First solo show in WAG-Qaumajuq’s flagship Qilak gallery

Since his last gallery show in Winnipeg, Abraham Anghik Ruben’s focus has shifted from introspection to cross-cultural exploration.

That personal and artistic arc is currently on display at WAG-Qaumajuq in a sprawling retrospective of the master Inuit sculptor’s 50-year career.

It’s a fitting full-circle reunion.

The Winnipeg Art Gallery hosted Ruben’s first solo show at a major institution in 2001 and now, nearly 25 years later, the artist’s work is featured in the first solo exhibit in Qaumajuq’s main Qilak gallery.

Christian Monnin, ou la chance d’un esprit de famille

Christian Monnin a été nommé juge à la Cour du Banc du Roi pour le Manitoba au début du mois de mars, un évènement fortement symbolique au regard de son histoire familiale.

Symbolique, et sûrement unique au Manitoba. Comme son grand-père, Alfred, mais aussi son père, Michel, et également son oncle, Marc, Christian Monnin, ancien président de la Société de la francophonie manitobaine (SFM), est devenu lui aussi juge à la Cour du Banc du Roi.

Si c’est une fonction sur laquelle il serait pour lui difficile de se prononcer en début de carrière, une question s’avère pourtant légitime: le monde dans lequel a grandi Christian Monnin a-t-il pu influer sur ses envies et ses aspirations?

“Il y a d’évidence une question de socialisation, qui s’applique à toutes les familles,” note tout d’abord Christian Monnin. “La première fois que j’ai assisté à une cérémonie d’assermentation, c’était celle de mon grand-père il y a 42 ans, quand il est devenu juge en chef du Manitoba. Je devais avoir 8 ou 9 ans. Ça a été impressionnant, en tant que jeune, de voir cette cérémonie, tout ce monde qui était présent. Je n’ai bien sûr rien décidé à ce moment-là, mais la carrière de juriste a toujours été quelque chose qui mijotait en moi.”

En 2025, des Jardins St Léon encore plus tournés vers le local

Les Jardins St-Léon, le marché extérieur situé sur St Mary’s, ouvre ses portes au public ce 30 avril. Colin Rémillard, copropriétaire, fait le point sur la saison qui s’en vient.

Même si la création des Jardins St-Léon remonte à 1979 par Lise Mulaire et Denis Rémillard, l’excitation est toujours la même quand la date de l’ouverture est connue. Cette année 2025 ne fait pas exception au regard de toutes les réactions enchantées sur les réseaux sociaux quand la compagnie a annoncé son retour pour ce 30 avril.

À l’image des internautes, Colin Rémillard, copropriétaire des Jardins St-Léon a hâte d’accueillir le public et travaille avec son équipe de 55 personnes sur les dernières préparations.

“Tout se passe bien, nos étagères sont déjà bien remplies et nous continuons de les remplir. On a quelques nouveaux employés, mais aussi beaucoup de retours d’anciens, ce qui est toujours un bon signe. La météo a l’air de bien s’annoncer. L’année dernière a été plus occupée que l’année précédente et l’on verra ce qui va passer cette année.”

Sauver la Maison Hourie, le vote est ouvert

Organisée par la Fiducie nationale du Canada, la compétition Next Great Save offre un financement et de la visibilité aux lieux historiques menacés partout dans le pays. Cette année, la maison Hourie de Portage-la-Prairie fait partie des douze finalistes. Les gagnants sont choisis par vote du public, qui est ouvert jusqu’au 17 avril.

Sauver l’un des bâtiments emblématiques de l’histoire du Manitoba. Voilà l’objectif du musée de Fort la Reine à Portage-la-Prairie, qui a inscrit au concours l’une de ses bâtisses: la Maison Hourie. C’est sur le site nextgreatsave.ca que le public, seul juge de la finale de cette compétition nationale, est invité à voter pour sauver son patrimoine favori. Parmi les finalistes, la Maison Hourie est le seul édifice situé au Manitoba.

Restaurer la maison Hourie

Les règles sont simples: pour sauver son patrimoine, chaque finaliste mène sa campagne de sensibilisation pour récolter le maximum de soutien. Parrainé par Ecclesiastical Insurance, ce concours s’inscrit dans les missions de la Fiducie nationale du Canada, créée en 1973. Principal organisme de bienfaisance national, la Fiducie a contribué depuis sa création à la protection de plus de 835 lieux partout au Canada.

Sirop d’érable, le trésor de Saint-Pierre-Jolys

L’incontournable Festival du Temps des sucres se prépare à revenir au village de Saint-Pierre-Jolys les 5 et 6 avril. Prenant place dans la Cabane à sucre, une extension du musée, les visiteurs pourront festoyer et célébrer ce fameux sirop local aux teintes ambrées.

Le temps se fait plus doux dans le village de Saint-Pierre-Jolys où les récoltes de sirop d’érable ont doucement commencé depuis la semaine du 17 mars.

