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RUTH BONNEVILLE / FREE PRESS Dr. Behzad Mansouri (left) and Dr. Neda Anssari are spouses, co-founders of Neuroptek and co-creators of the EyeMirage neuro-visual assessment tool and app.
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Winnipeg pair look to launch EyeMirage device for sale in Canada in fall, with eyes to follow on international markets

Gabrielle Piché 4 minute read Preview
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Winnipeg pair look to launch EyeMirage device for sale in Canada in fall, with eyes to follow on international markets

Gabrielle Piché 4 minute read Wednesday, May. 27, 2026

By winter, a pair of Winnipeg entrepreneurs aim to have portable vision and concussion-screening products circulating Canada.

“Designing a device that is portable, affordable and AI-based and smartphone-based is a puzzle,” Dr. Behzad Mansouri said, a prototype of the device on the desk in front of him at the Brain, Vision and Concussion Clinic off St. Anne’s Road on Monday.

He’s a neuro-ophthalmologist at the clinic. He’s also the co-founder of Neuroptek, the medical technology company behind headsets meant to help diagnose concussions and other vision and neurological injuries and disorders.

The products look like virtual reality headsets. Instead of games, users take visual tests they’d find at a doctor’s office. They might try to read letters or identify colours.

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Wednesday, May. 27, 2026
SUPPLIED Katie Friesen, founder of FarmerTitan
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FarmerTitan app rolls into agriculture equipment tracking field

Aaron Epp 4 minute read Preview
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FarmerTitan app rolls into agriculture equipment tracking field

Aaron Epp 4 minute read Monday, May. 25, 2026

Katie Friesen is used to playing games.

The Manitoban’s prowess on the volleyball court led to a scholarship to Florida International University in Miami, where she competed on the Division 1 school’s beach and indoor volleyball teams.

But seven years after graduation, Friesen is playing a different game.

The 29-year-old, who divides her time between Manitoba and Austin, Texas, is the founder of FarmerTitan. The platform allows farmers to manage their equipment and employees using QR codes and a mobile app.

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Monday, May. 25, 2026
Ruth Bonneville Free Press LOCAL - 711 Arlington at Notre Dame closed 711 customers at Arlington at Notre Dame were turned away after finding the store closed permanently Monday. See story by Malal. May 25th,, 2026

Two more 7-Eleven locations bite the dust

Malak Abas 5 minute read Preview

Two more 7-Eleven locations bite the dust

Malak Abas 5 minute read Monday, May. 25, 2026

Outside of one of two 7-Eleven locations to abruptly close in the last three days, a small gathering forms Monday morning.

The store at Notre Dame Avenue and Arlington Street shut its doors a day early, despite signs on the windows listing its last day as Tuesday. Its lights had been turned off and shelves were stripped bare.

Customers who were turned away begin to discuss the closure amongst themselves outside of the building; when a manager walks out and is asked why the store is being closed, he says “no comment” before walking back inside.

Shoppers told the Free Press the location was a frequent spot for petty robbery and several said they had tried to intervene in incidents where staff were not able to stop thieves.

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Monday, May. 25, 2026
GOLF MANITOBA PHOTO Camryn Thomas will tee off Thursday in the match play portion of the Golf Manitoba match play championship at the Whispering Winds of Warren, culminating with the final on Sunday.

Camryn Thomas shooting for title with golf season in full swing

Ken Wiebe 5 minute read Preview

Camryn Thomas shooting for title with golf season in full swing

Ken Wiebe 5 minute read Monday, May. 25, 2026

Being a dual-sport athlete allows Camryn Thomas the opportunity to experience the best of both worlds.

Following a strong season with the Rink Hockey Academy U18 Prep team that included a trip to the league semifinal, Thomas has shifted her attention to the links and is ready to attack the golf season.

“I like that it’s competitive, but it’s very different from hockey,” Thomas said on Monday at Pine Ridge Golf Club, where Golf Manitoba held its third annual media day. “(Golf) is very individual and you kind of have to rely on yourself. And you can push yourself as hard as you want to push.

