Coup d’oeil sur un jeune Métis engagé

Que disent nos jeunes de ces élections fédérales? Portrait de Beaudry Labossière, étudiant Franco-Métis qui suit la campagne de près.

Étudiant en relations internationales et en histoire, Beaudry Labossière mange et respire la politique. Il consomme des nouvelles sur les élections partout où il peut en trouver: dans des podcasts, à la radio, dans les journaux, à la télévision, sur les réseaux sociaux…

Mais malgré sa soif de contenu électoral, Beaudry a l’impression que les différents partis ne font pas grand-chose pour l’atteindre en tant que jeune électeur, même si les jeunes sont historiquement connus pour leur faible taux de participation.

Néanmoins, les questions qu’il examine de près font écho à la perspective d’une génération soucieuse de son avenir. “Pour moi, ce que je regarde majoritairement,” dit Beaudry Labossière, “c’est le prix de l’immobilier, le prix de la nourriture, la performance de l’économie, mais aussi des choses comme la réconciliation, la transition énergétique, l’environnement, les programmes de sécurité sociale, les soins dentaires et de la vue, etc.”

Satirical musical tackles health-care woes in bite-sized chunks

They say laughter is the best medicine. Throw a little song-and-dance into the mix and you get Larry Saves the Canadian Healthcare System — an 11-part web microseries that humorously addresses Canada’s ailing medical system through music and satire.

Sara Kreindler, a professor of community health sciences at the University of Manitoba, spearheads the show, drawing from her extensive research.

“It’s about starting a conversation,” says writer-composer Kreindler, who has a PhD in social psychology. “Whether you’re a health-care provider or just someone curious about the system, I want viewers to come away feeling empowered to hold our elected leaders accountable for addressing the underlying issues.”

Through the character of Larry, played by Winnipeg actor Toby Hughes, viewers embark on a journey navigating the complexities of health-care policy.

Bringing dental care to kids in schools is helping take care of teeth neglected in the pandemic

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — Tucked away inside the teachers lounge at a New Hampshire elementary school, Amber Warner was having her teeth checked out for the first time.

The 5-year-old sat back on what looked like a beach chair and wore a pair of dark sunglasses as certified public health dental hygienist Mary Davis surveyed Amber's teeth and then with a tiny syringe applied traditional dental sealants, which had the consistency of nail gel.

“Close down and bite your teeth together, bite down like you are biting down on a hot dog or a cheeseburger," Davis told Amber, to ensure the sealants were done properly. After that, Davis flossed all of the “popcorn and the chicken, pizza between your teeth.” The whole visit took 15 minutes.

“Look at you. You are a pro on your first dental visit. I am so proud of you,” Davis said to the kindergartener, who got up from the chair and was hugged by a teacher's assistant.

Pride and passion stitched right in

Surrounded by vibrant textiles, Oluwayemisi Josephine Ogunwale, or Yemz, as she likes to be referred to, sits at her sewing machine, brow furrowed in concentration as she stitches the hem of a dress.

The tools of her trade within easy reach — fabric scissors, measuring tapes, cottons of various shades — Ogunwale is in her happy place: creating beautiful and wearable works of art for her loyal clientele.

The dressmaker has always been interested in fashion. As a child she would sew doll clothing from scraps of material her mother discarded. This progressed to altering her own clothes: modifying hems, adjusting frills, loosening or tightening waistlines.

“Sometimes I would destroy the clothes because of how many changes I made to it,” she laughs.

Some doctors sneak education into their online content to drown out misinformation

TORONTO - When Dr. Siobhan Deshauer makes online videos, her primary goal is to demystify medicine. Her secondary goal?

"I call it 'smuggling in education,'" said the physician and YouTuber, who boasts nearly a million subscribers on the platform. "You're coming for this mystery and this excitement, but I'm smuggling in some topics that I think are really important and that I'm passionate about."

Some experts say one of the best ways to fight a rising tide of medical misinformation on social media is to drown it out with captivating content backed by science, and Deshauer, an Ontario-based internal medicine and rheumatology specialist, is among a growing cohort of doctors and researchers doing just that.

Take one of her medical mystery videos, for example. In it, Deshauer tells the story of a woman who had lead poisoning. Doctors took ages to figure out what was causing her symptoms, but ultimately realized they were a result of lead in the Ayurvedic supplements she was taking.

Frustrated educators disconnecting distracted students from devices

More school leaders across Manitoba are asking students to unplug themselves entirely during lesson times and requesting staff to be role models around positive phone-use.

Tuxedo’s Laidlaw School, Collège Béliveau in Windsor Park and West Kildonan Collegiate are among those that have announced stricter guidelines surrounding personal devices in 2024.

