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.

A project to save rural synagogues grows from Maine to Montana

WATERVILLE, Maine (AP) — Rabbi Rachel Isaacs spent the days leading up to Passover overseeing the preparation of ceremonial foods at Beth Israel Congregation, a synagogue in central Maine where membership has quadrupled over the last 15 years.

These days, growing congregations is very much on Isaacs' mind, as she's leading a movement to strengthen rural synagogues and Jewish communities around the country. They've reached dozens, and they're hoping for many more.

“Rural Jewish life is important for the Jewish people and it’s important for rural America,” Isaacs said. “Those people deserve to be served and shepherded.”

Isaacs is executive director of the Center for Small Town Jewish Life at Colby College, a liberal arts school in Waterville, Maine. The center began a decade ago with a goal of supporting Jewish congregations that are far from big cities and it has grown to run programs for more than 60 communities in 22 states.

Trump administration terminates agreements to protect transgender students in several schools

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Education Department said Monday it has terminated agreements with five school districts and a college aimed at upholding protections for transgender students, backing away from requirements negotiated by previous administrations that took a different interpretation of civil rights.

The decision removes the federal obligations for the schools to keep up measures such as faculty training on abiding by a students' preferred name and pronouns and allowing students to use bathrooms that align with their gender identity.

One of the school systems, Delaware Valley School District in rural eastern Pennsylvania, received notice of the change from the Trump administration in February and has since voted to roll back its antidiscrimination protections for transgender students. Another district, Sacramento City Unified, said Monday it "remains committed to the support of our LGBTQ+ students and staff.”

The other affected districts are Cape Henlopen School District in Delaware, Fife School District in Washington, and La Mesa-Spring Valley School District and Taft College in California.

Papiiro opens doors, journals in Village

At Papiiro, the fine arts of stationery design, decoration and curation are taken to another level.

The 109 Osborne St. shop’s offerings range from basic pens and notebooks to the hyper-niche tools of a journaler’s dreams — stickers of all sizes of anything you can think of, colourful clamps to hold down papers down while you work, even posture-correcting stuffed animals to lean against to stop hunching while you work.

But owner Cay Iledan’s favourite thing is simple: a customizable multi-pen that can be filled in-store with different ink colours and even mechanical pencil graphite. It’s a range of options all in one spot, much like the store itself, which has stocked imported stationery from Japan, Taiwan and the Philippines since it opened one month ago.

“It’s things that we don’t often see in Winnipeg, we often see stationery shops that carry what we have in bigger cities like Toronto or Vancouver. It’s just giving the people in Winnipeg a lot more options in terms of stationery, not just only from Staples or from (Canada-wide chain Japanese goods store) Oomomo or something like that,” Iledan, 39, said Thursday.

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.

West Broadway drop-in offers supports, programs, safety for people with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

West Broadway has become home to the first drop-in centre in the city to support people with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder.

First Nations chiefs demand apology after PM said he could ‘outlast’ protester

OTTAWA - Two First Nations chiefs are calling on Prime Minister Mark Carney to apologize for saying he could "outlast" a First Nations woman who was protesting over mercury poisoning in her community.

Chrissy Isaacs, a Grassy Narrows woman suffering from mercury poisoning, was in Toronto on Monday to demand compensation from the provincial government for mercury contamination.

The Dryden Paper Mill released thousands of kilograms of mercury into Grassy Narrows' river system from the 1960s to the 1970s. It's widely considered to be one of the country's worst environmental disasters and community members are still dealing with the fallout today.

Isaacs and a group of community members and their supporters attended a news conference Carney held on Monday with Ontario Premier Doug Ford to announce new funding for housing. She and the other protesters could be heard chanting and shouting in the background about the mercury contamination.

Four local Toronto-area Metroland newspapers make a print comeback

TORONTO - Torstar and Metroland Media Group say print editions for four local newspapers in the Greater Toronto Area are making a comeback.

A monthly print edition of the Burlington Post debuted last week, while the Oakville Beaver will be available for pick up at public locations and local businesses starting Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Whitby This Week and Oshawa This Week are set to have print relaunches on April 8 and 15, respectively.

Metroland says it is also relaunching its journalism internship program with 20 new editorial intern positions for the summer and year-long positions across Ontario.

Hate crimes numbers stayed steady in 2024 after years of increases: StatCan

OTTAWA - The number of police-reported hate crimes stayed steady in 2024, after sharp increases in prior years, Statistics Canada said Monday.

There were 4,882 hate crimes in Canada in 2024, a one per cent increase over the previous year, StatCan reported.

