Someone call the PM: next governor general doesn’t speak a single Indigenous language

This week, Prime Minister Mark Carney selected former Supreme Court justice Louise Arbour as the country’s 31st governor general.

The best hockey I knew was the first

“Nothing is as good as it used to be and it never was. The ‘golden age of sports,’ the golden age of anything, is the is the age of everyone’s childhood.” — Ken Dryden

I grew up in Winnipeg, in a small suburban enclave called Morse Place. Not exactly the centre of the hockey universe, but it was home. A little working-class pocket in the north part of the city. Terry Sawchuk, the great Detroit goaltender was probably our best known hockey export.

Dad worked in an iron foundry, and mom ran the house like a general. My older sister excelled at school and her choir singing. We weren’t poor, but let’s just say there was very little money left over after dad brought home the paycheque.

We didn’t have much, but we, or rather I, had the rink. The community club had one glorious sheet of outdoor ice with real boards, an old streetcar converted into a clubhouse, and a pot-bellied stove that tried to keep your toes from freezing. And yet … it was magic.

What to do with inconvenient wildlife

Their flocks darkened the skies, over a mile wide and hundreds of miles long. It would take hours or even days for them to pass over a fixed spot. They were a common Manitoba resident, nesting as far north as York Factory. In the 1860s, one hunter trapped 80 dozen in a net near St. Andrews.

False information, misleading images rife in Manitoba-based AI-driven 'news' service

In a rapidly evolving media landscape, the rise of Boring News, an AI-generated news outlet, highlights the growing tension between technology and journalism. While it aims to fill local news gaps across Canada, the outlet is plagued by inaccuracies and ethical concerns, prompting debate on the future of credible reporting.

Moon mission Earth photo could change your worldview

Having a photo of Earth — the whole Earth — taken by a human is an incredible thing, and now we have a new one. It’s a beautiful image. But it’s also a deeply moving one.

Hand-drawn 1884 map captures Winnipeg at moment when frontier hadn’t fully given way to a metropolis

At first glance, the map is still. Ink on paper, streets drawn neatly in place, buildings rendered by a careful hand. Look more closely and it begins to loosen. Step into the image, between the lines, and immerse yourself in a city of movement.

Culture minister says ‘serious conversation’ needed about AI systems and news media

OTTAWA - Culture Minister Marc Miller says the government must have a serious conversation about AI systems’ use of news.

"Having the news cannibalized and regurgitated undermines the spirit of the use of that news in the first place and the purpose for which it's used and we have to have a serious conversation with the platforms that purport to use it including AI shops," Miller said.

Miller was asked whether the government is open to extending its Online News Act to AI companies. The Online News Act requires Meta and Google to compensate media outlets for displaying their content. Meta pulled news off its platforms in response, but Google has been making payments under the act.

He said it’s not a question about opening up the legislation but of making sure companies are acting responsibly.

First-time playwright’s social work training helps craft horror drama In the Shadow Beyond the Pines

The type of writing that thriller aficionado Rhonda Apetagon does on a day-to-day basis isn’t anyone’s idea of creative fun: as a trained social worker, the first-time playwright is accustomed to filing reports about “the real scary stuff” in life: loss, addiction, violence and the abuse and maltreatment of children.

“That’s way scarier for me than ghosts,” says the director of Kinosao Sipi Minisowin Agency, which provides child and family services to members of Apetagon’s community, Norway House Cree Nation.

Apetagon’s debut play, In the Shadow Beyond the Pines, premièring tonight at the Tom Hendry Warehouse, takes place at the intersection of those two strains of horror stories, sending three grieving men (Daniel Knight, Jeremy Proulx and James Dallas Smith) into the forest to light a sacred fire for their recently departed friend, Warren, who was the quartet’s “glue” since childhood, holding the group together even as the joys, pressures and traumas of adult life pulled them apart.

