HBC charter goes on display at Manitoba Museum

After months of petitions, legal scrutiny and political pressure, the 1670 Hudson’s Bay Company Royal Charter has formally arrived at the Manitoba Museum, marked by a ceremony including many notable Canadian and Indigenous political leaders.

“It’s with a profound sense of gratitude and humility that I stand before you today as we recognize the gifting of the HBC Royal Charter, together with our consortium partners,” said Dorota Blumczynska, CEO of the Manitoba Museum.

“Today marks an opportunity that is not to redefine the past, but to better understand it, and to help us use it to build a more just and inclusive future.”

The 356-year-old document, which not only birthed HBC, but effectively laid a foundation for colonial Canada itself, attracted new controversies in the last year or so. After years of bleeding at the bottom line, HBC announced in March 2025 that it would begin liquidating its stores across the country and selling off its assets to pay off creditors.

Tesla loses bid for urgent judicial review of Manitoba’s EV rebate

Tesla’s Canadian subsidiary will have to wait longer for its day in a Manitoba court.

Designated encampment debate returns to city hall

A city councillor is renewing efforts to identify potential locations for designated encampment sites following an Ontario court decision that could impact how homeless people are relocated in Winnipeg.

The motion, introduced by Coun. Cindy Gilroy is scheduled to go before the executive policy committee next week. It calls on the public service to examine multiple locations across Winnipeg that could be considered suitable to host encampments.

Speaking to the Free Press on Thursday, Gilroy said a recent court decision in southern Ontario has renewed the case for designated encampment sites in Winnipeg. Last month, a judge barred the Region of Waterloo from clearing an encampment in Kitchener, Ont., unless alternative housing options were made available to those living there.

“The laws are changing so dramatically,” the chair of the community safety committee said, adding she’s unsure if the city is prepared for a similar legal challenge in Winnipeg.

Millions of litres of sewage dumped into rivers after outages

Millions of litres of untreated sewage were dumped into Winnipeg rivers over the past 48 hours after Tuesday night’s massive storm caused power failures at pumping stations across the city.

Mayor’s inner circle to consider $600K grant for soccer complex upgrades if city gets women’s pro league team

City administrators are recommending a $600,000 grant to the Winnipeg Soccer Federation to help fund upgrades at the Ralph Cantafio Soccer Complex, subject to Winnipeg securing a Northern Super League team, Canada’s top professional women’s soccer league.

Mother of B.C. cyberbullying victim Amanda Todd welcomes federal online safety bill

The mother of a British Columbia teen who died by suicide after being relentlessly tormented by a cyberbully says proposed federal legislation tackling online safety would have helped her daughter and will help save lives.

Carol Todd's daughter Amanda died in 2012 after being sexually exploited by an online predator.

Todd said in an interview on Thursday that the Safe Social Media Act addresses the mental and emotional toll of social media and is an important step toward keeping youth safe online.

It's also something Amanda would have wanted, she said.

City’s encampment bylaw not intended to end homelessness, but it’s making a difference

When Winnipeg city council approved restrictions on homeless encampments near schools, daycares, parks, recreation centres and seniors housing, critics warned it would simply push vulnerable people from one location to another without solving the underlying problem.

HBC Royal Charter welcomed in ceremony at Manitoba Museum

WINNIPEG - A 356-year-old document that granted the Hudson's Bay Co. control over roughly one-third of Canada is now in public hands.

The HBC Royal Charter was unveiled Thursday at the Manitoba Museum in Winnipeg in a ceremony that was both a celebration of the new life of the document and a reflection on the troubled legacy it created.

"In 1670, a king, sitting across the ocean, claimed authority over our lands," said Ovide Mercredi, former national chief of the Assembly of First Nations.

"Through the so-called right of discovery, vast territories were granted to the Hudson's Bay Co., as if our lands and territories were empty. But our lands were not empty, our nations were here."

Social media platforms, app stores at odds over who should enforce social media bans

As countries including Canada move toward social media bans in an attempt to keep youths safe online, tech companies are in a tug of war over who should be the gatekeepers.

