Cody Sellar

Seven Oaks raises taxes in lieu of program cuts

The Seven Oaks School Division will be raising taxes to avoid cutting staff and programs, it said in a media release shortly after the release of its 2023-24 budget.

Bisons basketball star wins national award

For just the second time, a University of Manitoba men’s basketball player has won the Dr. Peter Mullins Trophy as the nation’s U Sports rookie of the year.

Educator wins Juno for teacher of the year

A music teacher at Lakewood School is shining bright after winning the MusiCounts Teacher of the Year award at this year’s Juno Awards.

New bike lanes planned for Osborne Village

The city has released its final design for protected bike lanes set to be built this summer as part of a larger road renewal project in Osborne Village.

Healing centre holds benefit concert

Heartwood Healing Centre, a community organization that addresses the trauma of childhood sexual abuse, is holdng a benefit concert at the Park Theatre on March 22. Funds raised will go to its Building a Foundation program, which provides “engagement sessions, short-term counselling, psycho-educational groups, and foundation-building workshops.”

Aerials, acrobatics flip into Osborne Village

A dance academy in Osborne Village is soaring into the world of acrobatics, with its addition of aerial and acrobatic training to its repertoire.

Ukrainian cultural centre to hold Easter bazaar

The Oseredok Ukrainian Cultural and Education Centre is preparing for its annual Easter bazaar, which will take place on March 24 and 25, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the centre.

Gophers crowned league champs

The Garden City Collegiate Gophers varsity boys hockey team has won its first divisional championship, after defeating the St. Paul’s Crusaders 2-1 in a best-of-three series.

Charity game planned for hockey player with head injury

People in the rural municipality of Macdonald and surrounding area are banding together to raise money for Zack Borsboom, a 20-year-old hockey player for the Macdonald Swarm who suffered a serious head injury during a game against the Niverville Clippers on Feb. 3.

Wild in the hunt for AAA crown

The Winnipeg Wild Red, who draw players from St James, Charleswood and Fort Garry, are battling for the U15 Winnipeg AAA Hockey league championship against the Brandon Wheat Kings.

CREATE Program celebrates $677K in scholarships

Sisler High School students stood facing the crowd on three rows of bleachers, whooping and hollering and even fighting back tears as classmates were called up one-by-one. The pretenses of high school and teenage life, the jockeying for social leverage, seemed non-existent in the group, whether buried beneath the jubilation of their mutual accomplishment and acceptance into Vancouver Film School or eroded by hard work, evenly shared. They were the students of Sisler’s CREATE Program, in which students study film, animation, game design, digital media and more.

Plans approved for Prairie Pointe development

On Feb. 22, the Assiniboia Community Committee zipped through a short agenda in just under 30 minutes – but it did have enough to recommend that establishing a traffic signal at the north entrance to Costco’s St. James warehouse be studied.

Trades & tech organizations partner up to foster entrepreneurship, female-owned businesses

Two trades-focused organizations have put pen to paper to solidify a partnership aimed at encouraging entrepreneurship, sparking economic growth, and drawing more women into the entrepreneurial side of trades, technology and innovation.

School division plunges into swim program after pandemic fallout

For Gail Henderson-Brown and her former colleagues, it was the end of an era when the Canadian Red Cross announced it was shutting down its swimming lessons program.

Blades of glory

A pair of west Winnipeg skaters — one a speedskater and the other a figure skater — are riding high and glinting with gold.

Sky’s the limit for emerging Indigenous filmmaker

Cree filmmaker Desiree Brightnose has won the inaugural RBC Emerging Indigenous Filmmaker award, given out by the National Screen Institute and the RBC Foundation.

Women’s Club honoured for century of service

The University Women’s Club of Winnipeg has been honoured for its contributions to life in Winnipeg for over a century. On Feb. 13, the Manitoba Historical Society presented the organization with the Centennial Organization Award, after a more than two-year delay owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lindsay Wong launches new book

Writer, University of Winnipeg professor, and Osborne Village resident Lindsay Wong is preparing to release her second book, Tell Me Pleasant Things about Immortality, on March 2 at McNally Robinson.

Developer plans may widen part of Pipeline Road

The Lord Selkirk-West Kildonan Community Committee met on Monday, Feb. 21, and the session began with a report from Winnipeg Police inspector Jon Lutz on the state of policing in the city, with Lutz reporting that in arrest numbers and the like were fairly standard.

Portage boys crowned provincial curling champs

The Portage Collegiate Institute Trojans boys’ curling team recemtly swept its way to a provincial championship.

St. James diner serves up sweets, nostalgia

A new dessert parlour in St. James wants you to dream a little dream of ice cream. Dreamland Diner at 2615 Portage Ave. has been tweaking its menu during a soft opening period, getting ready to launch its ’50s-style diner in earnest.

Performing arts school prepares in-person festival

The Village Conservatory for Music Theatre — an arts education organization — and its students are finally hitting the stage in-person after the COVID-19 pandemic forced them to switch gears to filmed projects.

Once, twice, five times a champion

The Canadian Mennonite University women’s basketball team blazed through the competition yet again this season, going undefeated en route to its fifth consecutive Manitoba Colleges Athletic Conference championship title.

Volunteer shortage felt everywhere

Bill Jost has been volunteering at Wildwood Park Community Centre for about 20 years.

Spartans star headed to U of W next season

Yet another women’s basketball star will filter through Sisler High School to the University of Winnipeg Wesmen.

Speed, skill, commitment key to Trojans success

If the Vincent Massey Collegiate Trojans varsity girls’ basketball team has an Achilles’ heel, it hasn’t shown it yet.

Wolseley gardeners preparing early for spring

The recent deep-freeze might have spring feeling a lifetime away, but the Wolseley Residents’ Association is already looking forward to the thaw and is taking applications for plots in the Vimy Victory Garden, a community garden at Vimy Ridge Memorial Park.

Withermet Productions a family affair

A new production company has launched on the Winnipeg entertainment scene, with a mission to promote, create and produce queer content in a variety of mediums.

Wolseley figure skater wins gold

Wolseley

Black History Month returns to in-person events

West Winnipeg

Brewing up winter fun

Osborne Village

Churchill basketball bullish early on

Riverview

Teen speedskater’s dedication paying off

Teen speedskater Sofia Bieber laced up her skates and pulled on her toque inside the Cindy Klassen Recreation Centre, a building named after a Winnipeg speedskating icon with six Olympic medals to her name.

Ambitious mixed-use project gets go-ahead from committee

The Lord Selkirk-West Kildonan community committee met on Jan. 23 and perhaps the largest item on the agenda was the subdivision and rezoning of Northgate Shopping Centre at 1399 McPhillips St.

Winter carnival ready to return to Wolseley

Winter festival season is gearing up to return to Wolseley with Robert A. Steen Community Centre’s winter carnival on Feb. 11.

Terriers battle for top spot

The Portage Terriers are fighting for top spot in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League, two-thirds of the way through the league’s regular season.

The only way is up

A local entrepreneur and bioengineer-in-training wants Winnipeg to start building up its food supply — literally. Trina Semenchuk is the CEO and founder of an enterprise called Little Greenhouse that Could, which promotes vertical farming, a type of indoor urban agriculture in which plants are grown on shelves stacked on top of each other.

Pardon the Winterruption

Six live-music venues around town are taking part in the fourth annual Winterruption music festival, which began Jan. 20 and runs through Jan. 29.

Maples JV girls have big hoop dreams

Maples Collegiate’s junior varsity girls basketball team took hold of top spot in the Manitoba High School Athletics Association’s rankings in the week of Jan. 16 after winning three tournaments and going 3-0 in league play to kick off the 2022-23 season.

Library names ‘Makers-in-Residence’

The Winnipeg Public Library has named two artists as its first “makers-in-residence,” a program whereby the artists will share their skills with the public through drop-ins, workshops and a collaborative project that will present community stories through their art.

Gaming centre powers up at FRC

Fort Richmond Collegiate has opened a gaming centre for members of its esports team to play and practice.

Main Street Project needs warm clothing donations

The last month of winter may have felt mild to many Winnipeggers, but for those experiencing homelessness or poverty, even a mild temperature can be dangerous.

Corydon C.C. eager for WinterFest return

Corydon Community Centre’s Winterfest is back and ready to welcome the community for a week of events from Jan. 25 to 29.

Major plans developing for Polo Park

Polo Park may be set for some major developments over the next decade, according to a Jan. 12 announcement from Shindico Realty.

Putting the brakes on in four neighbourhoods

Four neighbourhoods could be participating in a pilot project that will see speed limits drop to 30 or 40 kilometres per hour this spring, pending final approval by city council.

Huskies in hunt for Division 2 title

The women’s varsity hockey team at Sturgeon Heights Collegiate refuses to sell itself short.

Twins have MMJHL top prize in mind

Going into the second half of the Manitoba Major Junior Hockey League season, the Fort Garry/Fort Rouge Twins find themselves near the top of the league and right in the mix to position themselves well for the playoffs to come.

All they are saying… is give skis a chance

Bourkevale Community Centre has opened a permanent cross-country ski library that will lend equipment to anyone wanting to try the winter sport.

Roblin Park CC winter carnival returns

For the first time in two years, the Roblin Park Community Centre Winter Carnival is back, bringing with it a week-long extravaganza brimming with events and activities. The carnival begins on Jan. 16 and runs until Jan. 22.

Assiniboia Community Committee roundup

The Assiniboia community committee met for the first time in 2023 on Jan. 4.

St. James shop offers tastes of Britain

If you’ve been searching for some Curly Wurlies, Yorkies or — for talking-bear-with-bucket-hat-and-wellies types — some top-notch English marmalade, then look no further. The British Food Co., a store dedicated to British goods, has opened at 3125 Portage Ave.

Hawks hope to soar in second half of season

The Charleswood Hawks of the Manitoba Major Junior Hockey League are halfway through an up-and-down season, sitting in sixth place in the 10-team league at press time.

Shakespeare in the Ruins celebrates 30 years

Shakespeare wrote that all the world’s a stage, and for 30 years, Shakespeare in the Ruins theatre company has been taking that literally.

Theatre community celebrates life of legend

The Winnipeg theatre community lost one of its matriarchs last month when Doreen Brownstone died on Dec. 16, 2022, two and a half months after her 100th birthday.

West Kildonan Library up for historical status

The city’s historical buildings and resources committee has recommended that the West Kildonan Library be awarded historical status. The committee made the recommendation to the standing policy committee on property and development after compiling a report that found the library meets a number of “heritage values” as outlined by a city bylaw.

Sabres rattling for WHSHL division title

Going into the holiday break, the Sanford Collegiate Sabres varsity boys hockey team was nipping at the heels of Stonewall Collegiate for first place in the Winnipeg Free Press Division of the Winnipeg High School Hockey League.

Teacher wins Indigenous education award

A Grade 1 and 2 teacher at Niji Mahkwa School on Flora Avenue has been recognized for her tireless work in Indigenous education.

Main Street Project hits 50 years

Hitting five decades in operation stokes mixed emotions for current Main Street Project executive director Jamil Mahmood.

Sport returned in full force in 2022

March: Garden City’s JV girls win provincial basketball tournament

West Winnipeg — Looking back at 2022

January: Walking in a Wolseley Winter Wonderland

Klein, PCs win Kirkfield Park byelection

Former Charleswood-Tuxedo-Westwood city councillor and current Progressive Conservative Kevin Klein has eked out a narrow victory in Kirkfield Park to become the area’s latest MLA.

No-kill shelter finds a new home

Of all the advantages the Winnipeg Pet Rescue Shelter’s new space at 2727 Portage Ave. has over its old location, the simple fact its ceilings aren’t collapsed might just top them all.

Rossbrook House fundraising for new HVAC system

Rossbrook House is asking for help. The neighbourhood drop-in centre located at 658 Ross Ave. is trying to raise $150,000 to replace its heating and cooling system and to deal with mold caused by its current failing system.

Four-year-old Westwood girl to receive trial treatment

A Westwood family is scraping together every dime they can to help give their daughter a better life.

