Manitoba mineral production set to triple, premier says

Premier Wab Kinew said Tuesday Manitoba plans to triple mineral production in the next five years “to unlock a new era of wealth creation and growth.”

“We’re going to make sure that opportunity is spread throughout the province,” he told a news conference at the Canada investment summit in Toronto.

The province is working with industry and Indigenous governments to send a message to investors that “we’re going to do mining right in Manitoba,” the premier said.

For too long, Manitoba has lagged behind neighbouring provinces, Kinew said.

Carney heads to France seeking deeper ties with EU on defence, trade and people

OTTAWA - Prime Minister Mark Carney is heading to France on Tuesday ahead of his address to the European Parliament, where he hopes to secure deeper ties with the European Union.

Carney was invited by Roberta Metsola, president of the European Parliament — a role similar to parliamentary Speaker — to address the 720 representatives of the EU's 27 member states in Strasbourg, France.

Carney's visit comes as he attempts to craft what he calls "a unique alliance" with Europe based on shared values and priorities.

"We're having pretty broad-ranging conversations across a number of sectors," Canada's Ambassador to the EU Jonathan Wilkinson told The Canadian Press on Tuesday.

Trade war fuelling spike in city costs

A trade war between the U.S. and Canada could cost the City of Winnipeg millions of dollars more than was anticipated during the budget process for this year’s expenditures and beyond.

Online etiquette, dangers part of new Manitoba health curriculum

Students will learn about everything from emoji etiquette to internet scam artists, as well as the difference between sexting and sextortion, as part of a provincewide overhaul of health class.

Manitoba’s new phys-ed and health curriculum pilot puts an emphasis on a child’s online habits and experiences.

“It is really good to see online privacy being recognized as a health and wellness skill,” said Matthew Johnson, director of education at MediaSmarts, a national charity that designs resources for teachers to build digital literacy.

“It has an effect on so much of our lives. At the bare minimum, the content that we see online is determined by data that companies have on us… the algorithmic shadow we cast.”

Northern style: WAG-Qaumajuq, CBC series partner for runway show

Award-winning TV series North of North by Inuit filmmakers Stacey Aglok MacDonald (Qanurli, The Grizzlies) and Alethea Arnaquq-Baril (Angry Inuk, The Grizzlies) made a return to the small screen last week on APTN, CBC Gem and CBC TV with its second season première.

North of North is partnering with the Winnipeg Art Gallery-Qaumajuq to celebrate the way it has propelled authentic northern fashion into the global spotlight at the gallery’s special edition of Crafted on the Catwalk Tuesday night, featuring fashion and design from Manitoba, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories, Nunatsiavut and Nunavik.

Arnaquq-Baril and series stars Anna Lambe and Zorga Qaunaq spoke to the Free Press ahead of Tuesday’s catwalk show.

Free Press: The fashion in Season 1 set the bar so high. We’re barely into Season 2 and have already seen so many covetable, stunning looks. What story do the clothes tell the viewers?

Politicians, CEOs pitch Canada’s fundamentals in bid to attract investment

TORONTO - Business leaders and politicians say an investment supercycle is taking hold in Canada as investors from around the world flock to Toronto this week for a summit pitching the country as an attractive investment for foreign money.

Speaking at Global Dialogues Toronto, hosted by the Milken Institute think tank, TD chief executive Raymond Chun said he is seeing a more streamlined approval process for strategic projects and is encouraged by the progress thus far.

"The investment supercycle is beginning to take shape," he said.

Chun's comments come as TD Bank announced it's committing $150 billion over five years to accelerate investment in the country. The other major banks have made similar announcements in recent days outlining their own lending plans for Canadian projects.

Menstruation, consent move up in sex-ed lesson plan

Manitoba’s newest curriculum introduces the menstrual cycle earlier and repeatedly calls for explicit lessons on how students can give, seek, and decline to provide their consent.

The education department has released its sweeping proposal to overhaul how exercise, nutrition and sexuality are taught between kindergarten and Grade 12.

Grade 5 has long served as a key turning point for “the talk,” said J Fiedler, a sexual and reproductive health educator who provided input on the new curriculum.

“There’s no ‘the talk’ anymore. Now, there’s continuations of multiple ‘talks,’ which can hopefully reduce stress for students and stigma that people experience talking about sexuality.”

Quebec prayer restrictions reshape rules at transit agency, universities

MONTREAL - Quebec’s new restrictions on prayer are changing the rules at public workplaces and university campuses, with employees and students facing new limits on where they can pray.

