Métis federation launches second class action over ’60s Scoop

The Manitoba Métis Federation has launched a second court action over the apprehension of Métis children during the ’60s Scoop.

The federation and Albert Beck, a Métis man who was adopted by a non-Indigenous family, filed a proposed class action lawsuit against the Manitoba government in the Court of King’s Bench last week.

The proposed class action seeks damages over the harm suffered by Métis kids who were taken into care and placed with non-Indigenous families in Canada and the United States over several decades.

“The (‘60s) Scoop caused significant, irreparable harm to the Red River Métis children that were removed from their homes and communities. They suffered trauma and physical, sexual, and psychological abuse,” reads the proposed class action.

Beleaguered parents of young children with diabetes ask province for help in schools

Parents of children in elementary school with Type 1 diabetes pleaded for help from the province Tuesday at the legislature.

Two mothers — one who has to leave her job at lunch, the other who had to quit her job altogether — in order to get to their children’s schools in time to make insulin-pump adjustments say other provinces, including B.C. and Nova Scotia, have trained school staff to help.

“It’s heartbreaking to have to gauge whether or not I can maintain my livelihood or my child’s health care,” said Christy Peterson, whose five-year-old daughter Lillian is on an insulin pump.

The pumps support better blood-glucose management, help reduce the risk of long-term diabetes complications and their use results in fewer insulin injections.

News publishers’ copyright lawsuit against OpenAI cleared to go ahead in Ontario

OTTAWA - An Ontario court has decided a copyright lawsuit filed by Canadian news publishers against OpenAI will proceed in that province.

OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, had put forward a jurisdictional challenge and argued the case should be heard in a U.S. courtroom instead.

OpenAI said the company isn’t located in Ontario and doesn’t do business in the province, and that the alleged conduct — the AI model training and crawling of web content — took place outside of Ontario.

But the decision by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice concludes the court does have jurisdiction to hear the case.

Sexual extortion of children for money is on the rise: financial intelligence agency

OTTAWA - Canada's financial intelligence agency is warning of an increase in cases of sexual extortion of children for profit — acts that often are linked to organized crime.

This type of online blackmail involves threats to distribute sexual images or videos of a victim if they don't send the perpetrators cash or, in some cases, more pictures.

In a newly published alert, the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada advises banks and other businesses to be on the lookout for specific dealings and patterns that could point to extortion or other forms of child sexual exploitation.

The federal centre, known as Fintrac, identifies cash linked to money laundering by analyzing millions of pieces of information each year from banks, insurance companies, securities dealers, money service businesses, real estate brokers, casinos and others.

Australia will enforce a social media ban for children under 16 despite a court challenge

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — The Australian government said young children will be banned from social media next month as scheduled despite a rights advocacy group on Wednesday challenging the world-first legislation in court.

The Sydney-based Digital Freedom Project said it had filed a constitutional challenge in the High Court on Wednesday to a law due to take effect on Dec. 10 banning Australian children younger than 16 from holding accounts on specified platforms.

Communications Minister Anika Wells referred to the challenge when she later told Parliament her government remained committed to the ban taking effect on schedule.

“We will not be intimidated by legal challenges. We will not be intimidated by Big Tech. On behalf of Australian parents, we stand firm,” Wells told Parliament.

One of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre’s last survivors, Viola Ford Fletcher, dies at age 111

DALLAS (AP) — Viola Ford Fletcher, who as one of the last survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre in Oklahoma spent her later years seeking justice for the deadly attack by a white mob on the thriving Black community where she lived as a child, has died. She was 111.

Her grandson Ike Howard said Monday that she died surrounded by family at a Tulsa hospital. Sustained by a strong faith, she raised three children, worked as a welder in a shipyard during World War II and spent decades caring for families as a housekeeper.

Tulsa was mourning her loss, said Mayor Monroe Nichols, the first Black leader of Oklahoma’s second-largest city. “Mother Fletcher endured more than anyone should, yet she spent her life lighting a path forward with purpose.”

