A measure of hope a decade after senseless death, injustice

Colten Boushie’s death and the trial of the man who killed him had an immense impact on Canadians, many of whom learned about the injustice Indigenous communities know all too well for the first time.

Province allows pharmacists to prescribe birth control; more services coming, Asagwara says

Manitoba pharmacists have new powers to assess for, prescribe and administer birth control.

Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara announced an expanded scope of practice — although limitations on the profession remain the strictest in Canada — during a news conference Friday.

“This means that people will be able to access contraception more quickly, more conveniently and closer to home,” Asagwara told reporters inside the legislature.

The minister touted the regulatory changes, which came into effect Tuesday, as an expansion of the province’s free birth control initiative.

Can federal legislation effectively rein in social media’s opaque algorithms and deceptive design features?

In June, when Ottawa introduced Bill C-34, the Safe Social Media Act, one element — plans to block children under the age of 16 from certain social media platforms — dominated headlines and fuelled debates.

But this marks just one component of a complex, 92-page bill that would enact two separate pieces of legislation: the Digital Safety Act and the Digital Safety Commission of Canada Act.

The Free Press took a close look at the tabled bill, breaking down the changes it would make, if passed.

Heritage Minister Marc Miller, whose department is responsible for the file, told reporters in June the bill meant to ramp up Canada’s oversight of Big Tech.

Dairy farmers warn against concessions as U.S. tariff deadline looms

OTTAWA - Canadian dairy farmers are warning against any concessions involving their sector as trade talks intensify with the United States ahead of President Donald Trump's tariff deadline.

A new round of 50 per cent American tariffs on a range of Canadian goods is set to take effect on Aug. 19. Unlike most of Trump’s other tariffs, these would have no exemptions for goods that comply with the Canada-U.S.-Mexico agreement on trade.

The supply management system that protects Canadian dairy has been cited by the U.S. as a key irritant in trade negotiations and Trump has complained repeatedly about the level of U.S. dairy farmers' access to Canada's market.

Dairy Farmers of Canada says it's urging the federal government not to offer any more concessions on dairy or supply management in talks with the United States.

Old military transport aircraft to get new lease on life as waterbombers

OTTAWA - The federal government said Friday it is selling 10 of its used CC-130H Hercules aircraft to B.C.-based aerospace company Coulson Aviation, which will convert them into firefighting aircraft.

They're part of a fleet of 12 retired by the Royal Canadian Air Force back in January. The remaining two Hercs will be put on public display at bases and museums.

Secretary of State for Defence Procurement Stephen Fuhr announced the conditional sale of the recently retired aircraft in Abbotsford, B.C., where an international air show is being held.

Fuhr called the sale a "gold standard" divestment project that will give the military assets a new lease on life.

Some US adults are using AI for financial guidance but few trust it, Gallup poll finds

NEW YORK (AP) — Some U.S. adults are using artificial intelligence for financial guidance, but it’s far from the most trusted source of advice, according to a new Gallup survey conducted in partnership with Edward Jones, a financial services firm.

About 1 in 5 Americans who have sought financial advice in the past year turned to AI, the survey found. But among U.S. adults overall, only about 3 in 10 have “a great deal” or “some” confidence in its expertise for managing money, according to the survey, including just 3% who trust AI “a great deal.”

The poll, which was conducted in the spring and looked at the views of adults who are at least 21, found a disconnect between the resources Americans trust for financial advice and the ones they actually rely on. About 8 in 10 U.S. adults have at least “some” confidence in financial advisers. But only about one-third of U.S. adults who sought financial advice turned to a professional financial adviser, with far more, 73%, saying they relied on their own internet research.

As the use of AI increases, financial experts say consumers should be cautious about fully trusting these tools. Using AI as a tool at the start of a learning journey and then combining this knowledge with other trusted sources can be the best way to engage with new and traditional financial guidance tools, said Taha Choukhmane, associate professor at MIT’s Sloan School of Management.

Why celebrities from Zendaya to Kylie Jenner are wearing Fecal Matter

The brand name behind recent showstopping fashion moments isn’t quite as delicate as their romantic and otherworldly looks. When asked what an ethereal Zendaya was wearing for the “Odyssey” premiere in New York, her stylist Law Roach responded: “Fecal Matter.”

Zendaya’s angelic strapless gown with feathered white wings was the work of Matières Fécales — yes, in English, Fecal Matter — the Paris-based, high-end fashion house founded in Montreal over a decade ago that’s, seemingly suddenly, everywhere.

