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Please review each article prior to use: grade-level applicability and curricular alignment might not be obvious from the headline alone.

supplied Camp Massad in Winnipeg Beach.
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Longtime attendee of Winnipeg Beach Jewish camp now program and planning director

Gillian Brown 2 minute read Preview
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Longtime attendee of Winnipeg Beach Jewish camp now program and planning director

Gillian Brown 2 minute read Saturday, Aug. 28, 2021

It’s difficult for Drew McGillawee to pinpoint just one favourite part of his 18 summers at Camp Massad, but his biggest takeaway is that attending camp shaped him into the person he is today.

“Camp is the place that allowed me to be myself and allowed me to come out of my shell,” the 25-year-old Winnipegger said.

“Any job that I’ve had outside of camp is because of all the skills that I gained at camp, and all of my best friends are from my experiences at camp.”

This summer, McGillawee acted as director of planning and programming at the Jewish summer camp in Winnipeg Beach. The job allowed him to help attendees have the same formative experiences that he did.

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Saturday, Aug. 28, 2021
Cloud pruning is a technique used to train mugo pines into a shape resembling a cloud.
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Japanese garden an enduring cultural experience

Colleen Zacharias 7 minute read Preview
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Japanese garden an enduring cultural experience

Colleen Zacharias 7 minute read Saturday, Aug. 28, 2021

The Japanese Cultural Association of Manitoba, 180 McPhillips St., opened to the public in 1987. The centre offers a wide range of programs which are designed to promote and enhance the understanding of Japanese culture. The centre also serves as the site for a beautiful Japanese garden. Built by Yoshimaru Abe who was born in Japan in 1914 and came to Canada with his family in 1927, the garden is an enduring cultural experience.

Prior to building the garden at the centre, visitors to the Japanese Folklorama exhibit in 1971 and in the years following had the opportunity to see a Japanese garden recreated by Abe. Using moss, rocks, and pieces of wood, Abe recreated an authentic Japanese garden on a concrete arena floor.

A gardener is called niwashi in Japanese. Abe was the distinguished niwashi at the Japanese cultural centre’s garden into his 90’s and was followed by Sam Matsuo, who maintained the garden for 10 years. Both Abe and Matsuo were assisted by dedicated volunteers. Today the niwashi is Raymond Normandeau, who has been involved with the centre for several years as well as in the building of the garden at the Japanese Pavilion at Folklorama. Normandeau will oversee an expansion of the garden at the Japanese Cultural Association — which is slated to begin this fall.

Currently, there are two different areas to the garden. The front garden is a long narrow strip on the outside of the building that faces into a concrete parking lot. The inner garden is an enclosed garden accessed by a short bridge and tall wooden gate. “It is not a pure Japanese garden,” says Normandeau. “It is representative of a Japanese garden. We don’t have the stalwarts of Japanese gardens — bamboo, clipped azaleas, and the black pine which is one of the most popular pine species in a Japanese garden.” But many fine elements of Japanese garden design can indeed be found here.

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Saturday, Aug. 28, 2021
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES NDP Hydro Critic Adrien Sala: “It is taking far longer than anyone expected it to.

‘Ignominious anniversary’ of Hydro’s stalled broadband deal

Martin Cash 3 minute read Preview

‘Ignominious anniversary’ of Hydro’s stalled broadband deal

Martin Cash 3 minute read Thursday, Aug. 26, 2021

A year after Manitoba Hydro stopped taking on new contracts for broadband network access, and three months after Xplornet won the bid to manage that network, critics are complaining the continuing moratorium has left would-be customers in the lurch.

Adrien Sala, NDP critic for Hydro, is calling on the Progressive Conservative government to end the stop sell order and disclose the revenue losses suffered from the disruption.

“It is taking far longer than anyone expected it to and it is creating further and further delays for a lot of ISPs (Internet service providers), school divisions and regional health authorities that have asked for service upgrades,” Sala said.