New rules under Quebec’s secularism law took effect Sept. 1, including a ban on prayer rooms in public institutions such as universities, colleges and transit agencies.

The law, adopted by the Quebec legislature in April, also prohibits collective religious practices on public roads and in public parks unless a municipality grants an exception on a case-by-case basis.

The measures have drawn opposition from religious and civil-liberties groups, which have raised concerns about freedom of religion and assembly.

Port of Churchill expansion could chase belugas away, U of M researcher says

As plans to expand the Port of Churchill into a four-season trade corridor gathers momentum, a University of Manitoba researcher has published a report on what ship traffic could mean for the beluga whales that gather in the Churchill River estuary each summer.

Veronica Coppolaro said more vessels in the waterways bring a risk that belugas will stop using the estuary for migration, which would impact the ecological landscape, tourism and communities that rely on the animals for food and cultural purposes.

“There are studies showing that (noises) change the way they swim, they change the way (the whales) are vocalizing, they change their main activity, and so this (expansion) can have consequences at different levels,” she said.

The Churchill river estuary is a marine habitat where the Churchill River empties into Hudson Bay. During the summer months belugas gather in the area to feed and give birth.

Drug recovery centre opens office in ‘heart of the city’

Richard Halverson found his freedom from addiction through Adult & Teen Challenge and, six years later, he hopes a new Winnipeg location will bring hope to the city.

La facture grimpe mais Ottawa répond présent

‘Préserver ce lieu, ce n’est pas seulement préserver un bâtiment. C’est préserver notre mémoire. C’est transmettre notre histoire.” C’est sur ces mots que Ginette Lavack, députée fédérale de Saint-Boniface-Saint-Vital a annoncé un nouvel investissement fédéral de 400 000 $ au nom du ministre Marc Miller pour le Musée de Saint-Boniface.

Un beau cadeau d’anniversaire pour les 175 ans de l’édifice abritant le musée. Désigné lieu historique national par le gouvernement du Canada en 1958, celui-ci est le plus vieux bâtiment de Winnipeg et, selon le musée, la plus grande structure en rondins de chêne d’Amérique du Nord. Construit entre 1846 et 1851, il était à l’origine le couvent des Sœurs Grises, arrivées à Saint-Boniface depuis le Québec en 1844.

“Depuis 1851, cet édifice a connu plusieurs vies. Il a été un couvent, un hôpital et une école. Il a accueilli, protégé, soigné et enseigné. Il témoigne de l’histoire complexe de Saint-Boniface, de la nation Métisse de la rivière Rouge et de la francophonie,” énumère la députée fédérale, également secrétaire parlementaire de la ministre des Services aux Autochtones.

Un héritage historique et culturel également souligné par Robert Loiselle, député provincial de Saint-Boniface, qui évoque un bâtiment issu d’une époque où une grande partie de la population du Manitoba était francophone. Il a d’ailleurs tenu à rappeler le lien particulier qu’il entretient avec le site : “Sur une touche personnelle, c’est le 4 juin 1892 qu’une nouveau-née fut trouvée dans un petit panier sur le perron des Sœurs Grises : Joséphine Perron, nommée par les Sœurs Grises. Connue sous le nom de Joséphine Payette, mon arrière-grand-mère fut rapidement adoptée par sa famille Payette le lendemain.”

Mayoral contenders focus on recreation funding, 911, littered streets

Community centre funding, 911 and 311 services, and clamping down on litterbugs dominated the mayoral election campaign Friday, while a fourth candidate said voters would have to stay tuned for his promises.

Incumbent Scott Gillingham promised to work with the federal and provincial governments to set up a $60-million fund for community centres, that would be split three ways.

“We’ve seen again and again that when the city steps up with a serious plan and a financial commitment and puts real money on the table, other governments are willing to come to the table, too,” he said.

The fund would pay for repairs and upgrades at community centres and recreation facilities.

Ottawa ends permanent residency exemption for refugees with undeclared family

OTTAWA - The immigration minister has quietly ended a policy that helped some refugees sponsor their children or partners for permanent residency, while offering refugee advocates no explanation for the change.

The temporary policy allowed certain refugees to sponsor family members who were not initially declared on their own applications.

Under current rules, a permanent resident normally is barred from sponsoring a family member if they did not name them in their documentation.

Permanent resident applicants are required to declare all immediate family members for medical and security screening purposes, even if they aren't coming to Canada.