Apetagon wanted the play, set on the outskirts of an unnamed northern community, to highlight the double-edged nature of living in a remote environment, where the combination of intense togetherness and relative isolation presents both threat and opportunity.

Une 5e édition, et une incorporation pour Noir et Fier

Lors du gala de clôture de Noir et Fier, tenu le 26 février au Musée canadien pour les droits de la personne (MCDP), le festival conclut le mois de février avec l’annonce d’une incorporation. L’organisation franchit donc une étape structurante importante en devenant un organisme à but non lucratif à part entière.

“Le bilan que je fais de cette cinquième édition est très positif.”

En cinq ans, Noir et Fier est passé d’une exposition de portraits pour le mois de l’histoire des Noirs, à un festival qui occupe désormais tout au long de février et qui franchit aujourd’hui une nouvelle étape avec son incorporation.

“Chacune des activités a rassemblé beaucoup de personnes. Ça a été des moments de discussion très intenses, de très bons moments d’échange, de partage, de sensibilisation et d’éducation. Nos statistiques sont assez frappantes,” assure Wilgis Agossa, directeur artistique et fondateur de Noir et Fier.

Hockey games and missed opportunities

When I was 16, I quit hockey. I was a closeted teenager, and I was sick to death of the bullying, the violence, and the culture. Hockey made me ashamed. For a decade, I found it easier to come out of the closet than to tell people I had once loved hockey.

De nouvelles voix franco-manitobaines laissent leur empreinte

Le 25 février prochain, un nouveau recueil de nouvelles viendra enrichir le paysage littéraire franco-manitobain. Intitulé On fait des traces, l’ouvrage rassemble dix textes écrits par de jeunes auteurs et autrices francophones du Manitoba, réunis au sein du collectif Génération d’encre, ainsi qu’un texte d’Anne-Marie Turcotte. Une initiative des Éditions du Blé visant à soutenir l’émergence de nouvelles voix.

Le lancement se tiendra le 25 février à la brasserie Kilter de 17 h à 19 h sous la forme de lectures d’extraits et d’échanges. “L’esprit du projet, c’est vraiment d’inviter de nouvelles voix et de créer de la place pour celles qu’on entend moins,” explique Katrine Deniset, directrice par intérim des Éditions du Blé. On fait des traces se veut ainsi un recueil ancré dans le territoire, tant par ses histoires que par les parcours de celles et ceux qui les signent.

Le titre du recueil, On fait des traces, puise directement dans une expression populaire des Prairies. “C’est une expression qu’on utilise beaucoup au Manitoba pour dire qu’on s’en va, qu’on quitte un endroit, qu’on part vers une prochaine destination,” raconte Katrine Deniset. “Mais ça reflète aussi l’esprit du livre, parce que ce sont des personnages en mouvement, en quête d’identité, ici, chez nous,” ajoute-t-elle. Toutes les nouvelles du recueil se déroulent au Manitoba et forment ce que la directrice décrit comme “un livre du terroir.”

“On a réussi à créer une carte fictive du Manitoba. On voyage un peu dans la province : un auteur a écrit une nouvelle qui se passe plutôt dans un contexte rural. Ensuite, il y a un qui a écrit une nouvelle qui se déroule à Churchill, dans le nord du Manitoba. Des histoires ont lieu à Saint-Boniface. Alors, on voyage un peu dans différents coins de la province avec le livre,” mentionne-t-elle. Les histoires abordent des thèmes variés — l’amitié, l’exil, la précarité, la création artistique — tout en étant reliées par ce fil conducteur du déplacement, qu’il soit physique ou intérieur.

Relationship with city’s icy waterways warms many a Winnipegger’s heart

In summer, a screened porch or gazebo adds another room to Winnipeg houses, full of light and fresh air.

A balcony in a high-rise apartment seems to double the horizon available to residents: it feels like you could step out into the branches of a big old elm or a cottonwood, full of birds.

