As permafrost thaws, some headwaters in Canada’s North turn orange and toxic: study

Ancient bedrock exposed by disappearing permafrost is releasing toxic metals into Canada's northern rivers, a new study says, with once-pristine subarctic streams now comparable in some cases to highly acidic, contaminated mining sites.

The findings out of Yukon point to an "unfolding environmental disaster," one co-author said, and adds to alarm over the rapid climate-fuelled changes in the North.

"We don't know the end point, but there's nothing about this that gives me any feeling of like, 'oh, we're going to be OK'," said co-author Sean Carey, a professor at McMaster University.

"I'm not even a gloomy person. This looks pretty gloomy."

Her Sports Fest hopes to reconnect women to recreational sports and activity

TORONTO - More than a year ago, Sherry Lamb woke up from a dream with a fully formed idea for a multi-sport event where women of different ages and backgrounds could get together and try them all out.

She collaborated with longtime friend Carolyn Jeffs to develop and program Her Sports Fest, a three-day event that will open Friday evening at The Hangar Sport and Events Centre in Toronto's north end. Both Lamb and Jeffs hope it will help girls and women reconnect with or maintain their love of sports.

"I saw the event in my head. I could just see the whole thing, the entire event, and the idea wouldn't let me go," said Lamb. "So I called my friend Carolyn and said, 'What are we both passionate about?' and without missing a beat, she said, 'women's sports,' and I said, 'Well, I have a bit of an idea for you.'

"Since then, we've registered as a non-profit and, 15 months later, we're here, we're ready to go."

Louis Riel division hires province’s first Indigenous woman superintendent

The new leader of the Louis Riel School Division is a Métis teacher who has — not unlike the founder of Manitoba — dedicated much of her life to supporting Indigenous families.

Jackie Connell has been named the incoming superintendent and chief executive officer of the St. Vital-based board office in charge of educating 17,000 students.

The board of trustees announced her historic appointment, which begins Aug. 4, late Tuesday.

“I feel Indigenous women are inherently built to lead. I don’t know that education systems always see or honour that leadership,” Connell said in an interview Wednesday.

Infielder Matsubara playing big role in UBC’s historic run

Jill Matsubara has been on the road for the last two weeks, but she’s not itching to return home.

If things go her way, she’ll happily continue to live out of her suitcase.

You see, the Winnipeg-born sophomore infielder is in the midst of a historic run with the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds, who are preparing for their first appearance in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Softball World Series in Columbus, Ga., this week.

It took a few timely hits and some good fortune for the Thunderbirds to reach the national championship tournament, but for Matsubara, this was the inevitable next step for the program after reaching the NAIA Championship Opening Round tournament — which precedes the World Series — for the first time last year.

Time for change? Province launches survey to review clock changes

The provincial government has asked Manitobans to weigh in on whether to end the seasonal time change.

Premier has everyone’s attention on and about social media; now it’s time for some careful thought

Using social media to condemn social media may seem hypocritical. But when you look at the audience Premier Wab Kinew commands across his social media accounts, there is a certain logic. An admittedly perverse logic, but logic all the same.

Retail crime claims another 7-Eleven in city; shoplifters target stretch of St. Anne’s Road ‘almost daily’

It may be a different location, but it’s a similar story playing out at a St. Vital 7-Eleven store that’s closing its doors at the end of the month.

May long weekend second-coldest on record

The May long weekend was one of the coldest on record in Winnipeg.

The average daily high for the three days failed to reach double digits, hovering between 9.3 C to 9.6 C, said Matt Loney, a meteorologist with Environment Canada.

It’s the second-coldest on record, failing to topple the record average daily high of 6.3 C logged on May long 1882.

“It’s definitely abnormal,” said Loney of the preliminary figures. “You wouldn’t expect temperatures to be that low, but it can happen and it has happened before.”

Hands-on workshop guides process of making unique, custom silver jewellery

I know things aren’t going well when cracks keep forming on my clay — but not to worry. I’d been paying attention when instructors Jillian Sheedy and Joanne Roberts told me how to deal with this problem.

So I confidently dip my brush into the water and start moistening my clay to smooth it out. Except I’ve added a bit more water than I should have, and now the clay is wet and extremely sticky.

Beside me, Roberts smiles reassuringly.

“It’s a task that requires a little bit of patience,” she says, carefully removing the brush from my hand.