Executives from Snapchat and Meta, the owner of Instagram, Facebook and Threads, have argued it should be app stores rather than platforms charged with verifying the ages of users when they try to add a platform to their phones.

Apple and Google, which run the App Store and Play Store respectively, have introduced some age-gating measures but appear to be at odds with social media platforms over whose responsibility those measures should be.

Experts say trying to put the onus on either side is pointless because app store owners, platforms, governments and parents all have to step up to keep kids safe online.

Oligarchs don’t care about ‘public good’

Don’t think the tech oligarchs are the good guys, fighting for democracy, in the next battle that’s coming. Because they’re not.

Winnipeg teens will carry out official match balls at World Cup

For Aiden Karacsony and Cristiano Morais, the pre-match is the main event.

City mulls grant to give life to vacant buildings

The city is looking at a vacant building grant that could entice developers to convert empty buildings into new homes.

Trump ‘not looking to renew’ CUSMA trade pact, says no need for Canadian imports

WASHINGTON - U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he is "not looking to renew" a critical continental trade pact, indicating the United States will blow past a July 1 deadline for renewal.

If the deadline passes, the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement on trade, known in Canada as CUSMA, stays in place subject to an annual rolling review for up to 10 years.

"We don't need anything that Canada has, we don't need anything that Mexico has, but they need everything that we have," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. "And they should have to treat us better."

Trump complained about the trade deficit the U.S. has with Canada — which is caused by Canadian energy exports — and has claimed the U.S. doesn't need Canadian or Mexican cars, lumber or energy.

Tory MP says 4,000 letters sent urging Carney to amend Indian Act status rules

OTTAWA - A Conservative MP says more than 4,000 letters have been sent to the House of Commons committee on Indigenous issues demanding that the federal government immediately change the way First Nations status works under the Indian Act.

MP Billy Morin, the former chief of Enoch Cree Nation who serves as the Conservative party's critic of Indigenous Services, echoed those calls in a letter he sent to Prime Minister Mark Carney this week.

The committee, known as INAN, is studying legislation that would change the rules establishing who is entitled to First Nations status under the Indian Act. It was introduced in the Senate as S-2 and initially had support from the governing Liberals.

The legislation was drafted to eliminate some gender inequities in the Indian Act and allow some 3,500 people to become eligible for First Nations status.

Yiddish fest highlights comfort of knish crafting

For Sara Kasdan, the author of the mid-century ethnic best-seller Love and Knishes, the titular dough pocket was a pathway to everlasting romance via the stomach, assured to get the cook’s name into a man’s heart “faster … and stay longer.”

Restaurant bridges Ethiopian-Eritrean divide at the dinner table

Riverine origins matter at Baro, an eatery just west of the Health Sciences Centre on Notre Dame Avenue, but don’t overlook the connective power of the hyphen on the street-facing sign at chef Tammy Fekadu’s Ethiopian-Eritrean cuisine.

A waterway that rolls for more than 300 kilometres in the Ethiopian highlands, serving as a major cultural and economic thoroughfare for the nearby Gambella region as well as the South Sudanese state to the west, the Baro River is a reminder of communal reliance on precious natural resources, says Fekadu’s eldest daughter, Samra Solomon.

The hyphen is a bridge spanning political divides for Winnipeggers whose homelands have been engaged in decades of ongoing territorial tensions and civil war.

“My mom almost hesitated to call it ‘Baro Ethiopian-Eritrean Cuisine,’ just because some people might not be happy with that politically and maybe even morally,” says the 26-year-old Solomon, who manages the restaurant on top of a full-time job in the insurance business.

Encampment numbers down since ban

The City of Winnipeg has identified 120 people living in 62 encampments — a far cry from the 700 people in roughly 100 camps last August, before the municipal government’s clampdown on such sites began in late 2025.

The figures were discussed during Tuesday’s community services committee meeting in which city officials provided a ward-by-ward breakdown of encampments.

