Canadian sport system ‘underfunded and unsafe,’ commission urges Ottawa to step up

Canadian sport needs an overhaul, and it starts with the federal government.

That was the conclusion of the Future of Sport in Canada Commission's final report released Tuesday.

The Canadian sport system is broken, fragmented and unsustainable, said Lise Maisonneuve, a former chief justice of the Ontario court of justice, who headed the commission.

The report issued 98 calls to action for phased-in change over five years, but starting immediately.

Provincial budget includes free transit passes for youths in Winnipeg, three other cities

Manitoba’s NDP government will make it more affordable for youths as young as 12 to get to school, jobs and activities with free transit passes.

Parents warned about measles risk over spring break, religious celebrations

Manitoba Health is urging parents to consider the risk of measles while travelling or attending large gatherings over spring break or upcoming holidays, in a bid to slow down Canada’s worst active outbreak.

‘Wake up people’: mom says proposed drunk-driving law falls short

The mother of a designated driver who was killed by an impaired driver says proposed legislation to prohibit school bus and semi drivers from having booze in their system doesn’t go far enough.

“Wake up people, it should be zero for everybody,” said Karen Reimer, whose daughter Jordyn Reimer, 24, was killed in 2022 after being hit by a pickup travelling at 108 kilometres an hour on a residential street in Transcona.

Under Bill 31 (The Highway Traffic Amendment Act), drivers of class 1 to 4 vehicles — including semi-truck and bus operators — would not be allowed to have any alcohol in their blood.

Reimer told a legislative committee Wednesday laws aren’t moving the needle when it comes to impaired driving deaths and injuries. The province had 13 impaired driving fatalities in 2025, the same number that it had a decade ago. Last year, there were 62 serious injuries, an increase from 60 in 2015, as reported by Manitoba Public Insurance.

Family says teen re-victimized by school’s lax response after reporting sexual assault

With its soft lighting and cosy couches, the classroom hangout at the River East-Transcona School Division high school is supposed to be a safe space for students to decompress.

But that changed one Monday in January.

That day, after the supervising teacher had left the room, a teenage girl says she was sitting on the floor with her back against a love seat when a much larger male student sat down on the cushion directly behind her, boxing her in between his knees.

She said he reached over and forced his hands beneath her shirt, grabbing her breasts for several minutes while she froze and did not speak or move.

Teenagers sue Musk’s xAI claiming image-generator made sexually explicit images of them as minors

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Three teenagers in Tennessee sued Elon Musk's xAI this week, claiming the company's image-generation tools were used to morph real photos of them into explicitly sexual images.

The high school students, who are seeking to proceed under pseudonyms, filed the lawsuit in California, where xAI — Musk's artificial intelligence company — has its headquarters. They are seeking class-action status in order to represent what the lawsuit says are thousands of victims like themselves who either are minors or were minors when sexually explicit images of them were created.

According to the lawsuit, Jane Doe 1 was alerted anonymously in December that someone was distributing sexually explicit images of her on a social media website.

“At least five of these files, one video and four images, depicted her actual face and body in settings with which she was familiar, but morphed into sexually explicit poses," the lawsuit states. It claims the person distributing the images knew Doe and used xAI's image generation tools to turn real photos of her into sexually abusive ones. One of the images was taken from a homecoming photo. Another was taken from a high school yearbook.

‘Extreme’ workouts drive spike in ‘rhabdo’ cases among young N.L. women, says doctor

ST. JOHN'S - Intense workouts and social media pressure are driving a spike in rhabdomyolysis cases in young women in Newfoundland and Labrador, a physician with the province's health authority said Thursday.

Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services said it confirmed about 20 cases in the eastern part of the province in the past six months. Doctors typically expect to see a few cases a year, said Dr. Richard Barter, the clinical chief of emergency medicine in the authority's eastern urban zone.

"The cases that we've seen have been exclusively exertional rhabdomyolysis, and this is when a person takes their physical workouts to an extreme level," Barter said in an interview.

Rhabdomyolysis, or "rhabdo," occurs when muscle tissue is severely damaged and breaks down, leaking enzymes and other substances into the blood. The painful condition can cause urine to turn the colour of black tea and it can lead to kidney damage, Barter said.

Canada drops down to 25th place in world happiness rankings: report

TORONTO - Canada's happiness ranking slipped again last year, continuing a decade-long trend that's seen the country plummet from the 5th happiest in the world in 2014 to 25th in 2026.

The annual World Happiness Report from the Wellbeing Research Centre at the University of Oxford looked at how social media use might be affecting happiness on a population level, and found in some cases it was having an impact.

