WEATHER ALERT

Whose story is being told? How perspectives shape our understanding

Please review each article prior to use: grade-level applicability and curricular alignment might not be obvious from the headline alone.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh is greeted by Cowessness Chief Cadmus Delorme on the Cowessness First Nation, Sask, Friday. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson

Indigenous issues no longer stuck on back burner

Niigaan Sinclair 5 minute read Preview

Indigenous issues no longer stuck on back burner

Niigaan Sinclair 5 minute read Monday, Aug. 23, 2021

Manitoba follows a standard formula for federal elections: other than the affluent suburbs, Winnipeg votes mostly Liberal while everywhere else — besides the north — goes Conservative.

With support for provincial Conservatives waning, anger at Justin Trudeau for calling an election during a pandemic, and the rise of the provincial NDP, there are strong indications that predictable Manitoba seats are up for grabs.

The appearance of Trudeau and O’Toole in the city Friday is evidence.

Why would both visit on the same day NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh toured unmarked graves at a former residential school in Saskatchewan?

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Monday, Aug. 23, 2021
MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Ainsley Krone, acting advocate, Manitoba Advocate for Children and Youth, speaks during an announcement with Families Minister Rochelle Squires at the Manitoba Legislative building Tuesday morning.
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Manitoba youth concerned about mental health: survey

Malak Abas 3 minute read Preview
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Manitoba youth concerned about mental health: survey

Malak Abas 3 minute read Thursday, Aug. 19, 2021

Young people surveyed by Manitoba's children's advocate say they need better mental health and addiction services, as well as anti-poverty programs.

The advocate, an independent office of the Manitoba legislature, consulted with almost 300 young people who live in various regions of the province. A report based on their feedback, “The Right to Be Heard”, was published Thursday.

Generally, youth in the north were more likely to say they are concerned about poverty and substance abuse, while those living in Winnipeg were more likely to select racism and mental health issues.

“A report like this allows us a really incredible opportunity to sit down internally and think about how the projects that we have underway, how the projects that we’re maybe considering embarking on, align with what youth want us to be focused on,” said acting children's advocate Ainsley Krone said.

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Thursday, Aug. 19, 2021
CAROL SANDERS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Morgan Fontaine (nee Sizeland), left, grew up blocks from the rez school in River Heights and first met Ted Fontaine, right, when he was one of the
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City considering new name for park near former residential school to honour Indigenous leader

Joyanne Pursaga 4 minute read Preview
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City considering new name for park near former residential school to honour Indigenous leader

Joyanne Pursaga 4 minute read Thursday, Aug. 19, 2021

AS a residential high school student, the site now known as Wellington Park offered him rare moments of joy.

As an adult survivor of that system, it helped trigger both positive memories and quiet, disturbing flashbacks.

Theodore Fontaine, who died in May, found more than a chance to play hockey and baseball at the Assiniboia Indian Residential School, according to his wife Morgan Fontaine.

“These fields, this was just for him a time of that little taste of freedom that he longed for.… It was just before his seventh birthday (that) he lost his freedom,” she said.

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Thursday, Aug. 19, 2021
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I meme, you meme: internet language brings us together

Jen Zoratti 4 minute read Preview
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I meme, you meme: internet language brings us together

Jen Zoratti 4 minute read Wednesday, Aug. 18, 2021

Sometimes, a public health campaign gets it right.

The Baltimore City Health Department has been earning praise for a new initiative that spreads accurate information about COVID-19 and vaccines online by using an internet-native language: memes.

“Ginger ale can’t cure COVID, Derrick!” reads one. “Mimosas with the girls? You’re still not vaxxed, Debra!” reads another. “What the FAQ is Delta? It’s new. It’s scary. But we’re here to break it down.”

Done wrong, a public health department using the language of the internet can smack a bit of, to evoke a popular meme, actor Steve Buscemi dressed up unconvincingly as a teenager and asking, “How do you do, fellow kids?” (To be fair, so does describing memes in print.)

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Wednesday, Aug. 18, 2021
Tim Smith / Brandon Sun files If proposed changes to a city bylaw pass, Winnipeggers will legally be able to own a pit bull.
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Pit bulls legal, ball pythons banned?

