School board’s plan violates rights of young people: children’s advocate

Backlash is mounting over the Steinbach school board’s plans to disregard “mature minor” status and recognize parents as primary decision makers in all student health matters.

Inaugural trail summit looks to forge new paths across Canada

In Manitoba, thousands of kilometres of trails wind through a range of landscapes, including prairie, forest, sand dunes and provincial parks, passing through communities and campgrounds.

And behind every stretch is significant work to keep them maintained and accessible.

Across the country, trails are under growing pressure from climate change, aging infrastructure, increased use and uncertain funding — pressures that inspired trail leaders, advocates, researchers and policymakers from 10 provinces and two territories to gather in Winnipeg this week for the first Canadian Trail Summit.

Hosted by Trans Canada Trail, the national charity that stewards Canada’s 28,000‑kilometre trail system, the four‑day summit features keynote talks, technical workshops, field trips and sessions on conservation, accessibility, tourism and innovation.

Smith tells First Nations chiefs to ‘check themselves’ over treason accusation

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said Wednesday that a group of Indigenous chiefs need to "check themselves," after they accused her of potential treasonous activity for calling a separation vote.

The Assembly of Treaty Chiefs, representing First Nations across Alberta, unanimously voted this week to ask RCMP to look into whether the province's fall referendum amounts to criminal treason by Smith and her United Conservative Party.

The chiefs, in a news release, said organizing the vote is an intentional treaty violation and that Smith's government is ignoring serious risks to Canada's sovereignty.

They said that when their treaties were signed, the RCMP — then the North West Mounted Police — committed to ensuring the safety of First Nations, while the Crown promised goodwill in exchange for sharing the land.

‘Electrical non-compliances’ found at B.C. waterpark where kids were burned

CULTUS LAKE - The agency that oversees safety at B.C. amusement parks says investigators have found "electrical non compliances" at Cultus Lake Waterpark where a group of 12 schoolchildren suffered electrical burns on Monday.

Technical Safety BC, which is leading the investigation into what went wrong at the park, said in a statement on Wednesday that the finding means the park in the Fraser Valley will be shut until the problems are fixed and there is no timeline for reopening.

The regulator said its safety officers are “conducting a thorough assessment” at the park where the group suffered electrical burns requiring hospitalization.

The waterpark posted a statement on its website on Tuesday that said it was "fully co-operating with all authorities as they complete" their investigation.

Conservative MP’s bill on intimate partner violence becomes law

OTTAWA - Canada will take a harder stance on intimate partner violence after a Conservative MP’s private member’s bill became law Wednesday.

The Criminal Code will soon be updated to allow the killer of an intimate partner to be charged with first-degree murder regardless of whether the act was premeditated.

Bill C-225, which received royal assent in Parliament on Wednesday, will make first-degree murder applicable to killings that happen as part of a pattern of coercive or controlling conduct.

Frank Caputo, Conservative MP for Kamloops-Thomson-Nicola, put forward the private member's bill.

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.