In the same way, the frozen Assiniboine, Red and Seine rivers add concert hall- and football stadium-sized swathes of space to the city.

The iced-over rivers provide new ways of seeing and understanding this place we call home.

Parent group urges funds to help spot reading disabilities sooner

It may be too late for their children, but parents are appealing to school boards to fund teacher training to spot struggling readers sooner.

Caregiver Advocates for Literacy Equity is launching a new campaign this week, against the backdrop of I Love to Read Month.

The coalition represents dozens of families, many of whom have children with dyslexia. It is planning a series of presentations for trustees across Manitoba.

“The damage has been done to my son, sadly — we’re trying to propel things forward for him — but I just want to make a change for other kids,” said Allison Guercio, a mother of two in Winnipeg.

Teen newcomers hope powerful poem opens minds

Escaping Syria as a child, Fawwaz (Ali) Al Hassan knows a thing or two about global conflict.

“I’ve gone through war, genocide, poverty, myself firsthand, and I know how bad and terrible it is for anyone, not just for people of my kind, but anyone across the world,” the 17 year old who immigrated to Canada 10 years ago said.

The Daniel McIntyre Collegiate Institute student co-wrote the spoken-word poem What We’re Meant to Be, along with Sami Suliman, 16, and Tobilola (Tobi) Olorunsola, 17. The trio recited it Monday at the Manitoba legislature as part of the Manitoba Council for International Cooperation’s international development week.

The teens, all newcomers to Canada, brought their own personal experiences to the poem, a journey across the globe.

Another erased piece of the Winnipeg that was

The rubble was still smoking a little on Wednesday afternoon, though by then, all that remained of the place were its bones.

Family from the Democratic Republic of Congo navigates chilly firsts alongside IRCOM supports

All Clever Ganza wants to do this winter is build a snowman.

He’s not yet had the chance, as it hasn’t been the right kind of snow — although to the eight-year-old, all snow is snow.

It’s his second winter in Winnipeg after arriving in Canada with his parents and younger brother Travor, 5, in December 2024.

Clever has acclimatized pretty quickly.

Why I expelled AI from the classroom

Artificial intelligence (AI) is certainly in vogue these days. Within post-secondary institutions, it is rapidly reshaping the pedagogical landscape. Some academics maintain that AI enriches the student learning experience, whereas others believe it enhances critical thinking.

It’s not personal, AI… and that’s the problem

I have a photo album on my phone called Smile File.

In it are screen shots of all kinds of correspondence from my friends and family, a hall of fame of sorts. Like the text my dad sent me after he dropped me off at the airport to see Chappell Roan in Nashville: “3 songs in H-O-T-T-O-G-O.” Or the funny messages from friends that make me feel like they really know me. Or thoughtful emails from readers letting me know my writing has affected them in some way.

Among my most prized keepers: two notes from two different dear friends, asking me if I would be Auntie Jen to their kids.

I look at my Smile File on the days when my brain is tricking me into thinking nobody likes me or when I worry that I’ve run out of words and maybe I’m actually secretly illiterate.

Probe flags troubles in literacy education

Human rights investigators have found that parents of struggling readers across Manitoba are being forced to take on “a full-time job” of advocacy so their children can become literate in local public schools.

The Manitoba Human Rights Commission released the long-awaited findings of its probe into literacy 101 education on Thursday — the penultimate day of Dyslexia Awareness Month 2025.

The 70-page document reveals that many schools are not using evidence-based methods to teach reading and lengthy wait times for clinical assessments are affecting overall literacy rates.

The results are unsurprising for Laura Jones, a mother who volunteered at the launch event organized in partnership with Dyslexia Canada.

Winnipeg students develop critical aptitude essential for navigating media landscape

One day in the fall of 2024, two of Lily Godinez Goodman’s Grade 5 students came to her with a question: Why didn’t their Earl Grey School have a newspaper, they wondered — and if they started one, would she serve as editor-in-chief?