Five examples of representation in recognition of International Women’s Day

To mark International Women’s Day on Sunday, the Free Press is spotlighting five Manitobans doing impactful work in sports.

Alyssa White — para hockey athleteWhite was 14 when she made the Canadian women’s para hockey squad.

“It’s kind of wild still to me to think about because I had only started playing hockey a year prior to that,” said the now 20-year-old.

Many Canadian women seeing limited pathways to promotions, according to study results

Many younger women in Canadian workplaces are facing career stagnation, according to new data, with a vast majority reporting no clear path to advancement and the need for upskilling.

Data from Fora: Network For Change, a nonprofit group focused on gender equity in the workforce, found that 93 per cent of Canadian women and gender-marginalized workers between the ages of 18 and 29 see no clear pathways to a promotion at their workplace. Additionally, 85 per cent said they do not feel professionally challenged or stimulated.

“These are the individuals that are being significantly impacted by the state of the economy, particularly around underemployment,” said Emma Asiedu-Akrofi, CEO of Fora.

According to Fora, the findings show that workforce participation rates alone do not comprehensively detail the health of the labour market for younger workers. Other preliminary findings showed that respondents expressed desires for career-specific training and mentorship, as well as referral pathways, clear advancement structures and living wages.

Housing affordability challenges remain despite recent improvements: CMHC

A new analysis from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. shows housing affordability challenges have eased in recent years but still remain at historic highs, and have even spread to other major cities.

The national housing agency says affordability issues are no longer limited to Canada's largest cities and have spread to other areas such as Ottawa, Montreal and Halifax. One of the key factors, CMHC said, was the impact of labour mobility brought on by remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic, which has persisted even as the job market has changed.

"Affordability started recovering slightly since 2023, when it reached historical lows. For home ownership, we observed improved affordability, while for renters we saw stabilization over the last two years," said Mathieu Laberge, CMHC chief economist and senior vice-president of housing insights, in a news release Wednesday.

"Even with these improvements, we cannot overlook how much housing affordability has eroded in recent years, especially in Ottawa, Montreal and Halifax, clearly demonstrating that Canada's housing affordability crisis is no longer limited to Toronto and Vancouver."

Tax-filing season begins today. Here’s all you need to know

Gather your tax slips and receipts because it's that time of the year. The 2025 tax-filing season officially kicks off on Monday. It will last a little over nine weeks, ending with the April 30 deadline for most taxpayers.

Untapped workforce

When we think about hiring people with disabilities, the images that often come to mind are limited and old-fashioned. Some people still assume disability means only certain basic roles or supports.

That narrow view misses a more important truth: people with disabilities and neurodivergent professionals bring distinct strengths and capabilities that can enrich workplaces and contribute to innovation, performance and long-term success.

People with disabilities remain significantly underrepresented in the workforce.

According to Statistics Canada, the employment rate for Canadians with a disability was about 46 per cent in 2024, compared with 66 per cent for those without a disability — a gap that has stubbornly persisted over time. That means a large share of Canadians who could work do not have paid employment opportunities at the same rate as others.

Entrepreneurs lauded as Manitoba Queer Chamber of Commerce’s biz awards return

When Alana Fiks and Angela Farkas opened Black Market Provisions, they hired one employee and almost couldn’t imagine bringing on more.

“We tend to be sort of scared and risk averse, so even the thought of having employees at the time seemed like a dream to us,” said Fiks, who started the shop with Farkas in Winnipeg’s South Osborne neighbourhood almost seven years ago.

The entrepreneurs have built a workplace culture rooted in respect, transparency and well-being. Today, Black Market Provisions has four full-time and six part-time employees.

The Manitoba Queer Chamber of Commerce recognized Fiks and Farkas earlier this week when the organization named the duo as finalists for the Employer of the Year Award as part of its 10th annual MQCC Business Awards.

Food inflation expected to jump in January amid tax changes: economists

OTTAWA - Economists expect tax changes from a year ago will result in a year-over-year surge in food prices when Statistics Canada reports January inflation figures later this week.

StatCan will publish its January consumer price index report on Tuesday, a day later than originally scheduled.

The agency recently adopted a Monday publishing schedule for the consumer price index but shifted the January release to account for a regional holiday in eight provinces.

A Reuters poll of economists expects the annual rate of inflation held steady at 2.4 per cent in January, according to LSEG Data & Analytics.

Canada’s university funding system is broken

For decades, Canadian universities have delivered a world-class education at a remarkably accessible cost. Nationally, Manitoba has among the lowest tuition fees in the country. However, like many universities across Canada, the University of Manitoba is facing a new reality that can no longer be ignored.

Focus on local ‘fertile ground’ at 3rd annual MbTech Week

A weeklong tech “festival” is ready to celebrate made-in-Manitoba innovation later this month.

Building up engineers: RRC Polytech, U of M celebrate collaboration

The University of Manitoba and Red River College Polytechnic are making it easier for engineering technologists to earn a degree.

Future students will be wired differently, thanks to AI

Teachers were urged to stop asking children what they want to be when they grow up and focus on building creative, self-directed and critical thinkers at Manitoba’s AI in Education Summit.

“How do we prepare kids for a future we can’t yet see, but we know it’s going to be radically transformed by technology?” futurist Sinead Bovell asked a crowd of educators at a first-of-its-kind conference Friday.

“That is the moment that we are in.”

The province invited Bovell, founder of tech education company WAYE, to share her predictions about artificial intelligence and related advice for schools.

Investment regulator funds program to help Indigenous youth manage settlement money

Sudden wealth isn’t a topic that would typically be part of a basic financial literacy course. It seems like even more of an odd fit for a new program for low-income Manitobans.

