Canada sends letter to U.S., Mexico calling for renewal of trade agreement

WASHINGTON - Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc said he had a positive meeting with his American counterpart in Washington a day after sending a letter to the United States and Mexico recommending that the three countries renew the continental trade pact.

LeBlanc said he presented specific proposals to United States Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and talked about long-standing issues Americans have raised about Canada.

"We discussed how we can work together on a number of issues that strengthen the competitiveness of the North American economy," LeBlanc said at the Canadian Embassy on Tuesday following the meeting with Greer.

The letter from LeBlanc to Greer and Mexico's secretary of economy, Marcelo Ebrard, is a requirement of the mandatory review of the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement on trade, known in Canada as CUSMA.

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.

Manitoba makes strides on poverty, but EIA rates must increase: report

When Jayline Bursey gets her monthly Employment and Income Assistance cheque, it’s gone almost immediately.

Police-to-population ratio increases for first time since 2013

The ratio of Winnipeg Police Service officers to the city’s population has increased for the first time in more than a decade.

In 2025, the so-called “cop-to-pop” ratio reached 166.8 officers per 100,000 people, up from 164.8 the previous year.

While that falls behind a national average of 180.3 per 100,000, it was the first local increase since 2013.

Overall, the service added 35 more officers since 2024, to reach a complement of 1,425.

Peace, justice and bringing this country together

From the War of 1812 to today, no one has stood up for this country and worked for unity in this place more than Indigenous Peoples.

Doors Open to Winnipeg’s mystery, history

It’s easy to travel past the Manitoba Buddhist Temple and not even notice it.

City taking steps to reduce speeding in 30 km/h school zones

A pair of 30-kilometre-per-hour school zones known as speeding hot spots are getting safety upgrades this summer amid a citywide probe into posted speed limits.

Winnipeg school officials were recently briefed on hot spots for collisions and photo-radar tickets issued near elementary buildings between the months of September and June, when the maximum limit drops.

“There’s no cookie-cutter kind of solution, unfortunately,” said Denae Dorge, the city’s road safety outreach co-ordinator.

“You need to have lots of different tools in your toolbox and also, work with the families that attend your school.”

Even residential school couldn’t erase who Christina Henderson was

Over her life, Christina Gladys Henderson was known by a few names.

She was born Aug. 6, 1948, as Teenie Cook, to Adam Cook and Violet Quill, and lived her early years in Sapotaweyak Cree Nation, on the shore of Lake Winnipegosis, about 600 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg.

She would later adopt the name Tina, which most people called her, and later, Christina. In marriage, she would trade the surname Cook for Henderson.

Over her 77 years, however, one part of her identity did not change: Henderson would hold fast to her first language, Swampy Cree, despite more than a decade spent in residential schools — institutions that routinely punished and humiliated First Nations children for speaking their own languages.

LHC helps underserved clients navigate the justice system

Norman Yusim came out of retirement to get right back to work. He didn’t plan it that way, but when the perfect opportunity landed in his lap, it was impossible to turn down.

The 70-year-old lawyer with a passion for helping people is back at it at the Legal Help Centre (LHC), empowering underserved individuals to navigate legal problems, offering guidance and connections to resources.

“LHC provides such an important service to those in need with legal issues, providing access to justice to those who simply cannot afford to hire lawyers, by helping them seek out resources, providing advice and assistance to the Court of King’s Bench in Winnipeg,” said Yusim. “LHC, in my view, provides an invaluable service.”

Prior to beginning his employment at LHC in September 2025, Yusim volunteered there as a mentor to the law students who worked directly with clients to assist them with legal matters (family law, immigration law, estate law, criminal law, small claims matters and civil litigation matters, among others).

New essay collection explores menace of far-right movements in Canada

“Democracy is at stake and Canada is not immune to its demise,” states Miriam Edelson, editor of this timely anthology, warning that right-wing extremism, energized by memes and trolls permeating digital spaces, is heralding social and political change and affecting how current generations view the slow, often cumbersome democratic process.

Edelson’s well-researched observations are supported by 18 different contributors comprised of an array of like-minded academics, researchers and concerned activists who collectively alert readers to the extremist messaging that is altering some long-standing expectations of responsible governance.

Edelson’s social activism was honed by personal experiences while living in Toronto and working with the Canadian labour movement, spawning a literary legacy of personal essays and commentaries published by the Toronto Star, Globe & Mail and Literary Review. Her earlier book, My Journey with Jake: A Memoir of Parenting and Disability (2000) remains a poignant reminder that society functions best when individuals share a common purpose of looking out for one another.