A spokesperson for Reg Helwer, minister of central services, confirmed that the Xplornet agreement has yet to be finalized but is expected to be soon.

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Thursday, Aug. 26, 2021
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS The Craig Block, which has gone up for sale, housed perhaps the first Black union in North America, the Order of Sleeping Car Porters.
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Craig Block link to city’s Black history

Cody Sellar 4 minute read Preview
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Craig Block link to city’s Black history

Cody Sellar 4 minute read Thursday, Aug. 26, 2021

Above a fruit seller in a small brick building on Main Street, a group of Black railway porters made history.

The Order of Sleeping Car Porters, formed in Winnipeg in 1917, was North America’s first Black labour union. Five years later, they established offices and a meeting hall on the second storey of the building, the Craig Block, at 795 Main St.

Now, the building has hit the market, without any historical status protections or a bronze plaque to commemorate its history.

History writer Christian Cassidy said he’s seen the building, which recently housed retail store Ma’s Fishing, go up for sale once or twice in the past. Each time, he worries someone will buy it and knock it down. It’s one of last buildings that links Winnipeg to the history of its Black communities.

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Thursday, Aug. 26, 2021
SUPPLIED The City of Selkirk announced it has purchased the Garry Theatre for $350,000, plus closing costs.
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The show must go on as Selkirk buys theatre

Cody Sellar 3 minute read Preview
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The show must go on as Selkirk buys theatre

Cody Sellar 3 minute read Thursday, Aug. 26, 2021

Many in Selkirk thought the credits had rolled for the Garry Theatre, but it appears there’s a sequel.

Landmark Cinemas decided to close it in May and on Wednesday, the City of Selkirk announced it had purchased the theatre for $350,000, plus closing costs.

“What we’ve heard so far is people are very excited and very happy that the city has been able to secure the property,” said Selkirk CAO Duane Nicol.

Nicol said the city will reach out to the community to determine how best to use the building. The city hopes it will become a centre for arts and culture, he said.

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Thursday, Aug. 26, 2021
JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Jillian Sheedy, right, and Velia Amador are co-founders of Jillian Leigh Jewelry.
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Local jewelry company handed key to success

Eva Wasney 4 minute read Preview
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Local jewelry company handed key to success

Eva Wasney 4 minute read Thursday, Aug. 26, 2021

It’s a golden opportunity that came straight out of the blue.

Nominees for the upcoming Emmy and Golden Globe awards will be walking the red carpet in handmade necklaces from Winnipeg company Jillian Leigh Jewelry, but exactly how the award show organizers discovered the local brand of gold adornments remains a mystery.

“We still don’t know how they found us, but we’re really glad they did,” says co-founder and jeweler Velia Amador. “It means a lot to us to be able to participate in such a high profile event because it’s going to help us gain some international exposure.”

“And if any of the celebrities loved our pieces and ordered something from us, I think I would die,” says Jillian Sheedy, the business’s other half and a self-professed celebrity enthusiast. Before they were business partners, the women were co-workers at a corporate office. They started Jillian Leigh together in 2018 after Amador — who had been forging jewelry as a hobby for more than a decade — offered to make some custom bracelets for Sheedy’s wedding.

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Thursday, Aug. 26, 2021
Supplied Charlie Johnston portrays an elaborate game of cat’s cradle that becomes a cosmic session of electrochemical psychotherapy at 357 Eveline St. in Selkirk.
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Selkirk art crawl centres on city's thriving mural scene

Ben Waldman  5 minute read Preview
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Selkirk art crawl centres on city's thriving mural scene

Ben Waldman  5 minute read Wednesday, Aug. 25, 2021

Sometimes a wall is more than just a wall.

It’s a blank canvas. And in recent years, artists in Selkirk have turned several into works of art, highlighting local figures and traditions, using paint to transform bricks and plaster in the downtown into a growing visual history of the city.