“Ultimately, we want our kids to disconnect with their devices and reconnect with their classmates and teacher,” said Adam Hildebrandt, principal of West Kildonan Collegiate. “We think this really is the best thing for their learning.”

Hildebrandt began his career at the high school in 2004. It was around 2010 when it became commonplace for his students to carry personal devices everywhere they went, and his classroom was no exception.

Time to replace your car? How to tell when repair bills are no longer worth it

TORONTO - Deciding whether to fix your aging car again or trade it in for a new one can be a tough calculation at the best of times, let alone when financing costs have significantly jumped and car prices have soared.

Whether to repair or replace your car comes down to balancing the cost and utility of the vehicle, according to Ben Mayhew, a financial planner and founder of Aergo Financial Planning in Halifax.

"But when you're in an environment where used car prices and new car prices are significantly higher, we need to go deeper on looking at that balance," he said.

He suggested finding a trustworthy mechanic who can help determine if an expensive repair could help defer acar purchase.

Canada reports fastest population growth in history in third quarter of 2023

OTTAWA - Canada's pace of population growth continues to set records as the country brings in a historic number of temporary residents, largely through international student and temporary foreign worker programs.

The country'spopulation grew by more than 430,000 during the third quarter, marking the fastest pace of population growth in any quarter since 1957.

Statistics Canada released its Oct. 1 population estimates on Tuesday, putting the number at more than 40.5 million.

The agency says the population growth over the first nine months of 2023 has already surpassed the total growth in any other full year, including the record set in 2022.

Riel’s vision grows stronger

As the first visionary of Manitoba, Riel fought the rest of his life to stop British domination and destruction of Indigenous lives, while stubbornly maintain the independent and unique multicultural spirit that birthed this place.

Esports competitions motivating force for First Nations students, educators say

Esports clubs are allowing First Nations students to play against peers from other on-reserve schools without the costly and time-intensive trips required for basketball, hockey and other traditional extracurriculars.

For teacher Karl Hildebrandt, one of the many motivators to grow Manitoba’s online gaming community is giving youth in rural and remote areas more competitive opportunities to represent their schools.

“When you tell kids they can play video games at school, their eyes open and when you tell them you can compete against another school in the province, their mouths drop,” said Hildebrandt, director of rural and northern esports for the Manitoba School Esports Association.

A handful of members of the Manitoba First Nations School System, including Lake Manitoba, Brokenhead, Fox Lake, Roseau River and York Landing, have started developing cybersport programs. Some teachers have also started integrating online games into their everyday lessons.

New Islamic school set to open in city

While students and teachers look forward to the end of classes, new school trustee Delvinder Zamir anticipates piles of summer homework.

As the board chair of the yet-unnamed new Islamic elementary school supported by the Manitoba Islamic Association, Zamir plans to hire teachers, furnish classrooms and buy supplies before the institution opens its doors in September.

“It will be nice to see parents and kids come to a spiritual place where they can use it in a different way,” she says of the kindergarten to Grade 4 school to be based out of Winnipeg Grand Mosque and Community Centre on Waverley Street.

The fourth Islamic school in Winnipeg, this one is the first located at a mosque and run as a project by Manitoba Islamic Association, and the only one in southwest Winnipeg, says Zamir, who also serves as second vice-president of the MIA board. Members asked for a community-run Islamic school at the mosque since they faced waiting lists at other schools, she says.

Raising up books as social justice tools

Valerie Chelangat spends her days reading. She reads every day, mostly in the morning, sometimes before bed in the evenings and, if she has time to spare, in the hours between.

Study shows ‘striking’ number who believe news misinforms

NEW YORK (AP) — Half of Americans in a recent survey indicated they believe national news organizations intend to mislead, misinform or persuade the public to adopt a particular point of view through their reporting.

The survey, released Wednesday by Gallup and the Knight Foundation, goes beyond others that have shown a low level of trust in the media to the startling point where many believe there is an intent to deceive.

Asked whether they agreed with the statement that national news organizations do not intend to mislead, 50% said they disagreed. Only 25% agreed, the study found.

Similarly, 52% disagreed with a statement that disseminators of national news “care about the best interests of their readers, viewers and listeners,” the study found. It said 23% of respondents believed the journalists were acting in the public's best interests.

The joke’s on us as social media capitalizes on our base impulses in race to the bottom

The most important thing we can teach ourselves, and our children, about how to navigate social media is this: the algorithms want you to be angry. They want you to be angry, because it is good for business.

Fenians fancied a Manitoba foothold

Sometimes it’s the local angle that turns a book into a bit of a revelation.

Leaving auto repair life in the rear-view

For decades, Cadillacs, Mustangs and Audis have overnighted in the Exchange District for repairs and transformations.

Now, a Winnipeg mechanic envisions a new use for his shop — one that sees it filled with milk and produce instead of wrenches and tires.

