Manitoba government unveils findings of grocery price study

On Monday, Finance Minister Adrien Sala unveiled a report and three new measures government is taking, including restoring a food basket tool to regularly measure the cost of food per region and introducing legislation to mandate unit pricing in grocery stores.

Many hands feed many mouths at Siloam Mission

It takes many willing hands to prepare the quantities of food required to serve community members accessing Siloam Mission’s meal services.

One of these hands belong to Kishwar Mirza, a recently retired nurse who has been volunteering every Tuesday morning for the 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. breakfast shift in Siloam’s kitchen.

Led by Siloam Mission’s kitchen staff, Mirza and the volunteer crew — who number between 12 to 16 — prep 700 pieces of toast, 576 eggs, 150 pounds of fruit, 120 litres of soup and 80 pounds of meat daily for the approximately 600 people who turn up for breakfast, lunch and dinner at the Princess Street drop-in.

Breakfast is served from 9 to 10 a.m., plated up assembly-line style as community members queue to receive their food through the service window.

Iran war ripple effects drive inflation to its highest level since 2023

OTTAWA - Inflation accelerated to its highest level in more than two years in May as price pressures from the war in Iran started to crop up outside the gas pumps.

But most economists weighing in Monday saw little cause for panic in Statistics Canada's latest consumer price data with oil prices already receding and the Bank of Canada unlikely to move from the sidelines anytime soon.

Statistics Canada said Monday that the annual rate of inflation jumped to 3.2 per cent in May, up from 2.8 per cent in April and notching the highest headline inflation rate since December 2023.

StatCan said gas prices rose 33.2 per cent year-over-year last month as conflict in the Middle East continued to shutter the Strait of Hormuz to oil tankers. The agency said last month marks the most consumers have paid for gasoline since June 2022, when Russia’s invasion of Ukraine drove supply uncertainty.

As school year ends, thank an educator

As the long days of summer approach, many Manitobans are preparing to hit the out-of-office button. But before the school year fades into memory, I’d like you to take a moment to thank the more than 17,000 Manitoba public school educators who have gone above and beyond to support kindergarten to Grade 12 students across our province.

AI safety advocates say bill a good ‘first step’ on regulation, but more needed

The federal government’s proposed online safety legislation is a good start on regulating artificial intelligence chatbots — but more work will be needed to protect Canadians from their potential harms, a pair of advocates say.

Bill C-34, introduced earlier this month in the House of Commons, would regulate the companies behind AI chatbots by imposing on them a duty to act “responsibly.”

It includes measures to lower the risk of chatbots communicating harmful content and would put in place crisis intervention protocols for cases involving self-harm, suicide or violence.

Wyatt Tessari L’Allié, founder of Artificial Intelligence Governance and Safety Canada, said the bill’s effectiveness depends on how the details are worked out.

Happy feet: Students get outfitted with donated running shoes ahead of Manitoba Marathon

About 250 kids from remote and inner city communities were fitted for happy feet Saturday afternoon ahead of Sunday’s Manitoba Marathon events.

Zoe Yanke, 16, bused from her home community of Gillam to run in the Manitoba Marathon 10-kilometre race Sunday morning. She and about a dozen of her peers are participating in several of the events and were gifted a new pair of shoes ahead of race day through the Soles4Souls program.

The program hosts events across North America and donates shoes, socks and active wear to kids in need.

At the University of Manitoba’s student centre, not far from Sunday’s starting line, students trickled in by the busload and were met by a volunteer who fitted them for shoes. From there, a “runner” volunteer fetched a few options for them to try on for size, fit and style.

Rise in female chiefs ‘a beautiful resurgence’

BRANDON — One month after Birdtail Sioux First Nation member Tréchelle Bunn was elected chief of her community, she was described on the Matriarch Movement podcast as a woman “who truly embodies what this movement is all about.”

