Federal Trade Commission sues leading transgender health group

The Federal Trade Commission and four states sued the World Professional Association for Transgender Health on Wednesday, in the latest push by President Donald Trump’s administration and others to limit gender-affirming care for transgender minors.

The suit alleges the group, known widely as WPATH, made deceptive claims about gender-affirming care for minors and its members profited off the claims. Alaska, Iowa, Nebraska and Texas filed along with the FTC.

“Parents have a right to make informed decisions about their children’s health,” FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson said on X. “The FTC will not allow parents and children to be deceived by medical organizations and providers who are prioritizing profit over children’s health and safety.”

The suit also alleges the group didn't disclose the side effects of certain pediatric medical transition services, including those related to hormone treatments, and doctors then repeated to consumers "false, misleading or unsubstantiated statements about safety and efficacy found in WPATH guidelines.”

Carney’s support for controversial sand mine sparks criticism

Prime Minister Mark Carney has thrown his support behind the controversial Sio Silica sand mine in southeast Manitoba before its second, scaled-down proposal has been licensed.

At the G7 leaders summit Wednesday, Carney trumpeted the memorandum of understanding signed by Manitoba’s Sio Silica and solar technology manufacturer RCT Solutions in Germany to extract sand from a large area east of Winnipeg and turn it into solar panels.

In a news readout, Carney said he met with Chancellor Friedrich Merz at the summit in France and that both welcomed “new investment partnerships” between the two nations, including two in Manitoba to “support a high-purity silica project, to extract 99.9 per cent-plus pure silica sand, highly valued for manufacturing solar panels and semiconductors, advanced manufacturing, and defence-related technologies.”

It said the second partnership involves Sio Silica, RCT Solutions and the Southern Chiefs Organization to build a fully integrated solar manufacturing hub in Manitoba.

Safety board report says doomed Titan submersible operated with no federal oversight

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada says a submersible that imploded on its way to the Titanic wreck was operating in Canada without any oversight, and it is asking federal authorities to look closer at uncertified vessels.

One of Canada’s most prominent MAID providers reflects on divisive decade

TORONTO - Dr. Ellen Wiebe has never been one to shy away from risk.

It started with the very first patient she provided with a medically assisted death: Hanne Schafer, a 66-year-old Calgary psychologist diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis three months before retiring in 2013.

MAID was three years away from legalization, but Schafer was quickly losing her ability to talk, walk, eat and drink and wanted the procedure as soon as she could get it. On Feb. 29, 2016, a judge approved her request, more than three months before MAID would become legal on June 17.

The next hurdle was finding a doctor prepared to do it, recalls Schafer’s husband Daniel Laurin. He credits Wiebe with helping his late wife when no one else would: "It was a very humane thing to do.”

Committee majority recommends against MAID for mental illness, four senators object

OTTAWA - A parliamentary committee is calling on the federal government to indefinitely exclude people with mental illness from becoming eligible for medical assistance in dying, after a process that some of the committee's members decried as flawed and biased.

Conservative and Liberal members of Parliament on the committee co-signed that single recommendation in a report Wednesday that included a number of dissenting opinions.

People with a mental illness as their sole underlying condition are set to become eligible to apply for medical assistance in dying, or MAID, next March.

The committee of MPs and senators was tasked with studying whether the country is ready for that to happen.

CDC issues travel advisory for Manitoba

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is advising travellers to Manitoba about a hepatitis A virus outbreak in the province that’s killed at least four people.

On June 4, America’s leading public health agency issued a Level 1 notice warning travellers that the virus that infects the liver is contagious and spread though close person-to-person contact and by eating contaminated food or drink.

To prevent catching hepatitis A, the CDC advises travellers to Manitoba to “ensure that you are vaccinated,” practise good hand hygiene, avoid sharing syringes and practise safe sex.

As of June 4, there have been 784 reported cases of hepatitis A in Manitoba — up from 658 cases reported May 6 — with 186 in Winnipeg, up from 143 a month earlier, a provincial government spokesperson said Tuesday. There have been 165 hospitalizations, eight intensive care unit admissions and four deaths since the outbreak was first reported in April 2025.

Quilters to unite at national event

Holly Clarke gets a kick out of putting a modern touch on a traditional craft.

Clarke said she spends an average of three weeks putting together colourful geometric patterns to create a quilt with a more modern design.

“I find working with my hands brings me fulfilment,” she said. “It’s such a joyful hobby and it brings joy to so many people.”

She is thrilled a national quilting convention, which will showcase local work alongside pieces from across the country, is coming to Winnipeg for the first time in 22 years.

