Federal data on Winnipeg's number of homeless people inaccurate, advocates say

The head of End Homelessness Winnipeg says she has no confidence in data about the city’s homeless population due to problems with the federal system that tracks those numbers.

Winnipeg Jewish Theatre play The Cut ponders realities of interfaith marriages

Jordi Mand isn’t scared to talk about circumcision — she doesn’t bristle at the mention of a bris.

First Nations should not have to defend truth of residential schools

The truth about residential schools should never have been this difficult for Canada to acknowledge. And it should never be this difficult to defend.

Reversing Manitoba’s moose decline

As Manitoba’s retired provincial moose manager, I have watched our moose population plummet from historic highs to a state of systemic vulnerability. Reversing this decline, which has seen numbers drop from 45,000 during the 1960s to fewer than 20,000 today, will require balancing the conservation needs of moose, Section 35 constitutional treaty rights, licensed hunter expectations and economic development.

To avert further attrition, all stakeholders, including Manitoba Natural Resources, must accept responsibility for their part in this decline, with industrial and recreational development acting as the primary drivers.

This long-overdue discussion must not devolve into a debate over competing hunting rights; instead, it must focus entirely on building long-term population resilience. Wildlife management must evolve alongside the changing landscapes and dynamics that development brings. We can no longer practise the same methods and hope for a better result. Immediate action is required.

As long as moose are legally managed as a “natural resource,” they will inevitably be viewed through the lens of a commodity rather than a vulnerable species in need of protection. For any population to remain stable or grow, total mortality cannot exceed recruitment — the survival of calves to breeding age. If mortality outpaces recruitment, decline is inevitable.

Temporary foreign worker at crossroads without job, alleges immigration consultant misconduct

A temporary foreign worker says he was ensnared in an illegal system fraught with under-the-table payments, fake credentials and a firing.

“I was participating in a illegal process,” Liang Fang said. “But actually, I (didn’t) know it’s illegal before.”

Fang, 43, travelled to Winnipeg from Beijing in March. He came with a job offer to work at a Winnipeg restaurant as a marketing specialist.

However, by his account, he became a waiter. It was the latest change in a lengthy immigration process.

Additional $5.4 million in federal sports funding to ease financial burdens, invest in athletes

Skylar Park hearkens back to the same story anytime she reflects on the support she’s received throughout her career.

It’s one she can’t help but grow emotional about.

It was 2017 when Winnipeg’s prized taekwondo athlete made the World Taekwondo Grand Prix for the first time in her career. The international event, held in Moscow, Russia, featured the top 32 athletes in the world, and Park was the only Canadian.

In many ways, she felt the weight of the country on her shoulders.

Main Street Project's clothes closet offers choice, dignity

Choosing what to wear is a simple part of everyday life, but for people with no home and no money, making that decision can be out of reach.

A new clothing store run by Winnipeg’s Main Street Project, a nonprofit that serves the homeless populations, aims to restore that choice while honouring the memory of a volunteer who helped others feel confident and valued.

Ash’s Closet, which opened on Thursday, allows people to browse through racks of free clothing that reflect their personal tastes.

“It gives people choice and dignity, and that’s a key part of what we do,” said executive director Jamil Mahmood. “When you’re homeless, that choice gets taken away from you. You don’t know where you’re going to eat, where you’re going to sleep, where you’re going to shower, and where you’re getting your clothes from.”

Non-profit Indigenous youth, family agency’s ‘strong heart’ beats in the Exchange

Zoongizi Ode, a non-profit organization that assists and advocates for Indigenous youth and families, showed off its new home Thursday.

Calling it a home is fitting for executive director Mary Burton, because she prefers to call her clients family members.

“When people walk in our doors, they’re greeted warmly. We sit with them. We listen to their story. We don’t ask questions. We just listen. And then once they’re done telling their story, we then start asking the questions that we need to know, and once that’s done, we start,” Burton said walking through the new space, which is nestled on the fifth floor of 112 Market Ave. in the Exchange District.

Founded in 2014, the non-profit helps youth aging out of care and families reunify, as well as others navigate Child and Family Services, the Residential Tenancies Branch and welfare programs. Between its half-dozen advocates, Zoongizi Ode has nearly 100 open files.