Since 2018, nearly 20 murals have emerged, depicting everything from the traditional community round dance to Indigenous and settler women thriving on the Prairie landscape to a grandmother passing on her teachings. Others bring needed attention to the ongoing crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, and to everyone affected, in the past and present, by the Indian Residential School System, those who came home and those who never did, artist Jordan Stranger says.

All these murals will serve as the backdrop for a free public art crawl Sept. 4 and 5, with local vendors and artisans posting up next to them and getting a long-awaited opportunity to share their work with the community, including handmade goods, paintings, crafts, sewing and woodworking pieces, and much more.

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Wednesday, Aug. 25, 2021
ALEX LUPUL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Jane Khau and her husband Eric Lai applied to open a store last year, just shortly after Chung Chun launched as a brand in 2019.
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New resto taps into Korean cuisine to amp up the humble 'corn' dog

Temur Durrani 4 minute read Preview
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New resto taps into Korean cuisine to amp up the humble 'corn' dog

Temur Durrani 4 minute read Wednesday, Aug. 25, 2021

Imagine a world full of corn dogs.

Think innumerable personal configurations — scores of sauces and seasonings, not to mention the variety of meats and cheeses that can be found inside these deliciously crispy concoctions.

Could it be the classic pairings of ketchup and mustard or the adventurous sweet mayo, teriyaki and honey butter? Is the batter just panko-crusted, or does it have potatoes on it? Perhaps it’s infused with squid ink?

Maybe on the inside, there’s a long pull of mozzarella cheese, with the choice of chicken, veggie, pork or beef for the meat. Perhaps, however, you want to scrap the sausage altogether and just go with oozing chocolate instead.

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Wednesday, Aug. 25, 2021
The fully electric Tundra Buggy is 16 feet tall, 12 feet wide, and 45 feet long.
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Iconic Churchill Tundra Buggy goes electric

Martin Cash 4 minute read Preview
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Iconic Churchill Tundra Buggy goes electric

Martin Cash 4 minute read Wednesday, Aug. 25, 2021

The Churchill travel company, Frontiers North Adventure, has been operating its fleet of iconic Tundra Buggies for decades but for various reasons John Gunter, CEO of the company, knew the fleet needed to be upgraded.

A chance encounter between Gunter and Red River College’s former head of research and partnerships three years ago put Gunter on the path towards electrifying the Tundra Buggies.

On Tuesday, the fruits of that labour were revealed at Red River College’s Vehicle Technology and Energy Centre (VTEC) — the first EV (electric vehicle) Tundra Buggy.

It was a collaborative effort between Frontiers North, RRC’s VTEC, New Flyer and the non-profit Vehicle Technology Centre that pooled a growing expertise in heavy vehicle electrification that has been developing over the past decade in Winnipeg.

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Wednesday, Aug. 25, 2021
ALEX LUPUL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Deb Kelley, shelter co-ordinator for the Manitoba Ferret Association No Kill Shelter, with Bear.
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Ferret shelter fears city’s proposed pet limit

Joyanne Pursaga 4 minute read Preview
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Ferret shelter fears city’s proposed pet limit

Joyanne Pursaga 4 minute read Wednesday, Aug. 25, 2021

An animal shelter fears its network of foster homes could be at risk, should a proposed change to Winnipeg’s responsible pet ownership bylaw be approved.

Deb Kelley, a shelter co-ordinator with the Manitoba Ferret Association No Kill Shelter, said a newly proposed limit that each Winnipeg household be allowed a maximum of five ferrets would not support the shelter’s model of care. The shelter relies on multiple foster homes, ensuring all of them already own ferrets and are qualified to properly care for them.

As a result, many of those homes already contain up to six ferrets, before they take others in temporarily, she said.

“We’re here for every ferret in need, whether it’s old, young, sick, healthy. If the bylaw goes through where each household can have only five ferrets, that would devastate our foster home space,” said Kelley.

