Wildfire smoke changing outdoor sports landscape

Air quality concerns due to wildfire smoke are changing the landscape of sporting events in Winnipeg. From community centre-run programs to professional leagues, outdoor sports have been impacted by smoke delays, cancellations and playing in less than ideal conditions, leading some to rethink how summer outdoor seasons should be planned going forward.

Krista Fraser-Kruck, general manager of Riverview Community Centre in South Osborne, which offers baseball, soccer, softball, ultimate (frisbee) and summer day camps, says wildfire smoke has forced cancellations and caused rescheduling challenges, especially difficult in a short summer season.

“The priority is keeping kids safe,” said Fraser-Kruck. “For our community, we just want to keep our kids safe, and so doing what’s in the best interest of their health is our priority.”

For their youth soccer games, Riverview Community Centre follows the Winnipeg Youth Soccer Association’s policy, which calls for citywide cancellations if Environment Canada’s Air Quality Health Index (AQHI) reaches seven or higher.

More than 7,000 elms felled in Winnipeg last year due to disease

A city report reveals elm trees were chopped down more than expected last year due to Dutch elm disease.

‘She’s all of us’: mural illustrates ties between Winnipeg and grateful Ukrainian newcomers

Blue and yellow ribbons wrapping around the city’s skyline show the deep connection between Ukraine and Manitoba in a new mural.

Take Pride Winnipeg, a downtown non-profit that seeks to clean up and inspire civic pride, unveiled its newest mural, titled “Pray for Ukraine” in the Exchange District on Monday.

It pictures a Ukrainian woman in traditional clothing stoically gazing into the distance as butterflies and a dove — which symbolize hope, peace and rebirth — flutter around the Esplanade Riel and Canadian Museum for Human Rights.

The installation at Exchange District BIZ at 492 Main St. was painted by Jennifer Mosienko, who’s worked on more than 40 murals across the city.

Politicians held accountable — what about bureaucrats?

The Sio Silica caretaker convention scandal report by Manitoba’s ethics commissioner should be required reading in every public service in Canada.

Community gathers to remember couple who died in wildfire

LAC DU BONNET — Mourners wiped away tears and shared fond memories as they paid tribute to Susan and Richard Nowell, the couple who died May 13 as a wildfire ripped through homes on Wendigo Road in this tight-knit community.

There almost weren’t enough seats in the town’s community centre Friday as nearly 700 friends, family, and community members gathered to remember the Nowells at a 90-minute celebration of life. The stage was filled with brightly coloured flowers and a collage of photographs.

Emmett Nowell, the couple’s youngest son, looked at the large crowd and took a deep breath, to steady himself before speaking.

“They made everyone feel so special with their love,” said Emmett, who was the first family member to speak. “I could really stand up here and talk about them forever.”

Ottawa, Manitoba decided jointly to send evacuees to Niagara Falls

The Manitoba government confirmed Friday the decision to send some of the 18,000 wildfire evacuees to southern Ontario was made jointly with the federal government.

“Manitoba, in partnership with Indigenous Services Canada, worked quickly to ensure evacuees secured shelter and lodging in Ontario, much like Manitoba housed over 1,000 evacuees from Wabaseemoong Independent Nations (in northwestern Ontario) in May,” a spokesperson said in an email.

The province said it requested assistance from Ottawa — via Public Safety Canada’s Government Operations Centre — that emphasized the need for federal help to ensure a successful emergency response, including evacuation logistics.

“Support measures remain in place for affected on-reserve and eligible First Nation communities, with resources available for both immediate and long-term recovery,” ISC said in an emailed statement.

MMF command centre gives evacuees ‘retail therapy’

When it became clear the MMF wouldn’t have trouble soliciting donations or ensuring the needs of their membership were met, they began to strategize on how best to ensure people were getting the highest standard of care they could, with an Indigenous-led focus.

Manitoba’s regional authorities spent over $35M last year in the ongoing effort to keep health-care workers safe

Last Christmas Eve, a man walked into Thompson General Hospital with a loaded rifle concealed in his clothing.

He moved through the emergency department and other areas — some full of patients — before taking an elevator to the second-floor chapel.

No one knows how long the 33-year-old man was in the facility. He was discovered by a patient who wanted to use the chapel for prayer.

The patient, hearing a commotion behind the locked doors, notified a nurse. Security was nowhere to be found.

Ignorance far from bliss, PC leader pleads in effort to leave stench of ’23 campaign behind

Obby Khan wants to make it perfectly clear that the Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba’s controversial 2023 election campaign is not an accurate reflection of who he is.

Khan, who became PC party leader in late April, said he continues to struggle to explain his role in that campaign, particularly ads and flyers promoting him as the champion of “parental rights,” a well-established dog whistle for anti-LGBTTQ+ activists in Canada and the United States.