In a concise foreword to Confronting the Resurgent Right, University of Manitoba professor and award- winning Free Press columnist Niigaan Sinclair similarly reminds readers that “far right movements built on hate,” like those earlier thrust upon Indigenous people and still targeting Jews, Muslims and other identifiable groups, inexorably lead to “racism, violence, and genocide.”

After years of living in encampments, Lawrence is slowly adjusting to life with a roof, instead of a tarp, over his head

Just weeks before the COVID-19 pandemic upended daily life in early 2020, Lawrence had a steady job, reliable income and a roof over his head. Within months, it was all gone.

After burning through his savings to keep paying rent, the 58-year-old from Sagkeeng First Nation spent the next 4 1/2 years homeless, living in an encampment along Waterfront Drive.

“At first, I couldn’t believe it,” he said while sitting in an office chair inside a low-barrier apartment complex in the city’s West End. “I was sitting at a drop-in centre trying to figure out ‘how did I end up here?’ It was too quick for me to absorb at the time.”

Lawrence, who didn’t want his last name used, has now been housed for three months through the province’s Your Way Home strategy, which aims to move roughly 700 Manitobans from encampments into stable housing.

Fairmont Hotel in Winnipeg to donate beds, chairs, tables, lamps ahead of renovations

Homeless people set to move into transitional housing will get a suite treatment later this year thanks to a donation from a Winnipeg hotel making its own transition.

The Fairmont Winnipeg will donate its room furnishings, including more than 760 beds and box springs, before it undergoes a multimillion-dollar renovation this summer.

Anything that isn’t nailed down in the 340 guest rooms will be donated to Linking Hope, a non-profit that will dole the items out to its 120 partner agencies across Manitoba.

“We had always had the donation intent top of mind, we did not want all of this to just find its way into a landfill,” said Ian Taylor, general manager of Fairmont Winnipeg. “There are needs within the community and the province abroad that we needed to look at.”

Human rights panel accuses Canada of genocide against Indigenous population

MONTREAL - An international panel of human rights experts has accused Canada of committing genocide against its Indigenous population after a week of hearings in Montreal.

The Permanent Peoples' Tribunal was mandated to look at missing and disappeared children and unmarked graves at Canada’s residential school sites, as well as the forced sterilization of Indigenous women, through the lens of international law.

The panel of seven judges said Canada historically adopted a series of policies that they deemed were crimes against humanity with genocidal intent, including the residential schools, which were in operation for over 150 years. The last residential school closed in 1996.

Survivors at the hearings held onto each other and wiped away tears as three tribunal members read out the decision.

Sentencing of man who killed Ukrainian newcomer delayed for psych report

The sentencing hearing for a Winnipeg man convicted in the unprovoked stabbing death of a Ukrainian newcomer has been delayed so a judge can hear whether his cognitive deficits justify a federal prison sentence or time in a provincial jail.

Ethan Gladu was found guilty last February of manslaughter in the December 2023 killing of Ivan Rubanik, a 46-year-old father of two.

Court was told Friday that Gladu has been held in a specialized jail unit in advance of his sentencing after corrections officers identified him as “vulnerable.”

Defence lawyer Tara Waker asked Court of King’s Bench Justice Ken Champagne to adjourn sentencing to allow time for Gladu to undergo a psychiatric assessment next month and for a report to be prepared for court.

Impulsive kids easy prey for addictive-by-design content

The allure of the screen is powerful, and despite working full-time in the realm of media literacy education, my home is not immune to the siren song of social media.

Carney discussed artificial intelligence with Pope Leo

OTTAWA - Prime Minister Mark Carney told Pope Leo XIV on Friday that Canada wants to take a leadership role in the responsible development of artificial intelligence.

The conversation happened days after the Pope called for robust regulation of AI.

"They discussed the imperative that AI must serve humanity, beginning with the protection of the individual," the Prime Minister's Office said in a release.

"Prime Minister Carney expressed Canada’s desire to lead internationally on responsible AI and tools to benefit the global community."

Gov. Gen. Simon launches mental health project for North, Indigenous communities

OTTAWA - Outgoing Gov. Gen. Mary Simon has launched a project to fund community-based mental health services in Northern and Indigenous communities.

The legacy project will be run with support from the Rideau Hall Foundation.

It is called Ajuinnata, an Inuktitut word that means "never give up." The project will begin in Inuit Nunangat.