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Wednesday, Aug. 25, 2021
submitted Penner recently placed third in an ALD event in Calgary, Alberta on August 13 in the Women's category with a best drive of 253 yards.
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Winnipeg teen representing Canada at World Amateur Long Drive Championship

Joseph Bernacki 6 minute read Preview
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Winnipeg teen representing Canada at World Amateur Long Drive Championship

Joseph Bernacki 6 minute read Tuesday, Aug. 24, 2021

A Winnipeg teen known for her prowess on the tee box will be launching bombs on behalf of Canada next month in Chicago.

Hannah Penner, 18, will don the red and white as part of a contingent of 20 golfers set to represent the nation at the 2021 World Amateur Long Drive Championship, set for Sept. 11-19.

She's headed to the Windy City but doesn't require a strong breeze at her back to routinely crush the ball well over 250 yards or, occasionally, eclipse the 300-yard mark.

Penner, one of four women in the group, said she's thrilled about the chance to compete against others with the same unique skillset.

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Tuesday, Aug. 24, 2021
ALEX LUPUL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Janelle Wride, Delivery Coordinator for Fireweed Food Co-op, and Paul Dyck, a volunteer, pose for a photo with their vegetable stand as part of Fireweed's Veggie Van program on August 19, 2021. The program offers affordable local produce to those in lower income neighbourhoods.
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Veggie Van to bring fresh produce to inner city residents

Eva Wasney 4 minute read Preview
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Veggie Van to bring fresh produce to inner city residents

Eva Wasney 4 minute read Wednesday, Aug. 25, 2021

A farmer’s market on wheels is hoping to put a dent into the problem of food deserts in Winnipeg’s inner city

Fireweed Food Co-op has launched its new Veggie Van pilot program, which brings subsidized local produce into Winnipeg’s inner city neighbourhoods through a mobile market on Thursday afternoons. The West Central Women’s Resource Centre was the first stop on the Veggie Van’s inaugural tour last week.

“We have zucchini, beets, yellow onion, carrots, sweet corn,” says Fireweed’s food hub delivery co-ordinator Janelle Wride, while standing behind a table piled high with colourful vegetables. “Those are most of the basic items that we have available from the producers right now and each week it’ll change a little bit.”

The goal of the program, she says, is to combat food insecurity by offering cheap, nutritious produce for sale in underserved communities.

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Wednesday, Aug. 25, 2021
JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS About 50 people gathered outside a TD Bank at Notre Dame Avenue and Sherbrook Street Sunday.
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Protesters gather at corner to oppose funding of pipeline

Cody Sellar 3 minute read Preview
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Protesters gather at corner to oppose funding of pipeline

Cody Sellar 3 minute read Monday, Aug. 23, 2021

About 50 people from Winnipeg’s Mennonite community gathered Sunday at a TD Bank at the corner of Notre Dame Avenue and Sherbrook Street to protest the bank’s funding of the Line 3 pipeline replacement.

As rain pelted down on a canopy of umbrellas, one man cut his TD Bank card into pieces while the crowd cheered. After some minutes of song and prayer, the group took non-permanent markers and wrote messages over the windows of the bank.

“Stop fossil fuel funding,” one man wrote on the door. The red ink ran in long streaks from the rain down over the bank’s hours.

Organizer Steve Heinrichs said he drew inspiration from Indigenous communities leading protests in Minnesota.

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Monday, Aug. 23, 2021
Deidré Coleman (left) and Patrice Gilman are taking part in this month's Black History Manitoba block party, dishing up Caribbean food from their West End restaurant. (Mikaela MacKenzie / Winnipeg Free Press)
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Black History Manitoba's block party opportunity for chefs to share their passion

Melissa Martin 5 minute read Preview
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Black History Manitoba's block party opportunity for chefs to share their passion

Melissa Martin 5 minute read Monday, Aug. 23, 2021

As a little girl growing up in Jamaica, Patrice Gilman dreamed that one day, she would cook just like Gladys, her grandmother. Everyone around downtown Kingston knew Gladys, and the little restaurant she owned in the area called Southside. Her dish of tripe and beans was famous, and fed famous athletes and hungry kids alike.

