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.

Brandon works on tourism strategy

Brandon Tourism says it selected UpHouse, a creative marketing agency in Winnipeg, to help build the city’s first comprehensive tourism strategy, which will be unveiled in the fall.

Unruly new tenants unpack fear, safety concerns for seniors in low-income building

On a quiet weekday morning, residents of a seniors building in north Winnipeg who ventured from their rent-geared-to-income suites were on high alert.

Elderly and disabled residents at the Canadian Polish Manor say their sense of safety and community has been shattered in the past year by drug use and crime since younger residents with addictions and other issues moved in.

“I’ve never been frightened in my life and now I am,” said Agnes Breton, 73. “I’ve been here 11 years and this is the first year my daughter is at me to move out,” she said Wednesday. “It’s really awful.”

Frieda Campbell, 69, said she and some other neighbours barricade the entrance to their suites, because intoxicated people and gang members roam the hallways banging on doors. Recently, someone discharged pepper spray, prompting Campbell to call 911 as she struggled to breathe.

RMTC's Rubaboo: A Métis Cabaret is a musical mélange of jazz, folk, roots

You’ve probably had sirop d’érable and pemmican, but have you tried rubaboo?

A scoop of peas or corn, a dash of flour and onions, bison meat if you have it, a maple syrup garnish — and suddenly you’re cooking with bear grease (which you shouldn’t forget to add, either).

In a pinch, you might substitute grouse for bison meat, and throw in some extra turnip and parsnip plus wild vegetables to thicken your rubaboo stew.

Cooking and fusion metaphors are never far from how we talk about cultural blending, but in Canada, we’ve tended to resist America’s more assimilationist image of the melting pot. Instead, we talk of mosaics, or sometimes salad bowls, to emphasize eclecticism.

Months after reporting two-foot deep boulevard hole, West End homeowner still waiting for city to respond

Grace Livingston feared an unsuspecting pedestrian would fall and break their leg after she discovered a thigh-deep hole in the boulevard in front of her West End home last year.

Livingston said she is still waiting for the City of Winnipeg to fill the hole and eliminate the safety hazard, six months after she called 311 and emailed her councillor to raise concerns.

“I was hoping they would send somebody by or at least put up a barricade or something,” she said Wednesday. “How many times do people have to complain about something before they acknowledge it?”

Livingston contacted the Free Press about the situation after reading about the plight of Wolseley resident Christine Keilback, who fell shoulders-deep into a hole on a boulevard across from her Lipton Street home Saturday night.

Hanwha offers made-in-Canada military vehicles if it wins submarine deal

OTTAWA - South Korean defence manufacturer Hanwha says it's ready to build military vehicles in Canada in a partnership with the domestic auto sector, including mobile howitzers, rocket launch systems and infantry vehicles.

But that's only if it wins its bid to construct the Royal Canadian Navy's next fleet of submarines.

Hanwha said Wednesday it would forge a joint venture with the Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association to create a Canadian entity that would build a range of vehicles.

"It's not a secret Canada asked … 'Could you please take a look at the auto industry and understand what you can do?' They're under a tremendous amount of stress," said Glenn Copeland, CEO of Hanwha Defence Canada.

Tumbler Ridge families likely to seek US$1 billion in lawsuit against OpenAI: lawyer

VANCOUVER - An American lawyer representing some of the victims of the Tumbler Ridge, B.C., mass shooting says they will likely be seeking more than US$1 billion in their California legal action against OpenAI and its founder Sam Altman.

Chicago-based Jay Edelson has represented a number of clients in wrongful death cases against the artificial intelligence platform and Altman in the past year.

But Edelson said Wednesday that the Tumbler Ridge shootings in which eight victims were killed was the most egregious case his law firm had encountered, citing catastrophic injuries suffered by child plaintiff Maya Gebala.

The other plaintiffs include the parents of children killed in the attack and the husband of Shannda Aviugana-Durand, a teacher's aide who was also shot dead.

Proposed social-media ban for Manitoba children gets likes, thumbs-down

Mia Danyluk had a YouTube channel before she reached double digits. She was 11 years old when she signed up for Snapchat. In Grade 9, she joined Instagram.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, it was on social media that she learned about Manitoba’s plan to ban children and youth from accessing these platforms.

The irony was not lost on her — a 16-year-old who was raised in Winnipeg and on the borderless online world.

“We’re seeing younger and younger kids grow up with an iPad instead of toys in their hands. If we’re exposing kids to screens, we need to teach them online safety,” the high schooler said.

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.

Ottawa outlines plans to tackle financial crime, ban crypto ATMs

OTTAWA - The federal government plans to ban cryptocurrency ATMs as part of a suite of measures in its spring economic statement targeting financial crimes.

The government says scammers use the ATMs to defraud victims, while criminals use them to convert the proceeds of crime.

There are currently just under 4,000 cryptocurrency ATMs in Canada — the most per capita in the world, finance officials speaking on background said. The document says Canadians will still be able to buy cryptocurrencies from "brick-and-mortar" businesses.

