Métis leaders unveil 1920s model dog sled repatriated from Vatican

OTTAWA - Métis leaders on Wednesday unveiled a model dog sled repatriated to their communities after more than a century in the Vatican collection.

The sled, made in the 1920s of leather, wood and glass beads, was one of 62 items repatriated to Indigenous Peoples from the Vatican last year after decades of calls for their return.

“We’re not simply opening a box. We’re welcoming something very special home. We’re beginning a new chapter, a chapter that’s grounded in relationship, kinship and connection,” Métis National Council president Victoria Pruden said during the ceremony.

“These are not artifacts in the Western sense. These are carriers of memory – that Kiyas Kiskiowin Oma – remembering who we are, our memories returning. They hold the imprint of the hands that made them, and the communities who once knew them.”

Children’s film festival showcases joy of shared experience

In a world where anyone can stream anything almost instantly at any time, film festivals such as Freeze Frame International still matter, says artistic director Pascal Boutroy.

“I am disheartened by how accessible some things are to children,” says Boutroy, who established the festival in 1996 with his wife Nicole Matiation.

“We have screens everywhere — the television, the computer, the cellphones … shared experience has disappeared over the years. But (watching a movie with an audience) is such a thrill; it’s actually like watching a game of hockey or soccer with people in a stadium or arena rather than watching it in front of TV by yourself.

“There’s something very precious about the shared experience.”

Team Cameron dissolving at the end of curling season

With the Olympics now in the rearview mirror, the dominoes are already starting to fall in the Canadian curling scene.

Team Kate Cameron announced early Monday that they will be parting ways at the conclusion of this season.

Cameron, third Briane Harris, second Taylor McDonald, and lead Mackenzie Elias lost the Manitoba provincial semifinal last month to Beth Peterson to miss out on a trip to the Scotties Tournament of Hearts.

Cameron, a 34-year-old from New Bothwell, originally formed the team ahead of the 2023-24 campaign alongside McDonald, Elias, and former third Meghan Walter. They proved to be an immediate national contender by bringing home bronze from the 2024 Scotties.

Manitobans continue to draw line in sand, choose not to cross once-neighbourly line on land

Julie Regner loves to see Canadians tackle the slopes or après-ski at North Dakota’s Frost Fire Park, which has drawn skiers and snowboarders across the border for decades.

While there hasn’t been an official tally of visitors this season, the park’s general manager doesn’t think she’s seeing as many Manitobans amid the steep decline in Canadians venturing south.

“I would say it’s maybe decreased some from last year. They’re definitely still coming down to ski,” Regner said from the park, which is close to Walhalla, just 10 kilometres south of the border.

“We just love having them come down. They’re super nice people.”

Sketches by eccentric Winnipeg artist Ed Ackerman hit the Hollywood Bowl

Mac DeMarco, one of Canada’s most celebrated indie musicians, has chosen Winnipegger Ed Ackerman’s art to grace posters for his upcoming fall concerts at the Hollywood Bowl and Carnegie Hall.

How DeMarco, who performed two packed concerts at Burton Cummings Theatre in December, came to select Ackerman’s work hardly followed a conventional process.

Ackerman was drawing sketches by himself at the Yellow Dog Tavern across the street from the Burt the night of DeMarco’s first show. Afterward, audiences flooded into the bar and a group of young people sat down at Ackerman’s table and began asking him about his art.

“And then they sent this other (man) over, saying, ‘Go, go look at this old guy’s stuff.’ And it was Mac DeMarco,” Ackerman says of the Edmonton musician, whose 2014 album Salad Days was shortlisted for the Polaris Prize.

Winnipeg-based West End Radiators drives toward 7th decade in business with 5 locations in 2 provinces

If the staff at West End Radiators have a strong suit, it’s moving forward.

“Just keep going. We don’t really look back,” says Justin Feeleus, who owns the Winnipeg-based business with his uncle, Wayne Feeleus. “It’s just kind of (about asking ourselves): how can we get better?”

While looking in the rear-view mirror doesn’t generally interest the owners of Manitoba’s only remaining heavy-duty radiator shop, a recent milestone gave them and their approximately 60 staff an opportunity to stop and reflect on everything the company has accomplished.