En effet, des gelées la nuit combinées à des températures plus élevées le jour créent les conditions propices à la saison des récoltes. Ce type de météo permet d’exercer une pression à l’intérieur de l’arbre favorisant ensuite l’écoulement de “l’eau sucrée” comme aime l’appeler Roland Gagné, le gérant de la Cabane à sucre du village.

“Grâce à Mère Nature, l’eau remonte des racines jusqu’en haut de l’arbre. Ça permet de nettoyer les veines de l’érable et ensuite le liquide s’écoule.”

Red River course focuses on Indigenous cooking techniques, ingredients

With the lunch rush over, the kitchen takes a collective sigh of relief. Jokes are cracked while the flattop is scraped clean and smiles float around the room as prep stations are tidied for the next day’s service.

Gabriel Nanacowop, who had some nerves about overseeing Wiisinin Diner as chef-of-the-day, is feeling particularly satisfied.

“It was good, fast-paced,” says Nanacowop, one of 11 students enrolled in Red River College Polytechnic’s Indigenous Culinary Skills program.

Red River has been offering the yearlong certificate program for nearly a decade. In it, Indigenous students are given a crash course on food preparation, kitchen safety and business basics, with a focus on cultural ingredients and cooking techniques.

Anti-racism activist hopes to make our communities mutually respectful

Dr. Rehman Abdulrehman is a clinical and consulting psychologist at Clinic Psychology Manitoba. He has a consulting and coaching firm called Lead with Diversity, he is the assistant professor with the department of clinical health psychology at the University of Manitoba and he has just written his first book, Developing Anti-Racist Cultural Competence, which aims to help people develop practical skills, insight and better empathy when working with diverse groups.

National symbols can be problematic, and the Canadian flag has been through a lot in its 60 years

So, folks, where are we at on the Canadian flag? Is it cool to unfurl the ol’ girl again or what?

How changing demographics and tastes are shaping Canada’s grocery stores

It’s mid-December at a large supermarket in Mississauga, Ont., and Christmas music plays softly over the speakers as customers roam the aisles, picking the perfect lemon and eyeing the large olive counter in the middle of the store.

But this isn't just any grocery store. Walk past the produce and the olives, and you'll see trays of tabbouleh, hummus and fattoush, as well as shawarma cooking on rotating spits. Further, you’ll find a large dessert section with neat displays of golden baklava and other sweets. Behind two swinging doors, rows of puffed-up pita bread emerge on a conveyor belt from the oven, ready to be packaged and sold to customers.

This is Adonis, a Middle Eastern grocer that got its start in Montreal in 1978. The grocer is gearing up to open its 16th store, this one in London, Ont., next summer to meet demand from customers who often travel weekly to shop at the Mississauga location.

Specialty stores like Adonis are enjoying growth thanks to not only immigration but also the more diverse tastes of younger generations.

Miss Shakespeare turns gender bias on its ear

Winnipeg Studio Theatre kicked off its season with the guts and glory of female empowerment in its all-women-led local premiere of Miss Shakespeare.

The two-hour musical — directed by company artistic director Erin McGrath and presented by Rainbow Stage — runs through Oct. 5 at the University of Winnipeg’s Asper Centre for Theatre and Film. Saturday night’s crowd eagerly lapped up its feminist ethos.

Its quasi-historical protagonist, Judith Shakespeare (played by a spunky Rhea Rodych-Rasidescu), is the Bard’s real-life daughter “born with a poetic soul.” Judith lives in the shadows of her famous father during the repressive 1600s, when women were relegated to becoming wives and mothers, rather than pursuing their own passions.

Judith yearns for her own identity as a self-actualized creative powerhouse, and cobbles together the “Gossips,” a merry band of like-minded women who surreptitiously meet each week in the bowels of The Cage tavern to create a play. They spar, share stories, and dream, risking public humiliation if they’re discovered treading the boards like their male counterparts.

Vehicle hits cyclist at downtown protest about woman fatally struck by police cruiser

A protest at Portage and Main Wednesday, to denounce the death of an Indigenous woman who was fatally struck by a police cruiser, was the scene of violence as officers stayed back from the intersection at the request of demonstrators.

The Winnipeg Police Service said officers “were strategically placed out of view” of the intersection, which had been shut down by about 100 people beginning during the noon hour. The rally was called to mark the death of Tammy Bateman, a homeless woman in her 30s who died after being struck by a police vehicle at the Fort Rouge Park riverside homeless encampment Monday night.

About 20 minutes after the protest began, a driver in a Chrysler New Yorker tried to drive north on Main Street at Portage Avenue, but was blocked by several protesters. The motorist drove through the blockade and struck a cyclist who was blocking the way. The bike was dragged by the vehicle.

Several protesters, who wore vests emblazoned with “Crazy Indians Brotherhood,” jumped on the vehicle and kicked its windshield. Another demonstrator jumped in the passenger side of the vehicle. As the male driver accelerated through the blockade, the protesters fell off and out of the car.