Jr. Canucks serving opponents ca-knuckle sandwiches all year

After the St. James Jr. Canucks’ last season, in which the team marked a franchise-best 37-4-4 regular season record before cruising through the playoffs to Manitoba Major Junior Hockey League championship, it was a tall order for this year’s team to live up to the hype.

Westgate Wings flying high

The Westgate Wings soared above the competition en route to being crowned AAA varsity girls provincial champions.

Kelvin teacher, football coach recognized for service

In times of crisis, heroes arise. Over the past few years, as pandemic restrictions closed schools and threw students suddenly into unknown waters, some teachers rose to the challenge to keep their kids afloat.

Art City offers alternative to Christmas spending

BY CODY SELLAR

Fighting Gophers start season on a tear

The Garden City Fighting Gophers varsity boys hockey team is off to a torrid, near-perfect start to the 2022-23 season, which began with an undefeated run to win the Husky Classic tournament in October and was followed by 10 straight Winnipeg High School Hockey League regular season wins.

Local theatre company celebrates 50 years

BY CODY SELLAR

Brightening holidays for Ukrainian families

In one Ukrainian Christmas carol, children sit around the table and ask their mother where their father has gone.

Lord Selkirk-West Kildonan community committee roundup

The Lord Selkirk-West Kildonan community committee resumed Nov. 17 with its first meeting since October’s municipal election. The committee welcomes back all three councillors from last term, Couns. Devi Sharma (Old Kildonan), Ross Eadie (Mynarski), and Vivian Santos (Point Douglas), with Eadie taking the first shift as committee chair.

Donwood School outdoor spaces set for overhaul

An infusion of cash is on its way to Donwood School to allow the school to develop outdoor spaces for school and community use.

Kelvin volleyball wins two division banners

Kelvin High School will be raising two new banners, after the varsity boys and junior varsity girls volleyball teams took home WSD AAAA division championships.

Headingley poet longlisted for national prize

A poem by amateur poet Shelley Ringland, which describes the progression of her mother’s dementia leading to her death and the effect it had on their relationship, has been longlisted for the CBC Poetry Prize.

1JustCity installs permanent executive director

After serving in the role on an interim basis, Glynis Quinn has permanently taken over as executive director of non-profit 1JustCity. Quinn fills the role left vacant by Tessa Blaikie-Whitecloud, who now heads Siloam Mission.

Premier calls by-election in Kirkfield Park

Manitoba premier Heather Stefanson has called a byelection for the Kirkfield Park electoral division, which has been without an MLA since former cabinet minister Scott Fielding vacated the seat in June.

Sinclair Park CC prepares for Breakfast with Santa

Everyone knows Santa loves his milk and cookies, which may account for just how jolly his belly is, but at Sinclair Park Community Centre, the man in red has another traditional meal — pancakes and sausages.

East Winnipeg councillors ready for new term

Winnipeg’s newly elected mayor, Scott Gillingham, has shaken up the committees at city hall and a couple of familiar east Winnipeg councillors remain in the mix.

Fort Garry Curling Club turns 95

Archwood

Ukrainian dance ensemble continues fundraising efforts

Zoloto Ukrainian Dance Ensemble is putting on a social Nov. 19 at Southdale Community Centre to once again raise money for Ukraine humanitarian relief.

First mobile overdose prevention site launched

BY CODY SELLAR

New trustee brings youth to Seven Oaks board

CODY SELLAR

Platform hopes to improve home care for both clients, caregivers

BY CODY SELLAR

Sanford Sabres girls hockey rebound from slow start

The Sanford Sabres women’s hockey team is turning things around after a bumpy start to the season, after having burned through the competition last season and been crowned division champions. The team started its 2022-23 Manitoba Women’s High School Hockey League regular season 0-3 but took the first steps to turning things around, breaking out of a scoring drought care of two goals and three assists from forward Ella Manness to beat the West Kildonan Collegiate Wolverines 6-5 on Oct. 25. That was the first of a three-game winning streak, lifting the team to an even 3-3 record.

Garden Hill First Nation, downtown artist Mattmac’s star rises higher

Matthew Monias, otherwise known by the moniker Mattmac, has added to his quickly growing list of accolades with his grand prize win in Canada’s Walk of Fame RBC Emerging Musician Program.

Social enterprise expanding its scope

A Sherbrook Street non-profit is expanding and rebranding a social enterprise first launched in 2018. Resource Assistance for Youth, commonly known as RaY, is planning to branch out from their existing non-residential moving and junk removal services into other odd jobs that will allow the organization to provide a wider range of job training to the youth they support.

Teen hockey official rising through the ranks

Westwood resident Josh Miko is a rising star in the world of whistleblowers and skating zebras.

Memories of Eaton’s Town

Eaton’s is a distant memory for most — a faded light from the golden age of department stores, intimately fused with Canadiana and souvenirs of giddy childhood days, when one sifted through its famous catalogue, past adult sections full of furniture and clothes to brightly coloured toys and games.

Velma’s House positioned to expand reach

When Ka Ni Kanichihk’s executive director Dodie Jordan got the call that the organization would be receiving federal funding of approximately $6.9 million through 2025-26, she “bawled her eyes out.”

Four candidates running for mayor of Portage

PORTAGE LA PRAIRIE

Poet laureate launches new works

BY CODY SELLAR

Point Douglas flexes democratic muscles

BY CODY SELLAR

Resource centre drops Wolseley name

BY CODY SELLAR

St. Paul’s boys take home provincial golf title

CODY SELLAR

City council candidates for Point Douglas

Three candidates are running for city councillor in the Point Douglas ward. The municipal election is Wed., Oct. 26.

Lukes to be challenged in Waverley West

Janice Lukes and Pascal Scott have been nominated for city councillor in the Waverley West ward. The municipal election is Wed., Oct. 26.

Writers festival kicks off new chapter

Books are magic — if not literally, then literarily. They make worlds appear from thin air.

Swimming sisters strike gold, silver, bronze

ST. JAMES-ASSINIBOIA

A little hope can go a long way

POINT DOUGLAS

Five candidates on ballot for Mynarski ward councillor

MYNARSKI

WSO rings in 75th season with a flourish

WINNIPEG

Folklorama doles out scholarships

CHARLESWOOD

St. James city council candidate profiles

The race to represent St. James at city council is sure to be one to watch, with five candidates registered at press time. The municipal election takes place Wed., Oct. 26.

Charleswood-Tuxedo-Westwood city council candidate profiles

Charleswood

New documentary a work of resilience

WOLSELEY

What do city councillors do?

BY CODY SELLAR

Dance school legacy burns bright

TYNDALL PARK

RRC Polytech introduces rainbow walkways

BY CODY SELLAR

St. James Civic Centre set to reopen

ST. JAMES

Women’s volleyball team takes home gold at Games

Manitoba women’s volleyball was bumping — and setting and spiking — all the way to a gold medal at the 2022 Canada Games.

Art from the Harte

Artists from Charleswood, Headingley and Tuxedo are gearing up to put on a two-day “studio tour” on Sept. 17 and 18, during which they’ll be inviting people into their studios to enjoy and purchase artwork.

Giancola brings home gold from Games

ELMWOOD

Bike ride raises money to fight homelessness

On Aug. 27, Bridge to Nowhere will return for a second annual fundraising bike ride, after shattering all its financial expectations in year one.

All smiles and long faces

Just south of Assiniboine Forest, there’s a Goose that weighs 1,000 pounds. Goose clops and sways and, carelessly with his muscled flank, knocks 14-year-old Tess Bebchuk on his way to nibble grass and weeds, moving the teenager almost as easily as a horse (which is, you may have guessed, what Goose is) swats away flies with its tail.

Festival celebrates Filipino culture

Everything was ready to go, and the Kultivation Festival, a festival aimed at celebrating Filipino/a/x culture in Winnipeg and promoting the creation of a cultural district, was revving up to get underway.

Employment charity hires new ED

A local charity dedicated to creating job opportunities in Winnipeg, particularly for those with employment barriers, has welcomed a new executive director.

Osborne dance studio prepares to open

OSBORNE VILLAGE

Hygiene for Hope

NORTH END

Osborne Village pilot project gets underway

CODY SELLAR

Ice cream of the crop

FORT ROUGE

Ukraine–Kyiv Folklorama pavilion stands strong

NORTHWEST WINNIPEG

The novel case of Whodunit Mystery Bookstore

EARL GREY

City breaks ground on active transit corridor

NORTHWEST WINNIPEG

Cosmos cricketers are western champs

WEST WINNIPEG

Restaurant brings Mexico to town

ST. JAMES-ASSINIBOIA

Cereals Canada celebrates 50th anniversary

DOWNTOWN

Pets in hot cars a potentially fatal, persistent problem

On July 15, Ash Scott heard a dog howling in the parking lot of Polo Park.

The woolly famished get their fill

ST. JAMES-ASSINIBOIA

Eyes on crime

BY CODY SELLAR

STAFF REPORTER

POINT DOUGLAS

A longtime community leader wants the city and its citizens to shift its approach to crime prevention.

Girls summer camp teaches trades

WINNIPEG

ELMWOOD

When dreaming of summer camp, one can’t help but think of bandsaws, pipe-cutters, welding torches and robots. All right, maybe those aren’t the most classic summer camp things, but they’ll be fresh in the memories of a group of girls at Red River College Polytech’s Girls Exploring Trades and Technology camp, which wrapped up last week.

Two four-day summer camps ran in successive weeks, beginning July 4 and ending July 14. Girls aged 12 to 14 participated in the free camps after having made it through a tough selection process that saw 140 applicants whittled down to 32.

Neechi Commons vying for return

BY CODY SELLAR

STAFF REPORTER

LORD SELKIRK

Neechi Foods Co-Op is launching a new initiative that it hopes will re-establish Neechi Commons in its original building at 865 Main St.

Winnipeg gears up to host ball hockey nationals

Canada’s top junior ball hockey players are gearing up for the Canadian Junior National Championships, which will take place in Winnipeg from July 28 to 31.Over 40 teams from across the nation will be competing at three different rinks — Keith Bodley Arena, Bell MTS Iceplex and Canada Life Centre, home of the Winnipeg Jets.“We’re very excited. Typically junior events and stuff like that, they’re not playing in facilities of that calibre,” said Jeff Dzikowicz, technical director of the Manitoba Ball Hockey Association.

Canada’s top junior ball hockey players are gearing up for the Canadian Junior National Championships, which will take place in Winnipeg from July 28 to 31.

Over 40 teams from across the nation will be competing at three different rinks — Keith Bodley Arena, Bell MTS Iceplex and Canada Life Centre, home of the Winnipeg Jets.

“We’re very excited. Typically junior events and stuff like that, they’re not playing in facilities of that calibre,” said Jeff Dzikowicz, technical director of the Manitoba Ball Hockey Association.

Splash pad coming to Adsum Park

BY CODY SELLAR

STAFF REPORTER

THE MAPLES

The countdown to splash down at Maples Community Centre is on. On July 4, the City of Winnipeg, alongside the provincial and federal governments, announced plans to build a new splash pad in Adsum Park (434 Adsum Dr.).

Non-profits partner after government program ends

NORTHWEST WINNIPEG

Harvest Manitoba and Ma Mawi Wi Chi Itata Centre have partnered to compensate for the loss of the province’s Home Nutrition and Learning Program, a pandemic response program that ended June 30.

Through that program, Ma Mawi Chi Itata Centre supported 2,200 Indigenous families over two years and had 1,000 families registered for the program at the time provincial support ended.

The Ma Mawi Chi Itata Centre was just one organization helping Manitobans through the program, and Harvest Manitoba CEO Vince Barletta said despite inching out of the pandemic, Manitobans overall are in just as or more difficult a time when it comes to stocking their pantries.

Finding fun is child’s play

Macdonald

Headlingley

Kids may have just counted down the seconds to summer vacation, leaving a cloud of dust between themselves and their schools in Road Runner fashion, but the MacDonald-Headingley Recreation District might have them excited for a new kind of school.

The organization is putting on day camps from Aug. 8 to 12 called Forest School for children ages 5 to 12.

Twenty-three days on the Assiniboine River

WEST END

One night, he couldn’t get out of the canoe to camp. The mud below the Assiniboine River, somewhere on his route from Sturgis, Sask., to Winnipeg, was so thick it might swallow his leg to the knee of his hip waders. Getting stuck, alone, a hundred kilometres from nowhere, was not an option.