Mining, mineral exploration projects ramp up, First Nations training lags

Mark Fedikow hunts for gold. Skilled labour can become a secondary search.

“You can find lots of folks on the reserves that are willing to work and learn, no question about it,” Fedikow, president of Mount Morgan Resources Ltd., said Thursday in Winnipeg.

“They need to get some training, they need to get some education in exploration.”

Fedikow and his team have been surveying roughly 7,400 acres in the Snow Lake area in northern Manitoba. They’re in “early days” of gold exploration. Results over the past two years of work have been promising, Fedikow said.

Canadian Army formally changes divisions as military prepares for future of combat

EDMONTON - Canada's Army formally made one of the biggest changes to its structure in decades Thursday by shifting from divisions based on geography to ones built around specific purposes.

CFB Edmonton held a signing ceremony and parade to stand up the 1st Canadian Division, which will serve as the main force responsible for deploying on large-scale combat operations and responding to crises.

Headquartered in Edmonton, the "manoeuvre division" will bring many capabilities together under one roof, such as tanks and other armour, artillery, light infantry, paratroopers and engineers.

The idea is to prepare the army to rapidly deploy a large force and sustain prolonged operations.

Canada needs up to 4.69 million new homes by 2036, but construction could slow: CMHC

The federal housing agency says Canada narrowly chipped away at its supply gap over the past year, but the country still needs up to nearly 4.7 million new homes over the next decade to restore pre-pandemic affordability by 2036.

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. released its latest supply gap estimate report, which said between 417,000 and 469,000 new housing units are needed per year across the ownership and rental markets over the next decade to reach affordability targets.

That's down slightly from its last estimate in July 2025, when CMHC said the pace of home construction would need to roughly double to between 430,000 and 480,000 new units annually over the coming decade.

But the agency warned recent affordability gains are at risk as new home construction is instead expected to slow, especially in the home ownership market.

U of M students call for ban on far-right group

Some University of Manitoba students are calling on their school to ban a far-right group from campus after posters promoting mass deportations were found during the summer break.

More than 50 people rallied on Wednesday, the first day of classes, to make known their concerns about a group called the Dominion Society of Canada.

The protest was organized after a supporter of the self-described nationalist group posted a video over the Labour Day weekend that shows him putting up flyers in Fort Garry.

“Canada is a really beautiful country and I have been welcomed here by a lot of beautiful people and it’s been amazing, but when I see harmful rhetoric online and now, on campus, it gives me a lot of anxiety,” said Ela Ancheta, an arts major at U of M.

The plane truth about a dangerous president

U.S. President Donald Trump has crossed firmly into cutting-off-your-nose-to-spite-your-face territory.

Manitoba-Canada Defence Alliance unveiled

Despite Ottawa’s promises of increased defence spending, Jack Enns has seen slowdowns.

Tit-for-tat tariffs between Canada and the United States have lessened demand for some of A. Adams Supply (1969) Ltd.’s products, the firm’s general manager said.

The Winnipeg company ships specialized tools to aerospace manufacturers, metalworkers and transport firms.

More clients could be useful — and so would local companies winning defence contracts, Enns said. If that happened, vendors such as A. Adams Supply may get more orders, boosting business.

Childfree Winnipeg group gives women without kids a place to gather

Katelyn Sawatzky founded Childfree Winnipeg Women in 2021 to bring together women who don’t have kids — be it by choice or circumstance — and do not plan on raising children.

The group is designed to help them share experiences and build meaningful friendships.

The community welcomes cisgender, straight, transgender, bisexual and lesbian women. Parents, including empty nesters and men, are turned away.

“Our group is a safe space where women can hang out with other women without being asked when you’re going to have kids or why you don’t have kids … where you don’t feel like you have to validate or defend your choices in any way, because everyone gets it,” Sawatzky says.

Feds drop plans to skirt Species At Risk Act for major projects

OTTAWA - The federal government is abandoning plans to exempt certain projects from laws designed to protect species at risk after an overwhelmingly negative response to the proposal during a summer of consultations.

However environmental groups say Ottawa can still bypass the Species At Risk Act through other means.

The government is planning to introduce legislation in the fall to speed up approvals for major projects, a key promise from Prime Minister Mark Carney.

The government released two discussion papers in May which also proposed, among other things, to give cabinet ministers what it calls "limited" power to exempt projects from what's known as the "jeopardy test" for species at risk.