AI poses threat to Indigenous culture, knowledge, creativity

When asked for information about Indigenous Peoples, AI programs most often reproduce false facts, suggest harmful stereotypes, misinterpret languages, and confuse and collapse unique histories of nations, laws, and traditions into others.

Mayoral contenders focus on recreation funding, 911, littered streets

Community centre funding, 911 and 311 services, and clamping down on litterbugs dominated the mayoral election campaign Friday, while a fourth candidate said voters would have to stay tuned for his promises.

Incumbent Scott Gillingham promised to work with the federal and provincial governments to set up a $60-million fund for community centres, that would be split three ways.

“We’ve seen again and again that when the city steps up with a serious plan and a financial commitment and puts real money on the table, other governments are willing to come to the table, too,” he said.

The fund would pay for repairs and upgrades at community centres and recreation facilities.

Pokemon thieves clear out collectibles shop

Terri Settle loved watching children walk into her collectibles shop to hunt for their favourite Pokemon cards.

After the latest break in stripped her shelves of much of the inventory, she’s not sure she’ll get to see it again.

Thieves broke into Terri’s Trinkets and Toys on Tuesday evening, punching through a grate and then the store’s bathroom wall to reach the storefront.

They made off with about $6,000 worth of merchandise, including all of the store’s Pokemon cards — about 7,000 of them — along with toys, Lego, jewelry, video games, a debit machine and personal laptop. They even took her vacuum cleaner.

Ottawa ends permanent residency exemption for refugees with undeclared family

OTTAWA - The immigration minister has quietly ended a policy that helped some refugees sponsor their children or partners for permanent residency, while offering refugee advocates no explanation for the change.

The temporary policy allowed certain refugees to sponsor family members who were not initially declared on their own applications.

Under current rules, a permanent resident normally is barred from sponsoring a family member if they did not name them in their documentation.

Permanent resident applicants are required to declare all immediate family members for medical and security screening purposes, even if they aren't coming to Canada.

Hong Kong court sentences 3 Tiananmen vigil organizers to prison in national security case

HONG KONG (AP) — Three Hong Kong activists who organized annual vigils in remembrance of China’s 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown were sentenced Friday to about five to seven years in prison in a case that prompted criticism from abroad and is widely seen as a barometer of the city’s eroding freedoms.

Lee Cheuk-yan, Chow Hang-tung and Albert Ho were convicted of inciting subversion earlier this year under a Beijing-imposed national security law.

Lee received a seven-year prison term and Chow was sentenced to seven years and three months. Both pleaded not guilty. Ho was given a lower sentence of five years and two months, partly because he pleaded guilty.

The three were leaders of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, which for three decades organized a Tiananmen vigil that was the only large-scale, public commemoration of the 1989 crackdown in China.

The plane truth about a dangerous president

U.S. President Donald Trump has crossed firmly into cutting-off-your-nose-to-spite-your-face territory.

Feds drop plans to skirt Species At Risk Act for major projects

OTTAWA - The federal government is abandoning plans to exempt certain projects from laws designed to protect species at risk after an overwhelmingly negative response to the proposal during a summer of consultations.

However environmental groups say Ottawa can still bypass the Species At Risk Act through other means.

The government is planning to introduce legislation in the fall to speed up approvals for major projects, a key promise from Prime Minister Mark Carney.

The government released two discussion papers in May which also proposed, among other things, to give cabinet ministers what it calls "limited" power to exempt projects from what's known as the "jeopardy test" for species at risk.

City exceeds housing targets as millions in federal funds set to roll in

The City of Winnipeg has exceeded several homebuilding targets tied to its share of the federal Housing Accelerator Fund, with permits issued for 14,833 new housing units since December 2023.

Gym, health pilot program rolls out as Manitoba children go back to school

Phys-ed is on the minds of many Manitobans — seven-year-old Ethan Minski included — as roughly 200,000 kindergarten-to-Grade 12 students start a new school year.