NDP expects crypto, data centre electricity levy to shave about $50 annually off residential Hydro bills

Revenue from the province’s new electricity levy on cryptocurrency businesses and large AI data centres will go toward offsetting residential bills, rather than the coffers of cash-strapped Manitoba Hydro.

Ottawa opens up $430M for training facilities, equipment in skilled trades

OTTAWA - The federal government plans to spend $430 million over the next five years to help unions train a new generation of workers in the skilled trades.

John Zerucelli, secretary of state for labour, announced Thursday that Ottawa is opening applications for access to the new pool of funding, most which comes from an expansion to the Union Training and Innovation Program launched in 2017.

The federal government says in a news release that unions and training providers will be able to apply for extra capital to expand their training facilities and other infrastructure. Expressions of interest are open until Nov. 12 and the government is looking for shovel-ready projects that can begin next spring.

The government is also now accepting ongoing applications to offset the cost of equipment for training and is temporarily boosting the share it covers to 70 per cent, up from 50 per cent previously.

Crime-weary North End daycare declines cabinet minister’s offer to help with relocation

Manitoba’s minister for early childhood learning offered to help a North End daycare move to a new location after it suffered a break-in, thefts and repeated vandalism in recent months, but the centre says it is staying put.

Gerrie Prymak, a board member for non-profit Woman Healing For Change Inc, which operates the Little Stars Playhouse daycare, said Minister Tracy Schmidt made the offer by phone Wednesday morning after media reports highlighted the incidents.

She said she was baffled by the minister’s offer because the centre’s location on Selkirk Avenue was selected after extensive research was done to find the best spot for the community’s needs.

“We built this place. Why do we have to move? Why can’t you get rid of those derelict buildings behind us?” Prymak said.

Chief says minister offered money to remove highway checkstop

The chief of the Bloodvein River First Nation says a Manitoba cabinet minister offered up to $250,000 for economic development as he was trying to persuade her to remove a highway checkstop that has outraged hunters.

Mayoral candidates share faves, test knowledge in Free Press culture quiz

It’s been said that politics is downwind of culture. However true that is, where politicians stand on hot-button cultural debates such as artificial intelligence, whether they prefer sports over arts and what local restaurants they patronize can offer a window into their sensibilities and outlooks.

The Free Press invited the four leading mayoral candidates among decided voters — according to a recent Abacus poll — to take part in a cultural quiz. (Kevin Klein, who was polling second, did not respond.) While most of the questions are lighthearted, they speak to some of the personalities behind the heated rivalries over budgets, buses, business taxation and beyond.

What was the last book you finished?

● Scott Gillingham: I’m almost done Winnipeg author Paul Vincent Jacuzzi’s book Blind Eyes. It’s a Dalton Drake novel.

Education alone cannot combat residential school denialism

Premier Wab Kinew has triggered a lot of attention after stating that residential school denialism should not be criminalized.

His comments were made in response to a question about Winnipeg NDP MP Leah Gazan’s private member’s bill, which aims to make condoning, denying or minimizing the residential school system a crime under the Criminal Code.

First Nations leaders, residential school survivors, and organizations such as the Manitoba Teachers’ Society have endorsed the bill, but Kinew disagrees with it.

“I have a lot of respect for MP Gazan, but I don’t think we can criminalize this. I think we have to just do the continued work of educating people and trying to combat misinformation,” Kinew said.

Hoekstra says U.S. watching Canada for signs of interference in midterm elections

OTTAWA - U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra says American officials are "closely watching" Canadian politicians for signs of election interference ahead of pivotal midterm elections next month.

During an interview on "The Really Big Show" podcast that was posted last week, Hoekstra said political ads run by the province of Ontario last year could be interpreted as political interference.

U.S. President Donald Trump ended trade talks with Canada in October 2025 after Ontario aired an ad during the World Series using clips of former U.S. president Ronald Reagan criticizing tariffs and supporting free trade.

Hoekstra also cited recent comments by Industry Minister Mélanie Joly and former prime minister Justin Trudeau and suggested they also could amount to interference.

Low-cost grocery store initiative in Elmwood neighbourhood seeks to fill accessibility, security gap

A new grocery store in Winnipeg’s Elmwood neighbourhood aims to improve the lives of community members by offering food at low prices.