"There's probably no simple explanation as to why Canadians' view of happiness has been dropping. What this report suggests is that social media could be one part of this puzzle, but it doesn't seem like it's the full picture," said Felix Cheung, a happiness researcher at the University of Toronto, who reviewed two chapters in the report but did not write it.

Between 2023 and 2025, the timeframe the researchers used for this report, Canadians' life evaluations averaged at 6.741 out of 10. In Finland, the happiest country in the world for nine years running, the average was 7.764.

Proactive planning for a future with more seniors

They’re supposed to be “the golden years.” But for many Manitobans in the ever-expanding 65-plus age bracket, life is anything but a warm and gentle journey toward a tranquil, glowing sunset.

Alberta government moves to drastically reduce access to medically assisted dying

EDMONTON - Alberta Premier Danielle Smith's government took steps Wednesday to drastically restrict who's eligible for medical assistance in dying.

Smith’s United Conservative Party government introduced a bill that, if passed, would limit medical assistance in dying, better known as MAID, to those likely to die of natural causes within a year.

Those under 18 would still be prohibited regardless of condition, in line with current federal rules.

But Smith said Ottawa's framework is largely missing the mark.

David Suzuki is turning 90. Environmentalists may have ‘lost, big time,’ but he still has hope

David Suzuki admits defeat — at least in some respects.

The geneticist-turned-environmentalist, who is days away from his 90th birthday, reflected on his legacy as he prepared to release his latest book, "Lessons from a Lifetime," which compiles photos and stories from his life, as well as testimonials written by those he inspired.

"To me, the important legacy that I want to tell my grandchildren is, look, I tried. I love you. I did the best I could for you. And I tried," he said on a video call last month.

"The measure of a person is not whether they succeeded — because we've lost, environmentalists have lost, big time — but that we tried."

Accessible, inclusive sports giving elementary-age phys-ed students a lesson in empathy

Beaverlodge School phys-ed teacher Jordan Adam has launched a new inclusive sports program to expose students to lesser-known activities and spark discussion about accessibility.

Endometriosis painful, lack of research shameful

Endometriosis is a chronic inflammatory disease that causes debilitating pain, heavy bleeding, extreme fatigue, brain fog and other symptoms. It affects one in 10 women. I am one of them.

After 43-year career at the zoo, Janice Martin returns to lend a hand

Armed with a zoology degree from the University of Manitoba, Janice Martin started work at Assiniboine Park Zoo in 1980 and never looked back.

She spent 43 years in various roles at the zoo until she retired in 2023. Retirement, however, was just a long lunch break for Martin. After four months away, she was back as a dedicated volunteer.

“I first started in Aunt Sally’s Farm in the summer of 1976 before going into university in the fall. Right after I graduated, there was an opening at the zoo. It was the perfect opportunity and I grabbed it. I worked my way through different areas over the years, first as a zookeeper, then a supervisor and finally as a curator for 10 years before I retired,” Martin, 68, says.

She volunteers approximately three times a week. For two of those days, she supports the zoo’s enrichment program by creating items to engage and stimulate natural animal behaviour.

Former volleyball star recalls struggles for gay rights during 1980s

In 1981, tennis star Martina Navratilova made international headlines off the court for coming out as a lesbian. Around the same time, a less prominent Canadian athlete named Betty Baxter was beginning a public battle for equality.

Baxter was well-known in the queer community, having played on the national Canadian women’s volleyball team at the 1976 Montreal Olympics. She caused a media frenzy a few years later when she became the first female and youngest ever coach of the same team.

Less well-known was that after only 18 months as coach she was fired, behind closed doors, as rumours swirled that she was a lesbian. Baxter had not come out publicly; she lost her job for not denying she was a lesbian.

She was told by a human rights lawyer that she had no recourse. This was common practice before sexual orientation was enshrined in the Human Rights Act in 1996; contemporary readers may have a difficult time imagining how brave it was to come out publicly in the ‘80s.

Spaniards in town for curling documentary, brush up on the game

Joan Baucells looks out onto the ice at the Fort Rouge Curling Club and pauses for a moment, searching for the right words to describe it.

“This is like a cathedral,” he says.

His home country of Spain is world-renowned for its stunning architecture, but none of those buildings have what this one has to offer: pebbled ice, granite rocks and carbon-fiber brooms.

Oh, and don’t forget an in-house restaurant serving fat boy burgers and poutine.

Senior squeeze: Many older Manitobans are in an increasingly precarious financial situation

Terisa Taylor is deemed a low-income senior, based on the federal tax bracket classification, but the numbers don’t take a full measure of the person.

