Marc Miller says Musqueam deal has ‘nothing to do with’ private property

OTTAWA - Culture Minister Marc Miller says a rights acknowledgment agreement between the federal government and the Musqueam First Nation has "nothing to do with" private property.

He says instead that the agreement signed last month is a small step forward for a First Nation that has been fighting for its rights ever since British Columbia was settled.

The government says the agreement recognizes Musqueam Aboriginal rights "including title within their traditional territory," which the nation asserts is an area encompassing much of Metro Vancouver.

Critics have suggested the agreement could affect private property ownership, but Miller says right-wing parties have been using the issue in a "cynical attempt to try to whip up votes."

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.

Manitoba small businesses losing faith in U.S. as a trade partner, poll shows

When Kathy Tran-Riese’s eyeglass company was faced with a tough decision in the face of a trade war last May — eat the huge tariff cost, or pause shipments to the U.S. — she chose the latter, losing nearly half of her customer base in the process.

Nearly a year later, she’s found a way to make it work. KayTran Eyewear opened a distribution centre in Ohio in September to receive the frames, which are made for people with low nose bridges and exported from China, directly into the U.S. But now, she’s navigating a new hurdle: trying to repair her business’s relationship with its American customers.

“From my perspective, I almost foolishly thought that as soon as it opened up, it would be opening up the floodgates in a way, customers that had been waiting to come back and waiting to return with us,” she said Wednesday.

“But once you lose that customer base for several months, a lot of them have gone elsewhere, a lot of them have lost touch with you.”

High-tech snowplows and AI help cities clean up from big storms

Residents of Syracuse, New York — America’s snowiest city — once barraged a service hotline with street neglect complaints during blizzards, even if plows had passed two hours earlier but the work was hidden by fresh snow.

Now public trust seems to be rising as Syracuse and other cities across the U.S. integrate upgrades such as video monitoring, GPS mapping and artificial intelligence into snow operations that once relied almost entirely on manual planning.

Syracuse was one of the first to revamp the way it deploys its snowplows, and complaint calls have dropped by 30% under the new system, said Conor Muldoon, the city’s chief innovation officer.

“People will look out their window and say, ‘Hey, you guys are doing a terrible job,’” Muldoon said. “And we can point to a public map and say, ‘Here’s all the breadcrumbs for when that plow was there.’”

Retired nurse doesn’t mind doing laundry to help raise money for Children’s Hospital Foundation

Donna Askew has been doing other people’s laundry for more than 20 years, but she doesn’t mind. It’s all for a good cause.

It’s fair to say Askew has washed, dried, mended and hung up thousands of shirts, blouses, dresses, T-shirts and trousers during her tenure as volunteer laundress at the Nearly New Shop at 961 Portage Ave.

“You name it, I’ve washed it… underwear and socks and lots of bedding and tablecloths and runners… if you’ve washed it at home in your washer, I’ve washed it in mine,” she says, laughing.

The shop attracts more than 50 customers daily, many who have come to rely on it.

Drumming program connects Southeast Asian students with traditional instrument, heritage

For many young musicians at Arthur E. Wright School, tabla class begins with a bow and tapping their music teacher’s toes.

Amjad Sabir isn’t all that fussy about formalities, but he recognizes his students’ families have taught them these gestures are important to show respect towards their Indo-Canadian elders.

“I just want to spread this art,” said Sabir, who is affectionately known as “guruji” — meaning esteemed teacher in Hindi and Punjabi — inside the kindergarten-to-Grade 8 building in the Maples.

The art in question? A pair of hand drums, known as tabla, that create a wide range of tones.

Chief says more funding needed to repair homes after power outage, flooding

A northern First Nation hit by a days-long power outage and subsequent water crisis is seeking additional government funds to cover the cost of mould and asbestos removal in homes.

Pimicikamak Cree Nation Chief David Monias said Friday there is a shortage of funding to remediate the hazards and bring homes with damage up to code so they are habitable.

“We can’t have (residents) return to a situation where there might be some bacteria or moulding issues that will affect their safety, that affect their health, and possibly cause medical issues that will be made worse because they already have existing health issues,” he said during a virtual call.

Pimicikamak’s leaders said an estimated 1,300 homes were damaged after pipes froze and burst two months ago. Water leaked into basements and crawl spaces. The community’s water and sewage plants were also affected.

Big dreams, cold reality: Buzz builds for Port of Churchill, but risks could outweigh rewards

The marine town of Churchill, cherished for its wildlife, landscapes and history, has recently taken on a new sense of national importance. Plans to expand Canada’s lone deepwater Arctic port on the shores of Hudson Bay have gained momentum — and investment — in the last year as the country looks north for solutions to an unprecedented conflict with its southern neighbour.

Premier Wab Kinew has pitched the Port of Churchill as an answer to Canada’s trade concerns, and a means of galvanizing both provincial and national economies.

Prime Minister Mark Carney has designated a plan to upgrade the port facilities as “transformative,” committing millions in federal dollars to the project and touting its merits in meetings with European trade partners.

In late January, Kinew announced the province was in talks with several companies, including at least one major energy company, about investing in port expansion.

Almost 12% of city parks, open spaces in poor condition: report

Nearly 12 per cent of the city’s parks and open-space assets are in poor or very poor condition and it would cost $108.5 million to replace them, a new city report says.

