Maritime historical groups earn UNESCO recognition for Black Loyalist archive

HALIFAX - Detailed ledgers, business receipts and church records from Black Loyalists in the 1780s and onward are more than just rich historical texts to Andrea Davis.

“This is a part of my history… it means so much to us as a community,” she said in an interview Saturday.

Davis is an eighth generation descendant of Black people who left the United States for Nova Scotia at the end of the American Revolution, siding with the British. The Black Loyalists were offered land, protection and freedom, but they were not given the rations, assistance or fertile land they were promised.

“My ancestors, they are a group of people that were not meant to survive, but they did. And so to be here to represent the Black Loyalists and my ancestors is extremely rewarding,” she said.

‘Fly WestJet, see a UFO’

The truth is out there — or at least it could be outside the cockpit of a WestJet flight.

In an incident reported by NAV Canada to Transport Canada on Friday, WestJet pilots had reported they had flown by “a basketball-sized object at 13,000 feet” during a flight from Winnipeg to Calgary on Jan. 19.

The pilots, of flight WJA485, were flying just northwest of Canmore at the time and descending to land in Calgary when the incident occurred.

NAV Canada has classified the incident, under occurrence event information, as a “weather balloon, meteor, rocket, CIRVIS/UFO.” CIRVIS stands for Communications Instructions for Reporting Vital Intelligence Sightings.

SiR’s upcoming season a case of all’s fair in love and war

A month before Christopher Nolan’s film adaptation of The Odyssey invades cinemas worldwide, Shakespeare in the Ruins’ 2026 season will feature a solo version of The Iliad, giving audiences a crash course in Homer’s epic prequel just in time for a blockbuster summer.

With global conflict and the threats of unmitigated re-armament on his — and everyone’s — mind, artistic director Rodrigo Beilfuss says it only made sense for the outdoor theatre company to return to the Trojan War as a window into the everlasting human cost of international conflict.

Beilfuss, who joined SiR as artistic director in 2019, made a concerted effort throughout the company’s return from pandemic-induced hiatus to program gentler fare. But with last year’s well-received production of Macbeth, the company indicated it was ready to return to tragic terrain.

During a season backdropped by wildfire, the artistic director was reminded of the potential for the classics to cut through the smoke and reveal eternal truths as the world burns.

Finance minister’s budget preview focuses on little feet

Manitoba’s finance minister — who had bags of children’s shoes in tow — announced Friday that families and affordability measures would feature prominently in Tuesday’s budget.

Adrien Sala went to Linwood Child Centre, his children’s former daycare, to announce that 2,000 childcare spaces would open within the province.

Tuesday’s budget will also include a 2.9 per cent increase to wages paid to early childhood educators as of September.

“We’re looking to make sure that we invest in you guys, our next generation,” Sala said, steps from children at Linwood.

‘Give ourselves the means to achieve our ambitions’: province gets feedback on French plan

Hiring more bilingual employees for the province’s public service, providing more services in French and making the history of the Francophonie a part of school curriculum could help make Manitoba a “truly” bilingual province.

That was the consensus from a survey taken by Manitobans aimed at shaping the NDP government’s francophone strategy. The results of the survey, which polled 1,600 Manitobans, was released Friday with a timeline for the government’s planned strategy.

Asked what a “truly bilingual province” means to them, 50 per cent of respondents answered “services.”

Bilingualism in the classroom was the top priority among respondents, followed by bilingualism in the health-care and social services systems and government bilingualism.

More than 20 per cent of Manitobans think the U.S. could invade Canada in the next two years, poll conducted for the Free Press reveals

It has been more than two centuries since American troops crossed the international border in 1812 and invaded what was then the British colony of Canada — but that feeling of everlasting peace is fading.

Against the backdrop of the U.S. war with Iran, its forced removal of Venezuela’s president and President Donald Trump’s musing about annexing Greenland and making Canada the 51st state, some Manitobans are beginning to fear the spectre of armed conflict between this country and its neighbour to the south.