Hydro advisory circle brings ‘wealth of Indigenous perspectives’

The board of Manitoba Hydro has appointed an Indigenous advisory circle as part of the Crown corporation’s reconciliation efforts.

Former Fox Lake Cree Nation chief and Keeyask Hydropower Limited Partnership board chair Robert Wavey will co-chair the group with Manitoba Hydro board chairman Jamie Wilson. The provincial government ordered the creation of the advisory circle in its 2023 mandate letter to Hydro’s board.

“I think we wanted to get everything right on this one,” Wilson said when asked why it has taken more than two years to appoint Indigenous advisers.

“This is a pretty fantastic group of people from a diverse background, including communities that are directly impacted by Hydro development in the past,” the first Indigenous chairman of the Manitoba Hydro board said in an interview Tuesday.

This not just in: treaty rights carry legal force and are protected in the Constitution

More than a century after the numbered treaties were signed across Western Canada, the courts delivered a blunt reminder last week that those agreements are not ancient historical footnotes.

They still carry legal force and governments cannot ignore them.

Two major court rulings — one in Manitoba and one in Alberta — reinforced a reality many Canadians still do not fully understand: treaties between First Nations and the Crown remain constitutionally protected agreements that continue to shape Canadian law, public policy and governments’ obligations today.

The decisions also underscored something else: Canadians would benefit greatly from learning more about treaties, why they were negotiated as Canada expanded westward and why courts continue to uphold Indigenous and treaty rights.

A mop, a broom and a calmer mind. Why some find mental health benefits in everyday tasks

NEW YORK (AP) — It's spring cleaning season, and for some people that can mean drudgery or anxiety.

But experts from Zen monks to psychologists say there are mental health benefits to be found in such manual chores as sweeping, mopping and clearing away clutter. These tasks can encourage mindfulness or permit the mind to wander, all while producing a concrete sense of achievement in accomplishing the basic tasks of daily life.

As one famous Zen saying goes:

“Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water.”

Snowbirds aerobatic team grounded until early 2030s while new planes purchased

MOOSE JAW -

Canada’s famous military aerial ambassadors – the Snowbirds – will soon be grounded.

Defence Minister David McGuinty announced Tuesday that after this upcoming season, the nine-jet aerobatic team will be mothballed until the early 2030s.

The pause is to allow the team’s signature but aging CT-114 Tutor jets to be replaced by the CT-157 Siskin II.

Coming up roses: City gardeners put ‘petal’ to the metal every spring to help Winnipeg blossom

They get little recognition, but the work they do every summer is admired by thousands across Winnipeg.

As the overnight frost clears for the season, flower beds and pots across the city will be filled and refreshed. Behind the effort is a team of 40 gardeners, injecting splashes of purple, gold, yellow and red into the cityscape.

David Domke, the city’s manager of parks and open space, said like the gardens they tend to, the team of green thumbs is diverse.

“It’s really a mixture of experienced and inexperienced people. A lot of the time, we’ve got some pretty serious gardeners,” he said. “We get them all over the place really, but they all have one thing in common; and that’s a real love of plants.”

Niverville Nighthawks defeat Summerside Western Capitals 4-1 to take Centennial Cup

For just the fourth time in history, the best junior A team in Canada comes from Manitoba. The Niverville Nighthawks joined the Portage Terriers and Selkirk Steelers in lifting the Centennial Cup, defeating the host Summerside Western Capitals 4-1 in the 2026 final Sunday evening in P.E.I.

People for Education explore convergence of public education and truth and reconciliation

A national charity is putting Manitoba’s school system under the microscope as it develops a plan to protect and bolster publicly funded classrooms across Canada.

Despite cool temperatures, campers determined to enjoy Victoria Day weekend

BIRDS HILL — When Steven Cong and his partner Teresa Calderon arrived at their campsite in Birds Hill Provincial Park on Saturday, their first order of business was to get a fire going.

The Winnipeg couple rented a site on Grackle Bay in the provincial campground for three days, hoping to spend the May long weekend sleeping in a tent and enjoying the solitude of life outside the city.

But as temperatures hovered around 3 C shortly after 10 a.m., they wondered whether it was worth unpacking their gear.

“Normally, I would tough it out, but I’m getting older now,” Cong, 41, said with a chuckle. “If it doesn’t rain, then we’ll stay, but if it starts raining, that’s miserable.”

