Work aims to share Jordan River Anderson’s heroic legacy with young audiences

It isn’t often that Yvette Nolan is brought to tears by her own work.

But at the Montreal premiere of Jordan, the playwright found herself weeping in the aisles.

“I was a mess,” she recalls.

But all around her, the audience of children at Montreal’s Geordie Theatre were cheering at the conclusion of Nolan’s latest work, a fable centred on the heroic influence of Jordan River Anderson, a Norway House boy who spent two years living in hospital because the federal and provincial governments couldn’t agree on which level of elected office should pay for his at-home care.

Indigenous groups given just two months to consult on pipeline project designation

OTTAWA - Indigenous communities along the route for the newly announced West Coast oil pipeline were given just two months for consultations on whether the pipeline should be designated a project of national interest — and that was still more than the government had planned.

At first, the consultations were to take place over one month. They were extended to two months after Indigenous leaders raised concerns about the tight timeline.

A summary of those consultations posted online by the federal government says Indigenous groups decried a lack of information about the project, which they said prevented them from fully assessing its impact.

Prime Minister Mark Carney promised his major projects agenda would not interfere with Canada's obligations under the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Indigenous leaders have warned his government risks violating their rights with "national interest" designations through the Major Projects Office and the controversial Building Canada Act.

How has medical understanding of ‘shaken baby syndrome’ evolved?

TORONTO - An Ontario mother’s acquittal in the death of her infant son is the latest display of medical evidence of shaken baby syndrome discredited in the courtroom.

Jennifer Gaskin had been convicted of manslaughter in the death of her 2 1/2-month-old son Joeseph in 2002, after two medical experts testified the child had died as a result of shaken baby syndrome.

But an Appeal Court ruled Tuesday that Gaskin’s wrongful conviction was “based on the discredited 'shaken baby syndrome' as the cause of a child's death brought about, in part, by unreliable expert evidence."

The death should have been classified as “undetermined,” according to three experts Gaskin’s legal team retained.

AI agent attempted to hack Library and Archives Canada, says U.S. research group

OTTAWA - The website for Library and Archives Canada was one of the targets of a failed hacking attempt by an artificial intelligence agent, a San Francisco-based lab that monitors AI activity said in a report this week.

Transluce posted an incident report Wednesday detailing what it describes as "aggressive attempts" to access public data on Canadian and U.S. government web pages.

The report says the attempted hacks occurred on May 28 and June 9 and involved 899 search queries into divorce records between 1905 and 1911.

Thirteen of the requests involved "attack payloads" seeking vulnerabilities in the search parameters, the report says.

Tokyo court grants legal protection to human voices in AI clone case

TOKYO (AP) — A Tokyo court has awarded legal protection to the human voice in a landmark case in which a popular Japanese anime voice actor demanded that TikTok close an account over its unauthorized use of an artificial intelligence clone of his trademark baritone.

The Tokyo District Court's decision Wednesday was the first acknowledgment of the right to one's voice in Japan. The ruling was good news for many anime voice actors at a time when they are increasingly concerned about the use of AI-generated versions of their voices on social media.

The plaintiff, Kenjiro Tsuda, is an actor best known for his “lustrous and deep” voice in starring characters such as Kento Nanami in “Jujutsu Kaisen,” a popular anime series.

In his lawsuit, Tsuda said that the anonymous operator of the TikTok account “Nanami" wrongfully profited by attracting viewers with his voice narrating in more than 180 videos about urban legends and paranormal phenomena, and asked for the material to be deleted.

Canadian astronaut reaches International Space Station for six-month mission

MERRITT ISLAND - Canadian astronaut Joshua Kutryk's first thought after being told Thursday he had made it to space was one of disbelief.

"I don't really believe it yet," Kutryk said after being told the crew was in orbit, about 10 minutes after blasting off from Florida as part of the NASA SpaceX Crew 13 mission to the International Space Station.

"It does feel weird, though."

The 44-year-old is a mission specialist on the four-person crew, which also includes commander Jessica Watkins and pilot Luke Delaney — both of NASA — and Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Teteryatnikov, another mission specialist.

Carney gives Alberta pipeline special interest designation, to be called Pacific Link

FORT MCMURRAY - A pipeline to haul Alberta oil to tankers on the B.C. coast took a big step forward Thursday.

Prime Minster Mark Carney, with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith at his side, announced the line – to be known as Pacific Link — is the first project to receive national interest designation under the Building Canada Act.

The designation doesn't mean the line is a done deal, but it streamlines and simplifies rules, timelines and oversight to help make it a reality.

The goal is to get consultations, environmental safeguards, financing and Indigenous partnerships completed by Sept. 1, 2027, to clear the way for construction to begin and ensure startup by 2032-33.

Winnipeg Book Festival starts a new chapter

Once known as Thin Air, the 2026 Winnipeg Book Festival marks a new chapter heading into its 29th year celebrating fiction, non-fiction and poetry with a new name, new staff and a shorter, more streamlined fest based at The Forks.

Winnipeg’s challenge: preparing for weather extremes

A new United Nations report warns the world will exceed the 1.5 C Paris limit by 2030.