Data collected by Main Street Project through outreach work and point-in-time counts shows Point Douglas has the highest number at 19 sites, followed by Fort Rouge–Fort Garry with 15 camps.

Chris Brens, the city’s community development manager, said the 62 encampments do not include people who stay in bus shelters, vehicles or other spaces. He told the committee MSP had identified 128 people in encampments, including 63 in Point Douglas and 30 in Fort Rouge–Fort Garry, as of May 31.

Health experts tell Quebec politicians there are no benefits from energy drinks

Health experts told Quebec's legislature that there are no health benefits to consuming energy drinks as Health Minister Sonia Bélanger hopes to pass a bill banning the sale of the beverages to those under 16.

The Quebec government has until Friday to pass a slew of bills, including the energy drink ban, before the parliamentary session ends. It will be the last session before the general election scheduled for October.

Pharmacists, cardiologists, public health and lobby groups spoke to the elected officials in Quebec City on Tuesday after the Conservative Party requested special public consultations.

The health experts said they support a ban, adding that it must be accompanied with other measures like awareness campaigns and marketing regulation.

Telus to charge $15 to activate new SIM cards, as ban on switching fees takes effect

The CRTC is warning Telus Corp. that a new fee the company plans to charge customers could breach the regulator's ban on activation charges set to take effect later this week.

The commission issued a letter to the carrier on Tuesday saying it hoped the matter could be resolved before the rule change kicks in Friday.

It comes a day after Telus distributed a memo to employees saying it will begin charging customers up to $25 when they switch to a new SIM card. The company insists the fee doesn't violate the CRTC's new rules.

In the document, Telus said it would introduce a $15 SIM purchase fee for new activations.

Province tabs $4.3M for programs to boost employment strategies for young Manitobans

It’s an ongoing cycle in Tasnim Aljoumah’s orbit: submit a stack of resumés, get a sprinkle of responses.

The 16-year-old hasn’t started job hunting yet, but she’s watched her friends’ disheartening results.

“It’s not as fun as it seems, and it’s definitely not as easy,” Tasnim, who’s finishing Grade 11, said Tuesday outside University of Winnipeg Collegiate.

She pondered the job market hours after Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew announced $4.3 million for two initiatives to boost youth employment.

Artificial intelligence ‘promising and problematic’ for courts, chief justice says

OTTAWA - Artificial intelligence is proving to be both promising and problematic for Canadian courtrooms, Chief Justice Richard Wagner said Tuesday.

Distinguishing fact from fiction has become more difficult — and more important — in a time when information can be generated and shared rapidly, Wagner said at his annual news conference.

Society is grappling with the emergence of machine learning and online tools that can process a wide range of data almost instantly, with varying degrees of accuracy.

Dozens of AI-generated hallucinations, such as fake case citations, have turned up in Canadian legal proceedings.

Ottawa’s new Digital Safety Act expected to include under-16 social media ban

OTTAWA - The federal government is expected to bar kids under the age of 16 from social media in new legislation set to be introduced Wednesday.

The government gave notice Tuesday that it will introduce a bill "to enact the Digital Safety Act and the Digital Safety Commission of Canada Act." It has scheduled a technical briefing and press conference on the new bill for late Wednesday afternoon.

Culture Minister Marc Miller, who is taking the lead on the legislation, said the government will take all reasonable measures to ensure kids are safe.

“It’s obvious why it’s a priority. Kids are dying,” he told reporters on Parliament Hill.

Inuit group calls for overhaul of Nutrition North, poverty reduction frameworks

OTTAWA - The organization representing Inuit in Canada says the federal government program meant to subsidize the high cost of food in the North isn't working and should be scrapped.

The call to shut down Nutrition North is part of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami's new poverty reduction strategy, released Tuesday.

The report says the program has failed to improve food security in Inuit Nunangat, the Inuit homelands, and that its fragmented approach is not fully aligned with Inuit priorities.

"It's a scattershot approach in a policy environment that is begging for specific intervention," ITK president Natan Obed told The Canadian Press.