Mother of B.C. cyberbullying victim Amanda Todd welcomes federal online safety bill

The mother of a British Columbia teen who died by suicide after being relentlessly tormented by a cyberbully says proposed federal legislation tackling online safety would have helped her daughter and will help save lives.

Carol Todd's daughter Amanda died in 2012 after being sexually exploited by an online predator.

Todd said in an interview on Thursday that the Safe Social Media Act addresses the mental and emotional toll of social media and is an important step toward keeping youth safe online.

It's also something Amanda would have wanted, she said.

Social media platforms, app stores at odds over who should enforce social media bans

As countries including Canada move toward social media bans in an attempt to keep youths safe online, tech companies are in a tug of war over who should be the gatekeepers.

Executives from Snapchat and Meta, the owner of Instagram, Facebook and Threads, have argued it should be app stores rather than platforms charged with verifying the ages of users when they try to add a platform to their phones.

Apple and Google, which run the App Store and Play Store respectively, have introduced some age-gating measures but appear to be at odds with social media platforms over whose responsibility those measures should be.

Experts say trying to put the onus on either side is pointless because app store owners, platforms, governments and parents all have to step up to keep kids safe online.

Sisler program creating new generation of animators

The characters start as crude shapes and stand-ins, then take on form. Your Elsa, Miles Morales or Buzz Lightyear are born, but move only in key poses, like a picture book.

AI project halted early, without much clarity

For years, as the saying goes, the three most important things in real estate have been location, location and location.

Telus to charge $15 to activate new SIM cards, as ban on switching fees takes effect

The CRTC is warning Telus Corp. that a new fee the company plans to charge customers could breach the regulator's ban on activation charges set to take effect later this week.

The commission issued a letter to the carrier on Tuesday saying it hoped the matter could be resolved before the rule change kicks in Friday.

It comes a day after Telus distributed a memo to employees saying it will begin charging customers up to $25 when they switch to a new SIM card. The company insists the fee doesn't violate the CRTC's new rules.

In the document, Telus said it would introduce a $15 SIM purchase fee for new activations.

Artificial intelligence ‘promising and problematic’ for courts, chief justice says

OTTAWA - Artificial intelligence is proving to be both promising and problematic for Canadian courtrooms, Chief Justice Richard Wagner said Tuesday.

Distinguishing fact from fiction has become more difficult — and more important — in a time when information can be generated and shared rapidly, Wagner said at his annual news conference.

Society is grappling with the emergence of machine learning and online tools that can process a wide range of data almost instantly, with varying degrees of accuracy.

Dozens of AI-generated hallucinations, such as fake case citations, have turned up in Canadian legal proceedings.

Ottawa’s new Digital Safety Act expected to include under-16 social media ban

OTTAWA - The federal government is expected to bar kids under the age of 16 from social media in new legislation set to be introduced Wednesday.

The government gave notice Tuesday that it will introduce a bill "to enact the Digital Safety Act and the Digital Safety Commission of Canada Act." It has scheduled a technical briefing and press conference on the new bill for late Wednesday afternoon.

Culture Minister Marc Miller, who is taking the lead on the legislation, said the government will take all reasonable measures to ensure kids are safe.

“It’s obvious why it’s a priority. Kids are dying,” he told reporters on Parliament Hill.

Campers, canoes or loons: vote on provincial park licence plate

Manitobans are invited to vote on the design for a new licence plate promoting Manitoba’s provincial parks.

The new licence plates featuring the chosen design will be made available next year.

The provincial park-themed plate was promised in the Nov. 18 throne speech.

“Manitobans love our parks, and so we want to hear from you on the best design to represent that pride in our parks as a new provincial licence plate,” Premier Wab Kinew said in a news release Monday.

OpenAI files confidential SEC paperwork for IPO, opening the door to a Wall Street debut

ChatGPT maker OpenAI filed preliminary paperwork that would open the door to it becoming a publicly traded company, the third in a powerhouse trio of artificial intelligence companies racing to Wall Street debuts.

The San Francisco-based company said Monday it has filed confidential paperwork with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

“We expect it to leak so we’re just announcing it,” the company said in a statement. “We have not decided on timing yet; it may be a while because there are things we want to do that are likely easier as a private company. But it’s a complicated set of tradeoffs and this gives us the option to go public sooner if that ends up being best.”