Gabrielle Piché 6 minute read Preview
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Pit bulls legal, ball pythons banned?

Gabrielle Piché 6 minute read Wednesday, Aug. 11, 2021

Laura Baker has wanted a pit bull for 20 years, but hasn’t bought one because of the city’s ban.

“I just feel like the whole breed has been so misrepresented, misunderstood and given a raw deal in terms of being able to find loving homes,” the St. James resident said.

If proposed changes to a city bylaw pass, Baker will legally be able to own a pit bull, while it could become illegal to feed wildlife and to leave pets in vehicles at certain temperatures.

The city is looking for feedback on suggestions to its Responsible Pet Ownership bylaw. Winnipeg Public Service reviewed the rules this summer and came back with a number of ideas, including a removal of breed-specific bans.

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Wednesday, Aug. 11, 2021
Sightlines Photography Five-year-old Gatsby is available for adoption through Manitoba Underdogs Rescue.
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Rescued shepherd cross deserves to put his paws up

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Rescued shepherd cross deserves to put his paws up

3 minute read Tuesday, Aug. 10, 2021

Name: Gatsby

Sex: Male

Approximate age: Five years

Breed: Shepherd cross

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Tuesday, Aug. 10, 2021
RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS 49.8 Feature: Firefighter Lionel Crowther at #11 fire station on Portage and with his family at their home in North Kildonan. Photo of Firefighters helmet with UFFW sticker on it - Never Forget, Never Quit. See Story by Nick Martin on 10th anniversary of fire at 15 Place Gabrielle Roy in old St. Boniface that took the lives of two veteran firefighters, Thomas Nichols and Harold Lessard. Jan 25, 2017

Puncturing the shield of ‘implicit bias’

Niigaan Sinclair 5 minute read Preview

Puncturing the shield of ‘implicit bias’

Niigaan Sinclair 5 minute read Friday, Feb. 5, 2021

A leaked internal report this week into the conduct of four Winnipeg firefighters showed evidence of “implicit racial bias” against an Indigenous woman and “racial animus” towards a paramedic (also a person of colour) on a call in October 2020.

The report is clear: identifying the actions of the firefighters put the woman’s health at risk, delayed her journey to the hospital, and showed callous disregard for her safety. One firefighter riding in the ambulance refused to help the paramedic, forcing the injured woman to hold the dressing to the stab wound on her own neck.

Later, one of them called it: “Just another call in the North End.”

According to the report, it was part of “retaliation” against the paramedic, who previously alleged racist conduct by members of the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service — including one of the firefighters involved, who called him a “sand n-----.”

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Friday, Feb. 5, 2021
Pitch imperfect

Dove is the latest company to raise people's ire with a tone-deaf ad

Doug Speirs 10 minute read Preview

Dove is the latest company to raise people's ire with a tone-deaf ad

Doug Speirs 10 minute read Saturday, Oct. 14, 2017

Talk about getting under people’s skin.

Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock for the past week, you’ll know skin-care giant Dove sparked a firestorm with a Facebook ad that depicts a black woman transforming into a white woman after using its body wash.

Dove quickly pulled the offending video clip after outraged social media users branded it racist and said it reminded them of soap ads from the 19th or early 20th century that showed black people scrubbing their skin to become white.

In the three-second video, posted on Dove’s U.S. Facebook page late last week, a young black woman smiles as she peels off her dark brown shirt to reveal a white woman in a beige shirt, who then lifts her own top to reveal another woman.

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Saturday, Oct. 14, 2017
No excuse for ads that verge on child porn

No excuse for ads that verge on child porn

By Lindor Reynolds 4 minute read Preview

No excuse for ads that verge on child porn

By Lindor Reynolds 4 minute read Tuesday, Apr. 7, 2009

Would you like a little cheesecake with that celery?

Loblaw's Real Canadian Superstores are bagging their own apologies after a nationwide distribution of a flyer advertising its Joe Fresh underwear line.

The problem wasn't the bras, panties and tank tops being sold at the grocery chain. It was the fact that the models, all of them sporting fresh-from-the-bed, tousled hair and come-hither looks, appear to be in their early teens.

One model, shot splay-legged in a bra and panties, looks to be at the very start of puberty.

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Tuesday, Apr. 7, 2009