Health advice is all over social media. Here’s how to vet claims

Health and wellness advice is available in abundance on social media — from trendy to informative to straight-up disinformation — and you're far from alone in seeing it.

A new survey by the Pew Research Center finds that about 4 in 10 U.S. adults — and around half of those under 50 — get health information from social media or podcasts.

Researchers also looked at the social media profiles of 6,828 health and wellness influencers with at least 100,000 followers. Only about 4 in 10 list a background as a health professional. About one-third called themselves coaches, about 3 in 10 described themselves as entrepreneurs and about 1 in 10 cited their own life experience, like being a parent.

Despite the wide range of expertise, about half of people who get health and wellness information from influencers said the influencers help them better understand their own health, while about one-third said it hasn't made much difference. About 1 in 10 said it made them more confused.

Governments blasted for inaction as HIV rates rise

An HIV/AIDS advocate who has spent the past 35 years raising awareness about the disease is calling for a national inquiry into what he calls a lack of proactive action by provincial and federal governments to prevent infections.

Albert McLeod, a two-spirit elder from Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation, says HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis — commonly known as PrEP — has been approved by Health Canada since 2016. Despite that, infection rates have continued to climb.

“It’s just this sort of very conservative attitude to our health,” McLeod said Friday, challenging anyone to find a poster in Winnipeg promoting HIV awareness or PrEP on street corners or at bus stops.

“And now it’s suddenly an emergency in 2026, when we’ve had 10 years to be proactive and let people know about the availability of this medication? Instead, we have people who are HIV positive who could be negative.”

Hep A outbreak in province’s North makes its way to Winnipeg, officials scrambling to vaccinate people at high risk

Manitoba public health officials say an outbreak of hepatitis A that began in the province’s North last year has led to an increasing number of cases in Winnipeg in recent weeks.

The outbreak, declared in April 2025, was at first affecting communities in northern Manitoba, including several remote First Nations, but has evolved in recent months and spread to other places in the province, provincial health officials said Friday.

The outbreak has spread to Winnipeg, particularly the homeless community, and people with connections to other places where the virus was already spreading.

As of April 26, 601 cases of hepatitis A virus associated with the outbreak have been identified in Manitoba, 131 of which are in Winnipeg.

Manitoba declares public health emergency over HIV rising rates

The Manitoba government declared HIV spread a public health emergency Thursday as case counts continue to escalate.

Dr. Brent Roussin, chief provincial public health officer, made the declaration at a news conference, noting cases have steadily increased over the past six years.

“In 2024, we reported a rate of 19.5 cases per 100,000 (people), which is roughly 3½ times that of Canada’s rate of 5.5,” Roussin said.

Manitoba had 328 new cases of human immunodeficiency virus in 2025, a sharp increase from the 90 tracked in 2019.

‘It’s more than just a baseball team here’

Max Murphy is officially one of us now.

Want proof? The veteran Winnipeg Goldeyes outfielder, who was born and raised in Minnesota, has now experienced one of the great local traditions — the wedding social.

“It went really well. A really good time,” Murphy told the Free Press on Wednesday with a laugh. “I had never really heard about them. Then I got here and people were like, ‘This is a thing here.’ Went to a few and they were pretty fun. Figured, ‘Why not have my own?’”

The party was held two weekends ago for Murphy and his Winnipeg fiancée, Maddie, and included plenty of Goldeyes teammates and staff, along with family, friends and even some fans. It was a vivid reminder to Murphy of why he loves playing here so much.

Foreign actors producing more false content about Alberta separatism: report

EDMONTON - Foreign actors are increasingly generating articles, podcasts and social media posts riddled with disinformation about Alberta's separatist movement, says a new report.

The report from a team of researchers, published Wednesday by the Canadian monitoring platform DisinfoWatch, says the campaigns are coming out of Russia and the United States.

It says social media influencers with millions of followers are generating the disinformation in the United States.

