nursing academic who returned to Manitoba after a 27-year career abroad.

“The group had started several years ago when a few ladies got together to make prayer shawls which they gifted to individuals in need. Then during the COVID-19 pandemic it went the way of all good things,” Stamler explains.

While the rest of us sleep in …

There is something a little unfair about waking up early on a statutory holiday.

The alarm goes off. You briefly forget what day it is. Then it hits you. Everyone else is sleeping in, planning a barbecue, packing the kids into the car for a trip to the beach or deciding whether they should mow the lawn today or put it off until tomorrow.

You, on the other hand, are putting on a uniform and trying to convince yourself coffee really can solve anything.

If you’ve ever worked retail, health care, emergency services, hospitality, public transit, utilities, manufacturing, airports, long-term care, broadcasting, customer service or any of the countless jobs that keep our communities running, you know exactly what I mean.

Environnement et communauté

“Il y en a plusieurs des entreprises qui font du greenwashing, ils se peinturent dans le développement durable, l’affichent sur le site web: Écologique! Nous, on l’est pour vrai,” c’est ce qu’affirme Éric Gosselin, directeur général de Sun Certified. La Liberté l’a rencontré dans l’atelier de sa compagnie, un vaste espace de travail garni de matériaux en bois, de maquettes et de murs de maisons.

Cette société de construction de logements a des méthodes bien particulières, notamment pour l’isolation des maisons. Les travailleurs utilisent des matériaux organiques pour créer une épaisse couche d’isolation à base de papier et de carton. “La première chose qu’on fait, c’est utiliser des matières organiques, alors du bois et de la fibre cellulosique. Et il y en a beaucoup dans l’enveloppe du bâtiment, pour renforcer l’isolation,” explique Éric Gosselin.

La compagnie privilégie les matériaux renouvelables, ce qui la démarque des autres sociétés dans le domaine. “Pour l’isolation, quand on utilise du bois, c’est renouvelable. On pourra toujours planter d’autres arbres et ça va repousser. Chez les constructeurs standards, c’est de la mousse ou du rockwool, fait à base de pétrole ou de minéraux.”

Cette volonté d’accorder plus d’importance à l’environnement dans le domaine de l’habitation, c’est ce qui a mené à la création de Sun Certified.

Gem Studio puts new shine on handmade experience

Gem Studio's first franchise location in Western Canada offers an interactive retail concept in which customers design and create personalized jewelry with the help of one of its 14 employees.

Eight Winnipeg teens leave high school with hopes, dreams and an uncertain, AI-flavoured future

Same as the gen-Zers who came before them, this year’s Grade 12 graduates were raised online and offline.

What sets the Class of 2026 apart is how it has been forced to reckon with the post-pandemic panic about student screen time.

In middle school, these students were told they could socialize only on digital playgrounds. After COVID-19 restrictions eased, a school cellphone ban was brought in. On their way out, they were assured future Manitoba children wouldn’t be able to access the same social media and artificial intelligence-powered chatbots they grew up with.

This group, born into an era of tech optimism, is the first to have had access to AI chatbots in all four years of high school.

Do online influencer posts count as news? Younger Canadians more likely to say yes

OTTAWA - Younger Canadians are more likely to say posts from influencers and online memes count as news, while the amount of news content on social media has dropped, a new report says.

"News organizations have long acted as information gatekeepers, determining which information reaches the public," says the report from McGill University’s Centre for Media, Technology and Democracy, released Tuesday.

"However, Canadians are now exposed to a wide variety of content producers, from influencers to citizen journalists, memes, and AI-generated posts, blurring the boundaries of what counts as ‘news’ and making perceptions of newsworthiness increasingly subjective."

Respondents were asked to rate different types of content that described a major political event on a scale from "definitely not news" (zero points) to "definitely news" (10 points).

Versatile violinist goes with the bow, from Bach to the Beatles and beyond

Can you hear the drums Fernando? How about the violin?

It’s Friday night at the Stadium Kitchen + Bar, 2935 Pembina Hwy. After delivering spot-on renditions of Neil Diamond’s Sweet Caroline and the Righteous Brothers’ Unchained Melody, solo violinist Allan Palmer polls a small yet enthusiastic audience, asking what they would like to hear next. A couple celebrating a birthday calls out for “some ABBA,” causing Palmer to launch into a medley of Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight) and Fernando, two of the Swedish pop group’s biggest hits.

