The bountiful harvest: Thousands of visitors flock to St. Norbert Farmers’ Market every Saturday

While most of Winnipeg is still sleeping, or perhaps just starting to think about making the morning coffee, a patch of shade and sun just south of the Perimeter Highway is already humming with life.

Giant Tiger to close downtown, area residents bemoan dwindling grocery options

One of the only remaining grocery-store options for people living downtown and in the Exchange District is closing its doors.

City’s crisis-response proposal makes too much sense for province to ignore

For years, Winnipeg has asked police officers to do a job they were never trained to do.

Somewhere along the way, police became the city’s default response to virtually every crisis, not just those involving crime. Mental-health emergencies, addiction episodes, wellness checks and people in emotional distress increasingly landed on the desks of police dispatchers because there simply wasn’t another option available around the clock.

That has placed an enormous burden on police resources while often failing to provide vulnerable people with the help they actually need.

The city’s proposal to create a “fourth crisis response pathway” is a long-overdue recognition that public safety doesn’t always require a badge and a gun. Sometimes it requires a social worker, a mental-health professional or someone with specialized crisis-intervention training.

Temporary foreign workers rally to stay

Close to 100 temporary foreign workers, mainly from China, whose time in Canada is running out, rallied on the steps of the Manitoba legislature Tuesday to raise awareness of their situation.

They arrived in Manitoba before the federal government cut immigration levels — when international students and temporary foreign workers had a shot at becoming permanent residents if they met the requirements to stay, said Ruby Lu.

“We come here for a few years and we work for a few years, pay taxes. Some of us are already bought a house,” said Lu, whose work permit expires at the end of the year.

“So if our (permit) expires, we don’t know what to do,” she said in front of demonstrators holding signs with messages including “we love Manitoba” and “bring back TPP” — the temporary public policy used by the Manitoba provincial nominee program to support open work permits and prioritize permanent residency for select candidates.

Canadian Copper expands New Brunswick mining operation, over 100 jobs expected

FREDERICTON - The New Brunswick government says a mineral development company is expanding its mining operations in the province's northeast.

The government says Canadian Copper Inc. has acquired the defunct Caribou Mine site through the receivership proceedings of previous owner Trevali Mining Ltd.

The province on Tuesday said the company plans to use the site's mill to process copper, zinc and other minerals that could be mined from the nearby Murray Brook mine site, which it already owns.

Canadian Copper will also take over care and maintenance of the Caribou Mine, along with the associated costs, according to a news release from the provincial government.

‘Drive day and night’: TFI plans to roll out driverless trucks in U.S.

MONTREAL - Canada's biggest trucking company aims to roll out autonomous big-rigs in the United States next year, with testing slated to start within months.

TFI International Inc. is working on the project with a partner south of the border in a bid to boost reliability, safety and fuel efficiency, said chief financial officer David Saperstein.

"It can drive day and night. There's no hours of service," he told analysts on a conference call Tuesday evening.

Driverless vehicles steer clear of human factors such as fatigue, illness and poor driving, Saperstein suggested.

Manitoba Innovates seeks to pump up in-person networking as artificial intelligence-created resumés become norm

The average job seeker has a resumé ghost writer: artificial intelligence.

Many Manitoba businesses are flooded by AI-generated resumés and, in turn, use AI to filter the tide. In response, Manitoba Innovates — a startup incubator — is launching an initiative to lead more in-person networking.

“We’re still looking for authenticity in people,” said Ron Cantiveros, manager of the incubator’s new career catalyst program.

“We’re looking for innovative ways to … attract talent, but also verify and qualify talent.”

Cultural consultation gives Indigenous stories strength in Netflix’s new Little House on the Prairie

Through her work as an Indigenous consultant for film and TV, Julie O’Keefe, a citizen of the Osage Nation, has brought accuracy and authenticity to works such as Martin Scorsese’s 2023 crime drama Killers of the Flower Moon, the 2025 western miniseries American Primeval and, most recently, Rebecca Sonnenshine’s new adaptation of Little House on the Prairie.