"This matters because influencers increasingly command more attention than traditional institutions and can move fringe narratives into mainstream political debate," the report says.

Inclusive, integrated musical theatre company in Winnipeg first of its kind in Canada

With its first public performance — a revue of numbers from family favourites such as Toy Story and Frozen — a new performing arts organization in Winnipeg is aiming at a more accessible, accepting and diverse vision of musical theatre production.

Co-founded by theatre educators Brenda Gorlick, Lois Brothers and Laura Kolisnyk, AIM 4 All brings together performers with and without disabilities to train, practise and perform in full-scale musical productions: AIM stands for “all-inclusive musicals.”

This weekend, 28 Manitobans will take the stage in five stagings of Disney’s Dare to Dream Jr. at the University of Winnipeg’s Asper Centre for Theatre.

With plenty of supportive family and community members excited to see the result of months of preparation, the organizers are pleased to say each show is sold out.

Longtime chefs honoured for nutritious, delicious school cuisine for only $4 a plate

A duo of longtime chefs in the Lord Selkirk School Division have won Manitoba’s inaugural prize for “excellence in school nutrition.”

Josh Hogan and Paul Augst have won over picky eaters and a panel of judges with their rotating school lunch menu.

“We really like to focus on fresh herbs like basil, oregano and parsley. It’s an easy way to bring new flavours to the kids that’s not overwhelming,” Hogan said.

The nutrition program co-ordinator, alongside Augst, a chef with more than 30 years of experience, are being celebrated for finding a way to feed 400 children lunch, three times a week, for no more than $4 per plate.

Project brings seniors, students together over love of gardening

Seniors and high school students in North Kildonan are growing vegetables and community through a unique indoor gardening project.

Empower youth by giving them tools to stay safe online

Do you support banning kids from social media? Do you also post photos of your kids on your Facebook or Instagram?

Whenever the topic of banning social media for kids comes up, as it did again this week when Premier Wab Kinew announced that Manitoba will ban youth from using social media and AI chatbots, we run into a wee bit of cognitive dissonance among the adults.

Many of today’s young people had social media presences long before they were old enough to consent to them — not as users, but as content posted by their parents. Instagram is nearly 16 years old; the iPhone nearly 20. A lot of kids have had digital footprints since the sonogram. Their whole lives are online.

So, as young people who are already on social media transition into social media users themselves, we should, as a society, empower them to make informed decisions about how, where and if they want to show up online, not ban them from platforms they use to connect with their peers, express their creativity and learn about the world. Platforms they’ve grown up around and, in many cases, on.

More time at work is not always more productive work

Canada’s productivity conversation has increasingly focused on a simple but important measure: output per hour worked. In other words, what are we actually producing for the time we are putting in?

Memorable panoramas and paths await in Rosedale

Margie and I ventured into Manitoba’s compelling but little-known municipality of Rosedale. We’re back on speaking terms.

Provincial Road 265 north of Neepawa gradually rises over eight kilometres up to Riding Mountain. Our destination: Rosedale Farm. Before a final incline, this road tricks you into believing you’re not climbing high above Manitoba’s prairies. As I’ve heard, don’t trust gentle slopes — they’re always up to something.

Although some land remains cultivated to fund the Whitemud Watershed District that maintains this landscape, a government-funded project bought hillside farms here in the 1960s to stop massive erosion. Folks planted about 200,000 trees — for purely sedimental reasons.

Almost five kilometres of two mowed, circular paths now usher visitors through a wonderland of caragana, roses and ferns under tamarack, red, jack and even ponderosa pines. Ahh, forest fragrance. Margie exclaimed, “Smell that!” I romanticized, “Is that a candle? Shampoo? Your deodorant?”

Local garden centres rev up even as cold temperatures delay outdoor planting season

Colin Rémillard is obsessed with the weather.