Manitoba bans cellphones for K-8 students

Manitoba has announced a ban on cellphones in elementary schools and strict rules to silence devices and keep them out of sight during Grade 9-12 lessons next month.

Kindergarten to Grade 8 students will be barred from using phones at any point in the school day, including during lunch and recess.

High schoolers will be asked to leave their phones in their locker, with a teacher or at the principal’s office when classes are in session.

Teenagers can access their devices on breaks and when a classroom teacher approves usage for educational purposes.

Canadian news engagement down significantly one year after Meta’s ban: study

MONTREAL - A new study is painting a grim portrait of how local Canadian news outlets are struggling to reach audiences one year after Meta began blocking Canadian news content on its Facebook and Instagram platforms.

The Media Ecosystem Observatory study published today finds that Canadians’ total engagement with news content on social media has been reduced by 43 per cent, despite efforts to increase social media engagement on other platforms.

The social media giant banned Canadian news content after Ottawa passed the Online News Act in June 2023, which compelled tech companies to enter into agreements with news publishers for the use of their content.

Local news outlets, many of which rely on Facebook, have been especially hit hard — 30 per cent of them are now inactive on social media, the study found.

Pride and passion stitched right in

Surrounded by vibrant textiles, Oluwayemisi Josephine Ogunwale, or Yemz, as she likes to be referred to, sits at her sewing machine, brow furrowed in concentration as she stitches the hem of a dress.

The tools of her trade within easy reach — fabric scissors, measuring tapes, cottons of various shades — Ogunwale is in her happy place: creating beautiful and wearable works of art for her loyal clientele.

The dressmaker has always been interested in fashion. As a child she would sew doll clothing from scraps of material her mother discarded. This progressed to altering her own clothes: modifying hems, adjusting frills, loosening or tightening waistlines.

“Sometimes I would destroy the clothes because of how many changes I made to it,” she laughs.

Some doctors sneak education into their online content to drown out misinformation

TORONTO - When Dr. Siobhan Deshauer makes online videos, her primary goal is to demystify medicine. Her secondary goal?

"I call it 'smuggling in education,'" said the physician and YouTuber, who boasts nearly a million subscribers on the platform. "You're coming for this mystery and this excitement, but I'm smuggling in some topics that I think are really important and that I'm passionate about."

Some experts say one of the best ways to fight a rising tide of medical misinformation on social media is to drown it out with captivating content backed by science, and Deshauer, an Ontario-based internal medicine and rheumatology specialist, is among a growing cohort of doctors and researchers doing just that.

Take one of her medical mystery videos, for example. In it, Deshauer tells the story of a woman who had lead poisoning. Doctors took ages to figure out what was causing her symptoms, but ultimately realized they were a result of lead in the Ayurvedic supplements she was taking.

Frustrated educators disconnecting distracted students from devices

More school leaders across Manitoba are asking students to unplug themselves entirely during lesson times and requesting staff to be role models around positive phone-use.

Tuxedo’s Laidlaw School, Collège Béliveau in Windsor Park and West Kildonan Collegiate are among those that have announced stricter guidelines surrounding personal devices in 2024.

“Ultimately, we want our kids to disconnect with their devices and reconnect with their classmates and teacher,” said Adam Hildebrandt, principal of West Kildonan Collegiate. “We think this really is the best thing for their learning.”

Hildebrandt began his career at the high school in 2004. It was around 2010 when it became commonplace for his students to carry personal devices everywhere they went, and his classroom was no exception.

Riel’s vision grows stronger

As the first visionary of Manitoba, Riel fought the rest of his life to stop British domination and destruction of Indigenous lives, while stubbornly maintain the independent and unique multicultural spirit that birthed this place.

Esports competitions motivating force for First Nations students, educators say

Esports clubs are allowing First Nations students to play against peers from other on-reserve schools without the costly and time-intensive trips required for basketball, hockey and other traditional extracurriculars.

For teacher Karl Hildebrandt, one of the many motivators to grow Manitoba’s online gaming community is giving youth in rural and remote areas more competitive opportunities to represent their schools.

“When you tell kids they can play video games at school, their eyes open and when you tell them you can compete against another school in the province, their mouths drop,” said Hildebrandt, director of rural and northern esports for the Manitoba School Esports Association.

A handful of members of the Manitoba First Nations School System, including Lake Manitoba, Brokenhead, Fox Lake, Roseau River and York Landing, have started developing cybersport programs. Some teachers have also started integrating online games into their everyday lessons.

Raising up books as social justice tools

Valerie Chelangat spends her days reading. She reads every day, mostly in the morning, sometimes before bed in the evenings and, if she has time to spare, in the hours between.

The joke’s on us as social media capitalizes on our base impulses in race to the bottom

The most important thing we can teach ourselves, and our children, about how to navigate social media is this: the algorithms want you to be angry. They want you to be angry, because it is good for business.