Simon launched a mental health learning and listening tour in 2024 as one of her priorities in the viceregal office. She said the people she met made it clear the shortage of stable services in the North is an acute problem.

Wilderness committee draws up plan to restore Nopiming after 2025 wildfire

One year ago, wildfires severely damaged cottage communities, backcountry campgrounds and popular canoe routes in Nopiming Provincial Park in eastern Manitoba.

Manitoba Wilderness Committee campaigner Eric Reder says as the park and its boreal ecosystem recover, which will take decades, the province should embrace the opportunity to curtail industrial activity in the park and establish more robust protection for its natural and recreational assets.

“The Nopiming Provincial Park that existed prior to 2025 is gone,” a Wilderness Committee report released Thursday said. “Only an all-of-society recovery solution can bring back what we’ve lost.”

The wilderness committee says that solution involves a moratorium on new industrial activity, a commitment to conserve habitat for caribou herds, increased engagement with First Nations whose land overlaps with the park and investment in recreational infrastructure, including backcountry trails and canoe routes.

Ruling against Aboriginal title on private land is allowed to stand by high court

A New Brunswick ruling that Aboriginal title cannot be declared over private land has been allowed to stand by the Supreme Court of Canada, giving British Columbia an avenue to win its appeal in the landmark Cowichan Tribes case, B.C.'s attorney general said Thursday.

Niki Sharma said the high court's refusal to hear an appeal by the Wolastoqey First Nation in the case involving Aboriginal title in New Brunswick gives B.C. a "clear path" for an appeal in the Cowichan case, which has cast doubt on the primacy of private property rights.

"When it's the same legal issues that we are dealing with here, I think that bodes well for our arguments, and the appeals that we are seeking in B.C.," she said.

The mayor of Richmond, B.C., meanwhile said private property owners in the Cowichan Tribes title area should "breathe a little easier" in light of the Supreme Court of Canada's ruling.

Chinese online retailer Temu hit with $232 million fine over unsafe toys and electronics

LONDON (AP) — Temu was hit with a 200 million euro ($232 million) fine Thursday after a European Union investigation found the Chinese online retailer failed to protect consumers from illegal products like toxic or hazardous toys and unsafe electronics.

The 27-nation EU's fine follows preliminary findings last year that Temu was exposing consumers to a high risk of products sold on its platform like baby toys and small electronics that didn't comply with EU consumer safety rules.

The bloc's executive arm issued the penalty under the Digital Services Act, or DSA, a wide-ranging rulebook that requires online platforms to do more to keep internet users safe from harmful content or dodgy goods, under the threat of hefty fines.

It's the second time Brussels has issued a fine under three-year-old DSA, following a $120 million penalty last year for Elon Musk's social media site X.

France’s parliament votes to repeal slavery-era Black Code, with tears and history in the chamber

PARIS (AP) — For nearly two centuries after France abolished slavery, the colonial-era law that classified humans as property has remained quietly on the books. On Thursday, the lower house of parliament voted to wipe it from French law.

The National Assembly voted 254-0 — a rare show of unanimity — to adopt a bill repealing Code Noir, or Black Code, the 1685 decree King Louis XIV signed to govern slaves across France’s colonies.

The law turned human beings into chattel, allowing them to be worked, beaten, sold, raped and murdered.

And the realization that France never formally did away with it left many aghast. Debate in the chamber turned raw on Thursday.

Think it’s hot now? The next five years will smash records, UN says

WASHINGTON (AP) — In the next five years, the Earth is overwhelmingly likely to surge again and again past the international climate threshold set as safe and shatter its hottest-year record along the way, according to new United Nations climate projections.

The World Meteorological Organization also forecasts an overheating Arctic that warms nearly 3 degrees Fahrenheit (1.66 degrees Celsius) between now and 2030 and a dangerous drought with potential wildfires for the Amazon, a crucial part of Earth's natural defenses to lessen human-caused climate change. A hotter globe from the burning of coal, oil and gas means more extreme weather including floods, droughts and heat waves, scientists said.

The projections by the U.N. climate agency and the United Kingdom's Meteorological Office said there's a 75% chance that the average global temperature between 2026 and 2030 will be more than 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) higher compared to pre-industrial times. That threshold is the agreed-upon limit of warming — averaged over 20 years — set in 2015 by the Paris climate agreement.

A U.N. science report a few years later detailed how exceeding that 1.5 mark means more likely death, danger and species loss. Even though it's only a few tenths of a degree, some of the planet's ecosystems, such as coral and glaciers, can't handle the strain.