“I stayed on the boat all night,” said Lorne Chastko, our lone canoeist, the 59-year-old West End man whose 1,180-kilometre and 23-day trip ended at The Forks on July 1. “I went from seven in the morning to the next day at 11.”

The sun extinguished behind the bank, darkness stole over the prairies, and the sky tore open. Lightning cracked, far too close, and thunder chased its tail. Rain pelted down, hour after hour.

Globetrotting pastry chef brings home world-class knowledge

THE MAPLES

ST. JAMES-ASSINIBOIA

The exterior of the kouign-amann, literally meaning butter cake in the Breton language, glistens under the track lights above. The caramelized sugar that gives it its sheen cracks like thin, spring ice as it tears open, revealing a web of croissant-like pastry with a particular gooeyness due to sugar folded between the layers.

The kouign-amann is a house specialty of pastry and cake shop Cake-ology on Arthur Street. It was also a noted pastry for renowned chef Dominique Ansel, creator of the trendy cronut, under whom Cake-ology co-owner Austin Granados trained during a stint in New York City.

Eskin earns lifetime achievement recognition

FORT GARRY

RIVER HEIGHTS

Driving in summer along southern Manitoba’s highways, one sees fields of canary yellow stretch out and ripple under every sigh of prairie wind. It’s canola — a hallmark of the province, and one in which 81-year-old food scientist Michael Eskin takes personal pride.

“When I do go out there and I look and I see it, I really get a sense of great satisfaction, not just for myself, but for the team of people who worked together so well and so consistently,” the River Heights resident said.

World’s largest magic club celebrates 100th anniversary, Winnipeg roots

TRANSCONA

No amount of smoke and mirrors was enough to make the brotherhood disappear.

In the past 100 years, the International Brotherhood of Magicians has grown from humble roots in the Union Bank Building at 500 Main St., now the home of Red River College Polytechnic’s culinary and hospitality programs, into the world’s largest organization of professional and amateur magicians. Its ranks include giants of the industry such as David Copperfield and Siegfried and Roy, and the brotherhood boasts over 10,000 members across chapters, or “rings,” in 88 countries.

To celebrate the anniversary, local members held a ceremony at the original headquarters on June 6, recreating the unveiling of the 1986 historical building plaque by setting the veil ablaze.

Some local Legions set to celebrate Canada Day

EAST WINNIPEG

Come July 1, some eastside Royal Canadian Legions will be dusting off their reds and whites to celebrate Canada Day for the first time since before the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It was tough when you had to try to start something, and you have to hold back a little bit. All our members and executives think it’s great to have this wide open again. We’re very happy for it,” said Brent Vall, president of the Prince Edward Legion No. 81 (300 Trent Ave.).

With pandemic restrictions shutting down the annual Remembrance Day ceremonies as well, July 1 will mark the first event out of the Prince Edward Legion in two years.

Miles Mac students “Depave Paradise”

EAST KILDONAN

Joni Mitchell would be proud. The morning of June 23, a group of students from Miles Macdonell Collegiate tore through more pitch than Mitchell herself as they “depaved” a portion of the school’s parking lot to put up paradise — or some greenery, at least.

About 40 students and some supervising adults brandished shovels, rakes and wheelbarrows as the sun beat down and the temperature neared 30 C. Some worked with freeze pops hanging from their mouths or pressed to their chests to cut the heat while they spread topsoil and wood chips.

The parking lot transformation had inspired the students to expand their work to upgrade the greenery adjacent the torn-up parking spaces, and it was already looking like a place people might want to catch some shade on a blistering day such as this.

Non-profit collects e-waste, educates public

SOUTH TRANSCONA

TUXEDO

Non-profit Computers For Schools Manitoba set up shop outside their offices on Terracon Place off Dugald Road on June 21 to collect electronic waste, or e-waste, to be refurbished or recycled.

The next day the organization moved its drive across town to 210 Commerce Dr. in Tuxedo.

MTYP welcomes new school director

THE FORKS

The Manitoba Theatre for Young People is welcoming a new school director, who will head up the organization’s wide range of theatre programs.

Vern Thiessen, a playwright and arts educator for about 30 years, returned to his hometown to take over the role on June 6.

Thiessen has worked in various places, including Edmonton, where he developed and taught classes in French, English and Arabic, and New York, where he ran an arts education program for underserved children in Harlem.

Students, teachers launch weather balloon

CODY SELLAR

STAFF REPORTER

THE MAPLES

Just filling the balloon took a team of half a dozen people. It stretched up eight or 10 feet in the air, as two people below worked to pump it up and four steadied it at its sides.

Garden City Collegiate boys win provincials

CODY SELLAR

STAFF REPORTER

GARDEN CITY

The Gophers had dug themselves a hole — pun most definitely intended — and their season was on the line.

Sisler basketball star commits to U of W

BURROWS

Sisler High School basketball star Raia Guinto is keeping her talents in Peg City. Last week, the guard/forward committed to continuing her playing career with the University of Winnipeg Wesmen next year.

“I’m still kind of wrapping my head around it that I’m actually signing, that I’m actually going to go to school,” Guinto said. “So, I’m excited.”

The decision weighed heavily on the 17-year-old. In the last few months, universities in British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Ontario showed interest in the wily defender with a deadly pull-up jumper, but Guinto wasn’t quite ready to make a choice.

Sweet treats coming to St. James this summer

ST. JAMES-ASSINIBOIA

It all starts with the dough, said Michelle Wierda, owner of The Butter Tart Lady and, indeed, the lady herself. Wierda will be opening her second location — the first is in Gimli — at 1850 Ness Ave. in St. James, which La Belle Baguette vacated last month.

In the drive for a perfectly flaky crust, lightly worked dough is key, Wierda said.

“We actually mix the dough by hand. It doesn’t like being mixed by a machine,” Wierda said.

Book explores beliefs of Manitoba

Ray Dirks and Manju Lohda come from different worlds. Dirks is a Mennonite Christian born in Abbotsford, B.C., who moved to Winnipeg in 1985, and Lohda is Hindu, born in India before immigrating to Canada about 30 years ago.

But those different perspectives are what make the pair ideal co-authors of their new book A World of Faith & Spirituality: Yours, Mine, Theirs & Ours. The book explores the diverse beliefs of Manitoba’s many cultures.

“Whether you’re a person of faith or you’re not a person of faith, the reality is there are still people here who follow faiths, and amongst immigrants and refugees who are coming here, for an even higher percentage, faith is very important,” Dirks said.

With many different worlds sharing the same space, the same atmosphere, Dirks and Lohda set out on a mission of interfaith understanding.

Indigenous music festival returns

The songs and sounds of Indigenous musicians such as “The King of the North” Ernest Monias, sunsetto, and Tia and Fawn Wood, will soon be resonating through the streets of Winnipeg, as the sakihiwe festival gears up for a return to in-person concerts after two years of online programming.

The festival begins June 23 at the Pyramid Cabaret, where the Snotty Nose Rez Kids will headline, before moving outdoors June 24 to 26 for three days of street festivals.

“It’s really exciting to be back,” said Alan Greyeyes, festival director. “Online, we can definitely reach a larger audience … but the thing is, our main goal is to connect with Indigenous families in Winnipeg’s core.”

Greyeyes said some of that demographic may have had a hard time accessing technology during the pandemic, so the festival “fell short on that goal” for the past two years.

Jazz festival trumpets local talent, international artists

THE EXCHANGE

WEST END

Jazz Winnipeg is ready to horn in on the festival scene once again, as musicians dust off the ivories and polish the brass in preparation for the TD Winnipeg International Jazz Festival, which began June 14 and runs through June 19.

“I’m very excited, obviously,” said Jazz Winnipeg programs manager Zachary Rushing. “It’s so thrilling to be coming back for our first festival since 2019 — two and a half years off — and to be bringing such wonderful and incredible artists to Winnipeg and also supporting our local artists in such a significant way. It feels really great.”

Local student wins Habitat contest

CODY SELLAR

STAFF REPORTER

ST. BONIFACE

Home is a word that cannot be contained in four walls, wrote 10-year-old Ada Leonard. The Grade 5 student at École Sacré-Coeur composed these wise words as part of the Meaning of Home contest, which her teacher had introduced to the class.

Bike tour celebrates history of Pride

While learning the nuts and bolts of bike mechanics in The WRENCH’s Wheels of Courage program, Allis Kolynchuk and other participants were given another task: create a community project.

Kolynchuk, 28, made a ’zine called QUEER BYKE that guides readers through a bike tour of spots connected to the history of Winnipeg’s LGBTQ2S+ communities.

Now, Kolynchuk has graduated from the program and is guiding the bike tour every Wednesday during Pride Month (June).

“It was always the goal to share the content in a tour, to combine it with cycling,” Kolynchuk said.

Trash dumping torments Point Douglas

POINT DOUGLAS

A business owner and residents of Point Douglas say trash dumping in the area is a long-running problem that’s out of control.

The problem has been consistent outside a building used by hobby shop Eliminator-RC on Maple Street North off Sutherland Avenue, said shop owner Ryan Gobeil.

“I think it’s disgusting,” Gobeil said.

Kidsfest celebrates 40 years of fun

CODY SELLAR

STAFF REPORTER

WINNIPEG

It’s been 40 years of singing, dancing, acrobatic fun. It’s been goofy fun, happy fun, pure and unadulterated fun — which is a child’s favourite sort of fun, the kind without adult things mucking it up (that is what unadulterated means, right?).

Winnipeg Pride hosts the nation

This year’s Pride Winnipeg Festival will take centre stage in Canada, as Winnipeg is also host of the second Fierté Canada Pride, a nationwide collaboration of Pride associations. The first was held in Montreal in 2017.

At press time, Barry Karlenzig, president of Pride Winnipeg, said he and other volunteers were rushing furiously to get things ready before festivities kicked off May 27.

“It’s been really busy. But we’re looking forward to being able to put something on for the first time in three years,” he said.

In addition to being the first Pride festival since the onset of the pandemic and the second national celebration, this year’s event also marks the festival’s 35th year and the 20th in which City Hall will join the celebrations by flying the Pride flag.

MET school student eyes bright future

WEST KILDONAN

A warning: Armaandeep Dhanoa’s list of accomplishments might make you feel lazy. The 18-year-old student will soon be graduating from Maples Met School (640 Jefferson Ave.) and embarking on a journey with seemingly endless options.

Dhanoa will have to decide between two scholarships: the University of Manitoba’s BMO Financial Group Leader of Tomorrow $16,000 scholarship, for “six exceptional Canadian high school graduates who demonstrate outstanding leadership potential and academic giftedness,” or the coveted Schulich Leader Scholarship for engineering, which has a value of over $100,000 and would see Dhanoa enrolled at the University of Toronto.

Dhanoa had almost given up on the University of Toronto, thinking perhaps he’d aimed too high in applying with one of the top institutions in the country, when he got the message that he’d won the scholarship.

Vacant buildings plague north Winnipeg

NORTH WINNIPEG

Residents of north Winnipeg are banding together to shed light on the problem of vacant and derelict houses in the city.

Longtime community activist Sel Burrows and others took to the streets recently and found what they believe to be 120 unsecured, vacant houses in north Winnipeg that are not registered with the city. As of press time, the city registered 568 vacant homes in Winnipeg.

“If you talk to people who live close to these houses, they’re really scared,” Burrows said. “It’s scary living next to one from both the fire impact and the fear of people approaching when they’re high on meth.”

Local athlete finds passion in fencing

His name is Jordan Diacos. He’s skilled with sabres. Prepare to fight.

Actually, Diacos’ first sabre was a lightsaber. Growing up as a Star Wars fan, five- and six-year-old Diacos would swing around the glowing toy swords. So when his mother discovered an open house for the Lightning Fencing Club in Wolseley, she signed him up.

For the now 18-year-old, it quickly became clear fencing was the sport for him.

“It’s sword-fighting — who doesn’t want to do that?” he laughed. “And I just couldn’t find any other sport that I liked as much.”