West End Radiators reached its 65th anniversary in 2025, and the company marked the occasion last month with a celebration at the Sandman Hotel.

Manitoba’s top tabby clawing for title of North America’s favourite pet

Patrick (also known as Patty Cakes Bakers Man of Karalot) has already earned an impressive number of ribbons and accolades, and he's trying to add to his titles by winning America’s Favorite Pet.

Longtime Les Misérables cast member making his Canadian debut

Javert is a role Hayden Tee can’t escape.

The New Zealand-born actor first played the wolfish Les Misérables inspector over a decade ago in an Australian tour, before pursuing protagonist Jean Valjean on Broadway, in Dubai, on the West End, in Taiwan and across the United States.

“I adore the character. I’m always grateful to return,” says Tee, who has also played the dastardly principal Miss Trunchbull in the West End production of Matilda.

Next week, following a weeklong run in Minneapolis, Tee’s Javert will make his Canadian debut in Winnipeg at the Centennial Concert Hall as part of the North American touring production of Les Misérables, the beloved, long-running musical based on the novel by Victor Hugo, featuring standards such as I Dreamed a Dream, Do You Hear the People Sing? and One Day More.

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Landmarks: Exploring unique and iconic Winnipeg locations

Landmarks is a monthly feature in which columnist Alison Gillmor explores unique and iconic Winnipeg buildings and locations.

Review: Actor connects multiple storylines in RMTC’s telecommunications drama Rogers v. Rogers

Inviting audiences into the inner sanctum of a dysfunctional dynasty, playwright Michael Healey’s Rogers v. Rogers does for the Canadian telecommunications industry what Adam McKay’s The Big Short did for subprime loans: surveying a national economic ecosystem that feels destined to take advantage of consumer’s best interests while lining the coffers of a controlling billionaire class.

Like McKay’s film, which adapted Michael Lewis’s bestselling post-mortem of the 2008 financial meltdown, Healey’s script — which he clarifies is fictionalized — is grounded in a journalistic account of corporate drama: Globe and Mail reporter Alexandra Posadzki’s moment-to-moment breakdown of the inner turmoil at the leviathan Rogers Communications as it attempted to swallow Shaw whole.

As in The Big Short, the grand challenge in this tale of consumer sovereignty is to make it interesting, infuriating and entertaining enough to compel the average audience member, and not just the daily stock checkers and economics majors, to find their place within the boardroom saga.

Healey knows this, and acknowledges as much during the production’s introductory address, delivered by Matthew Boswell, an impassioned civil servant who has been appointed to the office of federal competition commissioner.

Kitchener tiny-home initiative has outsized positive impact on the homeless community

KITCHENER, Ont. — Like most Canadians, Mari dreams about having a bigger home for her boyfriend Rob and their dog, Trouble, a mutt of undefined origins.

The trio currently resides in an eight-by-10-foot dwelling at A Better Tent City, Kitchener’s tiny-home community for homeless people. But Trouble, who is 18 months old and earns his name each and every day, is a big reason why Mari would like more space.

Having said that, Mari, 42, is in no hurry to leave ABTC, which has provided her with a safe and stable place to live for the last five years.

“Before I lived here, I was living in a tent anywhere I could,” Mari said. “The last place I had been was the parking lot at the soup kitchen. Before that, I lived in a field across from the U-Haul.”

New Royal Winnipeg Ballet artistic director takes big leap with new season

The Royal Winnipeg Ballet’s forthcoming 2026/27 season will mark the start of a new chapter for the company: it’s the first to be entirely programmed by newly minted artistic director Christopher Stowell.

“My perspective on planning this season has been one of looking in the rear-view mirror because of the great history of the RWB, but then also really looking forward about how we can continue to be innovative and dynamic and distinct,” says Stowell, who began in the role last June.

“And the other thing is really wanting people in our community to be able to connect with us in a much broader variety of ways make it more easy, more accessible, more welcoming, less of a commitment, if that’s how they want it to be.”

The mainstage season will open in October at the Centennial Concert Hall with Stravinsky Stories, a double bill set to two pieces of music written for ballet by influential Russian composer Igor Stravinsky.