“At just 25 years old, Tréchelle is making history while balancing law school, community leadership and national advocacy,” wrote podcast host and founder Shayla Oulette Stonechild. “Her journey reminds us that the next generation isn’t just preparing to lead — they are leading.”

Bunn was the first woman and youngest person to be elected chief of the First Nation in western Manitoba. It was a historic moment in her community and part of a larger story of the changing role of women in First Nations today.

Assembly of First Nations National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak noted earlier this year that a record number of female chiefs — 164 — were leading First Nations across the country.

Daniel Lavoie, entre racines et liberté

Le 6 juin, au Centre national des Arts, à Ottawa, Daniel Lavoie a reçu le Prix de la réalisation artistique 2026, catégorie musique populaire, des Prix du Gouverneur général pour les arts du spectacle.

Difference between having voice, having your way

One of the most important transitions a leader makes when moving into a senior management role is learning the difference between contributing to a decision and owning the final decision.

Booth University College continues program for emergency shelter residents

Shelter U has found a permanent home in inner-city Winnipeg.

Following a pilot that produced 50 certificates and inspired multiple recipients to pursue further studies, Booth University College will continue an alternative program that makes higher education more accessible in Manitoba.

“It is the best of what education can be,” said Rev. Rob Fringer, president of the Christian post-secondary institute.

In January 2025, Booth’s Aaron Klassen launched the first of a series of humanities courses — a project he dubbed Shelter U — out of the Salvation Army’s Winnipeg Centre of Hope.

Youth concern powers Futurpreneur applications

Groups offering support to young Manitoba entrepreneurs have clocked an uptick in traffic amid economic uncertainty.

Karen Greve Young is watching the applications roll in at Futurpreneur. The national non-profit offers loans and mentorships to Canadians ages 18 through 39 who are starting businesses.

Greve Young, Futurpreneur’s chief executive, expects a 50 per cent increase in applications this year over last. It follows growth of 15 per cent in 2025.

That year, Futurpreneur worked with more than 1,000 businesses.

Police in Laval warn of violent Pokémon crime wave targeting sellers on Facebook

MONTRÉAL - Montreal-area police are warning the public about a rash of violent crimes targeting sellers of Pokémon cards and MacBooks.

Laval police say they arrested 10 young men, aged 16 to 18, on June 9 and June 11.

They say the suspects had allegedly posed as buyers and set up meetings with people who were trying to sell the cards or laptops on the Facebook Marketplace platform.

The police force shared three videos of recent incidents. They appear to show how, in some cases, people who set up meetings to sell their products were instead greeted by someone who pepper sprayed them and attempted to rob them.

What prediction market trading is and why it’s gaining popularity

Financial services company Wealthsimple announced Thursday that it will start offering a new form of investment based on real-world events.

The product is called prediction market trading and it's gaining increasing popularity around the world.

Here's a breakdown of how it works, what's driving its growth and what investors should beware of.

What are prediction markets?

Eager to work, teens find a frustrating summer job search

NEW YORK (AP) — Jaelyn Chester will wait your tables or stock your shelves. She’ll wash your dishes or scrub your toilets. If only someone would give the 17-year-old a chance.

“I’ve been looking everywhere,” says Chester, an A+ student, high school basketball star and aspiring engineer who has blanketed her community with dozens of applications. “I’m not unemployed because I’m incompetent. I’m unemployed because nobody’s hiring.”

The summer job, a rite-of-passage for generations of American teenagers, isn’t so easy to come by.

About one-third of 16- to 19-year-olds in the U.S. were employed last summer, federal data show, down from a peak of about 60% in the late 1970s. Experts’ pessimistic forecasts are combining with reports from frustrated jobless young people around the country to form a seasonal outlook far from bathed in sunshine.

Archaeology team unearths ‘prototype’ of world-famous Stonehenge monument just a few miles away

LONDON (AP) — Archaeologists revealed Thursday that they have discovered a structure near the prehistoric stone circle of Stonehenge in southern England that may have served as a “prototype” for the 5,000-year-old Neolithic monument.