OpenAI's move follows its rival Anthropic's June 1 disclosure that it is also moving toward an initial public offering of shares. Both are now following Elon Musk's rocket company SpaceX, which has started an IPO roadshow pitching itself as an AI-focused space company.

Apple unveils an upgraded Siri voice assistant with new AI features at its annual conference

CUPERTINO, Calif. (AP) — Apple on Monday unveiled new artificial intelligence advances including upgrades to its Siri assistant, emphasizing a focus on privacy and day-to-day use as the iPhone maker tries to catch up to rivals when it comes to AI.

Siri AI, which was introduced at the start of Apple's annual World Wide Developers Conference, has been highly anticipated by users and developers. While Siri was launched in 2011, it fell behind other voice assistants and was derided even by Apple fans.

It is the last WWDC featuring CEO Tim Cook before he turns his post over to John Ternus in September. Cook received an extended standing ovation and told the audience he is “deeply grateful to have been on this journey with you” and said “the energy around Apple platforms has never been stronger.”

The conference, which drew developers from some 65 countries to Apple’s Silicon Valley headquarters, focuses on software, in contrast to the fall unveiling of the latest iPhones.

Local podcasters put city hall in spotlight

What began as an offhand comment in a conversation about Winnipeg’s upcoming municipal election has grown into a new initiative dedicated to getting more residents engaged with city hall.

When Winnipeg writer and artist Sam Beiko suggested there should be a podcast explaining what was at stake in the election, co-host Patty Wiens — who holds the volunteer title of ‘Winnipeg’s bike mayor,’ a role awarded by a global cycling advocacy organization — offered an immediate response.

“We’re gonna do that podcast,” she said at the time.

From there came Ballot Babes, a weekly podcast that breaks down city hall debates, municipal issues and council decisions in an effort to get people to the ballot box in the fall.

Saying ‘no’ to AI data centre a huge win for Manitoba — and Kinew

It’s a tale of two provinces — and two artificial intelligence data centre mega-projects.

Louis Riel School Division embraces AI agents of change

End-of-year report cards will be drafted using a new digital assistant made by and for teachers working in St. Vital and surrounding communities in southeast Winnipeg.

The Louis Riel School Division’s data team has spent much of the 2025-26 school year designing and piloting secure artificial intelligence-powered tools to address common problems for staff and students.

Curriculum-Linked Assessment and Reporting Assistant is one of its five new “AI agents.”

“Teachers put in all their assessment data and it helps them create meaningful, curriculum-aligned, jargon-free comments for parents,” said Marnie Wilson, data strategy officer for the division.

Premier pulls plug on proposed AI data centre

Premier Wab Kinew says a massive artificial intelligence data centre southeast of Winnipeg will not go ahead.

“The very limited economic benefits for this project do not outweigh the serious environmental concerns and the unique rural way of life that people in the region enjoy,” Kinew told reporters at the Manitoba legislature on Thursday.

The public should be skeptical about “hyperscale” data centres that are being proposed in many jurisdictions, he added.

“It’s very clear AI is transforming our economy and our society,” Kinew said. “But I think Manitobans want that to happen in a way where AI serves us and we’re not servants of AI.”

Creative industry slams government on move to dismantle CanCon obligations for streamers

TORONTO - Groups representing writers and filmmakers are criticizing the government's move to dismantle Canadian content obligations for U.S.-based streamers.

The Directors Guild of Canada, ACTRA and the Canadian Media Producers Association issued statements saying the government is cowering to pressure from Big Tech, and that it risks creating "long-term uncertainty" for the Canadian film and TV industry.

On Wednesday, Culture Minister Marc Miller announced that Ottawa is asking the broadcast regulator to review a recent order that would require foreign streamers to invest 15 per cent of their revenues in Canada into Canadian programming.

Miller also said that the entire broadcasting framework needs a rethink, and that the government will invest $600 million into the audio and audiovisual sector annually in the meantime.

New $2.3B federal AI strategy looks to close ‘adoption gap,’ build public trust

OTTAWA - Ottawa wants to increase Canadians' use of artificial intelligence — and it plans to do so through free AI training and legislation to tackle concerns like surveillance pricing and chatbot safety.

Announcing the government's new AI strategy in Toronto on Thursday, Prime Minister Mark Carney said "globally, Canada ranks near the bottom of countries in AI training, in literacy and trust."