More than one out of five Manitobans believe an American invasion of Canada is possible in the next two years, according to a new Probe Research poll commissioned by the Free Press. Of those, 18 per cent of respondents said the prospect was somewhat likely, and four per cent felt it was very likely.

“The idea of the U.S. invading, for a long time, seemed preposterous. This certainly isn’t a question that we would’ve expected to ask people even a couple of years ago, but we wanted to understand with all of the things that have been happening in the last few months… if this is something that people think is a possibility,” said Curtis Brown, principal of Probe Research.

For vintage sewing-machine aficionado, it’s all about seeing them stitch again

Dave Johnson, a semi-retired snowplow operator who also worked as a homebuilder, collects, repairs and uses vintage sewing machines.

Winnipeg and ground squirrels

In a move shocking to many local animal lovers, the City of Winnipeg has opted to go ahead with its plan to kill ground squirrels at nine city parks and fields via methods that animal advocates say will cause prolonged pain and suffering.

Shopping bill is a good pre-emptive strike

On the face of it, it looks like a solution desperately hunting for a problem.

But that’s sometimes the way proactive legislation looks.

As first salvos go, Manitoba’s Bill 49 should probably be viewed not an effort not to deal with an imaginary problem, but one being put in place to ensure that the problem doesn’t arrive.

What the bill does is to add individual pricing to the province’s collection of improper business practices.

PUB locks in Hydro rate increases, warns more on way

Manitoba Hydro customers can expect further upward pressure in rates as the Public Utilities Board has finalized a four per cent general rate increase — effective Jan. 1, 2026 — and approved general revenue increases of 3.5 per cent Jan. 1, 2027, and three per cent Jan. 1, 2028.

The board noted short-term financial pressure due to severe drought conditions, according to a news release late Thursday.

In 2025, water flows approached the second-lowest levels in 112 years, the release said.

Between filing the application in March 2025 and oral hearings in November, Hydro’s outloook worsened by more than $600 million — from a projected net income of $218 million to a projected loss of $409 million, the board’s release said.

Downtown mulls uncertain impact of Fairmont downtime

As the Fairmont Winnipeg hotel prepares to close its doors this summer for a months-long renovation project, surrounding businesses say they’re waiting to see what the impact will be on Winnipeg’s downtown.

Any time Palomino Club owner Christian Stringer books an act outside of the province, he’ll set them up at the Fairmont — most recently, DJ Pauly D of Jersey Shore fame — and a chunk of his customer base is out-of-towners staying at the nearby hotel looking for a bit of fun.

“(The Fairmont) has always been the five-star (hotel) for us,” Stringer said Thursday.

He said he’s not sure how much the hotel closing from July until spring of 2027 will affect business. He worries it might complicate bringing in performers from outside of Canada — a practice he’s already had to cut back on as the Canadian dollar has made it harder to meet the asking price of U.S. acts.

Construction groups miffed by new fee on public-sector projects

Three large construction associations in Manitoba say the cost of huge public projects will soar thanks to a new fee implemented by the province, and they want the auditor general to investigate it.

The fee is applied to projects covered by Manitoba Jobs Agreements, which launched last year to try to ensure more local workers and contractors benefit from big public-sector projects. Builders must pay 85 cents per hour, per worker.

The Winnipeg Construction Association, Manitoba Heavy Construction Association and the Construction Association of Rural Manitoba attacked the fee in a joint letter Thursday.

“The 85 cents per hour has nothing to do with wages of workers on site,” said Darryl Harrison, director of the Winnipeg association. “Every cent… (could) be spent in other ways that help the Manitoba taxpayer.

Manitoba Opera season features reimagined Scott Joplin work and Puccini classic

Manitoba Opera’s 54th season will feature a once-forgotten masterpiece and a returning classic.