A team from the British firm Wessex Archaeology said the structure would have consisted of two wooden poles 120 meters (394 feet) apart and aligned to point directly at the rising sun during the summer solstice and the setting sun at the winter solstice.

Researchers said the discovery predated Stonehenge by around 500 years.

The team was led by archaeologist Phil Harding, who is well known in the U.K. through his many years of excavations for Channel 4 TV series “Time Team.”

Sea Bears’ hype guy Kosyuga is the man behind the light-up shades

He jumps through the crowd with light-up sunglasses, displaying the message “Go Sea Bears Go” while his suit reacts to the fans’ cheers and the team’s advances.

Anton Kosyuga — the man behind the shades — has been prancing around Winnipeg’s sports centres since 2022.

“Everything was a complete accident. [I] never expected to be in the sports industry in general,” Kosyuga said.

Growing up, Kosyuga was never an athlete himself, but always on the sidelines cheering on his friends, front and centre.

High school grads feel the love during North End parade

Talon Phrakonekham felt a tinge of nostalgia as he and fellow members of the Class of 2026 roamed North End streets lined with young cheerleaders and gave out high-fives on Tuesday afternoon.

Dozens of children from elementary schools in the neighbourhood that Talon grew up in shouted congratulations from the Salter Street sidewalk and waved posters marking the occasion.

“You did so good in math. We are so proud of you,” one sign declared in a child’s wonky handwriting.

Talon, 17, said the North End Grad Walk — now in its fifth year — provided an opportunity for both celebration and self-reflection.

Directors Desk enters child care HR spotlight

A Manitoba company has released what is believed to be the first sector-specific human resources software for early learning centres and child care operations in Canada.

MPs urge action to undercut ‘manosphere’ by tackling anti-women ideology

OTTAWA - MPs are calling on the government to tackle the rise of antifeminist ideology by funding programs that undercut the "manosphere" of online influencers who blame women for men's problems.

The House of Commons status of women committee tabled a report Tuesday warning "antifeminist ideologies are becoming increasingly prominent in Canada and internationally."

The committee says boys and young men who are isolated or struggling to find their place in society are being presented with extreme content online that glorifies dominating and dehumanizing women and amplifies gender-based violence.

At a news conference on Parliament Hill, Conservative MP Dominique Vien, the committee's chair, told reporters witnesses who spoke to the committee struggled to identify a single reason for the rise in antifeminism.

Ottawa’s new surveillance pricing rules not likely to take effect before 2028

OTTAWA - The federal government wants to be "super careful" as it tackles surveillance pricing, Artificial Intelligence Minister Evan Solomon said after tabling the government's new privacy bill.

Under the plan outlined by Solomon, those rules on surveillance pricing are unlikely to be in place before 2028.

"It's very easy to say just ban using personal information to give personal pricing, because we have to be super careful that we don't want to penalize people who are members of a rewards program," Solomon said Monday in an interview with The Canadian Press.

The government introduced the bill Monday — its third attempt to update decades-old privacy laws covering the private sector.

Gillingham, Santos get firsthand look at firefighter training program

For roughly 30 minutes, two city council members crouched inside a shipping container Monday afternoon, dressed in full firefighter gear to experience extreme heat, controlled flames and plumes of smoke.

Mayor Scott Gillingham and Coun. Vivian Santos (Point Douglas), chair of community services, volunteered to take part in Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service fire dynamics training to get a firsthand look at how emergency crews learn to battle blazes.

A few minutes after getting up close with real flames, his face still red and skin bearing the imprint of a helmet, the mayor said the experience was both remarkably hot and educational.

“It was pretty invigorating, for sure, but … what’s really good about this, for our crews, obviously, is this is known. This is a controlled environment … (It’s) less stressful for them because they know what they’re going into,” said Gillingham.