But she doesn’t work solo.

“One of the things that I always say is, in any of these jobs that I do — whether it’s Shoshone and Paiute and Ute or Osage — I never come alone to this,” says O’Keefe, who grew up in Pawhuska, Okla., the heart of the Osage Nation, and is now based in Santa Fe, N.M. “I engage because those stories are so much richer with our voices added to it, and we know that.

“I’m sitting down with brilliant directors, brilliant writers, and I’m handing over pieces of history that they’re like, ‘How come nobody knows this?’ And the great part is, this is the time in history … people are really starting to get on top of wanting this for their stories, because it really wasn’t of any importance before.”

Together Project helps newcomers feel at home

When refugee families first arrive in Winnipeg they are plunged into an alien culture.

Often fleeing dangerous circumstances, discrimination or war, displaced families are forced to navigate bewildering societal norms and cultural expectations in an unfamiliar environment.

It can often feel utterly overwhelming.

And while government settlement agencies are an invaluable foundational resource, nothing can replace human connection and peer-to-peer guidance.

‘Bright’ future: RCAF chief says spike in defence spending is boosting flight times

OTTAWA - One year into her new job as commander of the Royal Canadian Air Force, Lt.-Gen. Jamie Speiser-Blanchet said she could see an immediate effect of the federal government's defence spending boost: RCAF pilots are spending more time in the air.

In a recent interview with The Canadian Press, Speiser-Blanchet also acknowledged that preparing the entire service for what she described as a rapid and "giant transformation" — rebuilding the whole plane while it's flying, so to speak — sometimes gives her pause.

"It's that pace of change sometimes that worries me a little," she said.

She said while she’s "very comfortable" with the decisions made preparing for modernization, it's "the thought that there's something we should be doing now to make sure that we're set up for success in the future and that we're missing it" that keeps her up at night.

Automation reaches new heights on farm

LANGHAM, Sask. — The thousands of farmers from across the Prairies who flock to the annual Ag in Motion show every July seem oblivious to the possibility the technology on display could one day replace many of them.

Families with children in tow, Hutterite colony workers, grandparents and young couples just starting out roamed through the 600 or more exhibitor displays, amazed at how everything about farming just keeps getting bigger, more efficient and increasingly more automated.

It’s now possible to seed using a 100-foot-wide drill — a 12-foot jump over the widest available a few years ago — provided the farmer can afford a tractor with enough horsepower to pull it. Those sell for around $850,000 and up.

Granted, the number of farms with enough acres to justify that kind of width and drawing power is still relatively small, but farms continue to grow. And it’s no secret the number of people who have the interest, skills and financial wherewithal to run them continues to shrink.

Banks seek to implement AI tools for customers … who love them until they don’t work

Few consumer-facing industries illustrate the potential and pitfalls of artificial intelligence more than the financial services sector.

Generative AI — the technology powering chatbots that can seemingly think and provide reasonably correct, if not insightful, answers to our questions — is arguably a wonder of the modern world.

The potential for providing financial advice is indeed palpable. Then again, it’s not hard to imagine the technology running amok especially with people’s money.

A recent report on digital banking services provides insight on the risks and opportunities.

While Osborne Village hub has transitioned from church to community space, entrenched issues persist

On Wednesday afternoon, when the sun shone its hottest, the shaded lawn in front of the Augustine Centre was empty, save for a shopping cart abandoned beside the church’s old stone entry steps. A security guard milled about the sidewalk on the west side of the building, though in that moment, he didn’t have much to do.

Nearby a man was lying, not on church property, but on a grassy bit of boulevard wedged between the sidewalk and Pulford Street. He lay on his back with his sneakered feet akimbo, gazing up at the leaves. Beside him was a shopping cart piled with blankets, a bag of clothes and other sundry belongings.