3 GOP states go to US Supreme Court to challenge 3 Democratic-led states’ abortion ‘shield’ laws

Three Republican states went to the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday to challenge abortion “shield laws” protecting providers in three Democratic states, escalating the legal conflict over pills that account for a majority of abortions.

The attorneys general of Alabama, Arkansas and Louisiana contend that the laws in California, Massachusetts and New York undermine their abortion bans and their states' sovereignty. Federal regulations allow prescriptions for abortion pills to be made by telehealth and filled by mail, and the three GOP states want to keep the pills out and punish out-of-state providers for sending them.

“This is the first time we've seen a state or group of states suing other states to challenge the validity of shield laws,” said Mary Ziegler, a University of California, Davis, law professor and author of seven books on abortion law and history.

The Supreme Court can hear disputes between states directly, though it rarely does. If the top court weighs in, it could short-circuit existing lawsuits.

Trade tensions spur fresh wave of interest in community-supported farms, fisheries

It started with one fisher who wanted to be paid a fair price for his catch.

Now Skipper Otto — Canada’s largest community-supported fishery — is connecting roughly 70 independent fish harvesters directly to Canadian consumers, a number that has grown as trade tensions with the United States send demand for local food soaring.

"We have our commitments before we even untie from the docks," said Skipper Otto chief executive Sonia Strobel, whose father-in-law Otto Strobel was the inspiration for the seafood business she co-founded with her husband, Shaun.

"Our members can pick and choose whatever seafood they want throughout the year from their pre-paid credit," she said in an interview from Vancouver. "It's a model that supports local small-scale fisheries and we're seeing more and more interest as Canadians think hard about food security and supporting local."

Hero fought to remember children lost at residential school

The story of the gravesites of students who attended the Brandon Indian Residential School underneath the Turtle Crossing Campground is truly a Manitoba tragedy.

In a smart-device world, some families keep phone jacked into the wall

When the phone rings in Kristin Shiach and Jordan Sobkowicz’s Riverview home, their three daughters race to see who can be the first to answer.

“It depends who is closest,” says 13-year-old Emily. “If I’m sitting in my room, I can get to it quickest.”

“That’s because it’s always in your room,” Anna, 10, replies. “You never put it back!”

“Usually, when the phone rings,” explains Sobkowicz, “someone yells really loudly —”

Province to acquire campground near former residential school

A burial site for dozens of children who died while attending the Brandon Indian Residential School will be acquired by the province, the Free Press has learned.

Premier Wab Kinew will announce the province’s plan to protect Turtle Crossing Campground at a news conference in Brandon Wednesday to mark National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. The move is in partnership with the City of Brandon.

The graves of at least 56 children are located at the campground, the Sioux Valley Dakota Nation has said, pointing to a geophysical study conducted by an archaeology firm in 2018.

There have been longstanding concerns from Indigenous leaders and community members that people were camping on the resting place of children victimized by colonialism.

Legislation needed on vacant buildings

There is something deeply backwards about a system that lets a property owner keep a building boarded up indefinitely while neighbours are left to live with the consequences.

Cuba’s cherished ballet tradition endures through daily blackouts and shortages

HAVANA (AP) — For months, two-thirds of Cuba had no electricity at night. Some neighborhoods in the capital of Havana have been without running water for more than two weeks. Transportation is scarce and eggs, bread and cooking oil are hard to find.

Yet every morning, about 178 young students gather for classes at the National Ballet School in the capital. Housed in an imposing Art Nouveau building in the heart of Old Havana, the school combines rigorous dance training with academic classes in math, Spanish, history and science.

Training to become a top-tier classical dancer demands discipline and sacrifice anywhere. In Cuba today, where blackouts and shortages of fuel, water and food complicate daily life, those demands extend far beyond the dance studio.

For 14-year-old Roxana Pérez de La Mora, that means waking up before dawn and traveling about 20 kilometers (12 miles) from her home to the school.

State of the Nations event to highlight Indigenous mining plans

A first-ever conference aims to connect Indigenous leaders with businesses as local mining ambitions grow.

New tour firm seeks to display ‘hidden gem’

Desiree Rantala has serious Manitoba bona fides.

The 34-year-old grew up in two northern First Nations communities and has lived in Gimli and Dauphin. She’s worked in marketing roles at the Manitoba Museum, Downtown Winnipeg Business Improvement Zone and Travel Manitoba, and she’s travelled to New York and Vancouver to promote the province.

Now, Rantala has launched a tour company called Toba Tripper.

“We’re a hidden gem that has so much to offer,” the Winnipeg resident said. “We have so much to see and I really hope that people leave my tours appreciating the beauty of Manitoba a little bit more.”

Orange Shirt Day project fits students to a tee

On the eve of Orange Shirt Day, hundreds of black T-shirts will be handed out to teenagers at Elmwood High School — and there wasn’t a mixup in the clothing procurement process.

The student-run business behind the initiative wanted to make a statement about “truth and reconciliation” being a year-round activity, said Daniel Concepcion, a Grade 12 student.

Daniel said given that black is a staple in the wardrobe of teenagers, he hopes these shirts won’t sit on hangers for 364 days of the year.

“Every child matters, every part of the day, every day,” the 17-year-old said.