“We’ve been picking up on what people we worked with in the community have been asking about,” says Lisa Forbes, manager of social enterprise and fund development at SEED Winnipeg Inc.

Called “Sudden Wealth and Investing Basics,” the pilot is a response to what SEED has been hearing from Indigenous youth who may soon be recipients of legal settlements, she says.

These notably include a $530-million settlement to compensate children in care from 2005 to 2019 in Manitoba who had grant money unfairly clawed back and a $23-billion federal settlement over discriminatory child welfare practices and chronic underfunding.

Province releases inaugural innovation report

Promises to keep data in Manitoba and bolster the economy through innovation highlight the province’s first innovation and prosperity report.

“AI, tech, it’s gonna be in your industry,” Premier Wab Kinew said Friday after the report’s release. “We have to get in the game.”

Proponents of the 39-page document expressed hope for Manitoba’s future; critics deemed the strategy lacking.

A majority of Manitoba’s data storage and cloud computing infrastructure is run by United States firms such as Microsoft. The report calls on the province to build its own infrastructure with federal and provincial funds.

Domestic enrolment helped U of W’s fiscal health: president

The University of Winnipeg’s financial situation has stabilized following 10 months of cutbacks on the downtown campus.

“We’re confident we’ll have a balanced budget this year, and we’re very happy about that,” said Todd Mondor, the U of W’s president and vice-chancellor.

Mondor attributed the “stable” position to a rise in domestic enrolment and “better than expected” 2025-26 registration among international students.

An influx of cash has also provided some relief, he said. The province recently topped up the school’s annual funding by $2.5 million and it was gifted $5 million from the Mastercard Foundation.

Federal government says emails, phone numbers accessed in cyberattack

OTTAWA - The federal government says individuals' email addresses and phone numbers associated with Canada Revenue Agency, Employment and Social Development Canada and Canada Border Services Agency accounts were accessed in a cyberattack.

The Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat says the government was alerted to the cyber incident on Aug. 17 by 2Keys Corporation, the provider of a multi-factor authentication application used for the accounts.

The government says 2Keys Corporation discovered the incident, promptly informed the government and launched an investigation, which is being conducted with external cybersecurity experts.

Treasury Board says a routine software update caused a "vulnerability" that allowed a malicious actor to access phone numbers associated with CRA and ESDC accounts, and email addresses associated with CBSA accounts, linked to people who used the authentication service between Aug. 3 and Aug. 15.

Impact of cyberattack on Nova Scotia Power could be bigger than first thought

HALIFAX - Nova Scotia’s largest electric utility says the impact of a sophisticated cyberattack in March could be much broader than first thought.

Nova Scotia Power said in May that about half of its customers — 277,000 ratepayers — may have had personal information stolen by hackers. But the privately owned utility is now saying all of its customers may be affected in some way.

The new information comes from a Nova Scotia Power report submitted last week to the independent Nova Scotia Energy Board, which is investigating the cybersecurity breach.

“This investigation is ongoing and has been complex given the severe nature of the cyberattack," the report says. "It remains possible that all of the company’s customers may have been impacted by the cyberattack."

Building trust key as companies pivot to chatbots for customer service: experts

TORONTO - Mohammed Halabi has spent countless hours negotiating with customer service agents over the past 20 years.

Halabi is the director of MyBillsAreHigh.com, a company that finds savings on telecom and internet costs for both businesses and individuals. That means seeking out the best deals to fit clients' circumstances, plus taking the lead when problems arise requiring the attention of their provider.

These days, there's just one problem. He can't seem to get anyone on the phone.

"I've never seen customer service this bad," said Halabi.

Setting aside money for post-secondary education shouldn’t slip through budgeting cracks

Back-to-school time is hectic and costly for many families with fees, new clothing, supplies and extracurricular activities.

Collective encourages BIPOC networking

It’s a warm weekday morning and Saintuary Café is filled with strangers chatting about their work and passion projects over lattes and croissants.

This has become a regular scene for the co-working café club hosted by the Value Able, a growing grassroots community designed to help BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and people of colour) creatives in Winnipeg meet and collaborate.

The idea started percolating when founders Star Tactay and Daezerae Gil met at a networking event in February.

Tactay — a marketing professional and software development student from the Philippines — had recently moved to the city from Texas and was looking to meet other people of colour working in creative fields. Gil, a Winnipeg-born photographer, realized she was looking for the same thing.

AI chatbots changing online threat landscape as Ottawa reviews legislation

OTTAWA - Wrongful death lawsuits citing the activities of artificial intelligence chatbots are underway in the United States, as reports emerge of mental health issues and delusions induced by AI systems.

These incidents are drawing attention to the changing nature of the online threat landscape — just weeks after the Liberal government said it would review its online harms bill before reintroducing it in Parliament.

"Since the legislation was introduced, I think it's become all the more clear that tremendous harm can be facilitated by AI, and we're seeing that in particular in the space of chatbots and some of the tragedies," said Emily Laidlaw, Canada research chair in cybersecurity law at the University of Calgary.

The Online Harms Act, which died on the order paper when the election was called, would have required social media companies to outline how they plan to reduce the risks their platforms pose to users, and would have imposed on them a duty to protect children.

Margaret Atwood takes aim at Alberta’s school library books ban with satirical story

EDMONTON - Margaret Atwood is taking aim at Alberta's controversial ban on school library books containing sexual content with a new, satirical short story after the famed author's novel "The Handmaid's Tale" was yanked from some shelves due to the province's sweeping new rules.

In a social media post on Sunday, Atwood said since the literary classic is no longer suitable in Alberta's schools, she has written a short story for 17-year-olds about two "very, very good children" named John and Mary.

"They never picked their noses or had bowel movements or zits," she said at the beginning of her story.

"They grew up and married each other, and produced five perfect children without ever having sex."