Publisher cuts ties with Quebec author after saying it found evidence of AI use

MONTREAL - A Quebec publishing house is cutting ties with author Thélyson Orélien after saying it found evidence he used artificial intelligence to write his debut novel.

Les Éditions du Boréal said in a press release that analysis of some documents' metadata indicated AI was used while writing the book.

The publisher said it will not reprint the book or publish more books by Orélien.

Orélien did not respond to The Canadian Press' request for comment.

Addressing homelessness and toxic drug use

Winnipeg is facing a housing and toxic drug crisis that is not going away. Every day, we see the consequences — people living without safe homes, encampments in neighbourhoods and public spaces, increasingly toxic drugs, overdoses and emergency services stretched to their limits.

Province looks to keep nearly $1M from traffic stop

The RCMP constable could see that Alireza Haghgoo was nervous. The 22-year-old, seated as a passenger in a rental Nissan SUV the Mountie pulled over for speeding outside Brandon in late July, was breathing heavily and tapping his foot constantly.

Engagement politics activates citizens

With the upcoming Winnipeg municipal election just around the corner, Free Press contributors are reminding us of the risks of low voter turnout and encouraging us to exercise our civic responsibility by casting our votes.

Increasingly cited financial term, ‘nut,’ is worth knowing, says best-selling author

It’s nuts. That might be some folks’ reaction if they knew their “nut” in the financial sense of the word.

If that stirs visions of squirrels fighting over acorns, you are not far off.

Nut is increasingly used in popular culture, especially in the United States as the struggle increases for millions of consumers with each passing day.

A couple of high-profile TV examples are South Park and Your Friends & Neighbors, where the nut is discussed in the context of what someone’s spend rate is based on their lifestyle.

Prominent extremist organizations in Canada come and go, but the danger of violence remains

For Blood and Soil: Far-Right Extremism in Canada is a brief and broad survey of far-right movements in Canada.

Written by Amarnath Amarasingam, associate professor in the School of Religion and the department of political studies at Queen’s University, and Stephanie Carvin, associate professor of international relations at Carleton University, the book is an academic text and so the writing is clear and straightforward, but somewhat dry, offering information without commentary or colour.

The authors state they have made conscious choices as to what to include. However, these choices come with limitations. Their decision to begin the survey of violent hate groups in the 1920s means the book lacks a grounding in the ways in which white supremacy was instrumental to the founding of Canada and has permeated so many of our institutions.

The pair does remind us that violent right-wing extreme groups have killed more people in Canada than have extreme Islamic movements. This fact cannot be repeated enough, as it often fails to make it into the discourse on extremist violence in this country.

Three finalists named for inaugural Writers’ Trust non-fiction editing prize

TORONTO - Award-winning poet katherena vermette is among the three finalists for the Writers' Trust's inaugural prize for non-fiction editing.

The Nancy Flight Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction Editing awards $25,000 to an editor whose work has made an outstanding contribution to a full-length book of literary non-fiction. The organization says the award is the largest of its kind in Canada, with runners-up receiving $2,500 each.

vermette is nominated for editing "Carry Your Heart: Indigenous Helping Wisdom and the Science of Psychological Flexibility" by Cree psychotherapist Louis Busch, who blends Indigenous teaching wisdoms and Western psychology in the self-help title.

The Winnipeg-born vermette previously won the Governor General's Literary Award for English-language poetry in 2013 for her collection "North End Love Songs." She also won the Atwood Gibson Writers' Trust Fiction Prize for her 2021 novel "The Strangers."

Real journalists matter in an AI world

An algorithm can decide what you see, but it doesn’t report the news. Nunatsiaq News, an award-winning newspaper in Nunavut, recently reported that a so-called “news” website was posting AI-generated articles about the north by stealing real news stories produced by real journalists.

The articles were supposedly written by Nunavut correspondent Leah Qammaniq — a fake journalist, with a fake photo and a fake bio.

Governor General Louise Arbour warned us of fake news in her installation speech in June. She said, “We must continue to protect the public space in which our national debates take place: from schools and universities to the media, political parties, unions and civil society organizations …With instant access to vast amounts of information, it is very tempting to pay little attention to the reliability of sources. The lines between knowledge and belief, between truth and falsehood, between facts and assumptions, are increasingly blurred. AI could be threatening not only the way we live and work, but also the control we exercise over our own destiny.”

The Government of Canada has recognized the problem as well. Its recent discussion paper, Enhancing trust in artificial intelligence through increased transparency, stated, “Canadians encounter news reporting, product reviews, and audio-visual content across the internet, often without any indication of whether it was written by a person, generated by an AI system, or produced through some combination of both … A particular concern within this broader landscape is that generative AI greatly enables the creation and dissemination of deceptive or misleading content.”