“It provides a good balance. It’s nice to get outdoors. I really enjoy it.”

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Monday, May. 25, 2026
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS Amelia Fay, director of research, collections and exhibitions, with the largely dismantled Delta Marsh and Rye Farm two-part diorama at the Manitoba Museum. Fay says diorama exhibitions will become a thing of the past.
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Museum diorama detailing marshland, rye farm decommissioned owing to pest infestation

AV Kitching 5 minute read Preview
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Museum diorama detailing marshland, rye farm decommissioned owing to pest infestation

AV Kitching 5 minute read Monday, May. 25, 2026

What was designed as a triumph of taxidermy has instead become a buffet for pests.

Manitoba Museum has been forced to decommission the Delta Marsh and Rye Farm two-part diorama in the Parklands Gallery after discovering the extent of the devastation wrought by mice, clothes moths and beetle larvae. The open-air exhibition, completed in 2003, represents the province’s most important wetlands and the challenges faced by early farmers, including Ukrainian immigrants in the 1920s.

“Pests are a major issue,” says Amelia Fay, the museum’s director of research, collections and exhibitions. “All museums have pests and use discreet pest-management systems, but this specific diorama was particularly vulnerable because of how authentically it was constructed, using real plant materials and organic elements that various types of critters like to consume.”

Pests can enter the museum when the doors open; clothes moths drift in with foot traffic, mice can get in through tiny gaps and dermestid beetles can hitch a ride with visitors or via tiny cracks, laying eggs in areas close to food sources for future larvae.

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Monday, May. 25, 2026
FILE - A fishing boat sails at the mouth of the Uaca River, in the Uaca Indigenous Territory region, near the mangrove and biodiversity conservation area of Cabo Orange, in Oiapoque, Amapa state, Brazil, March 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres, File)
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Brazilian government commits $617.5M to Amazon ecological investment

Gabriela Sá Pessoa, The Associated Press 3 minute read Preview
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Brazilian government commits $617.5M to Amazon ecological investment

Gabriela Sá Pessoa, The Associated Press 3 minute read Tuesday, Jun. 16, 2026

SAO PAULO (AP) — The Brazilian government said Monday it has committed 3.1 billion reais ($617.5 million) to foster ecological investment in the Amazon region, as part of a plan to expand a federal program known as Eco Invest that was announced during last year’s COP30 — the annual United Nations climate summit it hosted last year.

The resources are expected to go toward businesses that support sustainable tourism, improve infrastructure in the Amazon and expand the “bioeconomy” — the so-called economic activity based on natural resources that preserves the forest.

The model uses a blended finance approach in which the National Treasury lends funds to banks at an annual rate of 1%. In return, banks must mobilize at least four times that amount in private investment, with foreign investors accounting for at least 60%. So far, the program has committed 140 billion reais ($28 billion) in combined public and private resources.

The National Treasury allocated 3.1 billion reais ($617.5 million) Monday and eight banks committed another 10.1 billion reais ($2 billion) in the latest auction of the Eco Invest program, the Ministry of Environment said.

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Tuesday, Jun. 16, 2026
Minister of Foreign Affairs Anita Anand arrives to a caucus meeting on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Wednesday, April 22, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
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Anand says Israel’s ‘mistreatment’ of Canadians in flotilla violated UN treaty

Catherine Morrison, The Canadian Press 5 minute read Preview
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Anand says Israel’s ‘mistreatment’ of Canadians in flotilla violated UN treaty

Catherine Morrison, The Canadian Press 5 minute read Tuesday, Jun. 16, 2026

OTTAWA - Israel’s mistreatment of Canadians participating in a flotilla trying to reach Gaza violated the Vienna Convention, Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said Monday.

In a social media post, Anand said she spoke with Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar about the issue on Monday morning.