DMCI basketball star commits to Algoma Thunderbirds

WEST END

Student athlete Riya Donnelly, a soon-to-be graduate of Daniel McIntyre Collegiate Institute, will be crossing over the border and driving the lane to Algoma University in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.

Donnelly, the province’s seventh-ranked varsity girls basketball player according to a panel of high school coaches, has committed to playing with the Algoma Thunderbirds for the 2022-23 season.

“I’m definitely relieved I got the signing over with, and I’m committed to a place I think I can do really well in. So, that takes a lot off my plate,” said Donnelly, who was also a member of the Winnipeg Wildcats basketball club.

Protesters sway city hall

On May 17, protesters rallied against the proposed relocation of the West Kildonan Library, and it seems to have swayed city hall. A day later, the executive policy committee voted unanimously in the protesters’ favour, only accepting the report “as information,” which means the current library will remain in place.

Approximately 150 people showed up to Jefferson Avenue library, many holding handmade signs pleading to keep the library at its current location. Many of the protesters were children from nearby schools who said they used the library regularly. People signed petitions laid out on a table, and vehicles honked as they passed.

Speakers denounced the proposed relocation, criticizing it as a step backwards to close a city-owned building in favour of mall space they called windowless and inaccessible. Multiple speakers decried the proposal as continuing a pattern of disregard for north Winnipeg, to which the crowd at times responded shouts of “shame.”

Protesters included Daniel Guenther and Evan Krosney, who spearheaded the initiative alongside Steve Snyder. Seven Oaks School Division trustee Greg McFarlane spoke at the event, and members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, the union representing library workers, sported union jackets and waved a flag with CUPE scrawled across it.

Birders snap spring migration

You may have seen them perched at Assiniboine Park or FortWhyte Alive, binoculars pressed to their brows or cameras gripped and poised to shoot.

They’re the common Winnipeg birdwatcher, and with the springtime influx of birds travelling along the Mississippi flyway, a migration route connecting South America to the Arctic by way of Manitoba, these benevolent hunters are on the prowl to capture all the colours and variations their avian friends have to offer.

Appropriately, the birdwatcher has variations of its own. There is the classic birder, checking birds they’ve spotted off their “life list” one by one. Then there is the house birder, who sets up feeders to watch from their windows and struggles to decide whether or not to chase off those pesky grackles bullying other birds away. Perhaps most common these days is the bird photographer, revelling in the challenge of getting crisp shots of the flighty creatures.

Woodhaven resident Walter Potrebka’s taxonomy falls somewhere between bird photographer and classic birder, with a heavy lean toward the former. He teaches bird photography classes at FortWhyte Alive in spring (classes are sold out this year), and in winter, he conducts tours for great grey and snowy owls. But he also keeps a life list, catalogued by species, without which he would’ve never known he saw his first Cape May warbler this spring.

Youth hubs launch citywide

Three new youth hubs aimed at providing a “one-stop shop” of social services to people aged 12 to 29 launched May 4 in Winnipeg.

The new sites in St. Boniface, north Winnipeg, and West Broadway join the existing NorWest Youth Hub to form Huddle, an initiative of the Province of Manitoba together with United Way Winnipeg and other community partners. A youth hub also opened in Brandon on May 4, and one will be opening in Selkirk, Man., later this year.

“This is really about working differently,” said Pam Sveinson, Huddle’s executive director.

“We talk about it as a systems transformation. It’s about service-providing organizations coming together in a much more integrated way and working out of a hub location.”

Communities clean up, call for city support

Communities are banding together for some much needed spring cleaning.

In Fort Richmond and Point Douglas, residents gathered May 7 and 8 to pick up garbage in their neighbourhoods.

Jennifer Chen, president of the Women of Colour Community Leadership Initiative, organized two cleanups for that Saturday and Sunday, in Fort Richmond and Richmond West respectively.

“On Sunday, we had a very great turnout,” Chen said, later quantifying that as 35 to 40 people. “Dozens of bags of garbage. But people from all communities came, and we received a lot of positive feedback.”

The cat’s been coming back for 40 years

Winnipeg is Fred Penner’s place.

For more than four decades, the musician and entertainer has resonated in the hearts of children and parents, and children whose parents, too, grew up in the warmth of Penner’s timeless tenor.

This summer the Winnipegger returns home to celebrate the 40th anniversary of his debut album, The Cat Came Back.

The album came out in 1979, but pandemic cancellations delayed the anniversary tour until this year.

Food program for families, farmers is at risk

West Winnipeg

A program that helped supply families with fresh food and local food producers with income for the last two years is teetering on the edge of oblivion.

The Manitoba Community Food Currency Program is an initiative of Direct Farms Manitoba, an organization dedicated to supporting farms and farmers’ markets.

In 2020 and 2021, the program has handed out coupons to families that act as currency at any of the five farmers’ markets partnered with Direct Farms Manitoba.

Residents rally against library relocation

Residents of Garden City and West Kildonan are rallying against the proposed relocation of West Kildonan Library from a city-owned building at 365 Jefferson Ave. to a rental space at Garden City Shopping Centre.

“I’m disappointed that a real estate committee looking at this from a dollars and cents point of view didn’t nix it right then and there, because it’s not a wise financial decision,” said Daniel Guenther, chair of Garden City Residents’ Association.

If council approves the relocation, renovation costs, operational costs and rent will run the city north of $6 million over a 10-year lease, which would have the option of renewal for an additional 10 years at a price yet to be negotiated.

While the operational costs would exist at the current location, Guenther said for many reasons, he’d still prefer the city use the $3.7 million earmarked for the library to renovate the current location.

Maples church rallies for Ukrainian families

THE MAPLES

It was the mention of children’s’ scooters that made Anatoliy Shevchuk choke back his tears. He was recounting the ways his church, Christian Life Church on Jefferson Avenue, had helped a family fleeing the war in Ukraine, from which Shevchuk and his family had emigrated 11 years ago.

The family was a mother, a father, an eight-year-old boy and an 11-year-old girl. They had heard the planes and bombs, and the children had cried. They had rushed to withdraw cash, and succeeded after several tries. They had fled to Romania, found safe harbour, and through degrees of separation, come into contact with the church before arriving in Winnipeg April 7.

“They were saying: ‘We understood that we were running for safety, but we didn’t expect that safety can be so sweet when people surround us with love and support and help and make life much more easier,’” Shevchuk recalled.

Something Beautiful this way comes

CODY SELLAR

STAFF REPORTER

TUXEDO

There’s something beautiful at FortWhyte Alive. Yes, the trails winding through forest and the bridges over ponds on which wood ducks build their nests are a feast for the eyes, but the newest “Something Beautiful” is at the Buffalo Stone Café, near the nature centre’s main entrance.

New tennis facility coming to West St. Paul: mayor

WEST ST. PAUL

West St. Paul is getting nearer to an expansive new tennis facility at Sunova Centre. Tennis Manitoba is in the midst of a capital campaign to raise funds for the facility, which has been divided into two phases.

The first phase would see the construction of five to eight outdoor tennis courts, depending on fundraising, atop two acres of land donated by the Rural Municipality of West St. Paul. Among the courts would be a “feature court” with seating for tournaments and two courts with “feature lighting.”

“It’ll be a great thing for the community — a community that’s expanding rapidly, and I think it’ll complement what is happening in West St. Paul,” said Mark Arndt, executive director of Tennis Manitoba.

City may turn page on West Kildonan Library

WEST KILDONAN

The West Kildonan Library may be checking out of its location at 365 Jefferson Ave. and starting a new chapter at Garden City Shopping Centre.

A city report recommends moving the library from the 13,960-square-foot building it has occupied since 1967 to a 14,962-square-foot space within the mall. The new space was used for the Lights of the North exhibit this winter, but is otherwise empty.

The costs of renovating the space at the shopping centre is expected to total more than $2 million, meaning council must approve the recommendation. The vote will take place on May 9.

Overland flooding soaks municipalities

CODY SELLAR

STAFF REPORTER

R.M. OF HEADINGLEY

It’s been nothing but headaches since the first rain storm for Headingley resident Sally Mann.

Art festival returns to Wolseley

WOLSELEY

Get ready for a banjo-picking, canvas-painting, art-showcasing good time. Wolseley’s Envision Festival of the Arts is back after four postponements.

“The last one we had was in 2019; 2020 was in the works and we had started lining up people then COVID hit,” said festival founder and organizer Jim Palmquist.

Palmquist kept trying to solidify dates, but in an all-too-familiar manner, the virus put up hurdle after hurdle for the social event.

Long Plain First Nations elects female chief

CODY SELLAR

STAFF REPORTER

PORTAGE LA PRAIRIE

Long Plain First Nation has elected its second female chief and the first since the 1970s.

Jr. Canucks cap record-breaking year with MMJHL championship win

CODY SELLAR

STAFF REPORTER

ST. JAMES

The final seconds ticked off the scoreboard, and the St. James Jr. Canucks erupted into celebration, with the golden glimmer of the Jack McKenzie Trophy hoisted above a cluster of blue and white jerseys.

Student film festival tackles human rights

A teacher at Maples Collegiate is spearheading a province-wide student film festival focusing on human rights.

Several screenings for the FILM for Human Rights Student Film Festival will take place on May 25 at the Seven Oaks Performing Arts Centre, the first beginning at 10:30 a.m. with films running into the evening.

“I feel really good about it,” said Saul Henteleff, the teacher organizing the event. “So far, the pieces have fit; so far, the films are being made; so far, everything’s coming together.”

Henteleff said he feels strongly that student films shouldn’t be isolated in classrooms, but rather, they should be shared with a broader audience to give students a fuller experience.

Man tells tale of ‘child welfare tragedy’

CODY SELLAR

STAFF REPORTER

CORYDON

A Corydon-area resident is speaking out about his experience in child welfare after decades coming to terms with his childhood.

University of Winnipeg plans graduation blowout

The University of Winnipeg is making up for time lost to the COVID-19 pandemic by planning an elaborate graduation festival.

“Basically, we’re looking at an outdoor carnival theme, along the lines of the Lollapalooza rock festival,” said the university’s registrar Colin Russell.

“It’s important ... that they have the real experience of walking across the stage."

In that vein, the event has been dubbed “Gradapalooza.” It will feature party games, musical entertainment, photo booths, and concession booths.

Musicians band together for Ukraine

CODY SELLAR

STAFF REPORTER

CITY CENTRE

Manitoban musicians are tuning up to support Ukrainians displaced by war.

‘Bear hunt’ kicks off third year

CODY SELLAR

STAFF REPORTER

GARDEN CITY

The Great Winnipeg Bear Hunt is underway for the third consecutive year. Started to give families something to do outdoors during lockdown, the “bear hunt” encourages people to put stuffed animals in their windows for kids to spot during April.

Theatre group celebrates 100 years of radio

CODY SELLAR

STAFF REPORTER

Members of a local senior’s theatre group are warming up their radio voices to ring in 100 years of radio broadcasting in Manitoba.

To celebrate the centennial anniversary, the group will be performing a musical called The Last Radio Show at the Gas Station Theatre on April 29 and 30 at 7:30 p.m., with all proceeds going to the Canadian National Institute for the Blind.

Community market coming to Tyndall Park

TYNDALL PARK

THE MAPLES

A new community market is gathering vendors and getting ready to kick off its inaugural season at the Tyndall Park Community Centre.

“We just wanted to do something to contribute to and improve the vibrancy of the community,” said Tyndall Community Market co-founder Lou Alarkon, who lives in the neighbouring Maples neighbourhood.

Digitizing parts of the West End’s rich history

WEST END

For Christian Cassidy, making history is a community affair. When he speaks about the people who built Winnipeg, he doesn’t mean politicians passing legislation or wealthy folk fronting cash for projects. He means “the people that actually swung the sledgehammers and drove the street cars and ran the corner stores.”

“Those are the people who really built the city, and those are the people that, sadly, you won’t read about in history books,” Cassidy said.

To capture bits and pieces of these ordinary people’s lives, Cassidy is spearheading the West Central Digital History Project through his work at the Daniel MacIntyre/St. Matthews Community Association, in partnership with the Manitoba Historical Society.

