Manitoba Métis president rebukes AFN chief over call for withdrawal of treaty

OTTAWA - The president of the Manitoba Métis Federation is accusing the Assembly of First Nations of misleading people about legislation that would codify the federation's right to self-government.

On Thursday, Assembly of First Nations National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak took aim at a first-of-its-kind treaty between the federal government and the Manitoba Métis Federation, which came up for debate in the House of Commons on Wednesday.

Woodhouse Nepinak said in a media statement the legislation threatens to create a hierarchy of rights, with First Nations at the bottom.

“This piece of legislation must not proceed until First Nations voices’ are heard and our rights are respected, protected and upheld,” Woodhouse Nepinak wrote, saying Bill C-21 was developed without consultations with First Nations, despite it having implications for First Nations lands in Manitoba "and beyond."

Stirring oratorio pays homage to Indigenous veterans

‘My war wasn’t in Europe. My war was when I came back to Canada and I couldn’t vote until 1962,” says composer Andrew Balfour. He’s paraphrasing a quote by an Indigenous veteran and the inspiration for his oratorio notinikew (i went to war).

Family donates 636 acres of peatlands near Elma to nature conservancy

A Manitoba family is doing their part to support the ecosystem by making a deal with the Nature Conservancy of Canada to protect 636 acres of peatlands in perpetuity.

Syrup season in swing

Louise May has been tapping the trees at the St. Norbert Arts Centre for 37 years, extracting the nectar that becomes maple syrup.

May began making syrup as a way to connect with the trees and continue in the footsteps of the Trappist monks who originally planted the maple trees more than a century ago.

Recently, the endeavour has taken a more spiritual turn as May began collaborating with kookum Christine Cyr and sharing the syrup for a strawberry heart medicine used during Sundance ceremonies, which include a four-day fast.

“This is a really powerful medicine,” says Cyr. “It physically and spiritually helps people to get through” the ceremony when it is typically taken on the third day of the fast. At the beginning of the season, community members drummed, sang, and offered tobacco to each tree as May put the taps in.

Ritual of remembrance: Saying names aloud keeps memories of Holocaust victims alive

On a designated spring morning for more than three decades, members of Winnipeg’s Jewish community, representatives of other faith communities, high school students and local government officials have met near the Holocaust Memorial on the grounds of the Manitoba Legislature to take turns reading aloud the names of men, women and children whose lives ended more than 80 years ago.

The reading of the names is the main component of Unto Every Person There is a Name, a program organized and hosted by the League for Human Rights of B’nai Brith Canada for Holocaust Remembrance Day. That day, which commemorates the six million Jewish victims of the Nazi genocide, fell this year on April 14.

“Six million is a staggering number,” says Ruth Ashrafi, B’nai Brith Canada’s regional director for Manitoba. “It is hard to fully comprehend the scale of the killings. Reading the names of the individuals out loud, together with the location of their murder — and in the case of children their age of death — puts a human face on this number. ”

This year’s event was chaired by Winnipegger Rob Berkowits, a second-generation Holocaust survivor who has been one of the name readers since the program’s inception in 1990.

Banff bison brought back from the brink of extinction

There were some in Winnipeg who swear they saw buffalo roaming their city streets during the memorable 1966 blizzard in March that smothered both cars and commuters and brought everything to a snow-filled standstill.

Wooden elevator reduced to rubble after towering over Austin for 75 years

With the demolition of the wooden grain elevator in Austin, a community about 130 kilometres west of Winnipeg, the Manitoba Historical Society estimates there are only 114 such structures remaining in the province.

First Nations chiefs call for inquiry into RCMP after CBC report on surveillance

OTTAWA - First Nations leaders called on the RCMP to apologize and demanded a federal inquiry Thursday after CBC reported the police service spied on Indigenous political leaders in the 1960s and beyond.

CBC Indigenous uncovered some 6,000 pages of internal RCMP documents that indicate the RCMP was monitoring Indigenous political activity as early as 1968.

The CBC report said police targeted future national chiefs Noel Starblanket, David Ahenakew, Georges Erasmus and Phil Fontaine. CBC Indigenous reported that Ovide Mercredi, who also went on to serve as national chief, was mentioned in the files.

Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs Grand Chief Kyra Wilson said the RCMP should apologize directly to community members, on their own territories, by the end of the year for the "Native extremism" program.

New discovery solves mystery of the location of Shakespeare’s London house

LONDON (AP) — Fans of William Shakespeare know that the great playwright came from Stratford-upon-Avon, the riverside English town where tourists still throng to see his childhood home.

But he made his name in London — though few traces of him remain in the British capital.

A newly discovered 17th-century map sheds new light on the Bard’s London life, pinpointing for the first time the exact location of the only home Shakespeare bought in the city, and where he may have worked on his final plays.