The 2026-27 season opens with the local première of Scott Joplin’s Treemonisha: A Musical Reimagining (Nov. 21, 25, 27) and closes with Madama Butterfly (April 17, 21, 23, 2027), both performed at the Centennial Concert Hall.

Treemonisha was published in 1911 by Scott Joplin, the celebrated African-American pianist and composer often referred to as the King of Ragtime. Set during the Reconstruction era in the United States, the three-act opera focuses on the story of its title character, a young freedwoman, and fuses Western classical music with blues, gospel and ragtime.

The work proved too groundbreaking for the Euro-centric opera establishment and was produced for the first time in 1970, more than 50 years after Joplin’s death. The composer was awarded a Pulitzer Prize posthumously for his contributions to American music.

Residents pigeonhole hobbyist’s backyard aviary as health risk, nuisance

Some Winnipeg residents will flock to city hall next week, aiming to oppose a racing-pigeon aviary in their neighbourhood.

However, supporters of the practice say the birds should ruffle few feathers.

The city’s urban planning and design division approved the construction of a 3.9-square-metre (42-square-foot) structure to house racing pigeons in a Strathcona Street backyard.

“The relatively small structure is significantly smaller than a vehicle garage, and would not be out of character on the lot,” writes city planner Dylan Chyz-Lund, in a city report.

Friends’ infill complexes ensure designs fit, respect older neighbourhoods

A couple of childhood friends are taking a sensitive approach to infill housing, including a recently completed fourplex in Norwood they say fits the mature neighbourhood.

B2K Builders, co-founded by Matt Vis and Brandon Bunkowsky, incorporated their company in 2024, but are already in the process of breaking ground on their third project.

“It takes so much time for neighbourhoods to really come alive. And so we really see the value in infill in these more centralized, mature neighbourhoods,” Bunkowsky said.

A fourplex on Des Meurons Street is a new build in the established Norwood area, but Bunkowsky believes infill housing is the best way to densify neighbourhoods, increase property values and address Winnipeg’s urban sprawl.

Meteorite hunters scour Ohio for fragments of 7-ton space rock that crashed into Earth

MEDINA, Ohio (AP) — Meteorite hunters fanned out across a wide swath of Ohio on Thursday, hoping to collect fragments of an estimated 7-ton (6,350 kilograms) space rock that crashed into Earth this week after a dazzling fireball that was seen from hundreds of miles away.

The meteoroid broke apart around 9 a.m. Tuesday over Valley City, a half-hour south of Cleveland, after it sped through the atmosphere at about 45,000 miles (72,420 kilometers) per hour. It caused a sonic boom that rattled buildings and caused fears of an explosion. The fireball was seen from Wisconsin to Maryland, and NASA confirmed it was a meteoroid nearly 6 feet (1.8 meters) in diameter.

Medina resident December Harris didn’t have to go looking — her cousin and roommate, Ambra Sinclair, found a small black rock they suspect is a meteorite when she was leaving for work. They had heard the sonic boom Tuesday morning but figured it might have been noise from a nearby airport.

Harris said her roommate found the rock in a 4-foot (1.2-meter) area between the garage and the house late Wednesday morning. She described it as somewhat triangular shaped, less than 2 inches (5 centimeters) in diameter — and “very, very black,” with pits on the surface, grooves and a melted texture on its exterior.

Local TV stations ask regulator to force Meta to pay for posting some news content

OTTAWA - Some local and independent TV stations are asking the federal broadcast regulator to start a process to force Meta to pay for allowing some news content on Facebook and Instagram.

They say that despite Meta’s move in 2023 to pull news from its platforms in response to the Online News Act, some content remains available.

The Online News Act requires Meta and Google to compensate media outlets for displaying their content. While Meta pulled news from its platforms in response and has not been required to pay news outlets, Google has been making payments under the act.

In a submission to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, the stations cite examples of online posts that included news content, such as text and screenshots of stories and video clips.