Gilman was fascinated by watching her grandmother manage the little kitchen, cooking all on her own, darting between pots of goat or chicken or fish bubbling on any of a dozen wood-fired stoves. Every morning, Gladys rose before the sun to start making lunch, and every day she was sold out of food not long after noon.

Still, she always had a little something for the kids who hung around, the ones who didn’t have enough.

“She was a one-woman show,” Gilman says. “She would feed the whole community. She had nine children, and raised many more children that weren’t her own. She passed away about 13 years ago, but her spirit lives on so strongly in our family’s heart.”

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Monday, Aug. 23, 2021
JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Dietitian Raschelle Sabourin teaches clients how to practise intuitive eating, where diet mentality is rejected and hunger cues are observed and honoured.
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Pandemic isolation impacted our relationship with food, self-image

Eva Wasney 4 minute read Preview
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Pandemic isolation impacted our relationship with food, self-image

Eva Wasney 4 minute read Monday, Aug. 23, 2021

Food has been a global preoccupation during the pandemic. Home cooking became a necessary lockdown pastime and sourdough bread became shorthand for the many food trends that tore through social media. At the same time, one Winnipeg dietitian has seen a rise in emotional and disordered eating over the last year and a half.

“A lot of the things that people use to cope have changed,” says Raschelle Sabourin, a registered dietitian who runs a virtual nutrition counselling practice locally. “People were more isolated and there’s a lack of routine… and people’s relationships changed, so that caused more stress and people are sometimes using food to fill that void.”

Sabourin says that while using food as a coping mechanism can be a quick fix for quelling difficult emotions, the comfort of binge eating doesn’t last.

“For the short term, they might feel really good, but in the long term they’re not feeling good after emotional eating,” she says.

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Monday, Aug. 23, 2021
New titles for the Bishop Grandin Boulevard and the greenway are expected in the coming weeks. (Ruth Bonneville / Winnipeg Free Press files)
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Boulevard, greenway could be renamed by end of year

Maggie Macintosh 3 minute read Preview
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Boulevard, greenway could be renamed by end of year

Maggie Macintosh 3 minute read Sunday, Aug. 22, 2021

Bishop Grandin Boulevard and the greenway that runs parallel to it — both of which are named after an architect of the residential school system — could have new titles before the end of the year.

The volunteer board that oversees the greenway’s operations issued a notice this week to inform community members of its ongoing support for the City of Winnipeg’s efforts to explore cutting ties with Bishop Vital-Justin Grandin (1829-1902) as a namesake for local landmarks.

The board indicated renaming consultations are underway and it anticipates a report with a recommendation on the subject will be brought forward to city council this fall.

“I don’t want people to think we’re sitting on our hands and letting this fall by the wayside,” said Derick Young, president of Bishop Grandin Greenway Inc.

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Sunday, Aug. 22, 2021
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh is greeted by Cowessness Chief Cadmus Delorme on the Cowessness First Nation, Sask, Friday. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson

Indigenous issues no longer stuck on back burner

Niigaan Sinclair 5 minute read Preview

Indigenous issues no longer stuck on back burner

Niigaan Sinclair 5 minute read Monday, Aug. 23, 2021

Manitoba follows a standard formula for federal elections: other than the affluent suburbs, Winnipeg votes mostly Liberal while everywhere else — besides the north — goes Conservative.

With support for provincial Conservatives waning, anger at Justin Trudeau for calling an election during a pandemic, and the rise of the provincial NDP, there are strong indications that predictable Manitoba seats are up for grabs.