When he and his family opened Winnipeg gardener’s staple Jardins St-Léon Gardens for the 2026 season on Wednesday, it came after weeks of chilly weather. But with staff itching to go — and customers waiting — they decided to open the doors after a “mad dash” to bring in produce and tag every product in the store one day earlier.

“Everything seemed to roll fairly well. We’re in good shape. It’s going to be a colder spring, that’s just reality,” Rémillard said from the garden centre Friday.

“We’ve had really nice springs for the past one or two years. We always remember only one year in the past, so we think this is unusual, but it is pretty normal to have this amount of cold.”

Working the family farm set up top NHL draft prospect Carels for hockey success

It takes a village to raise a hockey player.

Carson Carels would be the first to tell you his just happens to include hundreds of cows, goats, peacocks, chickens and whatever else might be wandering the 2,000 acres of rolling hills in south-central Manitoba that he and his family call home.

The farm isn’t just where the 17-year-old lives. It’s where he was built.

“It has shaped who I am,” said Carson.

Canada Soccer receiving $9.8M from Ottawa for national training centre project

OTTAWA - Canada Soccer's plan to build a national training centre has received a major funding boost.

The federal government announced Friday it will contribute $9.8 million from the new Build Communities Strong Fund for the planning, design and pre-construction of the proposed facility.

“The national training centre will be a multi-use, nationally significant sport and community infrastructure project, and will establish a permanent home for soccer in Canada," housing and infrastructure minister Gregor Robertson said at the announcement in Vancouver.

"The national training centre is envisioned as an integrated sport and community campus. Plans feature outdoor fields, a full-sized indoor pitch for year-round use, and high-performance training and sports science facilities.”

‘Denial of care’: Doctors worry about refugees as payment requirements take effect

TORONTO - Refugees now have to pay out of pocket for part of their drug prescriptions, mental health counselling, dental services, vision care and health equipment — including wheelchairs — as changes to a federal program take effect.

For decades, Canada's Interim Federal Health Program has provided complete health coverage to refugees and refugee claimants until they are eligible for provincial health plans and benefits.

But starting Friday, they must pay $4 for every prescription and 30 per cent of the cost of supplemental health products and services.

More than a dozen medical, nursing, social work and refugee organizations, including the Canadian Medical Association, the Canadian Paediatric Society, the Canadian Psychiatric Association and the Canadian Nurses Association, have warned that refugees can't afford those co-payments and their physical and mental health will suffer.

Healthy food subsidy might be on table over gas tax cut: Kinew

Premier Wab Kinew says he is still considering relief for Manitobans struggling with the high price of fuel but it may not be in the form of a gas tax holiday.

Young Canadians want AI companies to make their chatbots less addictive: report

OTTAWA - A new report focusing on the perspectives of young people says the government should order AI companies to take steps to curb the addictive aspects of their AI chatbots.

It’s one of a series of recommendations made by youth between the ages of 17 and 23 who took part in roundtables across the country.

Participants presented the report — published by McGill University’s Centre for Media, Technology and Democracy and Simon Fraser University's Dialogue on Technology Project — and its recommendations on Parliament Hill on Thursday.

Maddie Case, a youth fellow with the McGill centre, introduced the 25 young people who developed the chatbot recommendations.

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.

Kinew threatens billion-dollar fines for tech giants ignoring social-media ban for youths

Manitoba may impose billion-dollar fines on tech companies that violate a proposed ban on social media and AI chatbots for youths under the age 16.

‘What a stupid situation’ as woman plunges into boulevard hole

Talk about a hole in one.

Christine Keilback was getting home from the movie theatre Saturday night when she suddenly fell shoulders-deep into a hole in the boulevard across the street from her home in Winnipeg’s Wolseley neighbourhood.

Keilback tried to boost herself out but she couldn’t get a foothold because the dirt crumbled away.

The 58 year old, who serves as the executive director at a local non-profit, says she was not injured and immediately found the situation humorous.