Hundreds evacuated amid power outage in Pimicikamak

More than 300 Pimicikamak Cree Nation residents have been moved to other communities in Manitoba amid a power outage that is now not expected to be resolved until 6 p.m. on New Year’s Day.

The evacuation to Thompson, Whiskey Jack Landing and Norway House Cree Nation involved elders, people with certain health conditions and families with babies, Chief David Monias said.

“The problems we are having keep on piling up the longer we go (without power),” Monias said Tuesday morning. “People are frustrated, and people are angry that this is happening. We have people at risk.”

Hotel space in Thompson was limited, he said. Buses were scheduled to transport dozens of residents to Winnipeg starting Tuesday afternoon.

Derailment shows rail study on track: Axworthy

A train derailment involving tank cars near homes and businesses shows why a review of Winnipeg’s urban rail system is needed, former federal transport minister Lloyd Axworthy told the Free Press Monday.

Corb Lund must re-apply to launch anti-coal petition drive in Alberta

LETHBRIDGE - Amendments to Alberta's legislation on citizen-initiated referendums mean Corb Lund's recently approved application for a petition drive to stop new coal mining on the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains is cancelled and the singer has to re-apply.

Elections Alberta had posted the official OK on its website Monday for Lund to soon start collecting signatures for his petition.

But the agency says in a Friday news release that amendments to electoral legislation that took effect this week mean petition applications made before Thursday, for which an initiative petition has not been issued, are "deemed to have never been made."

The release says it applies to Lund's No New Coal Mining in Alberta’s Rockies application because even though it was approved, a petition was not issued.

Canada responsible for ensuring safe First Nations housing, Federal Court rules in $5-B class-action suit

A Federal Court judge has recognized Canada is responsible for ensuring safe housing on First Nations in a $5-billion class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of two reserves in Manitoba and Ontario.

Métis federation launches second class action over ’60s Scoop

The Manitoba Métis Federation has launched a second court action over the apprehension of Métis children during the ’60s Scoop.

The federation and Albert Beck, a Métis man who was adopted by a non-Indigenous family, filed a proposed class action lawsuit against the Manitoba government in the Court of King’s Bench last week.

The proposed class action seeks damages over the harm suffered by Métis kids who were taken into care and placed with non-Indigenous families in Canada and the United States over several decades.

“The (‘60s) Scoop caused significant, irreparable harm to the Red River Métis children that were removed from their homes and communities. They suffered trauma and physical, sexual, and psychological abuse,” reads the proposed class action.

Métis federation sues Ottawa, Manitoba over Sixties Scoop

The Manitoba Métis Federation is suing the federal and Manitoba governments for damages caused to the Red River Métis as a whole when an unknown number of children were placed with non-Indigenous families during the Sixties Scoop.

One of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre’s last survivors, Viola Ford Fletcher, dies at age 111

DALLAS (AP) — Viola Ford Fletcher, who as one of the last survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre in Oklahoma spent her later years seeking justice for the deadly attack by a white mob on the thriving Black community where she lived as a child, has died. She was 111.

Her grandson Ike Howard said Monday that she died surrounded by family at a Tulsa hospital. Sustained by a strong faith, she raised three children, worked as a welder in a shipyard during World War II and spent decades caring for families as a housekeeper.

Tulsa was mourning her loss, said Mayor Monroe Nichols, the first Black leader of Oklahoma’s second-largest city. “Mother Fletcher endured more than anyone should, yet she spent her life lighting a path forward with purpose.”

She was 7 years old when the two-day attack began on Tulsa’s Greenwood district on May 31, 1921, after a local newspaper published a sensationalized report about a Black man accused of assaulting a white woman. As a white mob grew outside the courthouse, Black Tulsans with guns who hoped to prevent the man’s lynching began showing up. White residents responded with overwhelming force. Hundreds of people were killed and homes were burned and looted, leaving over 30 city blocks decimated in the prosperous community known as Black Wall Street.

Churchill’s future has looked bright in the past, then politics dimmed the lights

The future of the often-troubled and chronically overlooked Port of Churchill and Hudson Bay railway looks exceedingly bright.

Investing for ourselves, and those downstream

We have invested large sums of money in infrastructure before.

You don’t often hear Winnipeggers complaining about the results: soft, clean drinking water thanks to the Shoal Lake aqueduct and flood protection thanks to the Red River Floodway.