A few minutes later, someone emerged from the Oak Table drop-in centre in the church basement, strolled up to the prone man and spoke to him briefly. The man sat up, repacked his cart and pushed it across River Avenue. He collected a second cart he’d stashed there, and rattled away down the back lane behind the Gas Station Theatre.

After that, for a while, the only people around the building were the security guard and a few small groups of friends and relatives emerging from the Oak Table drop-in, chatting in friendly conversation as they made their way down the street.

Creating a home in Highland Pointe that will be a joy to live in every day

As important a role as imagination plays in the design of a new home, it isn’t advisable to get carried away.

When that happens, a home’s design can quickly go from inspired to impractical.

With that in mind, Spencer Curtis and his design team at Hilton Homes reined in their desire to go all-out in creating a home that was filled with a host of unique design features.

“This is a cool home, but not so cool that it loses its function,” says Curtis, the company’s owner/designer.

Toba Centre here to help kids who’ve suffered the unimaginable

The abuse of a child is one of the most horrific things imaginable. And for the victims of such a nightmare, facing time being questioned repeatedly by multiple people in an emergency room about what happened makes a traumatic situation even more unbearable. That’s exactly what kids and youth had to deal with before the Toba Centre for Children and Youth existed.

Formerly known as Snowflake Place, the Toba Centre was created in 2013 to provide a safe, child-friendly setting for children aged two to 17 who have been impacted by abuse or have witnessed violence. Services expanded in 2020 with the addition of case navigation support services aimed at ensuring the well-being and recovery of children and their families.

In 2023, the move to the current location in Assiniboine Park made things better for everyone. There, police, social workers, medical and other support services work together to serve children and families with a co-ordinated response, in a building that is welcoming in a child-centred way.

Dr. Megan Cooney, pediatrician in the field of child maltreatment, sees children and adolescents where disclosures of physical and/or sexual abuse have been made. The section head of the Child Protection Centre, a division within the Department of Pediatrics with Shared Health, she’s worked at a satellite clinic at the Toba Centre since 2024.

Great workplace shorts debate: time to free knees

We’ve reached the point where employers need to reconsider what “professional appearance” means. Spoiler alert: it has very little to do with the amount of fabric covering your shins.

Cleanup squad makes positive waves across city

The period after the snow melts isn’t when Winnipeg is at its most attractive.

As months of hidden trash and accumulated waste emerge, streets and sidewalks across the city quickly become covered in litter.

But Take Pride Winnipeg’s latest litter index has found the city looks cleaner than it did earlier this spring. Every area of Winnipeg showed improvement.

The organization’s overall litter index score dropped from 5.92 after the snow melted to 3.47 in its latest assessment. The index measures litter levels on a scale of one to 10, with one representing a perfectly clean area and 10 representing the worst levels of litter.

Inner City Youth Alive changes lives, one program at a time, in city's North End

Inner City Youth Alive has worked in Winnipeg's North End neighbourhood, running programs including a drop‑in centre, summer camps, school support and a wilderness program, for 40 years. The Free Press spent a day following the organization’s work.

Human toll of drug crisis hurts everyday citizens, too: biz leader

The Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce has given a thumbs-up to the recent 10-day police crackdown on open drug use and trafficking downtown, and says governments should follow up the effort with a public safety strategy.

The chamber released a statement Friday that says the enforcement initiative, which began June 24, was required owing to the city’s growing safety concerns.

“Businesses, employees are scared to come to work. Businesses are talking to me about closing their doors,” said president and CEO Loren Remillard in an interview. “There’s a human toll being exacted through this crisis, and it’s not just on the homeless community.”

Remillard said the news release was issued weeks after the crackdown to allow for the dust to settle.

In an apartment above the Sherbie, famous local artists line the walls

Directly above the West Broadway vendor and noisy bar now known as the Kyoto Kat Club, amid a primly kept wardrobe and dirty coffee mugs, Josh Peterson’s bachelor suite is bursting with coveted Manitoba art.