At age 73, the St. Boniface resident relies on the three acronyms synonymous with aging — CPP, GIS and OAS — to make ends meet.

Manitoba Rental Assistance helps cover about half her apartment costs, but she gave up her car when it became clear it was no longer affordable.

Despite that, Taylor considers herself one of Manitoba’s more fortunate seniors since she’s able to continue to pursue a meaningful life.

Non-profit to operate home for young moms in River Heights

A home in River Heights will soon be filled with Indigenous mothers and mothers-to-be receiving care and wraparound supports.

Come this summer, a six-bedroom home on Lindsay Street will provide three to six months of pre- and post-natal care and programs.

Hillary Thompson, an 18-year-old who is in her third trimester, has already picked her bedroom.

The spacious room on the main floor has plenty of space for her and a crib, and she can decorate it the way she wants. It’s a far cry from the homes she grew up in as a foster child, she said.

Lower colorectal cancer screening age to 45 from 50, Canadian Cancer Society urges

TORONTO - Michael Groves thought he had appendicitis.

In January 2021, he went to the emergency department with abdominal pains, but after testing, medical staff ruled it out and he went home.

A couple of days later, Groves, who lives in Ottawa, saw blood in his stool, so he told his family doctor.

Both the pain and bleeding stopped, but his doctor decided to schedule the 49-year-old for a colonoscopy for that April to be on the safe side.

After training in deep snow and bitter cold, ex-reality show star seeks to win the Iditarod again

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Riches and paid appearances haven’t followed Jessie Holmes since he won the world’s most famous sled dog race, the Iditarod, last year.

He doesn't mind.

A carpenter and a former cast member of National Geographic's reality show “Life Below Zero,” Holmes has instead been content to return to his austere, hand-built homestead in the wilderness near the continent's tallest mountain. His life is solitary and frugal. His closest neighbors are 30 miles (50 kilometers) away.

“There’s a lot of things that can happen in your life once you win the Iditarod,” Holmes told The Associated Press in an interview before this year's race. “You could become a real big deal, or you could just go back out in the bush and get right back to work, you know? And that’s what I did.”

Five examples of representation in recognition of International Women’s Day

To mark International Women’s Day on Sunday, the Free Press is spotlighting five Manitobans doing impactful work in sports.

Alyssa White — para hockey athleteWhite was 14 when she made the Canadian women’s para hockey squad.

“It’s kind of wild still to me to think about because I had only started playing hockey a year prior to that,” said the now 20-year-old.

Eby says OpenAI’s Altman will apologize to Tumbler Ridge, B.C., in wake of shootings

VICTORIA - British Columbia Premier David Eby said OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has agreed to apologize to the people of Tumbler Ridge after the mass shooting by a user of the firm's technology, whose worrisome online behaviour wasn't flagged to police by the company.

"Everybody on the call recognized that an apology is nowhere near sufficient, but also that is completely necessary," Eby said of his conversation with Altman on Thursday.

OpenAI will also work with the province to come up with recommendations for federal regulatory standards on artificial intelligence and reporting of problematic interactions with its users, Eby said.

The premier said after the virtual meeting with Altman that OpenAI will work on the apology with the mayor of Tumbler Ridge where eight victims were shot dead on Feb. 10 by Jesse Van Rootselaar.

Councillors back permanent bike lane for Wellington Crescent next year

The city is poised to scrap a long-awaited temporary bike lane pilot project on Wellington Crescent, which was expected this year, and speed up the construction of permanent bike lanes instead.

On Wednesday, council’s public works committee voted to accelerate the plan to construct permanent bike lanes in 2027, pending a final council vote. The city had planned to spend $5.5 million to do so in 2029.

Coun. Janice Lukes, chairwoman of public works, said the switch to pursue permanent protected bike lanes, with curbs to separate cyclists from vehicular traffic, is the best way to ensure lasting safety improvements.

“This is going to be a fundamental change in the way traffic moves, pedestrian cycling and vehicular traffic in this section, and I want to rip the Band-Aid off once… It’s going to be a big change for everyone,” said Lukes (Waverley West).

Moms describe being trapped in a cycle of anguish when a loved one faces mental health crises

TORONTO - Nancy Saunders says her son Ben Brennan accomplished so much in his short life.

He was an exceptional musician, loved writing and was a freelance recording engineer, she said.

Brennan played in bands across Canada and toured Europe. He studied at the University of King’s College in Halifax.

Deeply kind and compassionate, “he just had a huge soft heart,” Saunders said.