Why Matières Fécales is called ... that

The design duo behind Matières Fécales, Steven Raj Bhaskaran and Hannah Rose Dalton, have aimed to subvert beauty with their own alien-like personal style, including dramatic white makeup, shaved heads and eyebrows, and skin boots made to look like realistic feet.

Interim Indigenous languages commissioner says she’s participating in probe of office

OTTAWA - The interim commissioner of Indigenous languages says she knows her office has work to do on rebuilding trust with Indigenous communities, and she is participating fully in a government-ordered audit.

Candice St-Aubin, a former senior assistant deputy minister of strategic policy with Indigenous Services Canada, was appointed interim commissioner for a term of up to 90 days, or until a permanent commissioner is selected.

"Having seen the reporting coming in, my eyes were wide open. Financial stewardship is something that is ingrained in me, much like ethics and codes of conduct, but also managing people," St-Aubin told The Canadian Press during an interview in her downtown Ottawa office.

The Canadian Press reported earlier this year that half a dozen sources, including former employees, said the Office of the Commissioner of Indigenous Languages was failing to move the needle on strengthening Indigenous languages and supporting research.

After centuries in India, the last Cochin Jews try to keep their history alive

KOCHI, India (AP) — As the sun set over Kochi’s historic Jew Town neighborhood, Keith Hallegua donned a gray kippah and began a solitary walk to the synagogue at the end of his cobbled street.

It was Shavuot, the Jewish holiday commemorating God giving the Torah to Moses. Hallegua reached the 458-year-old Paradesi Synagogue where he knew he would pray alone — without a minyan, the quorum of 10 males required for a communal service there.

Hallegua is the synagogue's last local congregant — the only Jew left in Jew Town.

Across the city at the centuries-old Kadavumbagam Synagogue, Elias “Babu” Josephai remembered the “chukkunda" — fried dough balls his grandmother used to make for Shavuot.

Winnipeggers join global community in honouring Hiroshima, Nagasaki dead with lantern ceremony

Marking small lanterns with messages of “No More War,” “Peace for Everyone” and “Nuclear Free,” Winnipeggers gathered Thursday to mark 81 years since the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The Lanterns for Peace event, one of many around the globe, brought dozens of people to the fountain at Memorial Park to honour those killed by atomic weapons at the end the Second World War.

Growing up in Japan, Hiroe St. Louis remembers how every year, the importance of peace was stressed across the country as the Japanese reflected on the devastation in Hiroshima.

It was a lesson her grandmother would embed in St. Louis as she grew up near Osaka. While her grandmother was not in a city hit by a nuclear weapon, her home of Yokkaichi burned to the ground during the war. Across the country, people were just trying to survive, St. Louis says.

Local medical scrubs retailer feeling abandoned by U of M, RRC Polytech nursing programs

A Winnipeg uniform store is appealing to medical students to shop locally for scrubs this back-to-school season as it grapples with growing competition online and an apparent shutout by local campuses.

Unimor Healthwear has long ordered uniforms in bulk in navy blue, burgundy and pewter, as nurses-in-training are required to wear those colours based on where they’re enrolled in the province.

“It’s not like it used to be,” Evan Schwartz said about customer traffic to his store at 98 Sherbrook St.

The company’s director estimated he spent about $15,000 to stock up on scrubs in pewter in preparation for the launch of Red River College Polytechnic’s upcoming nursing intake.

California tech company sees Manitoba as strategic gateway to dairy market

GROSSE ISLE — An AI-first California-based company that creates software for the dairy industry is establishing its Canadian headquarters in Winnipeg.

Spade Technologies announced Thursday it will build a team in Manitoba, positioning the province as the centre of its Canadian operations and a strategic gateway to the broader North American dairy market.

The company’s Canadian expansion is backed by SVG Ventures Thrive, a global agrifood innovation and investment platform. The Silicon Valley-based organization is investing $1.4 million into Spade via its Pioneer Fund, which invests in high-growth, early-stage agrifood technology companies.

The fund is backed by Farm Credit Canada as its anchor investor, alongside strategic limited partners including the Manitoba First Fund.

Court orders Instagram and Facebook’s Meta to pay $567M to address kids’ mental health online

A New Mexico court has ordered Instagram and Facebook parent company Meta to pay $567 million to address harms to young people from its platforms in the second phase of a landmark trial.

Judge Bryan Biedscheid said in a ruling late Thursday that the bulk of the money — $420 million — will be used for treatment services for young people. The rest will go toward awareness and prevention, screening services and other costs over the next five years.