When the idea for the advertisements was first brought up, Khan said no one from the central campaign team ever warned him the term “parental rights” was being used in heavy rotation by anti-LGBTTQ+ activists seeking to remove books from school and public libraries and expunge any reference to sexual orientation or gender in public school settings.

“People will believe me or not believe me on this,” Khan said in an interview on the Niigaan and the Lone Ranger podcast. “(But) I did not know the parental rights was a dog whistle. I was legitimately, like, ‘It makes sense, you want to be involved (in your child’s education). Let’s go, let’s go do this.’ And then, it was afterwards… that I was made aware of (the meaning). People were talking to me about this and it was kind of like one of those ‘a-ha’ moments.”

Political tensions real, but when chips are down Canadians, Americans show up for each other

This is Canada-U.S. relations in 2025. On one hand, we have tit-for-tat tariffs on steel, aluminum, lumber and other goods. On the other, we have boots on the ground — Americans working shoulder to shoulder with Canadians, risking their lives to protect our communities from natural disaster.

‘I hope that we don’t lose the town’: Snow Lake residents get mandatory evacuation order

Another wildfire-threatened town in northern Manitoba began a mandatory evacuation Friday, while a 140-kilometre-long blaze threatened multiple communities in two provinces and put evacuees on tenterhooks.

Snow Lake, home to about 1,100 people, ordered residents to get out before noon Saturday and head to an evacuation reception centre in Winnipeg if they need a place to stay.

“I put the sprinkler on my home, and locked the door and left,” resident Caroline Denby told the Free Press during her roughly seven-hour drive to Winnipeg. “I hope that we don’t lose the town. Everybody getting out is the main thing. I really trust our (fire) crew, and believe they’re really wonderful at what they do.”

Town officials started planning for a potential evacuation as early as about two weeks ago. A voluntary evacuation began Tuesday. Denby was ready to go when it became mandatory.

Saskatchewan lays charges in wildfires while 1,000 more flee in Manitoba

Prairie wildfires developed on two fronts Friday, as 1,000 more Manitoba residents were forced to flee their homes and Saskatchewan RCMP charged two people with starting blazes.

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe told a news conference that one charge relates to starting a fire near La Ronge, which has forced 7,000 people from the area.

“The RCMP have informed us that they have now charged a couple of individuals,” Moe said.

An 18-year-old woman from Montreal Lake Cree Nation and a 36-year-old man from Pelican Narrows each face one count of arson, said RCMP.

Alberta government extends deadline for judge’s investigation into contract scandal

EDMONTON - Alberta's government says it's extending the deadline for a former judge to investigate allegations of high-level conflict of interest and arm-twisting in health care contracts.

Former Manitoba provincial court chief judge Raymond Wyant was expected to submit an interim report to the government today, followed by a full report next month.

The government employee facilitating the investigation says the number of documents provided and interviews requested by the former judge means that initial time frame is no longer feasible.

Deputy minister of jobs Chris McPherson says Wyant will now deliver an interim report in September, with his final report due in October.

Carney says he has no immediate plans to overhaul municipal funding

OTTAWA - Ottawa probably can't help overhaul how municipalities raise funds in the near future, because the federal government is now focused on major, nation-building projects, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Friday

"We're building on what has worked. We're learning lessons from what hasn't," Carney said at an event held by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities.

The group represents cities and towns that have lobbied Ottawa for years to give them more independent means of financing their operations.

Cities generally fall under provincial oversight and have limited tools to gather tax revenues or plan for long-term projects.

Winds push smoke from Canadian wildfires south into US and worsen air quality

Air quality in some parts of the United States is worsening as smoke from dozens of wildfires in Canada travels south, pushed by winds high in the atmosphere.

Through parts of Minnesota and into Wisconsin, the air quality is deemed unhealthy for people and animals sensitive to pollution and other airborne particles, according to the Environmental Protection Agency's AirNow page.

As of Friday afternoon, the interactive air quality map showed a strip of orange moving northwest to southeast across Wisconsin. Most of the state showed moderate air quality as did all of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Eastern Iowa and northwestern Illinois also showed moderate air quality on the AirNow map.

Over the next day or so, particulates from the burning trees, leaves and other vegetation could reach further south into Oklahoma, Tennessee and Arkansas, said Patrick Ayd, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Duluth, Minnesota.

Quebec tables bill to eliminate interprovincial trade barriers on sale of goods

QUÉBEC - Quebec is moving to lower interprovincial trade barriers, as part of a push by provinces and the federal government to increase domestic trade in response to U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs.

Minister for the Economy Christopher Skeete tabled a bill on Friday to remove all restrictions on the use and sale of products from other provinces and to facilitate labour mobility – with some exceptions.

Skeete told reporters in Quebec City that the bill sends a message the province is ready to drop barriers and stimulate trade between regions.

"If you look at what Quebec is doing today, we're leading the charge," he said. "We have one of the most ambitious bills in the federation right now. It's something we're very proud of and it's something that will have lasting change going forward."