Shakespeare scholar Lucy Munro, who found the document, said that it supplies “extra bits of the jigsaw puzzle” of Shakespeare's life. And as with so many discoveries, it was partly due to luck.

Holocaust survivors, family members mark solemn day by remembering not to forget

Rob Berkowits carries a black and white photo in his wallet — of his father, Alex, and fellow prisoners in a Nazi Germany concentration camp — as a constant reminder the challenges in his life are small.

Finding a fitting way to build in the Exchange District

Over the last few months, renowned Newfoundland musician Alan Doyle, best known as the lead singer of Great Big Sea, has been touring Canada. At each stop, he shared a “coffee walk” on social media, stepping off his tour bus to wander in search of a coffee while reflecting on places he has visited throughout his 40-year career criss-crossing the country.

Le destin renversé du 261 rue Youville

À défaut d’obtenir des excuses officielles de la part du gouvernement pour la loi Thornton de 1916, ou même l’ensemble des lois et politiques assimilatrices qui ont été en vigueur dans la province pendant des décennies, les jeunes franco-manitobains qui ont posé sur papier leur interrogation dans notre édition du 11 au 17 mars 2026 souriront peut-être à la lecture de ce papier.

L’on apprenait au début du mois de mars 2026 que la Division scolaire franco-manitobaine ouvrirait sa 26e école à Saint-Boniface.

Au 261 rue Youville, ce sont les murs de l’école confessionnelle Springs Christian Academy qui appartiennent désormais à la DSFM.

En réalité, l’établissement est l’un des plus anciens bâtiments scolaires publics de Saint-Boniface. Fermé en 1989 en raison d’une baisse du nombre d’inscriptions, elle n’a rouvert ses portes sous le nom de Springs Christian Academy qu’en 1991.

Hand-drawn 1884 map captures Winnipeg at moment when frontier hadn’t fully given way to a metropolis

At first glance, the map is still. Ink on paper, streets drawn neatly in place, buildings rendered by a careful hand. Look more closely and it begins to loosen. Step into the image, between the lines, and immerse yourself in a city of movement.

Indigenous women’s groups call for funding to limit risks to safety, prosperity

OTTAWA - Advocates are calling for long-term, stable federal funding to safeguard Indigenous women and girls and warning the federal government's major projects push could place them at higher risk.

Hilda Anderson-Pyrz, president of the National Family and Survivors Circle, said groups like hers still don't know if they'll receive continued funding from Ottawa. She said that uncertainty undermines their efforts to address the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.

"When we're looking at the safety and human security of Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit and gender-diverse people, it's really critical that organizations who are doing this important work — and even through the lens of prevention and economic participation — that they receive long-term, sustainable and equitable funding," she said.

"They're severely underfunded. There's a real power imbalance."

Feds, city, province join forces with First Nation to build 150 apartments in St. James

More than a century after its lake became the source of Winnipeg’s drinking water, Shoal Lake 40 First Nation is leading a major housing development in the city, backed by more than $51 million in government funding.

The federal government announced the combined funding Tuesday to build 150 apartment units at 2675 Portage Ave. in the city’s St. James neighbourhood. The development will include one-, two- and three-bedroom units.

Shoal Lake 40 Chief Herb Greene said the project carries historical significance.

“This development is about three things: history, teamwork, and the future,” Greene said during a sod-turning ceremony Tuesday. He noted for more than 100 years, Winnipeg was in dire need of a reliable source of clean drinking water.

Tailors age out of the workforce even as demand for their skills grows

NEW YORK (AP) — Hunched over a sewing machine, Kil Bae is hemming a dress inside his Manhattan tailor shop when a new customer stops by with a vintage Tommy Hilfiger jacket he wants taken in.

The modeling agent paid $20 at a thrift store for his reversible bomber style that's plaid on one side and red on the other. He's willing to spend $280 to have it slimmed down. Alteration requests with such a price disparity would have seemed odd a few years ago, the tailor says, but are helping to keep the bobbins bobbing at his one-man shop, 85 Custom Tailor.

Bae carefully examines the cotton jacket before moving in to pin it, circling the customer like a sculptor with a chisel. He started training as a tailor at age 17, in his native South Korea. Now 63, he's part of a shrinking breed in the U.S., where professional sewers, dressmakers and tailors are aging out of the workforce as their services find fresh demand.

Shoppers who grew up on disposable fast fashion are enlisting tailors and seamstresses to give off-the-rack purchases a custom fit or personal flair, to revive secondhand finds or to extend the lives of their wardrobes, according to fashion industry experts. Weight-loss drugs like Zepbound and Wegovy mean more Americans are seeking adjusted waistbands, tapered sleeves and other types of resizing, Bae said.

Burdett Sisler, Canada’s oldest known living man, Second World War vet, dead at 110

Burdett Sisler, the oldest known living man in Canada and one of the oldest Second World War veterans in the world has died. He was 110.

Sisler’s son Norman says his father died with family members by his side after his health took a turn for the worse in recent weeks.