Unusual atmospheric river will impact B.C. for days, even after it ends, says expert

VANCOUVER - Emergency officials say residents stranded by an early morning mudslide in Coquitlam, B.C., on Thursday have been safely extracted by helicopter, but a meteorologist warns such slides remain a possibility as an atmospheric river continues to drench the province.

RCMP say they were called to a rural area near the Upper Coquitlam River just after 5:30 a.m. following reports of a mudslide north of the Upper Coquitlam River Park. Coquitlam Search and Rescue said in a social media post that its crews started to rescue residents, who were stranded on the north end of Pipeline Road, just before 10 a.m.

The post said all eight residents, two dogs and one cat living in the area were extracted by a helicopter by 2:45 p.m.

BC Hydro said the slide knocked down a power line, temporarily leaving some 5,000 people without power. The utility expected power to be restored to all affected customers late Thursday or early Friday, but noted crews were having difficulty accessing the damage due to the unstable ground.

Consumers favouring combustion engine cars as interest in EVs wanes: report

TORONTO - A new report shows consumers are increasingly favouring internal combustion engine cars for their next car purchase rather than an electric vehicle.

The latest EY mobility consumer index for 2025 shows only seven per cent of those planning to buy a car in the next 24 months intended to buy an EV, down from 15 per cent in the previous report from 2024.

Meanwhile, 58 per cent said they preferred an internal combustion engine vehicle, up from 44 per cent in 2024.

The report, published on Thursday, found 30 per cent of Canadians hoping to buy a car soon are delaying or reconsidering an EV purchase in light of recent geopolitical issues.

Canada drops down to 25th place in world happiness rankings: report

TORONTO - Canada's happiness ranking slipped again last year, continuing a decade-long trend that's seen the country plummet from the 5th happiest in the world in 2014 to 25th in 2026.

The annual World Happiness Report from the Wellbeing Research Centre at the University of Oxford looked at how social media use might be affecting happiness on a population level, and found in some cases it was having an impact.

"There's probably no simple explanation as to why Canadians' view of happiness has been dropping. What this report suggests is that social media could be one part of this puzzle, but it doesn't seem like it's the full picture," said Felix Cheung, a happiness researcher at the University of Toronto, who reviewed two chapters in the report but did not write it.

Between 2023 and 2025, the timeframe the researchers used for this report, Canadians' life evaluations averaged at 6.741 out of 10. In Finland, the happiest country in the world for nine years running, the average was 7.764.

Proactive planning for a future with more seniors

They’re supposed to be “the golden years.” But for many Manitobans in the ever-expanding 65-plus age bracket, life is anything but a warm and gentle journey toward a tranquil, glowing sunset.

Squirrel skirmish: animal groups fight province’s pesticide approval

Animal rights groups are protesting a decision by the province to allow the city to use two chemicals to control its ground squirrel populations at some parks.

The city received permission from the province to use Rozol RTU field rodent bait and RoCon concentrate rodenticide for a year in an effort to control squirrels at nine parks.

“It’s disappointing,” said Danae Tonge of Manitoba Animal Save. “The city had a year to come up with something else but they didn’t. Why would the province have approved this?”

The group is set to hold a noon-hour rally outside city hall on Thursday followed by a protest at the Legislature starting at 1:15 p.m.

Most Canadians want to ban or regulate algorithmic pricing, poll shows

OTTAWA - Most Canadians want the government to ban or regulate the use of algorithms to set prices, a new poll suggests — with half of respondents saying the practice is unfair because it can result in people paying different prices for the same product.

The Abacus Data poll, which was conducted online and can't be assigned a margin of error, surveyed 1,931 Canadians on algorithmic pricing.

The poll defined algorithmic pricing as the adjustment of prices in real time based on such factors as who is buying, the time of day and browsing behaviour.

Algorithmic pricing is already established in sectors like travel but has been expanding into other markets, such as retail and rental housing. It could, for example, lead to a retailer charging different prices for diapers online, depending on what it can glean about a shopper's habits.