The long-awaited AI strategy says Canada has "a major adoption gap." It says closing the gap in training and literacy "is the foundation on which everything else depends."

A new literacy initiative will offer entry-level AI training to all Canadians and the government will ensure "all post-secondary students have access to trusted AI agents," the document says.

Ottawa tells CRTC to change course on increasing streamers’ financial contributions

OTTAWA - Ottawa is directing the CRTC to back down on its recent decision to triple streamers’ financial contributions to Canadian content, and will instead provide $600 million to the sector, Culture Minister Marc Miller said Wednesday.

The decision comes after the Motion Picture Association, the U.S. group representing streamers, called on cabinet to reconsider the current approach, and after the U.S. ambassador to Canada called for the policy to be rescinded.

The CRTC said in May it would require large streaming services like Netflix to contribute 15 per cent of their Canadian revenues to Canadian content. It made the decision as part of its work to implement the Online Streaming Act.

Asked whether the decision is another concession to the U.S. as Canada seeks renewal of the continental trade pact, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Wednesday the government was looking at how much the new policy would cost Canadians.

Families department criticized for 2024 cyberattack

The Manitoba ombudsman is criticizing the families department’s service provider and security policies after data involving vulnerable Manitobans was accessed in a 2024 cyberattack.

Trump signs an executive order that invites vetting of top AI models for national security risks

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on oversight of artificial intelligence Tuesday, less than two weeks after postponing a White House ceremony over his concerns that a similar policy could dull America’s technological edge.

The order establishes a framework for the federal government to vet the national security risks of the most advanced AI systems for up to a month before their public release. Participation by AI developers would be voluntary, the order says.

“Advanced AI capabilities make our Nation stronger, but also introduce new national security considerations that require coordinated action across executive departments and agencies,” the order says.

It was not immediately clear to what extent the order differed from the one Trump declined to sign on May 21.

MPs get an earful from opponents of ‘lawful access’ bill over privacy concerns

OTTAWA - A group that works to keep the internet surveillance-free says a federal bill intended to help police and intelligence services is "an enormous own goal" against Canada's economy and security.

Matt Hatfield, executive director of OpenMedia, told MPs studying the bill Tuesday that limited amendments will not salvage the proposed legislation.

The government says the bill will ensure law enforcement agencies have the legal tools to prevent, investigate and respond to modern crime and protect Canadians in a manner consistent with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Opponents argue the legislation, known as Bill C-22, unnecessarily expands the powers of police and intelligence agencies, endangers the privacy of Canadians, flouts the Charter and makes Canada a less attractive place to do business.

Canadian, U.S. stock markets notch new record highs amid continued AI boom

TORONTO - Stock markets in Canada and the U.S. reached new highs, powered by gains in energy and AI, respectively.

Theresa Shutt, chief investment officer at Harbourfront Wealth Management, said themes around higher risk appetite driven by “AI fervour” helped lift the U.S. market. She said this was somewhat counterbalanced by lingering tensions between the U.S. and Iran and concerns that the market has risen too high.

The S&P/TSX composite index was up 434.57 points at 35,169.46.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 228.91 points at 51,307.79. The S&P 500 index was up 9.82 points at 7,609.78, while the Nasdaq composite was up 7.09 points at 27,093.90. The S&P 500 rose 0.1 per cent after drifting between small gains and losses through the day.

U of W prof sues social media giants Meta, X

A University of Winnipeg professor is suing two social media companies in an attempt to determine who was behind online accounts used to crudely impersonate him and make vulgar comments he calls defamatory.

Quebec moves ahead with AI cultural databank project

MONTREAL - Quebec's national library is moving ahead with plans to create a database of cultural and government content that could be used to train artificial intelligence systems and improve their understanding of Quebec society, culture and Indigenous languages.

Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec, or BAnQ, the province's national library and archives institution, has launched the experimental phase of its proposed government and cultural databank in French and Indigenous languages after completing a feasibility study earlier this year.

The project aims to address concerns that major generative AI systems often struggle to provide reliable information about Quebec society, economy and culture because of the limited amount of Quebec-related data available to them.

"All scenarios are a little bit on the table right now," Valérie D'Amour, who led the feasibility study, said in an interview. "We have a lot of ideas and we want to validate the possibilities with cultural stakeholders, as well as with data owners and providers, who will be involved in the discussions."