The numbers follow a 34 per cent rise between 2022 and 2023, and come after the number of police-reported hate crimes more than doubled since 2018.

"The relative stability in the total number of police-reported hate crimes in 2024 was shaped by variation in motivation," StatCan said.

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.

‘This is people’s lives’: Canadian soccer star Quinn continues trans advocacy

VANCOUVER -

A Canadian soccer star is speaking out about the need to make sports safe for trans athletes — and the world safer for trans people — as restrictive laws come into effect across North America.

“This is people's lives," said Quinn, a midfielder for the Vancouver Rise of the Northern Super League. "Like, this isn't something to take lightly."

It's been more than five years since Quinn, 30, publicly came out as nonbinary.

Air Canada CEO apologizes for inability to express himself adequately in French

MONTREAL - The chief executive of Air Canada has apologized for not being able to express himself adequately in French after releasing a video message of condolence on the deadly plane crash in New York on Sunday.

Michael Rousseau has been criticized for the four-minute video posted online that only included two French words — "bonjour" and "merci."

"I am deeply saddened that my inability to speak French has diverted attention from the profound grief of the families and the great resilience of Air Canada’s employees," he said in a statement Thursday.

"Despite many lessons over several years, unfortunately, I am still unable to express myself adequately in French. I sincerely apologize for this, but I am continuing my efforts to improve."

Security cameras added to Beacon program will bolster business confidence

Snapshots of downtown Winnipeg cover a wall.

They aren’t pictures — they are screens of security footage down Portage Avenue, by True North Square, off Smith Street.

Nearby, a Downtown Community Safety Partnership staffer takes calls. They might change the view on the mounted screens, flipping between 49 security cameras.

Downtown organizations and private businesses are increasingly linking their exterior security camera feeds to a central hub in the DCSP office. It has been using the footage to track issues such as opioid poisonings, and keep an eye on people who may need a mental health check, over the past couple years.

Downtown non-profit open to partnering with newly formed coalition to improve safety

The Downtown Community Safety Partnership says it is open to working with a newly formed coalition calling for action on downtown safety.

Executive director Greg Burnett says while the non-profit hasn’t been in touch with the coalition yet, he’s open to discussing a way to work together to advance the goal of safety in the city’s core.

“Any time attention to the downtown and safety can be brought up, all talks and communication about that is welcome, especially if it leads us all working together and collaborating,” Burnett said.

Eight unions that represent employees who work in the downtown core recently formed a coalition to demand action on safety in the area. The group represents thousands of employees from all three levels of government, firefighters and paramedics, bus drivers, retail workers and community service workers, among others.

SiR’s upcoming season a case of all’s fair in love and war

A month before Christopher Nolan’s film adaptation of The Odyssey invades cinemas worldwide, Shakespeare in the Ruins’ 2026 season will feature a solo version of The Iliad, giving audiences a crash course in Homer’s epic prequel just in time for a blockbuster summer.

With global conflict and the threats of unmitigated re-armament on his — and everyone’s — mind, artistic director Rodrigo Beilfuss says it only made sense for the outdoor theatre company to return to the Trojan War as a window into the everlasting human cost of international conflict.

Beilfuss, who joined SiR as artistic director in 2019, made a concerted effort throughout the company’s return from pandemic-induced hiatus to program gentler fare. But with last year’s well-received production of Macbeth, the company indicated it was ready to return to tragic terrain.

During a season backdropped by wildfire, the artistic director was reminded of the potential for the classics to cut through the smoke and reveal eternal truths as the world burns.

‘Give ourselves the means to achieve our ambitions’: province gets feedback on French plan

Hiring more bilingual employees for the province’s public service, providing more services in French and making the history of the Francophonie a part of school curriculum could help make Manitoba a “truly” bilingual province.

That was the consensus from a survey taken by Manitobans aimed at shaping the NDP government’s francophone strategy. The results of the survey, which polled 1,600 Manitobans, was released Friday with a timeline for the government’s planned strategy.

Asked what a “truly bilingual province” means to them, 50 per cent of respondents answered “services.”

Bilingualism in the classroom was the top priority among respondents, followed by bilingualism in the health-care and social services systems and government bilingualism.

More than 20 per cent of Manitobans think the U.S. could invade Canada in the next two years, poll conducted for the Free Press reveals

It has been more than two centuries since American troops crossed the international border in 1812 and invaded what was then the British colony of Canada — but that feeling of everlasting peace is fading.