"I raised that denying Canadian citizens access to consular services while they were detained violates the Vienna Convention and must never happen again," she said. "Canada is providing Israeli authorities with evidence of this mistreatment. We have asked for and expect an independent investigation and those responsible to be held to account."

Twelve Canadians were among 420 people on 41 boats intercepted by Israel on May 18 and 19 as they attempted to bring a symbolic amount of aid to Gaza in the midst of Israeli restrictions.

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Tuesday, Jun. 16, 2026
A person types on a cellphone in Ottawa on, Dec. 15, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
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Manitoba doctors support provincial government’s proposed social media ban

Brittany Hobson, The Canadian Press 3 minute read Preview
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Manitoba doctors support provincial government’s proposed social media ban

Brittany Hobson, The Canadian Press 3 minute read Tuesday, Jun. 16, 2026

WINNIPEG - The negative effects social media has on children and youth's mental and physical health is outweighing other health concerns like substance use and injuries prompting some Manitoba doctors to support a ban on these sites, a new report has found.

Doctors Manitoba, the organization representing roughly 5,000 physicians and students in the province, surveyed its members and found that social media and excessive screen time pose significant risks to the mental health, sleep and robust development in children and youth.

Of the 242 physicians who completed the survey, 90 per cent supported a ban on social media sites and artificial intelligence chatbots for children.

"The findings are quite clear. Doctors believe social media, screen time and chat bots are among the top risks to children's health and well-being, ranking higher than even smoking, drinking, injuries and sedentary lifestyles," Dr. Alon Altman, president of Doctors Manitoba, told reporters on Monday.

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Tuesday, Jun. 16, 2026
Prime Minister Mark Carney shakes hands with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith in Calgary, Friday, May 15, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh

Carney points to Brexit, warns Alberta separation push could be ‘dangerous bluff’

David Baxter and Nick Murray, The Canadian Press 6 minute read Preview

Carney points to Brexit, warns Alberta separation push could be ‘dangerous bluff’

David Baxter and Nick Murray, The Canadian Press 6 minute read Tuesday, May. 26, 2026

OTTAWA - Prime Minister Mark Carney said Monday the Alberta referendum on separation could be a "dangerous bluff," while Alberta Premier Danielle Smith cautioned it's a decision for Albertans to make, not the federal government.

Carney, who was the governor of the Bank of England during and immediately after the Brexit referendum campaign, warned that people in the United Kingdom are still trying to undo the damage caused by that decision a decade later.

"In these separation issues, it is often advanced that, 'Vote for this and it's a free option. Vote for this and we will strengthen our hand in a future negotiation.' That is a very dangerous bluff," Carney told a news conference in Ottawa on Monday.

Smith said last week her government will pose a question in the referendum planned for October asking Albertans if they think the province should remain part of Canada or should begin the legal process for a separation referendum.

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Tuesday, May. 26, 2026
JOHN WOODS / FREE PRESS Melissa Lopushniuk’s, volunteer and member of the Girl Guides of Canada for 28 years, camp blanket with her first badge (Sparks Shine) is photographed in the Girl Guides provincial office Tuesday, May 19, 2026. Lopushniuk is currently Prairie Sage District Co-Commissioner and guide leader for a guide unit in South St Vital. reporter: av

Logistics expert guides the way — for nearly 30 years

AV Kitching 8 minute read Preview

Logistics expert guides the way — for nearly 30 years

AV Kitching 8 minute read Monday, May. 25, 2026

Melissa Lopushniuk has been a member of Girl Guides Canada for nearly 30 years.

She started at age six and worked her way through all five branches of the program — from Sparks to Embers to Guides to Pathfinders to Rangers. She became a volunteer adult guider when she turned 18.

Her first role as an adult volunteer was with a Spark and Ember unit comprising elementary school-aged children.

It was there when Lopushniuk’s leadership skills came to the forefront: organizing activities for weekly meetings and planning events and excursions for the younger guides.