The new penalty is in addition to the $375 million in civil penalties that jurors ordered against Meta in March after determining the company knowingly harmed children’s mental health and concealed what it knew about child sexual exploitation on its platforms. In the second phase, prosecutors asked the judge to impose fundamental changes at Meta aimed at reining in addictive features, improving age verification and preventing child sexual exploitation through default privacy settings and closer oversight.

The total amount Meta is responsible for — $942 million — is a small fraction of of its annual profit, which was about $60 billion in 2025. Investors seemed to shrug off the New Mexico ruling in after-hours trading Thursday, sending Meta’s stock down less than half a percent to $589.44.

Environment Canada upgrade expected to improve dangerous weather warnings after June storm alert barrage

A new Environment Canada system that will better pinpoint who receives warnings about dangerous incoming weather is coming just weeks after some Manitobans received more than 20 alerts in a matter of hours before and during a massive storm.

The upgraded system, set to launch Tuesday, will focus on targeting areas most affected by severe thunderstorms or tornadoes instead of sending region-wide alerts, using a model based on “free-form polygons,” which allows meteorologists to specifically outline the area where a storm is headed.

“People in Canada will receive more precise severe thunderstorm and tornado warnings faster,” Samantha Bayard, a spokesperson for Environment and Climate Change Canada, said in an email Thursday.

“This will give everyone the information they need to act quickly and stay safe.”

Nova Scotian children under 14 will soon be banned from e-bikes

HALIFAX - Nova Scotia’s public works minister says the province plans to ban children under 14 from riding electric bikes this fall.

Fred Tilley says the age restriction is part of a slate of changes that will be made to the province’s Traffic Safety Act. 

The minister says technology is allowing e-scooters and e-bikes to move much faster than before.

The province first restricted children under 14 from using e-scooters back in 2022. 

PM says Ottawa is ‘loyal’ to supply management system protecting dairy sector

CHICOUTIMI - Prime Minister Mark Carney says his government is "loyal" to the supply management system protecting Canada's dairy sector and is pointing to the Liberals' choice of candidate in an upcoming byelection as proof of that commitment.

Supply management has been cited by the U.S. as a key irritant in trade negotiations and President Donald Trump has complained repeatedly about the level of U.S. dairy farmers' access to Canada's market.

Taking questions from reporters Thursday after touring an aluminum facility in Saguenay, Que., Carney said the Liberals' choice of former dairy producer Daniel Gobeil to run in the Chicoutimi-Le Fjord byelection shows the government is "loyal" to supply management.

"I've been clear since the start of my campaign for the Liberal leadership … because I believe in supply management. It's important to stabilize prices for Canadian consumers and protect a way of life for small farms," Carney said in French.

Winnipeg artist RYAN AD's ambitions growing as work reaches Paris

RYAN AD is Jamaican-Grenadian, lives in Winnipeg and receives iPhone notifications in French.

One of these notifications recently gave the photographer (who goes by his artist name) good news: a prestigious Parisian art gallery was interested in featuring two of his photographs in one of its exhibitions. One was captured in Manitoba, the other in Jamaica.

“I felt a constant sense of community in Jamaica. You’ll walk down the road and people will talk to you,” he says. “Here you have to be buying something to exist in most places.”

One photo, entitled Born Underwater, is a gentle depiction of Lake Winnipeg, reminiscent of Wanda Koop for its symmetry and pastel-like softness. The other, Myself When Young, shows a man leaning on an old car with its hood popped, a glimpse into Jamaica’s culture of repair and resourcefulness.

Clearing the deck and filling the seats at City Hall

The winds of change are always blowing at Winnipeg’s city hall, but with a civic election looming this fall, the gusts through the council chamber at 510 Main St. seem particularly strong.

With slightly less than three months until voters head to the polls, no less than five incumbent councillors have declared they will not stand for re-election.

Combine that with the possibility that one or more other members of the 15-member body could lose their bids for re-election, and what becomes apparent is that the makeup of Winnipeg’s municipal decision-making assembly will have changed dramatically when the new council is sworn in.

The five veteran councillors who have opted not to seek another term are Sherri Rollins (Fort Rouge-East Fort Garry), Markus Chambers (St. Norbert–Seine River), John Orlikow (River Heights-Fort Garry), Janice Lukes (Waverley West) and Brian Mayes (St. Vital).

Water-bus service relaunches with bigger boat

After staying docked last summer, the water-bus service stationed at The Forks is once again ferrying people up and down the Red and Assiniboine rivers.