She was 7 years old when the two-day attack began on Tulsa’s Greenwood district on May 31, 1921, after a local newspaper published a sensationalized report about a Black man accused of assaulting a white woman. As a white mob grew outside the courthouse, Black Tulsans with guns who hoped to prevent the man’s lynching began showing up. White residents responded with overwhelming force. Hundreds of people were killed and homes were burned and looted, leaving over 30 city blocks decimated in the prosperous community known as Black Wall Street.

U.S. directs its embassies in Western nations to scrutinize ‘mass migration’

WASHINGTON - The U.S. State Department has directed its embassies in Canada and other Western nations to scrutinize the impacts of "mass migration" — the Trump administration's latest push to reshape the geopolitics of America's longtime allies.

Last week's dispatch to embassies directed diplomats in Ottawa, New Zealand, Australia and countries in western Europe to report on the human rights implications and public safety impacts of large-scale mass migration, calling it an "existential threat to Western civilization."

In a Friday social media post shared by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the department said officials will "urge governments to take bold action and defend citizens against the threats posed by mass migration."

Officials will also report "policies that punish citizens who object to continued mass migration and document crimes and human rights abuses committed by people of a migration background," the department said.

First Nations sue over oil-rich land

A pair of First Nations are suing the provincial and federal governments, claiming land and mineral rights to a swath of land in southwestern Manitoba that generates more than $1.3 billion annually from oil and gas production.

Canupawakpa Dakota First Nation and Dakota Tipi First Nation filed a statement of claim in Court of King’s Bench on Thursday calling for a declaration of title and subsurface rights over Manitoba’s portion of the Williston Basin.

The oil-rich basin stretches from southwestern Manitoba into southern Saskatchewan and over the U.S. border. The Manitoba portion hosts at least 14 identified oil fields and is home to all the current oil production in the province, the lawsuit states.

The plaintiffs are claiming rights over the entirety of the basin in Manitoba, including the “right to economically participate in the extraction, development and production of subsurface minerals.”

Immigration minister extends pause on new private refugee sponsorships to 2027

OTTAWA - Immigration Minister Lena Diab has extended the pause on new applications through the Private Sponsorship for Refugees Program for another 12 months as the department works to clear its backlog.

New ministerial instructions were published in the Canada Gazette on Friday, along with a notice on the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada website.

The pause was to be lifted at the end of December but will now be in place for another year, until Dec. 31, 2026.

This pause applies to refugee sponsorships submitted by community organizations or groups of five or more individuals. These sponsors have to support the refugee for one year after they arrive or until they can support themselves, whichever comes first.

Child advocates urge government to bring back online harms legislation

OTTAWA - The dangers children face online constitute a national emergency, a coalition of child advocates and medical organizations said Thursday as they called for the federal government to take action.

"Unlike every other industry that affects children, from cars to pharmaceuticals to toys to food safety, the tech industry has been allowed to self-regulate with tragic consequences," said Andrea Chrysanthou, chair of the board for Children First Canada, at a press conference on Parliament Hill.

The advocates say children are being exploited, extorted, bullied — and in some cases, kids have died as a result of online harms.

Dr. Margot Burnell, president of the Canadian Medical Association, said doctors see the negative health impacts of social media use firsthand.

Former judge in Ukraine sacrifices career to be reunited with family in Winnipeg

Viktor Bratasyuk was walking the halls of the U.S. Supreme Court as part of an international judicial fellowship last fall. Today, the longtime Ukrainian judge is working part time at a beer vendor in St. Vital.

Senators amend legislation to make it easier to pass on First Nations status

OTTAWA - Senators have passed sweeping amendments to a bill that would simplify the transfer of First Nations status between generations, rejecting the federal government's advice to limit its scope.

Bill S-2, introduced in the Senate with support by the Liberal government, was drafted to eliminate some gender inequities in the Indian Act and allow some 6,000 people to become eligible for First Nations status.

Some senators and Indigenous community leaders said the bill didn't go far enough.

On Tuesday, senators changed the legislation to eliminate what is known as the "second-generation cutoff," opting instead for a one-parent rule that would allow First Nations status to be transferred to a child if one of their parents is enrolled.