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.

Pair of bird books offer fascinating insight into the avian world

These two newly-released bird books couldn’t be more different. Jackie Morris and Robert Macfarlane’s The Book of Birds is artful and poetic; Louis Lefebvre’s A Bird’s IQ is analytical and academic. Each would make an attractive addition to the libraries of people interested in birds — but not without certain provisos.

The subtitle of The Book of Birds is deceptive — it’s not really a “Field Guide” in the usual sense, too substantial and beautiful to carry along on a bird outing. In hardback with a blue cloth spine and a blue-ribbon page-holder, it’s more like a church song missal than toteable identification helper. It’s best kept inside, protected from wind and weather and damp fingerprints.

The Book of Birds is a follow-up to Morris and Macfarlane’s previous collaboration The Lost Words. When the Oxford Junior Dictionary dropped a bunch of words connected to the natural world (such as acorn, otter, fern, newt and wren), the renowned artist and celebrated author created a “spell book” to conjure back 20 of those words and bring increased awareness of the things the words describe. It proved to be immensely popular.

Here they focus on 49 birds, presented alphabetically from avocet to kestrel to sparrow to yellowhammer, that are in danger of disappearing completely from the natural (European) world. Morris provides the spectacular bird illustrations, and Macfarlane waxes poetic on each of them in the hopes readers will not just identify birds, but “identify with them.”

Fort Richmond elementary school shedding racist lord’s name

Dalhousie School is undergoing a rebrand so it’s no longer affiliated with a Scottish soldier, lord and colonial leader who supported slavery.

The Pembina Trails School Division put a out a call this week for suggestions to rename the elementary building located at 262 Dalhousie Dr.

Its current namesake is George Ramsay, also known as Lord Dalhousie or the ninth Earl of Dalhousie — a title of nobility passed down in his prominent Scottish clan.

“Our whole slogan is, ‘Our differences make us strong,’” said Evi Klostermaier, acting principal of the kindergarten-to-Grade 5 school in Fort Richmond.

$61-M investment in high-speed Internet planned for northern First Nations

More homes on remote Manitoba First Nations will have access to high-speed Internet that most Canadians take for granted thanks to $61 million in new federal funding.

“Your communities have been living way too long without internet,” federal Northern and Arctic Affairs Minister Rebecca Chartrand told a gathering at Wasagamack Anisininew Nation Thursday. The MP for northern Manitoba said the four projects will deliver modern, reliable internet to 2,309 households.

“This really is a public safety issue and an equity issue,” Chartrand said in the community 600 kilometres north of Winnipeg that’s accessible by air, water and winter road.

“The lack of broadband has been a public safety failure. When families can’t call for help or nurses can’t access files or lives are at risk when you’re travelling roads without phone service, without internet,” she said.

Indigenous hoopster’s son on mission to get dad inducted into Canadian Basketball Hall of Fame

Terry Garrow already received his flowers. Now he’s on a mission to make sure his late father gets his.

By his estimation, his father has been overlooked for far too long when it comes to recognizing the most influential players, fearless leaders and forward-thinking builders who have helped shape Canadian basketball.

He understands that his pleas come from a point of bias, but that doesn’t change the facts in his mind: Alex Garrow deserves to be in the Canadian Basketball Hall of Fame.

Not for the success he experienced during a short career in the early 1960s, but for his resilience as a trailblazer during a time in which Indigenous athletes were largely an afterthought. And how fitting it would be for Alex to be the first Indigenous player immortalized.

Sandhu siblings two of four Manitobans heading to Pan Am Youth Championships

It’s become evident that Khushreet and Laganjot Sandhu hit the bullseye when choosing which sport they would dedicate themselves to for the foreseeable future.

The Winnipeg siblings haven’t been in Archery very long — Khushreet started three years ago, Laganjot two — but there’s a consensus that they are both on a rocket ship trajectory up the local, national, and possibly global ranks.

“I just kind of got into the rhythm, and I really fell in love with it,” said 12-year-old Laganjot, who was drawn to a bow and arrow shortly after watching his sister. “But also on the competitive side, I really wanted to get better than my sister at it.”

It doesn’t matter if it’s their studies or in sports, the siblings are as competitive as it gets, and it’s fostered some tremendous individual success.