Moving freely around the room, the 26-year-old, stylishly attired in a black buttoned shirt, dark trousers and polished leather shoes, follows that up with a hip-swaying version of Madonna’s La Isla Bonita before segueing into La Vie en Rose, a plaintive melody popularized 90 years ago by French singer Edith Piaf.

Later, during a short break, Palmer reports that his vast repertoire covers everything from Bach to the Beatles, a major reason why he gets booked regularly for gatherings such as weddings and charity events, not to mention the odd lounge date.

Director brings Métis identity, language to silver screen

TORONTO — Métis culture has been around for centuries, but films set in the Métis world remain rare.

The new movie Blood Lines is intended to help fill that gap. Written and directed by Métis actor Gail Maurice (best known in these parts for playing the fiery title character of the locally lensed 2024 drama Aberdeen), it is set in an Ontario Métis community.

Maurice stars as Léonore, a mother who seeks to reconnect with her grown daughter Beatrice (Dana Solomon) after years of alcohol-fuelled neglect.

Beatrice is unforgiving, and is soon distracted by the presence of a new woman in the community. Chani (Derica Lafrance) has come to town searching for her biological family. Clearly enamoured, Beatrice offers to help.

Transit says it’s short $6.5M to provide free rides for youth year round

Winnipeg Transit has proposed to let youth ride buses for free for only seven months, stating the $10 million the provincial government provided for a year of that service won’t cover the entire cost.

In a new report, Transit says the program, which is meant to offer no-cost rides to youth aged 11 to 17 and high school students aged 18 to 21, would cost at least $16.5 million to implement for 12 months.

The program stems from the pledge in the province’s 2026-27 budget to invest “in free transit for kids and youth.”

Instead of exceeding the amount of government funding, Transit proposes to offer the free rides from September to March 2027, pending city council approval.

Indigenous Chamber of Commerce working to engage with members, increase membership

Shelly Bulycz is good at many things, but retirement is not one of them.

Last August, Bulycz retired from her job as manager of community based programming at University College of the North and moved from The Pas to Winnipeg. She soon grew restless and by the end of October, she’d landed a job as the executive assistant at the Indigenous Chamber of Commerce.

In April, the chamber appointed her to be its second-ever chief executive officer.

“I enjoyed retirement for a month and a half, two months, and then decided I needed a job,” Bulycz said. “The rest is kind of history.”

Questions about resume gaps are expected. Here’s how job seekers can address them

NEW YORK (AP) — When Monique Di Liberto began looking for a paying job after putting her career on pause to parent full-time, she felt paralyzed by self-doubt.

“Who do you think you are trying this after 17 years?" Di Liberto recalled asking herself. "You have no business doing this.”

The fear and uncertainty she felt is familiar to many people seeking work after an absence from the job market. Whether they lost a position during mass layoffs or needed to leave one to care for an ill loved one, job applicants can expect questions about employment history lapses to surface during screenings and interviews.

“You have to address it honestly and directly,” said Andy Decker, CEO of Goodwin Recruiting, a candidate recruitment and placement firm. “Make sure that you’ve included anything you did during that time. Did you get certifications? Did you volunteer?”

Tattoo artists beset by requests for unworkable AI pieces

As a professional tattooist with eight years of ink on her fingers, Justine Proulx is used to getting all sorts of requests from clients looking to decorate their bodies with memories, tributes and reminders. But over the past six months, the Winnipeg artist has noticed some troublesome trends.

Overhauled Transit system rollout ‘a nightmare,’ public works chair says

The introduction of Winnipeg Transit’s long-awaited network overhaul last June — designed to provide faster, more reliable service and increase ridership — got off to a rocky start.

“Honestly, it was a nightmare…. A lot of people couldn’t connect, they couldn’t get the (bus) times (right), we couldn’t get data,” Coun. Janice Lukes, chairwoman of public works, said Tuesday after the city released a “state of the system” report on the new network’s first year.

“That was a big hump to start and I think it was very unfortunate because I think it set a very bad tone.”

Instead of convincing more Winnipeggers to leave their vehicles at home and take the bus, the changes were one of several factors that led to a sharp decline in ridership and revenue, and has the people behind the redesign proposing improvements.