UN approves the Trump administration’s plan for the future of Gaza

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The Trump administration’s blueprint to secure and govern Gaza won strong approval at the United Nations on Monday, a crucial step that provides international support for U.S. efforts to move the devastated territory toward peace following two years of war.

The U.S. resolution that passed the U.N. Security Council authorizes an international stabilization force to provide security in Gaza, approves a transitional authority to be overseen by President Donald Trump and envisions a possible future path to an independent Palestinian state.

“This will go down as one of the biggest approvals in the History of the United Nations, will lead to further Peace all over the World, and is a moment of true Historic proportion!” Trump posted on social media.

The vote endorses Trump’s 20-point ceasefire plan and builds on the momentum of the fragile ceasefire he helped broker with allies. It marks a key next step for American efforts to outline Gaza’s future after the Israel-Hamas war destroyed much of the territory and killed tens of thousands of people.

Almost Armageddon: a personal history

The fear that’s been buried for a couple of decades, albeit not very deeply, resurfaced with the bizarre demand from U.S. President Donald Trump to his military that nuclear testing be resumed. “Because of other countries’ testing programs, I have instructed the Department of War to start testing our nuclear weapons on an equal basis.”

Carré civique, le soutien générationnel

Je donne en famille consiste à lever des fonds pour l’avenir du carré civique. La particularité de ce soutien c’est qu’il implique différentes générations, notamment les plus jeunes qui peuvent parfois se sentir éloignés des sujets liés au patrimoine.

David Dandeneau tente de partager son engagement à tous et à différentes générations.

Le membre du conseil d’administration des Ami.e.s du Carré civique de Saint-Boniface (ACCSB) a eu l’idée de lever des fonds pour notamment assurer des dépenses opérationnelles et à terme préparer également le processus d’appel d’offres que s’apprête à lancer la Ville de Winnipeg.

C’est à travers l’ACCSB, qui a reçu le statut officiel d’organisme de bienfaisance et peut donc recevoir des dons depuis mars 2022, que le monde pourra donner ponctuellement pour cette campagne.

New podcast seeks to end polarization between Jews, Muslims

In the last two years, anecdotal evidence, surveys, police reports, rallies and counter- rallies have all indicated that the acrimony and distrust between the Canadian Jewish and Canadian Muslim communities has reached an all-time high.

In spite of this, a number of organizations and individuals across the country have been attempting to bridge the deep political divide between the two communities by encouraging respectful dialogue, compassionate listening and a search for common ground.

Yafa Sakkejha and Avi Finegold are two of those individuals.

Last month, Sakkejha, a Muslim Torontonian entrepreneur of Palestinian heritage, and Finegold, a Jewish Montrealer and rabbi, launched a new limited series podcast. Appropriately entitled In Good Faith, the podcast features interviews and discussions with representatives of the Muslim and Jewish communities about Israel, Palestine, the war in Gaza, and the challenges and concerns of their respective minority communities here in Canada.

Influencers have more reach on 5 major platforms than news media, politicians: report

OTTAWA - More than two-thirds of younger Canadians engage with political content from influencers — and influencers have significantly more reach on five major social media platforms than news media outlets or politicians, a new study indicates.

A significant portion of the political content Canadians see on the major platforms "comes directly from influencers," says the report from the McGill University and University of Toronto-led Media Ecosystem Observatory.

The report focused on posts from individuals and institutions on X, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and Bluesky. It did not look at or compare reach on websites, other online platforms or traditional platforms.

The researchers say they identified 1,097 influencers and collected 4.1 million of their posts from January 2024 to July 2025 on five social media platforms. Over that time period, politicians were responsible for 1.1 million posts while media outlets accounted for 2.8 million.

Rare red auroras dazzle as part of Manitoba light show

Solar storm chasers, rejoice: 2025 was an excellent year for aurora borealis, and the remainder of the year could be just as active.

Greenwashing rules to be scaled back, but scope of change remains unclear

TORONTO - Canada's greenwashing rules are being scaled back, but it remains to be seen what the changes mean for businesses wanting to talk about their environmental record.