The appearance of Trudeau and O’Toole in the city Friday is evidence.

Why would both visit on the same day NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh toured unmarked graves at a former residential school in Saskatchewan?

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Monday, Aug. 23, 2021
RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Broose, an insect control worker & host of a radio program on CJUM - resting on Broose’s front yard, visible to everybody driving by on Planet Street (how appropriate) is an Orbit garbage receptacle, the sort that was commonplace along Mb highways in the ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s
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Neptune Bay resident harbours only known survivor of the Orbit invasion

David Sanderson 10 minute read Preview
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Neptune Bay resident harbours only known survivor of the Orbit invasion

David Sanderson 10 minute read Thursday, Aug. 19, 2021

‘Here comes another car now, slowing down to take a look.”

Ever since an aged, Orbit garbage receptacle landed in Broose Tulloch’s front yard in June 2019, the 52-year-old public works employee has grown used to drivers, cyclists, pedestrians... even the odd pizza delivery guy stopping in their tracks as they go past his yellow-and-white split-level. Curious types, some familiar with the large, white, fibreglass sphere, others not so much, pause to study the bin, a holdover from an era when dozens more dotted Manitoba highways, deposited there by the provincial government to discourage motorists from littering.

That Tulloch resides in a neck of the woods unofficially known as “the Planets” — he’s on Neptune Bay; neighbouring tracks, all intersected by Planet Street, are Mercury, Mars, Saturn and Jupiter (sorry, no Uranus) — only seems to add to the astronomical amount of attention his depository, just over a metre tall, receives on a regular basis.

Standing on his front steps, near where the Orbit is being shaded by a crabapple tree, Tulloch recalls the morning he glanced out his living room window and noticed a hydro crew assembled by the curb. Thinking the worst, that they had arrived to dig up his lawn, he ventured outside in his PJs to ask what was going on.

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Thursday, Aug. 19, 2021
MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Ainsley Krone, acting advocate, Manitoba Advocate for Children and Youth, speaks during an announcement with Families Minister Rochelle Squires at the Manitoba Legislative building Tuesday morning.
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Manitoba youth concerned about mental health: survey

Malak Abas 3 minute read Preview
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Manitoba youth concerned about mental health: survey

Malak Abas 3 minute read Thursday, Aug. 19, 2021

Young people surveyed by Manitoba's children's advocate say they need better mental health and addiction services, as well as anti-poverty programs.

The advocate, an independent office of the Manitoba legislature, consulted with almost 300 young people who live in various regions of the province. A report based on their feedback, “The Right to Be Heard”, was published Thursday.

Generally, youth in the north were more likely to say they are concerned about poverty and substance abuse, while those living in Winnipeg were more likely to select racism and mental health issues.

“A report like this allows us a really incredible opportunity to sit down internally and think about how the projects that we have underway, how the projects that we’re maybe considering embarking on, align with what youth want us to be focused on,” said acting children's advocate Ainsley Krone said.

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Thursday, Aug. 19, 2021
CAROL SANDERS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Morgan Fontaine (nee Sizeland), left, grew up blocks from the rez school in River Heights and first met Ted Fontaine, right, when he was one of the
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City considering new name for park near former residential school to honour Indigenous leader

Joyanne Pursaga 4 minute read Preview
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City considering new name for park near former residential school to honour Indigenous leader

Joyanne Pursaga 4 minute read Thursday, Aug. 19, 2021

AS a residential high school student, the site now known as Wellington Park offered him rare moments of joy.

As an adult survivor of that system, it helped trigger both positive memories and quiet, disturbing flashbacks.

Theodore Fontaine, who died in May, found more than a chance to play hockey and baseball at the Assiniboia Indian Residential School, according to his wife Morgan Fontaine.

“These fields, this was just for him a time of that little taste of freedom that he longed for.… It was just before his seventh birthday (that) he lost his freedom,” she said.

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Thursday, Aug. 19, 2021