“There’s no groceries down here,” said Andy Baranowski, owner of J.W. McDonald Auto Service. “Where are you going to get your milk?”

The 189 Bannatyne Ave. building has been an auto repair garage for almost a century — since 1923, according to the Manitoba Historical Society.

New book debunks Winnipeg-lab coronavirus conspiracy theory

A new book concludes co-operation between Canada's National Microbiology Lab in Winnipeg and China's Wuhan Institute of Virology played no part in the origin of the coronavirus pandemic but raises questions about links between one of the researchers fired from the lab and a prominent Chinese virologist affiliated with the military.

Toronto-based freelance journalist Elaine Dewar says she set out to investigate the hypothesis that the coronavirus was leaked from the Wuhan lab by looking at the science and financial and geopolitical interests related to the theory.

As part of that, she looked into whether an approved shipment of Ebola and henipah viruses in March 2019 from the Winnipeg lab to Wuhan had anything to do with the pandemic after conspiracy theories suggesting it did surfaced online.

To read more of this story first reported by CBC News, click here.

Group engages community on renaming Wolseley neighbourhood

In 1870, Col. Garnet Wolseley led a military expedition into Manitoba to violently overthrow Louis Riel’s provisional government at the Red River Colony. On Sunday afternoon, a group gathered at Vimy Ridge Park to discuss how to push for the renaming of the neighbourhood that bears his name.

Red River Echoes, a Métis collective that first came together with the purpose of “bringing an alternative voice to what Métis people think in Manitoba” after Manitoba Metis Federation president David Chartrand put out an ad with the Winnipeg Free Press in March in support of the Winnipeg Police Service, put together the rendezvous to take questions and comments community members might have around the growing conversation to rename Wolseley.

"With a lot of names being changed right now, we thought it was a good opportunity,” Red River Echoes member Claire Johnston said. “And Wolseley in particular has a really violent and negative association for Métis people, and also all other people of colour in who live in Winnipeg.”

In the months since the remains of 215 children were found in unmarked graves near a residential school in Kamloops, B.C., calls have been sparked across the country to rename landmarks named after people who had a hand in the colonization of Canada. In Winnipeg, Wolseley isn’t the first instance — calls to rename Bishop Grandin Boulevard due to its namesake’s hand in the residential school system have resulted in consultations and a possible recommendation for its renaming coming to city council this fall.

Protesters gather at corner to oppose funding of pipeline

About 50 people from Winnipeg’s Mennonite community gathered Sunday at a TD Bank at the corner of Notre Dame Avenue and Sherbrook Street to protest the bank’s funding of the Line 3 pipeline replacement.

As rain pelted down on a canopy of umbrellas, one man cut his TD Bank card into pieces while the crowd cheered. After some minutes of song and prayer, the group took non-permanent markers and wrote messages over the windows of the bank.

“Stop fossil fuel funding,” one man wrote on the door. The red ink ran in long streaks from the rain down over the bank’s hours.

Organizer Steve Heinrichs said he drew inspiration from Indigenous communities leading protests in Minnesota.

Black History Manitoba's block party opportunity for chefs to share their passion

As a little girl growing up in Jamaica, Patrice Gilman dreamed that one day, she would cook just like Gladys, her grandmother. Everyone around downtown Kingston knew Gladys, and the little restaurant she owned in the area called Southside. Her dish of tripe and beans was famous, and fed famous athletes and hungry kids alike.

Gilman was fascinated by watching her grandmother manage the little kitchen, cooking all on her own, darting between pots of goat or chicken or fish bubbling on any of a dozen wood-fired stoves. Every morning, Gladys rose before the sun to start making lunch, and every day she was sold out of food not long after noon.

Still, she always had a little something for the kids who hung around, the ones who didn’t have enough.

“She was a one-woman show,” Gilman says. “She would feed the whole community. She had nine children, and raised many more children that weren’t her own. She passed away about 13 years ago, but her spirit lives on so strongly in our family’s heart.”

Boulevard, greenway could be renamed by end of year

Bishop Grandin Boulevard and the greenway that runs parallel to it — both of which are named after an architect of the residential school system — could have new titles before the end of the year.

The volunteer board that oversees the greenway’s operations issued a notice this week to inform community members of its ongoing support for the City of Winnipeg’s efforts to explore cutting ties with Bishop Vital-Justin Grandin (1829-1902) as a namesake for local landmarks.

The board indicated renaming consultations are underway and it anticipates a report with a recommendation on the subject will be brought forward to city council this fall.

“I don’t want people to think we’re sitting on our hands and letting this fall by the wayside,” said Derick Young, president of Bishop Grandin Greenway Inc.

City considering new name for park near former residential school to honour Indigenous leader

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

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

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

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