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.

A ChapGPT logo is seen on a smartphone in West Chester, Pa., Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2023. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Young Canadians want AI companies to make their chatbots less addictive: report

Anja Karadeglija, The Canadian Press 5 minute read Preview

Young Canadians want AI companies to make their chatbots less addictive: report

Anja Karadeglija, The Canadian Press 5 minute read Friday, May. 1, 2026

OTTAWA - A new report focusing on the perspectives of young people says the government should order AI companies to take steps to curb the addictive aspects of their AI chatbots.

It’s one of a series of recommendations made by youth between the ages of 17 and 23 who took part in roundtables across the country.

Participants presented the report — published by McGill University’s Centre for Media, Technology and Democracy and Simon Fraser University's Dialogue on Technology Project — and its recommendations on Parliament Hill on Thursday.

Maddie Case, a youth fellow with the McGill centre, introduced the 25 young people who developed the chatbot recommendations.

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Friday, May. 1, 2026
File Saturdays were for street hockey during Robert Milan’s childhood.

The best hockey I knew was the first

Robert Milan 6 minute read Preview

The best hockey I knew was the first

Robert Milan 6 minute read Thursday, Apr. 30, 2026

“Nothing is as good as it used to be and it never was. The ‘golden age of sports,’ the golden age of anything, is the is the age of everyone’s childhood.” — Ken Dryden

I grew up in Winnipeg, in a small suburban enclave called Morse Place. Not exactly the centre of the hockey universe, but it was home. A little working-class pocket in the north part of the city. Terry Sawchuk, the great Detroit goaltender was probably our best known hockey export.

Dad worked in an iron foundry, and mom ran the house like a general. My older sister excelled at school and her choir singing. We weren’t poor, but let’s just say there was very little money left over after dad brought home the paycheque.

We didn’t have much, but we, or rather I, had the rink. The community club had one glorious sheet of outdoor ice with real boards, an old streetcar converted into a clubhouse, and a pot-bellied stove that tried to keep your toes from freezing. And yet … it was magic.

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Thursday, Apr. 30, 2026
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS Alison Bailey (left), Agnes Breton, and Frieda Campbell at the Polish Manor on Selkirk Avenue, where residents are fearful of tenants placed there for transitional housing.

Unruly new tenants unpack fear, safety concerns for seniors in low-income building

Carol Sanders 6 minute read Preview

Unruly new tenants unpack fear, safety concerns for seniors in low-income building

Carol Sanders 6 minute read Wednesday, Apr. 29, 2026

On a quiet weekday morning, residents of a seniors building in north Winnipeg who ventured from their rent-geared-to-income suites were on high alert.

Elderly and disabled residents at the Canadian Polish Manor say their sense of safety and community has been shattered in the past year by drug use and crime since younger residents with addictions and other issues moved in.

“I’ve never been frightened in my life and now I am,” said Agnes Breton, 73. “I’ve been here 11 years and this is the first year my daughter is at me to move out,” she said Wednesday. “It’s really awful.”

Frieda Campbell, 69, said she and some other neighbours barricade the entrance to their suites, because intoxicated people and gang members roam the hallways banging on doors. Recently, someone discharged pepper spray, prompting Campbell to call 911 as she struggled to breathe.

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Wednesday, Apr. 29, 2026
Ruth Bonneville / Free Press Rubaboo — A Métis Cabaret was created by and stars Métis singer-songwriter Andrea Menard (centre).
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RMTC's Rubaboo: A Métis Cabaret is a musical mélange of jazz, folk, roots

Conrad Sweatman 5 minute read Preview
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RMTC's Rubaboo: A Métis Cabaret is a musical mélange of jazz, folk, roots

Conrad Sweatman 5 minute read Wednesday, Apr. 29, 2026

You’ve probably had sirop d’érable and pemmican, but have you tried rubaboo?

A scoop of peas or corn, a dash of flour and onions, bison meat if you have it, a maple syrup garnish — and suddenly you’re cooking with bear grease (which you shouldn’t forget to add, either).

In a pinch, you might substitute grouse for bison meat, and throw in some extra turnip and parsnip plus wild vegetables to thicken your rubaboo stew.

Cooking and fusion metaphors are never far from how we talk about cultural blending, but in Canada, we’ve tended to resist America’s more assimilationist image of the melting pot. Instead, we talk of mosaics, or sometimes salad bowls, to emphasize eclecticism.

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Wednesday, Apr. 29, 2026
Grace Livingston shows the depth of a hole on the boulevard on Valour Road on Wednesday. (Mikaela MacKenzie / Free Press)

Months after reporting two-foot deep boulevard hole, West End homeowner still waiting for city to respond

Chris Kitching 4 minute read Preview

Months after reporting two-foot deep boulevard hole, West End homeowner still waiting for city to respond

Chris Kitching 4 minute read Wednesday, Apr. 29, 2026

Grace Livingston feared an unsuspecting pedestrian would fall and break their leg after she discovered a thigh-deep hole in the boulevard in front of her West End home last year.