Moving drama at MTYP gives voice to boy who changed law

The heroic true tale of Norway House Cree Nation-born Jordan River Anderson came home Friday night, as Manitoba Theatre for Young People presented Yvette Nolan’s Jordan.

The touring production, a collaboration with Geordie Theatre, runs weekends through Oct. 11, with additional stops in Toronto, Vancouver and Ottawa’s National Arts Centre.

Having several of Anderson’s family members witness the local première underscored the evening with poignancy. Elder and Pine Creek First Nation member Barbara Nepinak added her own dignified presence and prayers following MTYP artistic director Pablo Felices-Luna’s welcoming remarks.

The season-opener also marks the Winnipeg-raised playwright’s homecoming; the Algonquin playwright, director, dramaturg, actor and educator was a fixture in our local theatre community for many years before going on to serve as artistic director for Native Earth Performing Arts from 2003 to ‘11, among other contributions.

Volunteer pop-up library axed from Manitoba Youth Centre

Manitoba Corrections has cancelled a pop-up library program at the Manitoba Youth Centre, leaving inmates without librarian services and fewer options to borrow certain books.

The Prison Libraries Committee, part of the non-profit Manitoba Library Association, operated and funded the volunteer program since 2024 before it was shut down by the province last month. The group previously partnered with the province to offer the service because the facility has no dedicated library of its own.

“It is concerning that community members who are incarcerated, especially youth, are losing out on meaningful programming, access to information and rehabilitation efforts, which are offered at no cost to (Manitoba) Corrections. We urge Manitoba Justice to promote more library services and programming, not less,” said a Sept. 24 letter from the non-profit addressed to the justice minister.

Ashley Huot, chair of the Prison Libraries Committee, said she was puzzled when she received an email last month from Manitoba Corrections stating that the pop-up library was no longer needed.

Quebec Conservative Leader Éric Duhaime admits to using AI to write book

MONTREAL - Quebec Conservative Party Leader Éric Duhaime admitted to using artificial intelligence to write his latest book.

Duhaime told reporters Friday morning that he used AI as "a tool among others" to write the book, titled Destination Autonomie, which was published in April.

Duhaime, who previously worked as a columnist and radio host, said he used AI to structure his thoughts and that the ideas in the book are all his.

"AI is important to us. It’s part of reality. That said, it has to be done under human supervision. And that’s exactly what happened," Duhaime said.

Work aims to share Jordan River Anderson’s heroic legacy with young audiences

It isn’t often that Yvette Nolan is brought to tears by her own work.

But at the Montreal premiere of Jordan, the playwright found herself weeping in the aisles.

“I was a mess,” she recalls.

But all around her, the audience of children at Montreal’s Geordie Theatre were cheering at the conclusion of Nolan’s latest work, a fable centred on the heroic influence of Jordan River Anderson, a Norway House boy who spent two years living in hospital because the federal and provincial governments couldn’t agree on which level of elected office should pay for his at-home care.

Winnipeg Book Festival starts a new chapter

Once known as Thin Air, the 2026 Winnipeg Book Festival marks a new chapter heading into its 29th year celebrating fiction, non-fiction and poetry with a new name, new staff and a shorter, more streamlined fest based at The Forks.

Oxford English Dictionary adds several words long used in the Caribbean and Bermuda

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — More than a dozen words long used in Bermuda and across the Caribbean got an official nod on Wednesday from the Oxford English Dictionary.

First in line is “bimpert,” a Bermudian word of unknown origin that is used to describe a stupid or foolish person. People on the tiny island in the north Atlantic often use it in this traditional phrase: “A bimpert is justah wuffless bye,” which roughly translates to: an idiot is just a worthless boy.

Another colorful addition is “hornerman,” a word used in the eastern Caribbean island of Trinidad and Tobago since 1975 to describe an unfaithful man or a man having a relationship with someone else's partner.

Leonard Alexander, a grocery store owner in Trinidad, chuckled at the inclusion of the word “hornerman.” He explained that to “horn” means being unfaithful, and now the world would know the term for a man who commits such an act.

Not falling back means time loop remains unclosed

That hour you sacrificed to the sun gods in the spring? Gone. Not coming back. We’ve sprung forward and we shan’t be falling back — not in November, and (possibly) not ever. The scale shall remain unbalanced and the loop shall remain unclosed as Manitoba has adopted permanent daylight time.

A distant island and a European border

It’s at roughly 80°49′35″ North latitude and 66°27′30″West longitude. It’s Hans Island, an island that’s split between the Kingdom of Denmark and Canada.