A new city report outlines the importance of upgrading Winnipeg’s North End sewage treatment plant, which is responsible for treating 70 per cent of the city’s wastewater and all sewage sludge. The report focuses on the upgrades’ potential benefits to the city, including increased capacity to build new homes and businesses, and related economic growth.

It briefly mentions that upgrades to the plant are necessary in order to meet environmental regulations designed to protect waterways from the discharge of harmful materials that compromise the health of the Red River and Lake Winnipeg.

First Nations sue over oil-rich land

A pair of First Nations are suing the provincial and federal governments, claiming land and mineral rights to a swath of land in southwestern Manitoba that generates more than $1.3 billion annually from oil and gas production.

Canupawakpa Dakota First Nation and Dakota Tipi First Nation filed a statement of claim in Court of King’s Bench on Thursday calling for a declaration of title and subsurface rights over Manitoba’s portion of the Williston Basin.

The oil-rich basin stretches from southwestern Manitoba into southern Saskatchewan and over the U.S. border. The Manitoba portion hosts at least 14 identified oil fields and is home to all the current oil production in the province, the lawsuit states.

The plaintiffs are claiming rights over the entirety of the basin in Manitoba, including the “right to economically participate in the extraction, development and production of subsurface minerals.”

Key elements in Trump’s 28-point peace proposal and why much of it is unacceptable for Ukraine

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — An American proposal to end the war in Ukraine puts the country in a delicate diplomatic position — caught between placating its most important ally, the United States, and not capitulating to Russia, its much larger neighbor that launched a full-scale invasion nearly four years ago.

The 28-point peace plan was crafted by U.S. President Donald Trump's administration and the Kremlin, without Ukraine's involvement. It acquiesces to many Russian demands that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has categorically rejected on dozens of occasions, including giving up large pieces of territory.

Russian President Vladimir Putin welcomed the proposal late Friday, saying it “could form the basis of a final peace settlement” if the U.S. can get Ukraine and its European allies to agree.

Striking a diplomatic tone Thursday in his nightly address to the nation, Zelenskyy said his country needs a peace that ensures Russia does not invade again. He said he would work with the European Union and the Americans.

Senators amend legislation to make it easier to pass on First Nations status

OTTAWA - Senators have passed sweeping amendments to a bill that would simplify the transfer of First Nations status between generations, rejecting the federal government's advice to limit its scope.

Bill S-2, introduced in the Senate with support by the Liberal government, was drafted to eliminate some gender inequities in the Indian Act and allow some 6,000 people to become eligible for First Nations status.

Some senators and Indigenous community leaders said the bill didn't go far enough.

On Tuesday, senators changed the legislation to eliminate what is known as the "second-generation cutoff," opting instead for a one-parent rule that would allow First Nations status to be transferred to a child if one of their parents is enrolled.

Encampment residents defiant as new policy takes effect

As the sun broke through the gap between two high-rise apartments on the north side of the Assiniboine River Monday morning, the large encampment tucked behind the Granite Curling Club lay quiet.

Monday marked the first day of the city’s new encampment policy, which bans such dwellings from more than a dozen areas — including anywhere within 50 metres of a nearby child-care centre, which parts of Mostyn Park are.

According to a recent email obtained by the Free Press from Greg MacPherson, the city’s senior co-ordinator of community development, the Mostyn Park encampment will be among those prioritized for dismantling in the coming weeks.

“I’ve been staying here for five years,” said Peter, who didn’t give his last name. “Why are they going to try to evict me now? And evict me from what? There’s no reason I should have to live like this in my own country.”

UN approves the Trump administration’s plan for the future of Gaza

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The Trump administration’s blueprint to secure and govern Gaza won strong approval at the United Nations on Monday, a crucial step that provides international support for U.S. efforts to move the devastated territory toward peace following two years of war.

The U.S. resolution that passed the U.N. Security Council authorizes an international stabilization force to provide security in Gaza, approves a transitional authority to be overseen by President Donald Trump and envisions a possible future path to an independent Palestinian state.

“This will go down as one of the biggest approvals in the History of the United Nations, will lead to further Peace all over the World, and is a moment of true Historic proportion!” Trump posted on social media.

The vote endorses Trump’s 20-point ceasefire plan and builds on the momentum of the fragile ceasefire he helped broker with allies. It marks a key next step for American efforts to outline Gaza’s future after the Israel-Hamas war destroyed much of the territory and killed tens of thousands of people.