Contemporary dance group returns to stage

CODY SELLAR

STAFF REPORTER

EXCHANGE DISTRICT

A contemporary dance group is leaping, twisting and twirling back onto the stage for the first time since the pandemic began.

Winnipeg Collectibles Show set for April 24

Garden City

There’s more to being a collector than amassing boxes upon boxes of comics, sports cars, figurines or whatever other objects of fancy a person may hoard — although, that can certainly be part of it.

Wally Dorvault, a comic collector and co-organizer of the Winnipeg Collectibles Show coming up on April 24 at Canad Inns Garden City, said his most prized comic is a 1977 Spider-Man graphic novel.

As far as dollar value, it may not be his top comic, but that’s not the most important thing, he said.

Maples Collegiate sees boom in trades classes registrations

THE MAPLES

Students seem to be signing up for trades classes at Maples Collegiate like never before, said Jeff Bilous, a culinary arts and hospitality services teacher.

“My numbers for registration at this point are unlike what they’ve been in previous years,” he said. “It’s telling me that there is a true push out there for people to get back into these jobs.”

Bilous recalled his own youth, during which he got the feeling that going through university was the only respectable option. But he said he’s glad to see more students once again exploring options in the trades.

Junior Canucks take aim at top prize

ST. JAMES

The St. James Jr. Canucks have bulldozed the competition on the way to the Manitoba Major Junior Hockey League finals.

The league’s top team in the regular season, boasting a daunting 37-4-4 record, rode an 11-game win streak into the first round of the playoffs.

They built on that success with a four game sweep of the Charleswood Hawks, before moving on to the semifinals against the Raiders Jr. Hockey Club.

Local divers headed to nationals

BRIDGWATER

TUXEDO

Two young athletes from Bridgwater and Tuxedo are diving into one of Canada’s top competitions.

Attila Bernatsky, 16, and Adam Cohen, 17, are headed to Diving Canada’s winter senior national championships for the first time. They will compete in Saskatoon, Sask., from April 8 to 10.

Path cleared for new development

FORT GARRY

The City Centre community committee met on March 25, discussing several per capita grants, development plan approvals, and subdivision and rezoning applications.

The committee also took the opportunity to hear a report on the most recent city governance review from September 2021. Among recommendations in the review was a call to “develop a formal orientation process that includes documented roles and responsibilities for members of council.”

Coun. Sherri Rollins (Fort Rouge-East Fort Garry) said the report’s recommendations did not go far enough and training needs to include political staff, not only council members.

Indigenous tourism organization names CEO

Prominent North End figure Kyle Mason has been named the new chief executive officer of the Manitoba Indigenous Tourism Association. Mason brings a wide range of experience from starting a consulting business; launching a city-wide food bank in Dryden, Ont.; and fundraising for numerous social causes, notably in the North End, where he grew up.

Mason will be responsible for leading the charge to grow Indigenous tourism in Manitoba by developing market-ready tourism products. It’s a challenge Mason said he’s ready to tackle.

“I’m extremely excited for this opportunity,” he said. “I’m really, really looking forward to, with our partners, building an organization that will really build the interest in businesses around the province and will encourage people from Manitoba and beyond to come and experience what Manitoba has to offer, when it’s safe to do so.”

Mason commended the work of Travel Manitoba, but said that it’s necessary to have this separate organization focused solely on supporting Indigenous tourism.

Maples basketball back on the court

Just to lace up his sneakers and hit the court was a relief.

“It feels great to be back, because waiting a year to come back and not knowing if you’re even going to have a senior season — that’s crazy. So, I’m grateful just to be back to play,” said Ethan Fast, a Grade 12 student on the varsity boys basketball team at Maples Collegiate.

The whole team seems to have gotten a jolt from the return to play, Fast said.

“Everyone just has lots of energy and is just happy to be there everyday for practice, games — everyone’s pumped to be there,” he said.

Headingley names new CAO

Headingley has named Cameron Bell as its new chief administrative officer. Bell will assume the role of Headingley CAO on March 14, and he will be taking the reins from Chris Fulsher, who is retiring after 22-years of civil service in the rural municipality. Bell is now transitioning from the same position in the Lac du Bonnet municipal government.

“I’m fairly excited about it. Headingley is a fairly progressive and quickly growing community,” Bell said. “I think there’s tremendous potential there, and I’ve been watching from afar as a municipal administrator in Manitoba, as well as a resident in Winnipeg, and seen Headingley’s growth that’s just been tremendous. I’m excited to be a part of that.”

As CAO, Bell will essentially be responsible for the day-to-day administrative operations of the Headingley government, including ensuring that the council’s decisions are carried out.

Bell’s career began at the armed forces, where he worked 15 years including time in Afghanistan and Europe. He occupied several command and operational posts, and he said he developed many transferable skills that he can now bring to the table.

Lunch program fuels learning

A lunch program at Dufferin School has been feeding students so they can feed their minds.

The program will provide 150 free lunches to students each day as part of its pilot launch at the school. As Dufferin School has no proper kitchen, students are given sandwich lunches, which are put together down the street at St. John’s High School.

The Schroeder Foundation, a Canadian charity headed by former Dufferin School student Walter Schroeder, is spearheading the initiative.

“Given that the Dufferin School is in a jurisdiction where there’s a lot of need and food insecurity, Walter believes that if he can solve this problem, he can reduce the incidences of absenteeism in schools,” said Alex Vaccari, the foundation’s vice president of strategic initiatives and communications.

Blumberg remains on auction block, for now

Charleswood-Tuxedo-Westwood councillor Kevin Klein said he intends to introduce a motion to remove John Blumberg Golf Course from the city’s surplus list, after city council voted decisively on Jan. 27 to kibosh a bid to buy the land at a price of $13.7 million.

City-owned properties must first be “declared surplus to the needs of the city” before they can be sold. John Blumberg Golf Course was moved onto the surplus list in 2013.

Klein’s motion will be his second such attempt. The first died before it truly started. At an Assiniboine Community Committee meeting on Oct. 27, 2021, Klein moved the property be removed from the list, but neither of the two other councillors on the committee seconded the motion to push it through to the next step at city hall.

Those councillors were Scott Gillingham (St. James), who later voted in favour of selling the golf course, and Janice Lukes (Waverley West), who was one of 13 councillors who struck down the sale.

Rossbrook House becomes a home

Dale Turcotte calls his work a “second home.” The 14-year-old says it without irony — it’s no water-cooler joke about spending too much time at the office.

“And the staff are like my family,” he says.

Turcotte has been employed by Rossbrook House’s junior staff program for about a year, but he first showed up at the drop-in centre when he nine years old.

“I fell in love with it. It was just a place I loved to be,” Turcotte says. “I always had something to do. I was never really bored.”

Sisler girls burst out of the gate

The Sisler High School varsity girls basketball team has burst out of the gate to kick off Winnipeg Tier 1 league play.

At press time, the Spartans had battled to wins in their first four games and were the Manitoba High Schools Athletic Association’s second-ranked AAAA team, behind only the Dakota Lancers.

It’s a torrid start to a season that follows a year of cancelled sports due to COVID-19. That layoff has had student athletes raring to go.

“We had the largest number of kids try out for the team this year,” coach Michael Tan said. “To have about 40 kids in the gym trying out for our varsity program speaks volumes about kids just wanting to get back to some sort of normalcy.”

Sscope building closure leaves residents unhoused

Residents at Sscope Inc’s former Main Street home were forced to move out Jan. 31, after the non-profit was unable to secure funding to put a down payment on the building.

In a video posted online, executive director Angela McCaughan said she spoke to “every level of government, every MLA, every MP, every councillor, the mayor — anybody who would bloody well listen to me.” 

McCaughan then skewered the lot.

“All three levels of government have decided that the people that we serve are not important, the people that we serve don’t have enough value for them to give us a measly amount of money for the down payment on this building so we can keep people safe,” she said.

Council strikes down Blumberg sale

The fate of the John Blumberg Golf Course has, for now, been decided. On Thurs., Jan. 27, city council voted 13-3 against the sale of the property.

The rejected bid came from Schinkel Properties, a company with developments throughout the province, including Blumberg Trail, which contains 45 lots and sits next to the golf course in the Rural Municipality of Headingley.

While the City of Winnipeg’s public service first recommended council approve the sale, the bid met with opposition every step of the way. The property and development committee voted 3-1 to reject the sale, shortly before the executive policy committee also voted to reject it, this time with a closer tally of 4-3.

Several councillors mentioned the possibility of the golf course being transformed into public greenspace in the future and its current winter uses, such as cross-country skiing, as reasons to oppose the sale. Several councillors also said the bid was too low and the project would create too much sprawl.

Garden City basketball starts season hot

The long wait is over for high school basketball players. After last year’s season was cancelled, they’re back on court, moving to the familiar rhythms of squeaking sneakers and thumping basketballs.

“It feels pretty great, to be honest,” said Arriana Lawrence, a small forward and point guard for the Garden City Collegiate varsity girls basketball team.

With COVID-19 protocols throughout Seven Oaks School Division barring spectators from attending games, the season so far has had a different feel from past years.

“A lot of the game comes from the fans, energy from the fans,” the Grade 11 student said. “So, it’s been a pretty big change. Especially for a player like me, who kind of feeds off of the energy from the fans.”

Health food store grows from personal roots

Michelle Gospic doesn’t take her health for granted. Having grown up with two sisters diagnosed with muscular dystrophy, a group of conditions that damage and weaken muscles over time, Gospic began to understand in her early teenage years: good health is a gift.

That lesson was hammered home when Gospic’s daughter, Danica Marincil, received terrible news in March 2020, just before the pandemic first swept into Winnipeg. She was diagnosed with Stage 2 Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.

“When Danica was diagnosed with cancer, she was having a lot of side effects from the chemo,” Gospic said. “Her pain seemed to settle all in her jaw.”

So, Gospic managed to convince her daughter to eat the bars she made from nuts, seeds and nut butters. They were soft, and Marincil managed to eat them.

Lego video explains economic building blocks

From the man who shrunk the prime minister to four centimetres tall comes a new film centred around local economy. No, it’s not Rick Moranis, reprising the role of neglectful genius; it’s Tyler Walsh, director of marketing at Economic Development Winnipeg.

Walsh creates stop-motion videos using Lego. When Justin Trudeau addressed a speech to children, in which he tried to explain how the country was changing due to COVID-19, Walsh took that audio and animated it in Lego, to help keep children’s interest. The video went viral.

Now, Walsh has put those skills to work in a new short film that attempts to explain how economic development can improve a city.

“We were looking at the way that you can get messaging across to a wide audience and came up with this idea to apply that to the work we do,” Walsh said. “So, taking a complicated topic, breaking it down to its simplest form and then putting it out into the world in a really interesting way.”

Oshki-Giizhig founder leaves lasting legacy

Grant Duncan burst into the minister’s office, took a seat and launched into his pitch — this is why people need Oshki-Giizhig, he explained.

The intrusion jolted Kerri Irvin-Ross, the former NDP MLA, then minister of the department of families; her assistant had told Duncan and his soon-to-be co-founder Eric Friesen to wait in reception until the minister was ready.

It had been an uphill battle even to gain the minister’s ear that day in 2015, Friesen said. Nobody seemed to see the need for an organization like Oshki-Giizhig, which supports Indigenous people with FASD and other disorders, or else, nobody seemed willing to pony up the cash. But there they were, and Duncan had shouldered past reception.

“‘That’s the first time somebody has barged into my office,’” Friesen recalls Irvin-Ross saying. “She said: ‘I love it.’”

Be my Galentine?

Move over Valentine’s Day, Galentine’s Day is here and it’s running all month long.

Galentine’s Day is a fundraising campaign in support of the North End Women’s Centre, put on by a committee of four women who’ve been involved in the initiative since it began seven years ago.

In past years, the fundraiser was a single-day event held on Feb. 14. Women who use the services at North End Women’s Centre came to enjoy the event.

“We served a beautiful meal. All the women received flowers,” said Katherine Wightman-Silver, one of the four Galentine’s Day organizers.

Freeze adjusting to new coach

After a rough ride to start the Manitoba Junior Hockey Season season, the Winnipeg Freeze shook things up and made a coaching change. The team announced Dec. 2 it was bringing in a new head coach and general manager, Taurean White.