Data centres and Manitoba: a cautionary tale

Alongside the rapidly expanding use of AI in everyday life, there’s a growing awareness that the technology also comes with extreme, big-picture threats to the things we need more: fresh water, affordable clean energy and a healthy information ecosystem.

Eight of 10 people using bus to get downtown unhappy after system overhaul, BIZ survey reveals

“The level of dissatisfaction — that is dire,” said Coun. Sherri Rollins. “Winnipeggers are… voting with their feet. They’re not taking transit anymore. We’re losing revenue.”

Making the most of Winnipeg’s biggest opportunity

The critical moral test for any community is the world it leaves for its children.

Without a doubt, Winnipeggers want all their city’s young people to have successful lives. Here are things we know make success possible: graduating from high school and avoiding disasters like addiction to drugs, teen pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases and becoming involved with the criminal justice system.

Most citizens understand this. And if they were told there are proven ways to make it much more likely for our wishes for Winnipeg’s young people to come true, they would probably say “Hey, let’s do more of that!”

But mostly, we don’t.

With new American pressure, will Cuba fall?

If you were to listen to many of the commentators, experts and prognosticators, you would think that Cuba is about to collapse.

‘Nuisance’ protest bylaw stalled after hundreds object

A bylaw that proposed a ban on “nuisance” protests within 100 metres of certain locations has been shelved indefinitely after intense public pushback and and a protest that drew hundreds to city hall Tuesday.

Main Street Project basement becoming donation-based ‘store’

Soon, Winnipeg’s homeless population will have their own store to shop for clothing and hygiene products, free of charge.

The basement of Main Street Project’s Main Street shelter is being transformed into a donation-based “store” where homeless people can pick out the clothes they want, instead of just accepting the donations they are given.

“A lot of the time we like to buy clothes that fit us well and look good and make us feel good. And I think it will be great to be able to offer that same experience to people in the community who may not otherwise have that opportunity,” said Cindy Titus, interim director of development at Main Street Project.

Part of the store will be named Ashley’s Closet, in memory of former Winnipegger Ashley Tokaruk.

Homelessness a humanitarian crisis, Rattray says

Jennifer Rattray says few challenges facing Winnipeg are as urgent as the homeless crisis.

“Collectively as a society, as a province, as a city, we need to do better,” the new executive director of End Homelessness Winnipeg told the Free Press.

She says a humanitarian crisis has unfolded on city streets.

“It’s awful,” she says. “We need to do something, and we need to do more than what we’re currently doing.”

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.

Tired of waiting, First Nation buys $8M worth of generators

A northern First Nation that was evacuated almost all summer due to a wildfire and power outage has bought an $8-million emergency backup generator system, the chief announced Friday.

Mathias Colomb First Nation Chief Gordie Bear said he wants the federal and provincial governments to reimburse the community, which had asked the two governments to purchase and provide diesel-powered generators before power was restored in September.

“I don’t know why they didn’t come through with the request that we made when we were out in the boondocks,” Bear told the Free Press. “I just hope they all get together — have a tea party — and cost-share my investment.”

He accused the governments of ignoring the First Nation’s concerns. Bear said four generators were purchased using own-sourced revenue.

Elmwood students’ clothing venture instils pride, breaks down stereotypes in blue-collar neighbourhood

Xander Woodley is spending his fourth period filling orders.

The Grade 12 Elmwood High School student pulls a blank sweatshirt from the supply closet and double-checks the customer’s purchase: one double-extra-large GPS Crewneck in navy.

He walks over to the heat press at the back of the graphics lab and flips through a stack of transfer sheets to find the correct design.

“It’s a map of our community of Elmwood; these are all of the streets, as well as the Red River and co-ordinates of where we are,” Woodley says, pointing to the line-art rendition of the northeast Winnipeg neighbourhood, the ward boundaries of which run from McLeod Avenue to the Canadian Pacific mainline and from the eastern bank of the Red River to Lagimodiere Boulevard.

Province to power up smart thermostat program, rebates

Manitobans may get cash for turning down the thermostat during peak energy-use periods next winter.

What to know about EPA decision to revoke a scientific finding that helped fight climate change

The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday revoked its own 2009 “endangerment finding,” a scientific conclusion that for 16 years has been the central basis for regulating planet-warming emissions from power plants, vehicles and other sources.

The finding itself is straightforward: Carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases — caused by burning fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas — endanger public health and welfare.

It was adopted after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2007 that greenhouse gases are air pollutants that can be regulated under the Clean Air Act.

The Trump administration says the finding hurts industry and the economy and that the Obama and Biden administrations twisted science to determine that greenhouse gases are a public health risk.

Increased taxation requires thorough justification

This year, the City of Winnipeg sent me two “love letters.” The first arrived in May, informing me that it (the city) was “delivering affordability,” with the lowest municipal property tax rates in Canada, the lowest municipal fees on new housing, and the lowest garbage and recycling fees in Canada.

Energy sector’s interest in Churchill heating up: Kinew

Several companies, including at least one Canadian energy giant, are “kicking the tires” on a long-touted vision to export oil, gas, minerals and agricultural products through Churchill, bringing the dream of a trade corridor to the Hudson Bay coast closer to reality, Premier Wab Kinew says.