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Monday, May. 25, 2026
RUTH BONNEVILLE / FREE PRESS BIZ — Jensen Nursery celebrates 60 years Customers browse the colourful array of plants and flowers at Jensen Nursery and Garden Centre on McGillivray Boulevard as the family-run business marks 60 years in operation and welcomes the start of the spring gardening season. This photo accompanies the May 25 “Made in Manitoba” feature. Story by Aaron. May 22nd,, 2026

Jensen’s Nursery & Garden Centre celebrates 60 years of sowing community connections

Aaron Epp 6 minute read Preview

Jensen’s Nursery & Garden Centre celebrates 60 years of sowing community connections

Aaron Epp 6 minute read Monday, May. 25, 2026

RURAL MUNICIPALITY OF MACDONALD — It’s been 60 years since the seeds that became Jensen’s Nursery & Garden Centre were planted — and 10 years since its owners faced one of their biggest challenges.

At around 8 p.m. one day in July 2016, a thunderstorm hit the family-run garden centre and gift shop at 2550 McGillivray Blvd., beyond the southwest edge of Winnipeg. Susan Jensen Stubbe and Susan MacPherson, two members of the company’s ownership group, watched as it did major damage over the next 30 minutes.

The storm destroyed the main greenhouse, tore the tops off a few smaller greenhouses and damaged part of the gift shop’s roof.

“These windows were actually bowing in from the pressure of the rain,” Jensen Stubbe recalls as she sits at a table in the gift shop, recounting the storm.

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Monday, May. 25, 2026

Winnipeg families deserve real solutions for drug crisis

Dodie Jordan 5 minute read Monday, May. 25, 2026

The recent community gathering regarding Winnipeg’s proposed safe consumption site sparked strong emotions and important conversations.

Many residents expressed concerns about neighbourhood safety, public disorder and what this site could mean for families and businesses in the surrounding community.

Those concerns matter and they deserve to be acknowledged respectfully.

It is also important to recognize that the people who attended the community gathering and voiced concerns are not blind to the drug poisoning crisis affecting Winnipeg and communities across Manitoba.

MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS files In the current health-care system, does anyone in senior administration have a direct fiduciary responsibility for the care of individual patients?
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For the patient, where does the buck stop?

Alan H. Menkis 7 minute read Preview
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For the patient, where does the buck stop?

Alan H. Menkis 7 minute read Monday, May. 25, 2026

The word “fiduciary” did not begin in medicine. It began in law.

For centuries, lawyers have refined a doctrine that is now woven through corporate governance, trust administration, securities regulation and pension oversight.

A fiduciary acts solely in the interest of the beneficiary. The duty is loyalty, prudence and full disclosure.

Implicit in all of these is the duty of competence and the requirement that the beneficiary’s interest comes before the fiduciary’s own. Where the duty is breached, courts intervene.

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Monday, May. 25, 2026
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith speaks in this photo taken from a televised address aired on Thursday, May 21, 2026 from a handout video posted on the Government of Alberta's YouTube channel. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Handout - YouTube, @YourAlberta, Government of Alberta (Mandatory Credit)
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Experts explain how Indigenous rights are a major hurdle for Alberta secession

Fakiha Baig, The Canadian Press 5 minute read Preview
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Experts explain how Indigenous rights are a major hurdle for Alberta secession

Fakiha Baig, The Canadian Press 5 minute read Monday, Jun. 15, 2026

EDMONTON - Political scientists say Indigenous treaty rights represent a significant legal hurdle for separatists in Alberta, and have brought the debate on secession in Canada into unchartered territory.

"This is a new dynamic ... It's creating a lot of uncertainty," said Andrew McDougall, a lawyer and professor in the University of Toronto's political science department, in an interview Saturday.

"There needs to be consultation with Indigenous peoples, the extent to which is unclear," said Andre Lecours, a University of Ottawa professor.

