The Land: Places and People
Please review each article prior to use: grade-level applicability and curricular alignment might not be obvious from the headline alone.
Winnipeg’s synagogue and Edmonton’s mosque
4 minute read Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025In 1889, on the northwest corner of Common and King streets, Winnipeggers of many creeds gathered to lay the cornerstone of a new house of worship. It was the first synagogue in Manitoba, Shaarey Zedek, the Gates of Righteousness.
The Manitoba Free Press called the crowd “representative of all classes of citizens.” Members of the legislature and city council stood beside clergy from several churches. The Grand Lodge of Freemasons led the procession. The Infantry School Band played.
Philip Brown, chair of the building committee, rose to speak. To the wider city he appealed for “all lovers of religious liberty, regardless of class, creed or nationality.” To his own congregation he offered steadiness: be strong; your trials will be many, but patience and success will crown your efforts. Then his words turned outward again, toward the Masons and other neighbours who had come in friendship.
Quoting Psalm 133, he said, “Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity.” He praised the “worthy brotherhood whose motto is ‘Light, truth and charity,’” saying its principles were in harmony with Judaism’s own.
Carré civique, le soutien générationnel
6 minute read Preview Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025Cougar makes rare appearance in Manitoba
3 minute read Preview Friday, Nov. 14, 2025Rare red auroras dazzle as part of Manitoba light show
3 minute read Preview Thursday, Nov. 13, 2025Our monuments, statues and memorials give form to honouring, grieving lives lost in war
14 minute read Preview Saturday, Nov. 8, 2025Decades-long fight to repeal discriminatory second-generation cut-off rekindled on Parliament Hill
9 minute read Preview Friday, Oct. 31, 2025Winnipeg MP’s private member’s bill would make residential school denialism a crime
2 minute read Preview Friday, Oct. 31, 2025First Nations accuse Hydro, province, feds of profiting from land
2 minute read Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025Two First Nations are suing Manitoba Hydro and the provincial and federal governments, claiming the institutions have made billions of dollars through hydroelectric operations on land the communities never agreed to cede.
In a statement of claim filed last week in the Court of King’s Bench, Canupawakpa Dakota Nation and Dakota Tipi First Nation in southern Manitoba are seeking damages for alleged infringement on their rights.
The court filing accuses the public utility, the province and the federal government of breaching duties owed to the Dakota nations and of unjustly enriching themselves at the expense of the communities, without consultation.
“The yearly revenue Manitoba Hydro produces from the land and particularly, the activities, is substantial,” reads the lawsuit.
A century later, Ukrainian church still helping new Ukrainians
3 minute read Preview Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025Annual Diwali celebration puts spotlight on Hindu culture, customs and community
5 minute read Preview Saturday, Oct. 25, 2025St. Andrews pumpkin patch set to shutter
1 minute read Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2025Schwabe Pumpkins, a popular pumpkin patch in the Rural Municipality of St. Andrews, has announced its closure.
The family-run farm business is more than 20 years old. Ownership took to social media Sunday to spread the news; they declined an interview request Monday.
“With heavy hearts we have decided this will be our last year,” an online post reads.
The business made headlines in September, after volunteers assisted in a quick crop harvest. Frost had come early, threatening the farm’s operations.
Thousands mark Truth and Reconcilation Day
4 minute read Preview Tuesday, Sep. 30, 2025Silenced no more: Indigenous languages celebrated at site of former residential school
4 minute read Preview Tuesday, Sep. 30, 2025Prolonged drought stunts the renowned wild blueberry crop in the Maritimes
4 minute read Preview Monday, Oct. 6, 2025New truths emerge among sea of orange
4 minute read Preview Monday, Sep. 29, 2025Most refused to listen then, more understand now
6 minute read Preview Monday, Sep. 29, 2025This is what I want you to know
4 minute read Preview Monday, Sep. 29, 2025Deepening and complex homelessness crisis pushing city neighbourhoods to tipping point
27 minute read Preview Friday, Sep. 26, 2025Only moratorium can save moose population: MWF
4 minute read Preview Wednesday, Sep. 24, 2025Police investigating fires, vandalism at NDP cabinet ministers’ North End constituency offices
4 minute read Preview Tuesday, Sep. 23, 2025Motion to rename park withdrawn after MMF complaint
3 minute read Preview Tuesday, Sep. 23, 2025Another subdivision, another city problem
5 minute read Preview Tuesday, Sep. 23, 2025Wildfires like this aren’t normal. Stop trying to normalize them.
“Bring a pair of pants and a sweater to Clear Lake — it’s unseasonably cool because of the wildfires.” That was just one of those meteorological idiosyncrasies, attempting to reach back deep into long-forgotten geography lessons, that may seem obvious to those on the Prairies. But for the outsider, a visitor from Toronto, and indeed a relative newcomer to Canada, it was certainly a shock, and a stark reminder that I would be flying into a province still under a state of emergency, which had until recently been decimated by wildfires. It was also an introduction into what may be considered ‘normal’.
Visiting Manitoba this August was extraordinary — the people most certainly lived up to the “friendly” billing that adorns the licence plates, and the scenery of Riding Mountain National Park was worth the trip alone. However, there were a number of topics of conversation that made me question what I had come to know as accepted wisdom.
Talk about fishing restrictions, Indigenous rights, oil and gas permeated discussions, with healthy, good spirited debates. But for me, the most vexing issue was wildfires. More specifically, the extent of their aftermath, effects, and associated restrictions, have become normalized.