Alain Boucher: insuffler l’espoir au coeur du traitement

Pour Alain Boucher, rien n’est plus essentiel à la guérison qu’un grand sourire et un cœur léger. Au cours des six dernières années comme bénévole chez Action Cancer Manitoba, il a mis cette philosophie en pratique. Et avec beaucoup de succès!

Au moins deux fois par semaine, il apporte ce sourire, son attitude positive, sa sensibilité et sa capacité de bien connecter à travers le dialogue avec les clients de l’organisme.

Il affirme que c’est, avant tout, son engagement à reconnaître l’humanité de chacun de ses clients qui le rend fier du travail qu’il accomplit.

“Apporter une touche humaine à leur situation, je vois que ça fait une énorme différence. Puis ça, c’est bien la meilleure récompense. Pas besoin de salaire pour ça,” dit-il en souriant.

Mass cybersecurity breach of learning platform hits Canadian post-secondary schools

Multiple post-secondary institutions across Canada say they've been impacted by a cyberattack targeting an education system used by thousands of schools globally.

Technology company Instructure said it launched an investigation on April 29 after detecting "unauthorized activity" in Canvas, a learning platform for schools that manages student coursework, grades and other education materials.

Information affected by the attack may include names, emails and messages exchanged within the platform, but there's no evidence that passwords, financial information or government identifiers have been compromised, the company said.

Instructure said Canvas went off-line temporarily but is now available to use, and an investigation into the breach is ongoing with a third-party forensic firm and law enforcement.

U of M fundraising $30K for dedicated breastfeeding space

The University of Manitoba is fundraising $30,000 for a lactation pod in an effort to address gaps in academia which have led to a “leaky pipeline.”

Parents irked after school ditches Mother’s Day

Winnipeg families are decrying an elementary school’s decision to rebrand an annual tradition — making macaroni necklaces and other crafts for Mother’s Day — in the name of inclusion.

Grade 1 and 2 teachers at Sage Creek School informed parents this week that their children will bring home “family gifts” later this spring.

Instead of making items specifically for Mother’s Day or Father’s Day, student-made creations will be distributed on May 15, the International Day of Families.

“Where is the line? What is next? At what point are you being more exclusive than inclusive?” said Ashley Dolphin, a mother of two, including a Grade 1 student at the kindergarten-to-Grade 8 school.

Project brings seniors, students together over love of gardening

Seniors and high school students in North Kildonan are growing vegetables and community through a unique indoor gardening project.

An important step for provincial child care

In the recent provincial budget, Manitoba took an important step toward reducing child poverty and strengthening our early learning and child-care system.

Funding to boost early childhood educators’ pay helps some, not others, longtime workers in field lament

Although the federal and provincial governments are boosting early childhood educator wages by more than $14 million this year, some who’ve been working in the field a long time are feeling somewhat overlooked.

Youth social media ban likely to begin in schools, provincial education minister says

The first phase of a provincial social media ban for youth will likely start with Manitoba schools, which already restrict cellphone use, Education Minister Tracy Schmidt said Monday.

Teacher spots in demand after certification changes

Universities are being flooded with applications from aspiring teachers now that it’s easier to become certified in Manitoba.

Following years of struggle to fill available seats, faculties of education are scaling up after-degree programs this fall to meet newfound demand.

The University of Manitoba is adding 105 undergraduate seats in September, with a specific focus on graduating more kindergarten-to-Grade 8 teachers.

“We need to get more fully trained teachers out in the field to address the provincial needs. We can’t have classrooms without teachers,” education dean Jan Stewart said.

Motherless Day embraces those grieving parental loss

There’s a collage in Katrina Zborowsky’s bedroom that is greater than the sum of its parts. The collection of fragments is tangible evidence that Zborowsky, 32, has successfully navigated yet another Mother’s Day after the loss of her mother Doris, 57, in a cycling accident in September 2020.

Brainstorming session proposes solutions to alarming rate of student absenteeism

Dante Taylor spent much of his early high school career ditching class — a routine occurrence outside of football season — to hang out at trap houses in Winnipeg.

“For so long, I just didn’t care,” the 16-year-old told an auditorium packed with 200 people, many of them principals and superintendents, at a summit on student absenteeism.

“It wasn’t something that seemed to be important to me because it didn’t seem to be important to anybody that I was around.”

Dante said his perspective changed recently, after meeting with a guidance counsellor, doing extensive self-reflection and enrolling in a physics course that he finds equally fascinating and challenging.

North End vocational school opens ‘cultural learning lab’ creative design studio

A North End warehouse has been converted into a multi-purpose design studio where students can sew ribbon skirts, print 3D models and launch businesses.

The Winnipeg School Division celebrated the grand opening of its Waabishkaa-Makwa Lab last week.

The first-of-its-kind “cultural learning lab” embeds Indigenous teachings into project-based learning activities.

For more than a decade, the 4,500-square-foot space inside R.B. Russell Vocational School had been collecting dust and housing broken equipment.

Province boosts CFS funding by $29M

The Manitoba government has earmarked an additional $29.2 million to bolster supports for children, youth and families in the child welfare system, but critics say it isn’t enough.

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.

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.

Clowns take to the streets of Bolivia to protest decree that could crush their livelihoods

LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — Dozens of clowns marched through the streets of Bolivia’s capital on Monday to protest a government decree that limits extracurricular activities, threatening their livelihoods.

Wearing full face paint and their signature red noses, the clowns gathered in front of the Ministry of Education in La Paz to oppose a decree published in February. The new mandate says schools must comply with 200 days of lessons each year — effectively banning schools from hosting the special events where these entertainers are frequently employed.

“This decree will economically affect all of us who work with children,” said Wilder Ramírez, a leader of the local clown union, who also goes by the name of Zapallito. The clown told journalists that “children need to laugh” while his colleagues wondered out loud if Bolivia’s Education Minister had ever had a childhood.

Clowns in Bolivia are often hired for school festivities to entertain children during breaks from their regular lessons. One such upcoming event is Children’s Day, which the country celebrates on April 12.

Quebec man charged with fraud in local ‘grandparent scam’

Winnipeg police have arrested a 24-year-old Quebec man in a so-called grandparent scam carried out last month.

Police said Friday that a person in their 80s was contacted by someone posing as a justice official. The caller claimed a relative had been arrested and that money was needed to keep them out of jail.

After the victim agreed to pay the amount, an unknown man arrived at their home to collect the money.

The victim later learned from family members that the story was false, and reported the incident to police.