Evacuee describes ‘surreal’ speed of B.C. wildfire that quadrupled in size

DAWSON CREEK - Shelley Calliou of the Kelly Lake Cree Nation said it was "surreal" how fast a wildfire threatening the community in northeast British Columbia moved.

She said she was told by the RCMP at 6 p.m. Thursday that she had a two-hour window to evacuate, with the Kiskatinaw River fire 18 kilometres southwest of the unincorporated community of Kelly Lake.

"Within those two hours, it moved 10 kilometres. It's fast-moving," said Calliou on Friday from Dawson Creek, B.C., where she said about 70 people had fled, about 80 kilometres north.

The fire that prompted the evacuation order for Kelly Lake and nearby areas on Thursday quadrupled in size overnight, as firefighters warned of "intensifying conditions" in the parched northeast of the province where most fire activity is concentrated.

Nova Scotia NDP says province too secretive, must release environmental racism report

HALIFAX - Nova Scotia’s Opposition NDP called on Premier Tim Houston's government Friday to release a report about the province's long history of environmental racism, saying it’s a matter of accountability.

An eight-member panel was expected to submit its report to Houston's government in December 2023.

Justice Minister Becky Druhan, who is also responsible for the Office of Equity and Anti-Racism, did not answer Thursday when pressed by reporters to explain why the government is sitting on the report.

Druhan also wouldn’t answer when asked whether she had seen the panel’s recommendations, saying its work predated her appointment as minister.

Hudson’s Bay heads into last days of sale with lots of shoppers, little merchandise

TORONTO - Hudson’s Bay headed into its last weekend of liquidation sales with its Toronto flagship teeming with shoppers looking for one last treasure from the department store.

Even before the Yonge Street location opened Friday, shoppers waited in front of its doors, exchanging hopes for what they’d find inside and strategizing how to beat the competition.

When they made it in, they found large swaths of the store had been emptied out, but plenty of deals still remained.

There were $10 Levi's jeans for men, $5 corsets for women and $15 pajama sets.

‘Pray for rain’: wildfire races toward Flin Flon

Premier Wab Kinew urged Manitobans to remain calm Friday, a pivotal day in the war on wildfires in which shifting winds sent flames bearing down on Flin Flon, more people had to be evacuated from more communities and desperately needed resources were promised by the United States.

“Keep calm and carry on,” Kinew told an afternoon news conference at the legislature.

He said the threat to Flin Flon, about 830 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg, had become so severe that the mayor, council and the few others who remained after a citywide evacuation order issued Wednesday afternoon had no choice but to leave Friday.

“We had our health-care workers leave this morning… the only folks remaining on the ground are the firefighters and folks in the office of the fire commissioner and RCMP who are there to battle the blaze,” Kinew said.

Chief says infrastructure drive could trigger another Idle No More protest movement

OTTAWA - A First Nations chief is warning that Canada is "staring down the barrel" of another wave of protests like the Idle No More movement if governments pursue "national interest" projects without their input and consent.

Anishinabek Nation Regional Chief Scott McLeod has joined Indigenous leaders from across the country who say they're alarmed by government efforts to accelerate infrastructure development.

The federal government is developing a "national interest" bill to fast-track nation-building projects with a streamlined regulatory approval process as a substitute for reviews under the Impact Assessment Act.

A handful of First Nations leaders told The Canadian Press Friday they were sent a letter Monday outlining the federal government's plans.

To the margins of our rivers, our marginalized

It’s not surprising that in the not-quite-public spaces on the margins of Winnipeg's rivers live the marginalized, the people not quite suited, for whatever reason, to a life away from its shores.

Canada Post asks jobs minister to force union to vote on ‘final offers’

OTTAWA - Canada Post says it has asked Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu to force a union membership vote on the proposals the Crown corporation put forward earlier this week.

Canada Post presented its "final offers" to the union representing 55,000 workers on Wednesday, with concessions including an end to compulsory overtime and a signing bonus of up to $1,000.

But it stuck to a proposal for a 14 per cent cumulative wage hike over four years and part-time staff on weekend shifts – a major sticking point in the talks.

Canada Post said in a statement Friday that the parties are at an impasse and it believes the best hope of reaching a new collective agreement is a vote administered by the Canada Industrial Relations Board.

Sikh groups say Ottawa should not invite India’s Modi to G7 summit

OTTAWA - Sikh organizations are calling on Ottawa to break with a five-year tradition by not inviting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the G7 summit.

Canada is hosting the G7 leaders' summit next month in Kananaskis, Alta.

While the leaders of those G7 nations — France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States — are expected to attend, along with the president of the European Commission, Ottawa hasn't said which leaders it has invited from outside that core group of like-minded liberal democracies.

The Canadian Press learned Friday that Canada has invited Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to attend the summit. Brazil's foreign ministry did not immediately say whether he has accepted the invitation.