“It's bittersweet. You don't want to see him go, of course. But he had a long life,” Norman said. “It was a great life.”

A statement from Gov. Gen. Mary Simon's office says she and her husband were saddened to learn of Sisler's death and are sending condolences to his friends and family.

Why one Las Vegas newspaper just stopped printing its rival

LAS VEGAS (AP) — The Las Vegas Review-Journal announced Friday that it will no longer print its rival the Las Vegas Sun for the first time in decades, sharpening their legal dispute over the nation’s last joint operating agreement stemming from a 1970 law designed to preserve newspapers.

Readers “will not find a printed Las Vegas Sun insert inside,” the Review-Journal wrote in an editorial, noting the Sun maintains a website, has a few hundred thousand followers across social media platforms, and is free to produce its own newspaper.

“We encourage them to do so. The Review-Journal competes with countless sources of news and entertainment, but we would welcome one more. We just don’t want to foot the bill. It is time the Sun stood up on its own two feet,” the editorial said, without specifying the cost.

It was the first day in 76 years the Sun hasn’t been printed, Sun attorney Leif Reid said in an email.

Popularity of sweater with Manitoba roots goes galactic after visit to stars

It’s the ultimate interstellar fashion moment; a vintage-inspired Mary Maxim fox knit, worn by Ryan Gosling’s character in his latest blockbuster Project Hail Mary, has sent the crafting world spinning.

Air Canada CEO to step down later this year after backlash over lack of French

MONTREAL - Air Canada chief executive Michael Rousseau will leave the company later this year after coming under fire last week for his failure to deliver a video condolence message in French following a plane crash that killed two Air Canada Express pilots.

Rousseau has told the board he will step down before October, the airline said Monday. He is expected to continue to lead Canada's largest carrier and serve on its board of directors until they part ways.

The announcement leaves Air Canada scrambling to find a replacement amid the challenge of soaring fuel prices and depressed cross-border travel, and follows a half-decade marked by both COVID-19 hurdles and profit wins under the watch of a CEO known more for his financial finesse than fine-tuned community relations.

Rousseau, 68, was widely criticized for his lack of French in the four-minute condolence video posted online that included only two words in the language — "bonjour" and "merci."

Brandon plane museum needs to land cash for major overhaul

BRANDON — Brandon’s warplane museum is planning a roughly $15-million “major redevelopment” to stabilize the hangar and potentially build a new half-hangar on site.

The Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum issued a negotiated request for proposals in February and is receiving regular on-site visits from interested parties, director Zoe McQuinn told the Brandon Sun on Friday.

Museum officials are searching for the best way to repair the hangar’s concrete floor, which is affecting the historic wooden structure on top of it.

“You can see (the effects) all throughout the hangar in different ways,” McQuinn said Friday, while stepping over cracks. “We need a way to stop the heaving in the floor and the twisting in the frame.”

Spying on Indigenous peoples fuels mistrust, threatens Canada’s economy and society

The British Columbia Civil Liberties Association published thousands of pages in 2019 that it had fought for years to be released by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.

The heavily redacted documents, the association said, show Canada’s spy agency spent years illegally conducting surveillance and documenting peaceful Indigenous protesters and community environmental organizations that opposed the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline project. They include the Dogwood Initiative, ForestEthics (now Stand.earth), Sierra Club BC, Leadnow.ca, and the #IdleNoMore movement.

This discovery followed a report by two researchers in 2016, who found that from 2014 to 2015, the RCMP operated project SITKA, which involved a list of more than 300 political activists in the country — most of whom were Indigenous — with 89 marked as “threats” to national security.

If this wasn’t enough, access to information requests by activists found that from 2009 to 2011, Gitxsan professor and child advocate Cindy Blackstock was monitored by officials at Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada and the justice department – an act that Canada’s privacy commissioner later called a violation of her privacy rights.

Indigenous services minister questioned about fire that killed toddler

OTTAWA - First Nations chiefs from northern Ontario demanded answers Thursday from Indigenous Services Minister Mandy Gull-Masty after they linked the death of a three-year-old boy to a lack of federal funding for fire services in their communities.

On Monday, a house fire in a northwestern Ontario community took the life of Chief Donny Morris's three-year-old grandson and left two others with serious injuries.

The Independent First Nations Alliance, a group of five First Nations that includes Morris's own community of Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug, filed a Canadian Human Rights Commission complaint in August 2025 alleging Indigenous Services Canada was systemically discriminating against their communities by underfunding on-reserve fire services.

Chief Carla Duncan of Muskrat Dam Lake First Nation — a member community of that alliance — told Gull-Masty during a Nishnawbe Aski Nation meeting in Toronto Thursday the community is still searching for the child's remains.

Province’s first Indigenous parenting event draws hundreds in person, online

Amara LeClair starts with the basic questions: Where are you from? Who are your grandparents? Did they forage?