Winnipeg, police and downtown crime

A safer downtown is not much use if people are still afraid to walk there.

That is the uncomfortable message from Winnipeg’s latest police citizen survey, and one city council should take seriously.

Downtown crime has fallen this year, according to the most recent police statistics. Violent crime is down even more. But for most Winnipeggers, the downtown still feels like a place to avoid, particularly after dark.

Only 44 per cent of survey respondents said they feel very or reasonably safe walking alone downtown during the day. At night, that number plunges to just eight per cent. Among women, it is an appalling three per cent, compared with 14 per cent of men.

Residental school denialism tackled head on in valuable new collection of essays

It’s been 11 years since Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) issued its landmark Final Report on Indian residential schools following four years of hearing testimony and statements from nearly 7,000 survivors and other witnesses. It also issued 94 calls to action, one of which was creating a body to measure the state’s progress on reconciliation.

It was only a year ago that the National Council for Reconciliation (NCR) was finally created, and only in late August that the NCR issued its first report card on the federal government’s reconciliation efforts.

The council acknowledges significant progress in some areas, but noted that most are largely symbolic or “soft” measures. However, topping the report’s list of risks to sustaining what gains on reconciliation have been made so far, and stalling further action, is the rise of residential school denialism.

According to the report, the organized efforts to cast doubt on Indian residential school historical records and the numbers of children who died there have had a corrosive effect on support for reconciliation, while giving the federal government political cover for inaction on the “hard” calls to action. It is therefore timely that Truth Before Reconciliation: Confronting Residential School Denialism, edited by University of Manitoba Indigenous Studies professors Sean Carleton and Niigaan Sinclair (who is also a Free Press columnist), has just hit bookstores.

Stage tells only half the story in marvellously meta ‘R+J: Closing Night’

Fifty years after its founding, Winnipeg’s Elizabeth Paige Theatre defied increasingly ridiculous odds to deliver an unforgettable final production of its season-opening run of Romeo and Juliet on Thursday … or did it?

Picking berries, sharing wonders in a muted woodland

This summer, Manitoba suffered prolonged periods of extreme weather. While eager to pick berries with my grandson, as is our habit, the temperatures were forbidding.

My grandson, 5, remained intrepid. As I am the one who charmed him into becoming a picker, I must be equally so.

When he is ready (and that depends on many factors, all of which are out of my control), he points to the blue bucket and the side porch door. It’s time. The time might be high noon (and often it is) when the sun is at its peak and my cellphone tells me the temperature is a 35 C that “feels like” 44.

There is always the line —“only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun” — I reference as we set out. To begin, of course, there is the snack, the hat, the water bottle, the bucket, the bug spray, sneakers, socks (ticks) and the cell.

Minnesota paddler’s many adventures in Boundary Waters, Canadian Shield chronicled

Minnesotan Bob O’Hara was a young lad when he fell in love with camping and canoeing on the Boundary Waters that stretch from northern Minnesota to the Canadian Shield.

He first launched a canoe as a Boy Scout in the 1950s, and as of last summer you could still find him on the border lakes, his 67th consecutive year on the waterways that launched his 50-year odyssey of Far North expeditions. In Where the Green Light Shines, author Ryan Rodgers describes it as “an astonishing run, every year from the age of 18 to 84.”

As remarkable as that seems, it is the five decades O’Hara spent paddling through northern Canada — mostly as a leader, dealing with often horrendous weather, one set of rapids after another, food shortages and a myriad of other concerns while living in the exhilaration of discovery and of communing with nature — that tell the real story of a life lived large, outside the constraints of everyday urban existence.

Not that O’Hara didn’t have to work for a living and to finance his adventures. He began a teaching job in 1963 and started what he’d continue throughout his career: taking students canoeing and camping in the Boundary Waters. During the first five years of the job, he taught for 180 days and camped for 125.

Lake city extraordinaire

Although it’s the nearest eastward city, Kenora is so not Winnipeg.

Driving into its lake-embraced, pine-embellished hilly terrain, Margie and I saw three fawns, a fox and a bashful bear near the west side’s odd glacial “rock holes.” Plus, we encountered a 12-metre tall, green-striped muskie named Husky.

And one giant yellow spider. The eight-legged beastie is made from a Volkswagen Beetle, and grasps a wrench and a hammer while wearing a top hat made from an oil barrel. It’s nameless. How about, um, Bugsy?

The tourist information centre boasts North America’s biggest collection of — yes, you guessed it — outboard motors. Staff admitted, “Well, it used to be the biggest. It might still be the biggest not privately held.”