Against the backdrop of the U.S. war with Iran, its forced removal of Venezuela’s president and President Donald Trump’s musing about annexing Greenland and making Canada the 51st state, some Manitobans are beginning to fear the spectre of armed conflict between this country and its neighbour to the south.

More than one out of five Manitobans believe an American invasion of Canada is possible in the next two years, according to a new Probe Research poll commissioned by the Free Press. Of those, 18 per cent of respondents said the prospect was somewhat likely, and four per cent felt it was very likely.

“The idea of the U.S. invading, for a long time, seemed preposterous. This certainly isn’t a question that we would’ve expected to ask people even a couple of years ago, but we wanted to understand with all of the things that have been happening in the last few months… if this is something that people think is a possibility,” said Curtis Brown, principal of Probe Research.

Manitoba Opera season features reimagined Scott Joplin work and Puccini classic

Manitoba Opera’s 54th season will feature a once-forgotten masterpiece and a returning classic.

The 2026-27 season opens with the local première of Scott Joplin’s Treemonisha: A Musical Reimagining (Nov. 21, 25, 27) and closes with Madama Butterfly (April 17, 21, 23, 2027), both performed at the Centennial Concert Hall.

Treemonisha was published in 1911 by Scott Joplin, the celebrated African-American pianist and composer often referred to as the King of Ragtime. Set during the Reconstruction era in the United States, the three-act opera focuses on the story of its title character, a young freedwoman, and fuses Western classical music with blues, gospel and ragtime.

The work proved too groundbreaking for the Euro-centric opera establishment and was produced for the first time in 1970, more than 50 years after Joplin’s death. The composer was awarded a Pulitzer Prize posthumously for his contributions to American music.

Poilievre pitches Canadian kindness on ‘The Joe Rogan Experience’ podcast

OTTAWA - Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre laughed off a conspiracy theory about Justin Trudeau in the opening minutes of his 2.5-hour sit-down with podcaster Joe Rogan, where he made a case for Canadians being America's nice-guy neighbours.

While talking about his early interest in politics, Poilievre mentioned that he read a biography of Fidel Castro.

"Justin's dad!" Rogan interjected.

The Conservative leader shook his head and laughed, "No, no, not Justin's dad," adding later that it's "a hell of a (conspiracy theory). I don't think it's a true one though."

A sanctuary for the city — and its future

On Saturday mornings during my Grade 12 year, I would head downtown to the Eaton’s department store on Portage Avenue.

I was part of the Eaton’s Junior Executive program, which brought together students from high schools across Winnipeg to host events and represent Eaton’s at community gatherings.

I also had a part-time job in the store’s sporting goods department.

Downtown Winnipeg in those days felt like the centre of my universe. Eaton’s — now the site of Canada Life Centre — was a bustling hub, and on my lunch breaks I would wander outside to explore the neighbourhood.

Health minister accuses Tory leader of ‘derogatory, disgusting’ bigotry uttered in the legislative chamber

Decorum unravelled at the Manitoba legislature this week with accusations of bigotry and “behaviour that’s out of control.”

Fledgling clothing, jewelry pop-up retailer Anziety opens in-person store on Academy Road

A splash of pink highlights the northeastern corner of Academy Road and Lanark Street in Winnipeg.

Anziety is opening its first brick-and-mortar store at 545 Academy Rd. this weekend. Natalie Riccardo started the clothing and jewelry retailer as an online business, and then began appearing at markets and pop-up events in a rosy booth. Now, the 22-year-old entrepreneur has a brightly painted flagship store to call her own.

It’s meant to be a place where beauty meets women’s wellness, Riccardo said. “I want this space to make you feel empowered, confident and just at home. (I want to tie) confidence and inner beauty together into a magical experience.”

Selling intimate apparel at a pop-up event can be tricky, Riccardo added. While she believes she’s mastered the art of making customers feel comfortable as they look for lingerie in public, she’s thankful they’ll now have access to onsite change rooms.

Muslim community reflects on decades worth of growth

As Manitoba Muslims enter the last days of the holy month of Ramadan, they are counting their blessings, including the growth of their community since the establishment of the first mosque in the province 50 years ago.

“That was a great accomplishment,” said Abdo el-Tassi, who was among the 10 or so families who started the Pioneer Mosque in St. Vital in 1976.

El-Tassi — a prominent Winnipeg business leader and philanthropist — said he feels “very proud” of what the Muslim community has accomplished since that time.

Today there are as many as 20 mosques or prayer centres in the province, including in Thompson, Brandon, Niverville, Steinbach and Winkler. The most recent one to open was the Al-Haqq Masjid in Winnipeg, which serves the Nigerian Muslim community.