White came over from the Central Canada Hockey League’s Nepean Raiders in Ontario.

With the team sitting at the bottom of the standings, the focus for White seemed to have shifted to long-term goals.

“Guys here are trying to solidify spots for next year now, so you just try to find different motivations,” White said. “Not saying that we’ve stopped looking at the playoffs, but as long as your guys are improving every day and developing that’s when we’re pretty happy with that particular progress.”

Sparks fly over proposed Blumberg sale

The John Blumberg Golf Course saga ramped up last week, as the city council’s property and development committee voted 3-1 to reject the proposed $13.7-million sale of the city-owned property on Monday, Jan. 17. The executive policy committee followed suit the following Wednesday, voting 4-3 against the sale.

While both committees went against the recommendation of the public service to sell, neither vote is the final word. The sale can still go through if it wins a two-thirds majority at city council.

“We’re disappointed that we haven’t received the support from council thus far,” said Alan Klippenstein, director of real estate development at Schinkel Properties, the company that tendered the bid.

The proposed sale of the golf course, which is located in Headingley, has drawn ire from greenspace advocates. The site plan proposes the development of 339 single-family lots, 327 multi-family units and 13 acres of commercial space. Ninety per cent of the sale would go into the “transformative fund,” first introduced in 2020 to reinvest profits from the sale of lands deemed surplus and repurposed golf courses into recreation, public greenspace and the tree canopy.

Mobile ski library makes winter sport accessible

Subhead

By CODY SELLAR

STAFF REPORTER

Winnipeg

Outreach programs battle extreme cold

The inevitable cold snaps of a Winnipeg winter can be difficult for even those in comfortable situations, but for people experiencing homelessness it can be downright dangerous. This is one of the reasons the Main Street Project has a mobile outreach van available at all times of day and night.

The vans travel around the city to check in with people who aren’t staying in a shelter or other housing. Some live in encampments, others stay in bus shacks. Whatever the situation, the outreach van will try to help.

“We pretty well can provide anything from basic needs supplies, such as blankets, water, food, to more complex services, such as case management,” said Sean Sousa, the outreach service manager.

The van also carries medical supplies to respond to emergencies. The outreach service runs year round and is never short of work, but when the mercury drops in winter, the need becomes more ubiquitous.

Pollock’s Hardware celebrates 100 years

A cat sprung onto the counter beside the hardware store’s till and dug its claws into a four-by-four post supporting a Plexiglas shield. Ratchet is the cat’s name, and he saunters about Pollock’s Hardware Co-op as though he’s lived there since it opened 100 years ago.

The white and grey feline is something of a mascot for Pollock’s. His very presence sends the message that the store is more than just a business — though it is that, too. It is also a community institution.

With the arrival of the new year, the Main Street store, which became a community co-operative in 2008 after its last private owners were unable to find a buyer, is celebrating its centennial anniversary.

Co-op board chair Luba Bereza said Pollock’s prides itself on its involvement with its neighbourhood.

New development OK’d for Amber Corners

The Lord Selkirk-West Kildonan community committee held its first meeting of the new year Jan. 10.

Much of the relatively brief meeting focused on application to approve building plans for the Amber Corners developments, which are on track to be built at the northeast corner of Pipeline Road and Templeton Avenue.

The committee approved the plans.

The developer, Ironclad Developments, intends to erect three large multi-family buildings, all of which will be six storeys high, occupying most of the approximately four-acre lot. The buildings will contain 304 units and an impressive list of amenities.

Eadie prepares for another year at city hall

Coun. Ross Eadie didn’t mince words when discussing his goals and priorities in the upcoming year.

“First, I’d like to just say that Mayor Bowman and Coun. Gillingham’s budget, which went through (by a vote of) 10 to six, is inadequate to reach any kind of goals that one might have for their work,” the Mynarski ward councillor said.

Eadie blamed some of the budget’s shortfalls, in his opinion, on dysfunction in city hall.

“I just find it very frustrating the way (the executive policy committee) and council works,” he said. There’s too much “wheeling and dealing” to coax results in favour of one project or another, he said.

Couple helps others with disabilities

A Garden City couple is offering to help people with disabilities navigate the labyrinths of government bureaucracy, so they can benefit from the disability tax credit and other programs and save money through the registered disability savings plan (RDSP).

The issue is close to the hearts of Ringo and Wendy Boychuk. Wendy has used a wheelchair for the past 15 years, since multiple sclerosis rendered her unable to walk.

“Ourselves going through the whole process, we know that it can be overwhelming sometimes,” Ringo said. “You’re not sure how to fill it out.”

Ringo was upfront that, while their clients never pay anything, he does receive a payment fee from either the bank or investment company with which an RDSP is set up. To act as a liaison between clients and financial institutions, as Ringo and Wendy do, Ringo has acquired his mutual fund license and registered himself as a business.

Oxus unyoked and growing fast

The beer is flowing at Oxus Brewing Company, which finds itself at the fore of a burgeoning industry as so many others struggle to find their footing in a shaky market.

The company recently underwent a large-scale expansion. Owner Sean Shoyoqubov said, in the past year, his company has upped its production about 15-fold.

“We grew from doing three tonnes per month to close to 45 tonnes,” Shoyoqubov said. “It is a very significant expansion.”

It’s good news for a craft beer industry still taking its first steps in this province.

MJHL’s top player for December boosts Portage

Logan Calder, captain of the Portage Terriers, is proving his bite is strong as his bark. The fourth-year Terrier, born and raised in Portage la Prairie, was named the Manitoba Junior Hockey League’s top player for the month of December.

“It’s a big honour,” said Calder, who turns 22 on Jan. 12. “It just kind of shows how well we’ve worked together as a line. My linemates have helped me get to that spot. Getting comfortable with them has really helped me improve.”

Through December’s seven games, Calder lit the goal lamp eight times and added four assists for a total of 12 points. At press time, the centre was the Terriers’ top scorer with 32 points and an average 1.07 points per game.

“I think confidence was a big thing for me, especially last month,” Calder said. “Starting to click with my linemates helped, too.”

Santos eyes up 2022

As many wave an impatient goodbye to 2021, Coun. Vivian Santos (Point Douglas) discussed some of her goals and priorities for the new year.

Government projects don’t live and die by the calendar year, so Santos said she plans to continue pushing on the initiatives she’s already been helping to champion.

“One of them is a big progressive idea, which is reducing transit fares to affordable transit,” Santos said.

Santos said she’s hoping to have bus fares reduced to just one dollar. A report on this idea is set to come out this year, she added.

Some uneasy about return to in-person classes

As COVID-19 cases climb, parents in northwest Winnipeg are bracing for the possibility of a return to remote learning.

At press time, students were scheduled to return Jan. 10. The province extended the holiday from the previous Jan. 6 start date. There were no public plans to close schools after the break, but with single-day records for cases being set in the days after Christmas, the situation was on many parents’ minds.

“It puts you on the edge with nervousness,” said Garden City resident Sheilah Lee Restall, who has one child in kindergarten and another in daycare.

Restall said she’ll likely pull her youngest from daycare, but it’s more complicated for her kindergartener.

Sharma discusses goals, priorities for 2022

Moving into the new year, Coun. Devi Sharma (Old Kildonan) laid out some of her goals for 2022.

“We have a lot of things to deal with,” Sharma said. “Northwest Winnipeg continues to grow. It’s one of the fastest growing areas of the city. Obviously, with growth comes new amenities that are needed and the regular issues that we deal with across the city.”

First off, Sharma acknowledged that the pandemic has made a “massive change” in the lives of all Winnipeggers, and it has also affected the operation of the city itself.

In light of that, Sharma said that working closely with community organizations will continue to be important in 2022, as people have relied on community supports to keep themselves afloat during the pandemic.

Teen uses love of food to feed others

It started with sugar cookies. They’re made with little more than butter, flour, sugar, eggs  — the pillars of the pastry world — but when combined they stirred something up in 16-year-old Jeremy Sarvis.

So when Doreen Johnson, Sarvis’ legal guardian  — whom he affectionately calls “Granny” — saw a poster at NorWest Co-op Community Food Centre advertising cooking classes, she encouraged her grandson to join.

He did, and so kindled his love for cooking and baking. Whether or not it was Johnson’s master plan (“Maybe it was, psychologically,” she said), it turned out well for the adoring grandmother.

“Granny is not a huge fan of cooking,” Sarvis said, with a touch of diplomacy in his voice.

Northwest Winnipeg’s 2021 sports year in review

Sports in Manitoba were on hold when 2021 arrived. Some sports had tried to get started in the previous fall, but as COVID-19 numbers rose, leagues eventually cancelled their seasons.

Return to play

In September, high school sports made their long-awaited return, but with modified policies to try to limit the spread of COVID-19.

Sscope, residents on the brink of losing home

The window is closing for Sscope, and that means the doors of the non-profit organization may soon be closing, too.

The organization assists people living with mental illness by providing them work in one of their social enterprises and by offering safe and stable housing. Its name is an acronym for ‘Self-Starting Creative Opportunities for People in Employment.’

There are 46 people who live in dorm-style housing in the former Neechi Foods building at 865 Main St., and another 40 who use Sscope’s overnight shelter.

But after the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation denied the organization’s Rapid Housing Initiative funding request, Sscope has asked for $500,000 from each of the three levels of government to put a down payment on the building, which it has been leasing. If it does not receive the money by Jan. 6, the organization will have to move.

Indigenous-led non-profit closer to expansion

Ka Ni Kanichihk is one step closer to realizing their vision to expand their building at 455 McDermot Ave. The organization will receive a major capital grant of $200,000 from the Winnipeg Foundation to help make this happen.

Executive director Dodie Jordaan said the grant will take a bite out of the overall costs of the expansion, but it may help in a different way, as well.

“It’s incredibly important because one of the things we learned as we started fundraising is those who utilize our services and supports know us well. But we realized there’s a large portion of the giving community who doesn’t know Ka Ni Kanichihk and doesn’t know many Indigenous organizations,” she said.

Being put on the charitable map may help attract more donors in the future, but Jordaan said the organization must keep making the effort to let Winnipeg know the value of its services.

Student sport faces uncertain future

With the Christmas break at hand, Chad Falk, executive director at the Manitoba High Schools Athletic Association took a moment to assess the first few months of high school sports.

“It’s been an interesting fall and early winter,” he said. “We kind of started the school year in a very hesitant way, not really knowing what could be done. There were still quite a few restrictions in place that were preventing us from hosting provincials at that time.”

But high schools were able to go ahead with tournaments and exhibition play, allowing student athletes who’d been raring to play after COVID-19 cancelled most of last year’s sports to get back into the fray.

With easing of restrictions in October, the association started gearing up to get the first of the provincial tournaments in order. The volleyball championships wrapped up on Dec. 5.

Take a sip of a sandwich

Some like their vodka with a twist of lime, others like it tasting of french fries and Kewpie mayo. Of course, the latter is a relatively small group of people who’ve indulged in the wild new menu at distillery Patent 5’s cocktail bar.

From now into the new year, the bar has transformed itself into “the world’s strangest diner.” Menu items include chips and guacamole, pineapple pizza and pastrami on rye. Those wouldn’t be too strange (although, the pineapple pizza may spark its usual debate), except for the fact that none are actually food. They are cocktails, flush with house-made tequilas, vodkas, bourbons and gins.

The “chicken and waffles,” for example, is a Patent 5 barrel-aged gin, fat washed with duck fat, infused with waffles, and mixed with maple syrup, butter and Frank’s RedHot.

“A lot of our menus, they’re pretty adventurous,” said Callan Anderson, bartender and occasional maker of understatements.

West St. Paul residents chafed over access point

Some West St. Paul residents are up in arms about the province’s planned removal of two access points to their community from the north Perimeter Highway.

Those are the east and west access roads to Holmes Road, which leads into West St. Paul. The east access has already been closed and the west access will be removed by 2025. The project is a part of the province’s plan to turn the Perimeter Highways into an access-controlled freeway.

One reason the province cites for the changes is improved safety, but West St. Paul resident Mike Yosyk thinks that’s simply a tool the province is using to push through its agenda.