Livingston said she is still waiting for the City of Winnipeg to fill the hole and eliminate the safety hazard, six months after she called 311 and emailed her councillor to raise concerns.

“I was hoping they would send somebody by or at least put up a barricade or something,” she said Wednesday. “How many times do people have to complain about something before they acknowledge it?”

Livingston contacted the Free Press about the situation after reading about the plight of Wolseley resident Christine Keilback, who fell shoulders-deep into a hole on a boulevard across from her Lipton Street home Saturday night.

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Wednesday, Apr. 29, 2026

Time to act on provincial autism strategy

Suzanne Swanton 5 minute read Wednesday, Apr. 29, 2026

I was in attendance in the gallery of the Manitoba legislature on March 19 when Bill 232, The Autism Strategy Act, introduced by Liberal MLA Cindy Lamoureux, passed second reading and moved to the committee stage.

MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS U of M students Cieran O’Hara (left) and Daniel Belokurov will present their holistic supplement Amani at the Stu Clark Venture Championships this week.

Post-secondary students make their pitches at New Venture Championships in Winnipeg

Malak Abas 4 minute read Preview

Post-secondary students make their pitches at New Venture Championships in Winnipeg

Malak Abas 4 minute read Tuesday, Apr. 28, 2026

Cieran O’Hara and Daniel Belokurov say they have the solution for getting through long days — no cups of coffee needed.

The pair of University of Manitoba business students will pitch their holistic daily supplement blend — the flagship product of their startup business Amani Health and Wellness — and faceoff against student entrepreneurs from across North America at the Stu Clark New Venture Championships from Thursday to Saturday in Winnipeg.

They’ve got what they say is a win-worthy proposition: a herbal option for busy people experiencing burnout who want relief without resorting to caffeine or medical stimulants. The capsules contain adaptogens and nootropics — found in plants such as ashwagandha, lion’s mane and reishi mushroom — purported to improve stress responses and mental clarity.

“People are coming back to nature and back to themselves, and at the end of the day, I think what’s so important is being able to improve your general health, and I think that’s why we do it,” O’Hara, 25, said Tuesday.

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Tuesday, Apr. 28, 2026
JOHN WOODS / FREE PRESS Within 48 hours of the NDP’s announcement on Saturday, at least one student-initiated petition had been organized.

Proposed social-media ban for Manitoba children gets likes, thumbs-down

Maggie Macintosh 5 minute read Preview

Proposed social-media ban for Manitoba children gets likes, thumbs-down

Maggie Macintosh 5 minute read Tuesday, Apr. 28, 2026

Mia Danyluk had a YouTube channel before she reached double digits. She was 11 years old when she signed up for Snapchat. In Grade 9, she joined Instagram.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, it was on social media that she learned about Manitoba’s plan to ban children and youth from accessing these platforms.

The irony was not lost on her — a 16-year-old who was raised in Winnipeg and on the borderless online world.

“We’re seeing younger and younger kids grow up with an iPad instead of toys in their hands. If we’re exposing kids to screens, we need to teach them online safety,” the high schooler said.

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Tuesday, Apr. 28, 2026
Eric Zachanowich / Searchlight Pictures / 20th Century Studios Zachanowich caught a dramatic shot of Ralph Fiennes on set in The Menu.
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Winnipeg photographer captures striking stills that market major motion pictures

AV Kitching 7 minute read Preview
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Winnipeg photographer captures striking stills that market major motion pictures

AV Kitching 7 minute read Tuesday, Apr. 28, 2026

Eric Zachanowich is the most famous photographer you’ve probably never heard of.

He’s worked with Tinseltown heavyweights such as the late Robert Redford, Ralph Fiennes, Laura Linney, Woody Harrelson and Anya Taylor-Joy, and even appeared in Dwayne (The Rock) Johnson’s wrestling biopic The Smashing Machine, disguised as, you guessed it, a photographer.

“It was for one of the opening scenes so I could shoot Dwayne Johnson walking to the ring. I made the final cut of the movie — although it’s hard to place me — and also got a spectacular photo that was used heavily during marketing,” says Zachanowich, 32.

More often than not, he operates as a silent observer on the sets of cinema blockbusters and prestige television dramas alike, his lens capturing the world’s biggest A-listers at their most vulnerable and intense moments.

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Tuesday, Apr. 28, 2026
58-year-old Keilback says she told her friend:

‘What a stupid situation’ as woman plunges into boulevard hole

Aaron Epp 3 minute read Preview

‘What a stupid situation’ as woman plunges into boulevard hole

Aaron Epp 3 minute read Monday, Apr. 27, 2026

Talk about a hole in one.

Christine Keilback was getting home from the movie theatre Saturday night when she suddenly fell shoulders-deep into a hole in the boulevard across the street from her home in Winnipeg’s Wolseley neighbourhood.

Keilback tried to boost herself out but she couldn’t get a foothold because the dirt crumbled away.

The 58 year old, who serves as the executive director at a local non-profit, says she was not injured and immediately found the situation humorous.

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Monday, Apr. 27, 2026