Author goes far and wide on quest to document all plants native to Manitoba

When Diana Bizecki Robson was growing up in Saskatoon during the 1970s, she enjoyed riding her bike to parks and riverbanks where she spent hours studying the diversity of wild plants and their pollinators.

After deciding to become a biologist, Bizecki Robson worked for a few years as an environmental consultant which allowed her to conduct plant surveys. But it was when the opportunity to work at the Manitoba Museum came along — in October 2003 — that she could finally pursue the type of field work and research she loves.

Today, Bizecki Robson is the curator of botany at the Manitoba Museum. She oversees a herbarium which holds over 50,000 specimens.

“One of the things I discovered as part of a collection assessment project that I did when I first got here was that the museum did not have a specimen of every single species of plant or fungus or lichen (from this province) in its collection,” said Bizecki Robson.

Carré civique, le soutien générationnel

Je donne en famille consiste à lever des fonds pour l’avenir du carré civique. La particularité de ce soutien c’est qu’il implique différentes générations, notamment les plus jeunes qui peuvent parfois se sentir éloignés des sujets liés au patrimoine.

David Dandeneau tente de partager son engagement à tous et à différentes générations.

Le membre du conseil d’administration des Ami.e.s du Carré civique de Saint-Boniface (ACCSB) a eu l’idée de lever des fonds pour notamment assurer des dépenses opérationnelles et à terme préparer également le processus d’appel d’offres que s’apprête à lancer la Ville de Winnipeg.

C’est à travers l’ACCSB, qui a reçu le statut officiel d’organisme de bienfaisance et peut donc recevoir des dons depuis mars 2022, que le monde pourra donner ponctuellement pour cette campagne.

Cougar makes rare appearance in Manitoba

A cougar made a rare appearance on a trail camera in the Whiteshell Provincial Park.

Rare red auroras dazzle as part of Manitoba light show

Solar storm chasers, rejoice: 2025 was an excellent year for aurora borealis, and the remainder of the year could be just as active.

Our monuments, statues and memorials give form to honouring, grieving lives lost in war

Tucked at the end of a walkway, which dead-ends between the University Centre and the Helen Glass Centre for Nursing on the University of Manitoba campus, stands a monument in memory of students who never returned from the First World War.

Carved from local Tyndall stone and at just over a metre high, it commemorates the 30 medical students, from both the Manitoba Agricultural College, which later became part of the University of Manitoba, and other universities across the western provinces, who were killed while serving with the 11th Canadian Field Ambulance.

It’s just one of several monuments at the university marking student sacrifices during the First World War and one of many markers — from cenotaphs to statues and even lakes — across the province commemorating Manitobans who have served in conflicts since the province was created in 1870.

Many of those monuments are either hidden or in hard-to-find places. Even veterans from the Second World War — who not so long ago were part of marching parades and outdoor services marking Remembrance Day — are mostly tucked away living the remaining days of their lives in personal care homes.

Decades-long fight to repeal discriminatory second-generation cut-off rekindled on Parliament Hill

First Nations women who’ve spent a lifetime fighting for the right to belong in their own communities have been again travelling to Parliament Hill this fall, repeating their calls for change and their wish: for their children and grandchildren not to be excluded as they were.

Winnipeg MP’s private member’s bill would make residential school denialism a crime

Manitoba New Democrat MP Leah Gazan reintroduced a private member’s bill Friday that would criminalize residential school denialism, saying “real action” is needed to combat rising anti-Indigenous hate.

Bill C-254, if passed, would amend the Criminal Code to include the promotion of hatred against Indigenous Peoples by “condoning, denying, downplaying or justifying the Indian residential school system.”

“We cannot ignore the obvious, that residential school denialism is simply an act of inciting hate against Indigenous people,” Gazan, the MP for Winnipeg Centre, said in a news release.

“Members of Parliament must act immediately to uphold their safety, and I urge all my parliamentary colleagues to protect survivors and families by supporting this bill.”

A century later, Ukrainian church still helping new Ukrainians

When it was founded in 1925, St. Mary the Protectress Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral in the North End was a welcoming and helpful place for immigrants seeking new lives in Canada.

As the church celebrates its centennial, it is still welcoming and helping Ukrainians fleeing war in their homeland.

“Helping each other never stops,” Eugene Hyworon, co-chair of the cathedral’s centennial committee, said.

A centennial gala will be held Saturday.