“That was probably one of the main things that we, as residents, raised. We said, ‘listen, if an emergency vehicle needs to get to our developments, or to the school for a kid, you just knocked out the most direct points of access, period,’” he said.

Clauses collect for clawed companions

Brad Wallace and Kris Kringle share the same barber, judging by the thick and snowy beards hanging from their chins. In fact, they’re quite identical in all aspects, as are Roxanne Wallace and Mrs. Claus. Brad and Roxanne Wallace both have the trademark apple cheeks, and both are very jolly.

The Wallaces were wearing the Clauses’ suits, presumably standing in for the rightful owners as they rested up for the next batch of kids. Both suits were of crimson felt trimmed with white faux fur and gold flourishes, all cinched in by broad black belts.

It seems the two couples have bonded over their doppelgängery because the Clauses have travelled south (or north from their vacation home on 34th Street) to take pictures with neighbourhood children outside the Wallaces’ home on McAdams Avenue in Garden City. The photos are free, but the Wallaces have put out a box for donations to the Winnipeg Humane Society’s Care to Adopt program.

“The reason we chose the humane society is people last year wanted to give us money. I said: ‘It’s OK. I enjoy doing this. You bring your kids, you take the pictures. You take all you want,’” Brad Wallace said.

New Met School expands students’ options

Seven Oaks School Division’s Met School was the first of its kind in Canada when it opened in 2012, and now the division is celebrating opening its third, which is located in the Exchange District.

The school opened in September, but chose to allow students and teachers to settle in before holding an official opening on Dec. 10, which will feature retired senator Murray Sinclair, who spearheaded the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Met Schools are different from regular schools due to four principles, said Will Burton, principal-teacher at the Exchange Met School.

“The first is that high school students are aligned with one teacher-advisor for the four years of their high school,” Burton said. “And there’s 15 students in one class that stay with one advisor from grade nine through to graduation.”

Local business need support now: MCC, local entrepreneur

Local businesses are asking Winnipeggers to buy local, as the holiday season approaches after almost two years of economic hardships due to COVID-19 and subsequent restrictions.

For many businesses, Christmas sales make up a significant chunk of the year’s profits, and that’s certainly the case for a toy store.

“It’s anywhere from 50 to 60 per cent,” Toad Hall Toys owner Kari England said.

As Manitoba’s largest and oldest independent toy retailer, England’s company has joined the Manitoba Chamber of Commerce to encourage Winnipeg consumers to keep their dollars in the community.

Garden City Fighting Gophers on a ‘heater’

Ice makers, get ready to refreeze your rinks, because the women’s hockey team at Garden City Collegiate is on fire.

“It’s been a really great start. Being on a heater with girls that you really enjoy spending time with and you’ve created such a strong bond with is just really great. We’ve worked really hard as a team,” said Fighting Gophers assistant captain and winger Sammie Carvalho.

(Head coach Kyle Wheeler chimed in to joke: “As long as it’s a heater and not a bender!”)

Carvalho said the team has developed a strong bond on and off the ice, and she went as far as calling it a “sisterhood.”

Light display open at Garden City Shopping Centre

Lights of the North, an elaborate display of holiday lights geared for photos, is back — this time in Garden City Shopping Centre.

“It’s great to be back,” said Gary Malkowich, who helped manage the display’s set up. The company last set up the lights in 2019 at what was then The Bay building at 450 Portage Ave.

“I also think from the last time we’ve amped it up a bit from what people wanted and what we saw worked and what didn’t work,” Malkowich said. “We’re pumped.”

Inside the empty storefront where the display stands, a tunnel of golden lights greets visitors. There are many different things made of holiday lights — white arches with a giant snowflake hanging below, a horse and buggy that looks as though it grew from a fairy godmother’s pumpkin, a scene of palm trees at which Winnipeggers can take a moment to dream, and swinging columns that clink about as visitors walk through them.

Raiders try to turn corner after slow start

It has been a grind in the first half of the season for the Raiders Junior Hockey Club. Through 20 games, the team sat fifth in the Manitoba Major Junior Hockey League with a 9-10-1 record.

“It’s had its challenges,” said Lorne “Ned” Sanders, the club’s president and general manager. “We’re thrilled to be back in the rink. We’re thrilled to have players in the dressing room and on the ice and fans in the stands, but we got off to a very, very slow start.”

Sanders chalked up the teams early season struggles, at least in part, to a ripple effect from the pandemic.

“The biggest thing is when we open up training camp, we’ve always had lots and lots of bodies, lots of people competing for jobs. And this year, we could barely ice a team,” Sanders said.

Sisler students learn a new toon

You may not know the name Nelvana, but chances are you know more than one show the animation company has its fingerprints on. Many 30-somethings will remember Babar, featuring the eponymous elephant king whose French-speaking monarchy, apparently, the French revolution left untouched; or they’ll grin to think of The Magic School Bus, led by Ms. Frizzle with her ethically questionable but ultimately effective teaching style.

Nelvana had a role in making or distributing these shows and many others. Now, students in Sisler High School’s CREATE program have landed long work placements at the big-league Canadian animator.

“It’s going really well,” said Jireh Laririt, an 18-year-old post-high student. “It’s only been seven weeks since I started, but I already feel like I learned so much just from talking with the mentors and hearing the advice that they give me whenever I submit work to them.”

Laririt said everyone at the company has been “really friendly and really supportive” as she works herself past a steep learning curve. She’s currently working on “retakes,” meaning she’s reanimating parts of a cartoon that have taken a directorial turn since the initial animation. That allows her to see what more experienced animators have already done.

North End toy drive making spirits bright

Every year on Christmas morning, children wake from anxious sleeps and quake with the anticipation of shiny, new toys beneath the tree. And just as often, families struggle to afford the luxuries of the holiday.

Good thing people like Kyle Mason are around, ready to dash through the snow, make bells on a bobtail ring or put a bird in fruit tree for some reason. But Mason’s cause is worthier of song than any of these things.

“I believe in a just and equitable society where we can all participate in the same way,” Mason said. “Kids don’t understand the complexities of resources, finances and all that kind of stuff … what a sad idea to think about a kid who mails a letter to Santa — for example, yesterday my son wrote his letter to Santa — and nothing happens.”

And with the effects of COVID-19 putting an even greater financial crunch on Winnipeg families, Mason said help is needed more than ever.

Big money coming for non-profit projects

Many hands may make light work, but when it comes to the greater projects at the fingertips of Winnipeg’s helping hands, getting started takes cold, hard cash.

Several of the city’s non-profits received good news on that front as the Winnipeg Foundation announced its choices for the 2021 major capital grants, which will put between $75,000 and $500,000 in the pockets of Winnipeg do-gooders.

“We’re really, really excited,” said Kate Sjoberg, executive director at The WRENCH, an organization dedicated to community bicycle programming. The programming aims to remove barriers to bike building, repair and maintenance, in an effort to boost “climate-friendly” bike culture in the city. It also focuses on education and training. Its current Velotecha program, for example, is a paying program that teaches youth from MacDonald Youth Services to work on bikes stored for winter.

The organization will receive $250,000 to purchase and renovate a new location. Since its inception, it has been burrowed away in a basement beneath the city’s animal services on Logan Avenue.

Channel Seven Oaks celebrates 10 years

Forget periodic tables and solar systems, the Channel Seven Oaks program at Maples Collegiate prefers posters of Star Wars.

It’s what the teacher of the program, Marshall Mays, calls “the inspiration wall.” It’s perhaps more appropriate than, say, a multiplication table, considering the program centres around media skills.

“They’re learning the technical aspects of using a camera, audio recording,” he said. “We’ve also got a little bit of script development, story development, but more of our time is focused on actually getting out there and shooting.”

(In all fairness, the program’s two studios are also postered with instructions on how to frame shots and other pedagogical placards.)

Artist, woodworker rises from the ashes

From the flames that licked up his work, from that fiery monster which gobbled the tools he used to make it, woodworker and sculptor Keith Oliver crafted the Phoenix Bowl. It is a smooth wooden bowl which stands on rough pegs cut from branches that jut out like stunted rays of sunshine. Inside the bowl lay chunks of charcoal — the remains of Oliver’s former North End studio which burned to the ground in 2019, turning to ash decades of Winnipeg artists’ work.

“It’s a phone call you don’t ever want to get at two in the morning,” Oliver said of the fire. “It was life-altering for many people in that building.”

But Oliver said the arts community rallied around him and the other affected artists. The Winnipeg Arts Council and the Winnipeg Foundation rustled up cash to help compensate the artists (who either did not have insurance or had the wrong type, largely due to “astronomical” insurance costs, Oliver said). A GoFundMe also helped cover replacement tools and materials.

“It’s deeply heartwarming,” Oliver said.

Garden City Community Centre honours fallen friend

His family draped a jacket over his coffin. It read: Garden City Community Centre. This is how John Memrick was bid goodbye.

“He had G.C.C.C. printed on his heart,” said Len Baydack, who was eulogizing his cousin near Memrick’s plaque, which hangs in the halls of the Kingsbury Avenue centre.

“He always wore that club jacket,” said another cousin, Rick Baydack.

The memorial ceremony took place Nov. 23, on what would’ve been Memrick’s 70th birthday. And while the centre unveiled the plaque commemorating him that day, a greater gift had come from Memrick himself. 

West Kildonan author launches YA novel

The first draft of West Kildonan resident Harriet Zaidman’s latest young adult novel was complete before the pandemic, yet includes a deadly virus, vaccines and the conspiracy theories that bubbled out of these things.

If humankind weren’t so prone to repeating itself, one might almost think Zaidman clairvoyant. 

The novel, entitled Second Chances, is the story of a teenage hockey star in Winnipeg who is stricken with polio during the epidemic of the 1950s. He meets and becomes enamoured with another patient, a young girl whose family is being pressured to leave Rooster Town, which was a Métis settlement on the southwestern fringes of Winnipeg that existed from 1901 to the late 1950s.

“And he’s immediately ridiculed for it by a kid who had learned racism from his parents,” Zaidman said.

Harvest Manitoba gears up for busy holidays

Around the city snow sparkles and breath puffs from lips in little clouds, which means the holiday season is creeping up once again. For many this is a time for celebration and feasts, but those things cost money, which can mean extra stress for thousands of Winnipeggers trying to make ends meet.

“This is our busiest season, coming up on the holidays,” said Vince Barletta, Harvest Manitoba’s CEO since September. “The need is always there in our community, but it’s particularly acute during the holiday season.”

With the pandemic and subsequent restrictions causing widespread layoffs and destabilizing the incomes of many Winnipeg households, Harvest Manitoba has had a huge uptick of people accessing their services.

Before COVID-19, the organization served about 60,000 people each month. That number has risen to about 80,000 people each month since the onset of restrictions and has remained there to the present day.

Inkster School parents seek toys after play structure fire

Parents arrived to a shock when they dropped their kids off at Inkster School on Nov. 10.

Where children at the kindergarten to grade six school once twisted down a slide lay thick black ash, almost greasy with the burned oil in the plastic of the play structure.

One slide was completely destroyed, and green plastic drooped from the other as though painted by Salvador Dali.

“It was just a little bit disappointing because the children really rely on that, especially with the COVID situation and the way the schools are set up with cohorts,” said Dwayne McIvor, whose six-year-old son and 12-year-old daughter attend both the school and its daycare.

Survivors of sexual assault aren’t alone: health care support staff

November is domestic violence awareness month in Canada, and two community services in Winnipeg have been using the time to let survivors of sexual assault and other intimate-partner violence know they’re not alone.

“One of the things I would want to say to somebody is: ‘We believe you. It wasn’t your fault. And you didn’t make this happen.’ I think I would always want people to know that,” said Kara Neustaedter, coordinator of the Sexual Assault Crisis Program at Klinic Community Health.

Neustaedter’s program partners with the Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) program at Health Sciences Centre to help survivors through the medical and legal system in the immediate aftermath of an assault.

Klinic provides an advocate that will stay with and help survivors with whatever they can, as nurses at Health Sciences Centre provide care.

Positivity boosts battling Spartans

It’s the grind and effort that stands out when you watch the Sisler Spartans varsity women’s volleyball team, said head coach Connie Wall.