AI threatens relationship between writers, readers

If an author is not who they say they are, if their work does not spring from human experience and creativity, then how can there be any authentic relationship between the writer and reader?

Climate change demands action, not hope

Hoping against hope may have suddenly, quietly, become the world’s new strategy for addressing climate change.

An ancient biblical concept, hope against hope describes our ability to believe everything is going to be alright despite abundant evidence to the contrary. It’s relevant now because, after two decades of aggressive progress in reducing carbon emissions, we’ve started to retreat.

There has been progress in the energy generation sector, where zero-emission options such as hydro, wind and solar have been increasing at an aggressive rate. However, coal and oil still account for roughly two-thirds of all electricity generation in the world, even as severe weather causes trillions of dollars in damage and lost economic activity around the world.

Manitoba offers a good example of how climate change has been de-emphasized against a backdrop of severe weather. Destructive wildfires and floods have become annual events in Manitoba, but not convinced the NDP government to become more aggressive on carbon emissions.

High school grads feel the love during North End parade

Talon Phrakonekham felt a tinge of nostalgia as he and fellow members of the Class of 2026 roamed North End streets lined with young cheerleaders and gave out high-fives on Tuesday afternoon.

Dozens of children from elementary schools in the neighbourhood that Talon grew up in shouted congratulations from the Salter Street sidewalk and waved posters marking the occasion.

“You did so good in math. We are so proud of you,” one sign declared in a child’s wonky handwriting.

Talon, 17, said the North End Grad Walk — now in its fifth year — provided an opportunity for both celebration and self-reflection.

Potash ‘test shipment’ planned for Churchill

The owner of Manitoba’s sole potash mine plans to send its first shipment to Europe via the Port of Churchill this fall.

Upwards of 200 tonnes of potash will travel to the Port of Antwerp-Bruges in Belgium, said Daymon Guillas, president of the Potash Agri Development Corporation of Manitoba (PADCOM).

From there, it’ll be taken to a client in France.

“This is a test shipment,” said Guillas, who declined to give the customer’s name.

WeCook meals service expands to Winnipeg

The company sells ready-to-eat meals, from small to family portions.

Directors Desk enters child care HR spotlight

A Manitoba company has released what is believed to be the first sector-specific human resources software for early learning centres and child care operations in Canada.

CMHR rejects Jewish organization’s allegations of foreign interference in exhibit about Palestinians

The Canadian Museum for Human Rights has said B’nai Brith’s allegations of foreign interference in connection with an upcoming exhibit are unfounded, after the Jewish organization asked the museum to investigate a meeting about the exhibit between its leaders and a Palestinian ambassador in 2024.

On Tuesday, the National Post published an email from 2024 between Ramsey Zeid, the Canadian Palestinian Association of Manitoba president and museum officials, including vice-president of exhibitions, Matthew Cutler and CEO Isha Khan.

The correspondence appears to show plans for a meeting between museum team members and Mona Abuamara, Palestine’s ambassador to Canada, while she was at the museum in December 2024, including discussions about the exhibit, titled Palestine Uprooted: Nakba Past and Present.

B’Nai Brith has previously raised concerns about the exhibit, saying the museum failed to properly consult with members of the Jewish community in its development and said the meeting has amplified those concerns.

Manitoba-born 105-year-old in midst of four-day birthday extravaganza

Reaching a century (plus five) is a milestone so rare it deserves more than a single celebration.

And Edith Cecelia Lints Edmundson is marking her 105th birthday with a bang, returning to celebrate in the province where she lived for 100 years.

With the help of her children Vivian, Rhonda and Derrick, Edmundson organized a four-day cross-country tour that’s seen her party in Langley, B.C., Shoal Lake and Brandon.

She’ll be capping the festivities off in Winnipeg this weekend, joined by 80 of her nearest and dearest who will come to raise a glass to the matriarch of the family.

Mayor’s cabinet signs off on proposed 110-acre neighbourhood on Dugald Road

A major development proposes to create nearly 3,000 homes, ample commercial space and a possible school at a mostly vacant industrial park.

The Waters Urban Village project would transform 110 acres (44.5 hectares) of employment and industrial land at 1390 and 1470 Dugald Road in the St. Boniface Industrial Park by creating 2,946 residential units, a commercial town centre, a central park and six business park buildings, pending final city council approval.

The largest high-rise residential buildings would be close to key Winnipeg Transit routes.

The substantial addition of infill homes and businesses fits well with the city’s goals to make use of existing infrastructure, said a proponent of the project.