Premier Danielle Smith announced in a televised address on Thursday that an Oct. 19 referendum question will ask Albertans if they want to remain in Canada or start the process to hold a binding referendum on separation.

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Monday, Jun. 15, 2026
Fans wave a Canadian flag before the men's ice hockey gold medal game between Canada and the United States at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
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Highest proportion of people since 2017 say Canada is on the right track: poll

David Baxter, The Canadian Press 3 minute read Preview
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Highest proportion of people since 2017 say Canada is on the right track: poll

David Baxter, The Canadian Press 3 minute read Monday, Jun. 15, 2026

OTTAWA - The number of Canadians who believe the country is heading in the right direction has hit its highest percentage since 2017, according to a new poll from Abacus Data.

The poll published Sunday, which can't be assigned a margin of error because it was conducted online, said 47 per cent of people believe Canada is heading in the right direction, while 39 per cent say the country is on the wrong track.

Meanwhile, the poll suggests 76 per cent of Canadians see the rest of the world as moving in the wrong direction. That figure increases to 80 per cent when the question was about the United States

Pollster David Coletto said that this is reflected by respondents saying they see Canada as a stabilizing force in a turbulent world.

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Monday, Jun. 15, 2026
Sam Altman, center, and OpenAI president Greg Brockman, right, arrive at the U.S. District Court in Oakland, Calif., Thursday, April 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)
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Could anything but profit steer AI? The OpenAI trial offered clues but no verdict

Matt O'brien, The Associated Press 5 minute read Preview
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Could anything but profit steer AI? The OpenAI trial offered clues but no verdict

Matt O'brien, The Associated Press 5 minute read Monday, Jun. 15, 2026

The trial pitting Elon Musk against OpenAI CEO Sam Altman made clear the two billionaires agreed on one thing: building artificial intelligence would require significant resources — and enormous amounts of money.

It may seem obvious now, as an AI-obsessed stock market helps finance a global construction boom of chipmaking factories and energy-hogging data centers to keep chatbots running, but testimony and evidence showed how people with outsized control of the AI industry were privately debating its costs nearly a decade ago.

“Even raising several hundred million won’t be enough,” Musk said in a 2018 email to Altman and other OpenAI co-founders about what he increasingly saw as a futile attempt to compete with Google. “This needs billions per year immediately or forget it.”

The soaring costs factored into the trajectory of OpenAI, which began in 2015 as a nonprofit dedicated to developing AI for the common good and is now a capitalistic enterprise valued at $852 billion. As San Francisco-based OpenAI and other AI companies move toward historically large Wall Street debuts, the trial also raised questions about whether anything but commercial interests can steer AI’s future.

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Monday, Jun. 15, 2026
People take part in a Forever Canadian rally in Edmonton on Saturday, May 23, 2026. Former deputy premier and spokesperson for the Forever Canadian campaign, Thomas Lukaszuk, is kicking off a provincewide tour. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Amanda Erickson.

‘This country cannot be broken:’ Campaign to keep Alberta in Canada launches

Fakiha Baig, The Canadian Press 4 minute read Preview

‘This country cannot be broken:’ Campaign to keep Alberta in Canada launches

Fakiha Baig, The Canadian Press 4 minute read Monday, May. 25, 2026

EDMONTON - Hundreds of people in red-and-white clothing waved Canadian flags, cheered as honking cars passed by and sang "O Canada" at a launch event for a campaign aiming to stop Alberta from quitting Confederation.

Thomas Lukaszuk, Alberta's former deputy premier, said his Forever Canadian campaign will see him and hundreds of volunteers zigzagging from the province's north to the south in his "Unity Bus" to encourage Albertans to vote for staying in Canada in an October referendum.

"I will be on the road for the next six months, riding in this bus from town to town, campground to campground," he told the crowd outside his campaign's new headquarters in Edmonton's northwest.

"This is definitely the most important vote in the history of this province. This country cannot be broken up by anybody."