The Chalmers Neighbourhood Renewal Corp. recently opened the CHARM Hub. Located at 301 Ottawa Ave., the store offers canned goods, dry goods, dairy, frozen foods and a limited amount of fresh produce.

Food security has long been a priority at the renewal corporation, said executive director Leilani Esteban-Villarba. She described Elmwood as “a food desert” and noted one of the grocery stores nearest to the community her organization serves is more than a kilometre away.

“(The distance makes it) harder to access, and especially hard to access for people who have mobility challenges or who are older,” she said. “It’s hard to take a bus or take a cab or find transportation … and if you have children in strollers, it’s even harder.”

Ontario to move northwest regions to permanent daylight time

TORONTO - Ontario is set to move parts of the province's northwest region to permanent daylight time in order to align with Manitoba, Indigenous Affairs Minister Greg Rickford told The Canadian Press.

Rickford said there is overwhelming consensus among municipalities, First Nations and businesses to make the time change permanent.

The province intends to make a regulatory change in the Time Act on Nov. 1 to allow regions west of the 90th meridian to align with Manitoba, he said.

Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew announced last month the province would stop twice-annual clock changes and stay on daylight time year-round in the central time zone, leaving it one hour ahead of the other Prairie provinces rather than aligned with them.

Indigenous groups invest $65.3 million in Coastal GasLink pipeline in B.C.

CALGARY - A group representing five First Nations says it has invested $65.3 million for an interest in the Coastal GasLink pipeline, which brings natural gas from northeastern B.C. to the LNG Canada plant in Kitimat — and is set for a big expansion.

FN CGL Pipeline Ltd. Partnership said in a news release Tuesday that members are putting up their own funds.

"Our Nations are making this investment with their own capital. No government loan guarantees, no borrowed money,” said Chief Harley Chingee of McLeod Lake Indian Band.

"It was a deliberate choice, the best way to secure maximum benefits from what we believe to be a sound commercial investment. The returns will now belong entirely to the communities, as will decisions as to how they are used."

More damaging AI hacking incidents to come unless changes are made, scientists warn

OTTAWA - Dozens of Canadian academics are among an international group of scientists calling for better containment measures for AI models.

"Multiple organizations have disclosed high-profile security failures: their AI models bypassed insufficiently sandboxed environments to compromise the systems of external organizations," they say in an open letter.

The letter, released Tuesday, says that unless immediate changes are made to how AI is developed and deployed, "such incidents will continue to occur, and future incidents will be far more damaging to our exposed critical infrastructure."

They say there is a need for more research on AI safety as well as emphasis on containment technologies and procedures. The scientists also want to see an international body that standardizes best practices.

Indigenous offenders need a new path to justice

Indigenous peoples – and Indigenous men in particular – are incarcerated at a rate higher than any other group in Canada.

As Canada’s own Department of Justice reports from data last collected in 2024: “Indigenous adults make up roughly 4 per cent to 5 per cent of Canada’s general population, yet account for about 32 per cent to 33 per cent of federal custodial populations and a higher share in provincial and territorial facilities.”

According to Statistics Canada during the 2023-2024 year 2.6 per cent of all Indigenous adults in Canada were incarcerated (25,640 people) with that rate doubling for the total amount of Indigenous men (7.3 per cent).

And things are getting worse.

Landlords will face fines for breaching confidentiality

The province is amending legislation to allow landlords to be penalized if they breach the confidentiality of tenants who break their lease by obtaining a domestic violence certificate.

“Hopefully, now there’s going to be measures in place so that if this happens again, and God forbid it happens again to anyone else, that there would be penalties imposed on landlords who do that,” said one victim whose concerns were published on the front page of the Free Press last month.

Under current legislation, landlords must ensure that any information received from those tenants regarding the termination of the tenancy is kept confidential, but there are no penalties for landlords who violate that section of the act. After hearing from victims put at risk when landlords broke the law by violating their confidentiality, the government announced Monday that it is amending the Residential Tenancies Act to allow for penalties.

The young woman who spoke to the Free Press showed that her landlord copied her alleged abuser in email correspondence that included her personal email address and the domestic violence certificate she obtained in 2025 to end a tenancy agreement early and leave an abusive relationship.