“We’re very good at being able to make plays out of balls that probably shouldn’t be possible,” she said. “The ball should be hitting the floor and yet somehow we’re getting it up… and we’re still turning it into an attack instead of just sending free balls over.”

In fact, Wall said she has to rein in the girls’ exuberance from time to time. One girl was unable to play for a chunk of the season after chasing down a play.

“She was diving for a ball that was going out of the court, trying to save it, and she smacked her head against the wall,” Wall said. “I try to tell them we don’t give up our own health and safety, but they’re very keen.”

North End legend Mosienko honoured in new book

If you drive down Main St. often enough, you’ve surely seen it — the mural of Winnipeg hockey legend Billy Mosienko sprawling across the side of a bowling alley that, surprise, bears Mosienko’s name.

The painting depicts Mosienko in his most famous moment, from a game in 1952. In one hand, he’s holding three pucks, each of which he’d just potted past the New York Rangers’ third-string goaltender, Lorne Anderson, in the fastest flurry of three goals ever recorded in NHL history. It took him just 21 seconds. The record stands today.

“Another thing people don’t know is he almost had a fourth goal about 20 seconds later… he slipped the puck just past the post, or else he would’ve had four goals in about 45 seconds,” said Ty Dilello,  author of Mosienko: The Man Who Caught Lightning in a Bottle, a biography of the Chicago Blackhawks hall of famer, released Oct. 22 by Winnipeg publishing company Great Plains Publications.

Dilello said Mosienko’s feat demonstrated what kind of player, and person, he was.

Garden City soars into volleyball playoffs

The varsity girls volleyball team at Garden City Collegiate is gliding into the Kilcona Peguis Athletic Conference playoffs with an impressive 9-1 record. The team’s sole loss came against Mennonite Brethren Collegiate Institute, which went undefeated.

The Fighting Gophers chalked up their success to a number of factors.

“We’ve kind of just found our groove and the girls have been playing very, very well. Very consistent,” said head coach Marlee Bragg. “We’ve been doing a good job of mixing up our attack. And I think that’s been a key to our success when we’ve played some of those other top teams.”

On the defensive side of the ball,  Bragg said the team refuses to quit on plays, which makes them tough to score against.

Jefferson Avenue development breaks ground

A new development at 1325 Jefferson Ave. is underway after a groundbreaking that took place two weeks ago.

“It feels great,” said Nigel Furgus, president of Paragon Design Build. “Because I’ve been wanting to do a project in this part of the city for some time.”

The building will go up directly across the street from Maples Collegiate.

Furgus said the project aims to bring value to the neighbourhood.

Siloam Mission welcomes new CEO

Siloam Mission recently announced its new chief executive officer, Tessa Blaikie Whitecloud, who takes the reigns of the organization as it tries to right the ship after criticisms the organization didn’t provide adequate cultural services for its Indigenous clientele.

Blaikie Whitecloud spent the last seven years at 1JustCity, including four years as its executive director. She officially began at Siloam on Nov. 15.

“I’m feeling very excited to hit the ground running and be a part of the amazing team that’s already here,” she said in an interview prior to starting. “And of course, to build on the Indigenous relations strategy that Siloam commissioned over the last year.”

In February, after the criticisms surfaced, former CEO Jim Bell resigned and an external consultant was brought in to develop a strategy to address the concerns.

North End TikTok star recognized

North End resident Zachary Mann has been selected for the first ever “TikTok Accelerator for Indigenous Creators,” a new program presented by the National Screen Institute designed to help Indigenous content makers upgrade their social media skills and boost their online presence.

Mann, who makes many of his videos from his Dufferin Avenue home under the handle neighbourhoodneechie, has about 21,300 followers and over 700,000 likes on his posts.

The six-week program will allow the 30-year-old Mann to connect with industry professionals to increase those already impressive numbers. It will begin with a sharing circle led by an elder and incorporate other traditional elements, according to a press release.

Mann’s videos serve one of two purposes: to make people laugh or to bring awareness to Indigenous issues.

CEDA, partners work to re-engage Indigenous students

Several community organizations are working hard to establish two new alternative education centres for Indigenous youth. The centres will be located on Dufferin Avenue and Selkirk Avenue on vacant lots sold by the city to Community Education Development Association, or CEDA, for a dollar.

The initiative is a partnership between CEDA, the Ma Mawi Wi Chi Itata Centre and Ndinawemaaganag Endaawaad.

CEDA teacher Stephanie Miller said the project is badly needed.

“Every year over the last 10 years, CEDA has analyzed the inactive-student data from the Winnipeg School Division,” Miller said. “There are around 400 students who go inactive every year just in the North End.”

Man swimming ‘English Channel’ for Movember

For some, swimming the English Channel has become something of an Everest, and one Garden City resident is trying to match that distance — 34 kilometres — to raise money for “Movember,” a men’s health initiative originally centred around moustache-growing. 

Peter Goguen, 69, plans to swim an average of 1,150 meters per day this month at Seven Oaks Pool. He was right on track in the first four days, before publishing time for this paper, with over four kilometres already tallied.

Goguen said, because its inevitable he’ll have to miss a day or two, he’s aiming to swim anywhere up to 1,500 metres in a day. On his first day, he did 1,300 in just under an hour. On next days, he went 1,400 then 1,300 again. Those aren’t beginners’ swims.

“I’ve been swimming since I was a little kid. When I was in grade nine, I was on the swim team,” Goguen said. “So I’ve got some lifelong experience.”

West Kildonan hockey totes firepower

The West Kildonan Wolverines varsity men’s hockey team is back on the ice after the pandemic caused the cancellation of most of last season.

Head coach Jesse Goertzen said players at the school were raring to go before the season got underway.

“We thought at one point that we might struggle in terms of numbers of students showing up to try out, but I think that the year off built up excitement,” he said. “We had record numbers show up for tryouts. And it’s turned out we have a pretty solid team.”

The Wolverines got off to a middling start in terms of wins and losses, racking up two of each in the Winnipeg Free Press East Division. But Goertzen said he thinks the team can elevate its game higher.

Diwali dancers illuminate Seven Oaks

Bare feet stomped the stage, seeming themselves to strike the drums that played over speakers at Seven Oaks Performing Arts Centre. The opening dancers swooped and twirled, their Phulkari scarves and dresses blooming as they spun.

They wore traditional Punjabi clothes, as did most people in the theatre, which made the slope of seats look like a hill of flowers coloured ruby, sapphire, turquoise and emerald. The dancers clapped their hands in vivacious tempos, and with each clap, hearts beat and blood rushed and skin tingled. The crowd screamed joyously as the dancers threw up their arms in fearless declaration: I am alive.

“This dance means to me, elegance and power — the power of women in our culture,” said 15-year-old dancer Harjot Gill. “I feel nice. I feel, you know, appreciated, that I get to do this.”

Dancers from schools across Seven Oaks School Division had come to celebrate Diwali, a holiday that gets its name from the Sanskrit word deepavali, meaning “row of lights” — a metaphor for the victory of light over darkness, good over evil, knowledge over ignorance.

Garden City hockey back at the rink

The Garden City Collegiate varsity boys hockey team has hit the ice again, after a season disrupted by COVID-19 restrictions.

“We’re just all thankful that we are able to play hockey this year,” said head coach and teacher Dustin Hughes.

Hughes called the beginning of the season “interesting” and insinuated there’s been some early bumps in the road.

But the coach thinks the team, which is competing again in the Winnipeg High School Hockey League’s Platinum Promotions Division, has the potential to get into the form of previous years.

Making connections over land

Land is a democratic thing. It doesn’t discern between one person or another; it simply offers a foothold for the next, no matter whose sole falls upon it.

“And there’s a history that this land holds,” said Mary Moore, community wellness manager at Mount Carmel Clinic.

The clinic, in partnership with North End Women’s Centre, has been putting on a “land-based program” every Wednesday night from 5:30 - 7 p.m. which aims to connect newcomers and Indigenous community members.

Some have found that connection in the analogy of two lands’ histories. One man pointed to Italy’s colonization of his first home in northern Africa.

Cash infuses social housing project

A new partnership between Local Investment Toward Employment (LITE) and Purpose Construction will see $50,000 flow into the construction company as it embarks on a project to erect social housing on Magnus Avenue.

The money will support 10 new training positions, lifting the crew to 30 people. Purpose Construction is a social enterprise that provides work opportunities to people with employment barriers.

“I’m just over the moon,” said Tyler Pearce, executive director of LITE. “Because for the most part, the jobs that LITE creates are shorter term. They’re really about getting people a reference and a little bit of job experience so they can get their next — quote, unquote — real job.”

Purpose Construction, however, has the capacity to offer longer term employment and, moreover, to provide a variety of training opportunities within a well-paying construction industry, which can create employment security.

New play explores difficult themes

The play takes its name from Cassandra, a Trojan priestess who in Greek mythology sought to see into the future. Apollo offered her this ability in exchange for sex, but Cassandra refused. Infuriated by the rejection, Apollo grants her the gift of prophecy but curses her, so that even though she will always speak the truth, no one will ever believe her.

Author of the play Trigger Warning: Cassandra, Andrea von Wichert, said the plight of Cassandra resonated with her.

“For someone like myself — I have a psychiatric disability — at times when you try to explain yourself to other people, or you try to make a point about your life situation and your life perspective, it’s really easy to be dismissed,” said Wichert, a resident of Point Douglas. “They can all just say, ‘oh, you’re just crazy.’”

Wichert said exploring this stigma was the impetus that moved the show forward in its early days.

Perogies and cherry vodka

Travelling through Poland with her brother in 1983, Christine Tabbernor was inundated with eggs.

“It seemed that everywhere we went, we’d be offered eggs — something considered a breakfast meal,” she said. “And after about two days of this, we realized it was because that’s all they had.”

During the rule of the Polish United Workers’ Party, a communist regime backed by the Soviet Union, the country suffered a food shortage and strict rationing, which led to widespread “hunger demonstrations” just two years before Tabbernor and her brother visited their parents’ birthplace.

Despite the scarcity, hosts plied Tabbernor with what they could. It was unthinkable not to.

Seeking spirits at Seven Oaks

A town sprouted from ground where men fought and killed and spilled their blood, and here, amongst the rooms of Winnipeg’s oldest house, spirits linger, forsaking their graves.

At least, this is what Kristen Treusch and many of those she guides around Seven Oaks Museum believe as they probe the space for paranormal phenomena.

Treusch leads her tours through the museum, which in the mid-1800s was the home of John and Mary Inkster, a prominent Métis family for whom the street is now named, and tries to uncover spirits using myriad methods — dowsing rods, pendulums, spirit boards, K2 metres and table tipping.

On her first tour, Treusch said, “we got a young fella who was about 18 and a half, 17 and a half, somewhere in there, who was Métis. There was something with this spirit and violence.”

Volunteers blitz four homes at once

A fury of hammers pounded nails. Long planks of wood passed from hand to hand, from person to person along the line, and others tossed a two-by-fours over their shoulders and climbed a ladder to set the beams framing the house.

The Habitat for Humanity “Blitz Build” on Templeton Avenue was a highly co-ordinated affair; all 40 volunteers had work to do, as did the trained professionals on site. When building four houses simultaneously, there’s always something to do.

“It’s a very well-oiled machine. It’s amazing how organized they are,” said volunteer Sarah McCrea, a hammer hanging at her hip from a leather toolbelt.

Practically the whole squad that day was related to McCrea. The family had a particular affinity for Habitat for Humanity, McCrea said, adding that her work as an elementary school teacher has reinforced the value she places in a good home.

Filling heads with money tales

The most common question Justin Morriseau hears from graduates of his program is this: why isn’t this taught in school?

Morriseau is the program director at SEED Winnipeg’s Money Stories initiative, in which Indigenous students between 15 and 29 years old learn to better manage their money.

“Everybody needs to spend money, and if you don’t do it wisely, you’re going to end up in some tight situations,” Morriseau said. “The fact that this isn’t in any kind of school curriculum is a big missing element.”

The program gains its name through the help of Indigenous elders, who come in to share stories about money with the youth. There are other activities as well, but Morriseau said the storytelling element is crucial.