In the federal budget released last week, the government said it plans to remove parts of the greenwashing laws, passed in June last year, that are part of the Competition Act.

"These “greenwashing” provisions are creating investment uncertainty and having the opposite of the desired effect with some parties slowing or reversing efforts to protect the environment," the government said in the budget.

Specifically, the government says it plans to remove the rule that business environmental claims have to be backed up by internationally recognized methodology, as well as removing the option for third parties such as environmental groups to be able to challenge claims.

How Canada can regain its measles elimination status

TORONTO - Infectious disease experts say Canada's loss of measles elimination status shows how badly investment is needed in public health, rebuilding vaccine confidence and solving the primary care crisis.

On Monday, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) revoked the measles-free status Canada has had since 1998 because an outbreak of the virus across several provinces has lasted for more than a year.

Dawn Bowdish, an immunologist and professor at McMaster University, said cuts to public health funding, the lack of a national vaccine registry and a shortage of family doctors — all while misinformation about vaccines is circulating widely — have contributed to the rise of measles.

"There's no two ways about this. This will take money — a lot of money — and a lot of investment. And it will take a lot of political will," Bowdish said

Hurrying hard for Jamaican flavours infusing West St. Paul Curling Club

WEST ST. PAUL — This month marks a full decade since Vincent Dennis opened a Caribbean-flavoured restaurant inside the West St. Paul Curling Club.

And although it could be assumed that a person who has spent that much time in the vicinity of rocks and rings would have picked up a thing or two about the roaring game by now, that doesn’t appear to be the case with the Jamaican-born owner of Tropical Thunder.

Not even close.

“I’ve been here since 2015 and I still don’t have a clue what I’m staring at,” Dennis, 52, says with a chuckle, seated at a table offering a perfect view of the 62-year-old club’s four curling sheets.

Our monuments, statues and memorials give form to honouring, grieving lives lost in war

Tucked at the end of a walkway, which dead-ends between the University Centre and the Helen Glass Centre for Nursing on the University of Manitoba campus, stands a monument in memory of students who never returned from the First World War.

Carved from local Tyndall stone and at just over a metre high, it commemorates the 30 medical students, from both the Manitoba Agricultural College, which later became part of the University of Manitoba, and other universities across the western provinces, who were killed while serving with the 11th Canadian Field Ambulance.

It’s just one of several monuments at the university marking student sacrifices during the First World War and one of many markers — from cenotaphs to statues and even lakes — across the province commemorating Manitobans who have served in conflicts since the province was created in 1870.

Many of those monuments are either hidden or in hard-to-find places. Even veterans from the Second World War — who not so long ago were part of marching parades and outdoor services marking Remembrance Day — are mostly tucked away living the remaining days of their lives in personal care homes.

Puppy Sphere yoga chain rolls out ‘mood-boosting’ first classes in Winnipeg

Winnipeg yogis seeking to do a downward dog while surrounded by dogs are in luck: puppy yoga is here.

Toronto-based company Puppy Sphere began offering weekend yoga classes at Yoga Public (280 Fort St.) earlier this fall.

Each class consists of a 45-minute yoga flow led by a certified instructor, while puppies from local rescues and breeders roam the studio. The class is followed by a 30-minute wind-down that includes refreshments and canine cuddles.

Puppy Sphere founders Francesca Albo and Lea Burbidge Izquierdo said the classes began selling out almost immediately, which led them to add Thursdays to the schedule. The entrepreneurs are actively looking for a Winnipeg studio of their own.

Probe flags troubles in literacy education

Human rights investigators have found that parents of struggling readers across Manitoba are being forced to take on “a full-time job” of advocacy so their children can become literate in local public schools.

The Manitoba Human Rights Commission released the long-awaited findings of its probe into literacy 101 education on Thursday — the penultimate day of Dyslexia Awareness Month 2025.

The 70-page document reveals that many schools are not using evidence-based methods to teach reading and lengthy wait times for clinical assessments are affecting overall literacy rates.

The results are unsurprising for Laura Jones, a mother who volunteered at the launch event organized in partnership with Dyslexia Canada.