The financial update outlined other measures to tackle criminal use of businesses that provide services like currency exchanges and digital payments. They include new powers around ministerial directives, stricter rules on registration and more criminal record checks for those businesses.

Elon Musk takes stand in trial vs. Sam Altman that could reshape AI’s future

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Elon Musk, the Tesla CEO, world's richest man and OpenAI cofounder, took the stand Tuesday in a high-stakes trial revolving around a bitter feud with his former friend Sam Altman that could reshape the future development of artificial intelligence.

His testimony at the Oakland, California, federal courthouse kicked off a legal drama that is expected to brim with intrigue and potentially embarrassing details about the two tech moguls. Musk filed the lawsuit against Altman and his top lieutenant, Greg Brockman, along with Microsoft over its investments in OpenAI, in 2024.

“Fundamentally, I think they’re going to try to make this lawsuit ... very complicated, but it’s actually very simple,” Musk said. “Which is that it's not OK to steal a charity.”

The nine-person jury was selected Monday and the trial is scheduled to take three weeks.

‘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.

Funding to boost early childhood educators’ pay helps some, not others, longtime workers in field lament

Although the federal and provincial governments are boosting early childhood educator wages by more than $14 million this year, some who’ve been working in the field a long time are feeling somewhat overlooked.

Youth social media ban likely to begin in schools, provincial education minister says

The first phase of a provincial social media ban for youth will likely start with Manitoba schools, which already restrict cellphone use, Education Minister Tracy Schmidt said Monday.

Community tip line making difference, but funds about to dry up, organizer says

Six months after launching a community-run crime tip line in William Whyte, the group behind the initiative is preparing to ask the province for additional funding to keep the program alive.

Darrell Warren, president of the William Whyte Neighbourhood Association, said $20,000 provided through the provincial property crime forfeiture fund last year will dry up in May.

“It’s a big asset. I didn’t think it would be as popular as it is,” Warren said Monday.

“There are a lot of good people in these neighbourhoods who are affected by this stuff and they do want to get involved. This gives them the tools they need. The police are stretched to the limits right now and we need to be those eyes and ears out in the neighbourhood.”

West Kildonan 7-Eleven latest to close in city; crime the issue, area councillor says

Crime is again being blamed as another Winnipeg 7-Eleven convenience store has been shut down, adding to a growing list of closures across the city.

Canada is getting a sovereign wealth fund. What does that mean and how do they work?

Prime Minister Mark Carney announced the creation of the country's first-ever sovereign wealth fund on Monday, called the Canada Strong Fund.

Carney pitched the new fund as a way for Canadians to invest in nation-building projects in areas that include energy, infrastructure, mining, agriculture and technology.

Here's what you need to know about sovereign wealth funds and how they operate.

What is a sovereign wealth fund?

Antisemitism on the rise, becoming normalized, B’nai Brith warns

Canada is in the throes of a national antisemitism crisis, says B’nai Brith Canada.

The organization’s annual audit of antisemitic incidents reports 6,800 in 2025, 6,248 of which involved online hate.

That is a 9.3 per cent increase over 2024, when the total was 6,219, and it represents the highest total since 1995, said B’nai Brith, the country’s oldest human rights organization dedicated to eradicating racism, antisemitism and hatred.

The biggest spike in antisemitism occurred in 2023, when the number of incidents rose from 2,769 in 2022 to 5,791 following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel.

Lots of accolades, little details in Kinew’s proposed social media ban

Premier Wab Kinew made national news headlines on the weekend when he promised to institute a ban on social media use by youth. Although Ottawa and several other provinces have promised similar efforts, the industrious Manitoba premier beat them to the punch and the accolades.

Manitoba education minister says social media ban could start in schools

WINNIPEG - Manitoba could turn to classrooms as the first place to ban children from using social media and artificial intelligence chatbots, and one young advocate is urging the province to work with those it's aiming to protect.

Tracy Schmidt, the province's education minister, says Manitobans can expect to see the ban's first phase rolled out in schools, likening it to when the government first banned cellphones in classrooms in 2024.

"This is very early days. A step like this is going to certainly take legislative and regulatory processes," Schmidt said at an unrelated event Monday.

"But I know that something we're talking about right away is how we can roll this out in schools as soon as possible."

Structural issues forced Grant’s Old Mill, built in 1973, to shut down

Grant’s Old Mill, a longtime city landmark, is closed due to structural problems as the Manitoba Métis Federation looks to discuss its future with Winnipeg’s mayor.

MMF minister Will Gooden is a descendant of Métis leader Cuthbert Grant, the man commemorated by the replica mill along Sturgeon Creek. He said MMF president David Chartrand wants to set up a meeting with Mayor Scott Gillingham.

“It’s an opportunity now to see what we can make happen here,” Gooden said Monday. “It is a replica, but it is still very significant, not just for the Red River Métis, but also for that part of town.”

The water mill, located at 2777 Portage Ave., was constructed in 1973 as a City of Winnipeg centennial project and was officially opened by then-premier Ed Schreyer in 1975. It is a replica of the mill constructed by Grant in 1829.