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Monday, May. 25, 2026
NICOLE BUFFIE/FREE PRESS Tara, a volunteer with Linking Hope, sorts women’s clothes Saturday afternoon at the non-profit organization’s new warehouse at 323 Edwin St.

Linking Hope creates nonprofit connections to build a better future

Nicole Buffie 4 minute read Preview

Linking Hope creates nonprofit connections to build a better future

Nicole Buffie 4 minute read Saturday, May. 23, 2026

Standing atop a plastic chair in a bustling warehouse on the edge of downtown Winnipeg, Breena Courchaine projects her voice to coordinate dozens of volunteers and thank them for the day’s work.

The morning has been a frenzy of piling clothes atop tables, moving donations around the room and finding permanent homes for things at Linking Hope’s new, permanent home.

By 12:30 p.m. Saturday, more than 100 volunteers had moved Linking Hope’s inventory into its new home at 323 Edwin St., across the road from its former space at 190 Disraeli Fwy., and the team was well ahead of schedule — a testament to the organization's support, staff say.

“We literally could not do this without our volunteers,” Courchaine said. “Every idea that has made this place better is mostly coming from the volunteers.”

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Saturday, May. 23, 2026
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS Solar power — from homes, businesses and farms — makes up a fraction of Manitoba’s energy mix
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Proponents of solar power push for provincial infrastructure investment to boost grid resilience

Julia-Simone Rutgers 15 minute read Preview
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Proponents of solar power push for provincial infrastructure investment to boost grid resilience

Julia-Simone Rutgers 15 minute read Saturday, May. 23, 2026

In the early 1970s, licence plates were stamped with the slogan “Sunny Manitoba” — a nod to long summer days, crisp blue winter skies and frequent sun dogs reflecting off of blinding white snow. While the slogan later changed, Manitoba’s ranking as Canada’s second-sunniest province has not.

Despite that sunlit reputation, solar power — one of the most-developed renewable energy sources — makes up just a small fraction of the province’s electricity grid.

“It’s extremely marginal, especially when you compare to other jurisdictions like Alberta and Saskatchewan,” said James Wilt, policy development manager at Climate Action Team Manitoba.

Manitoba boasts a predominantly emissions-free grid, with 97 per cent of its power generated by a network of hydroelectric dams. But the provincial utility, Manitoba Hydro, has forecasted that its once-abundant renewable energy source will soon fall short. There is growing demand for power amid the electrification of sectors like transportation and heating, and the rapidly growing interest in developing electricity-hungry data centres. Combined with more unpredictable water levels owing to climate factors like extreme drought, it’s all prompted the utility to warn that capacity could run out as soon as 2030.

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Saturday, May. 23, 2026
Lev Radin / ZUMA Press Wire Auction assistants display Mark Rothko’s Brown and Blacks in Reds during a press preview at Sotheby’s auction house.
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Expressive power, emotional encounters: A closer look at Rothko’s Brown and Blacks in Reds

Alison Gillmor 4 minute read Preview
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Expressive power, emotional encounters: A closer look at Rothko’s Brown and Blacks in Reds

Alison Gillmor 4 minute read Saturday, May. 23, 2026

WHAT IT IS: Brown and Blacks in Reds, a 1957 painting by American artist Mark Rothko.

This work recently sold for US$85.8 million during a record-setting evening at Sotheby’s auction house, raising vexing questions about what we mean when we talk about the value of art.

WHAT IT’S ABOUT: Brown and Blacks in Reds offers a sombre example of Rothko’s most immediately recognizable period, with stacked blocks of colour vibrating against an intense ground. It is usually classified as a colour field painting, part of the larger abstract-expressionist movement of the 1940s and ’50s. (Rothko himself famously disliked both these terms.)

Mad Men fans might recall a Season 2 episode in which eccentric senior partner Bert Cooper acquires a Rothko painting something like this. (“I heard it cost $10,000,” Sal says.) Some of the younger employees sneak into Cooper’s office to look at it.

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Saturday, May. 23, 2026