The Land: Places and People
Please review each article prior to use: grade-level applicability and curricular alignment might not be obvious from the headline alone.
Carré civique, le soutien générationnel
6 minute read Preview Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025Rare red auroras dazzle as part of Manitoba light show
3 minute read Preview Thursday, Nov. 13, 2025Our monuments, statues and memorials give form to honouring, grieving lives lost in war
14 minute read Preview Saturday, Nov. 8, 2025Decades-long fight to repeal discriminatory second-generation cut-off rekindled on Parliament Hill
8 minute read Preview Friday, Oct. 31, 2025Winnipeg MP’s private member’s bill would make residential school denialism a crime
2 minute read Preview Friday, Oct. 31, 2025First Nations accuse Hydro, province, feds of profiting from land
2 minute read Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025Two First Nations are suing Manitoba Hydro and the provincial and federal governments, claiming the institutions have made billions of dollars through hydroelectric operations on land the communities never agreed to cede.
In a statement of claim filed last week in the Court of King’s Bench, Canupawakpa Dakota Nation and Dakota Tipi First Nation in southern Manitoba are seeking damages for alleged infringement on their rights.
The court filing accuses the public utility, the province and the federal government of breaching duties owed to the Dakota nations and of unjustly enriching themselves at the expense of the communities, without consultation.
“The yearly revenue Manitoba Hydro produces from the land and particularly, the activities, is substantial,” reads the lawsuit.
A century later, Ukrainian church still helping new Ukrainians
4 minute read Preview Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025Silenced no more: Indigenous languages celebrated at site of former residential school
4 minute read Preview Tuesday, Sep. 30, 2025Most refused to listen then, more understand now
7 minute read Preview Monday, Sep. 29, 2025Only moratorium can save moose population: MWF
4 minute read Preview Wednesday, Sep. 24, 2025Motion to rename park withdrawn after MMF complaint
3 minute read Preview Tuesday, Sep. 23, 2025Another subdivision, another city problem
5 minute read Preview Tuesday, Sep. 23, 2025Wildfires like this aren’t normal. Stop trying to normalize them.
“Bring a pair of pants and a sweater to Clear Lake — it’s unseasonably cool because of the wildfires.” That was just one of those meteorological idiosyncrasies, attempting to reach back deep into long-forgotten geography lessons, that may seem obvious to those on the Prairies. But for the outsider, a visitor from Toronto, and indeed a relative newcomer to Canada, it was certainly a shock, and a stark reminder that I would be flying into a province still under a state of emergency, which had until recently been decimated by wildfires. It was also an introduction into what may be considered ‘normal’.
Visiting Manitoba this August was extraordinary — the people most certainly lived up to the “friendly” billing that adorns the licence plates, and the scenery of Riding Mountain National Park was worth the trip alone. However, there were a number of topics of conversation that made me question what I had come to know as accepted wisdom.
Talk about fishing restrictions, Indigenous rights, oil and gas permeated discussions, with healthy, good spirited debates. But for me, the most vexing issue was wildfires. More specifically, the extent of their aftermath, effects, and associated restrictions, have become normalized.
Introduction to Michif — one word at a time
4 minute read Preview Friday, Sep. 19, 2025Hudson’s Bay seeks approval to auction off 1670 charter, court filings show
5 minute read Preview Friday, Oct. 10, 2025Will electric tractors gain traction? At a pilot event for farmers, researchers see possibilities
7 minute read Preview Friday, Oct. 10, 2025After summer evacuation, northern students ready to hit the books
4 minute read Preview Friday, Sep. 19, 2025Province creates hunting buffer zone on Bloodvein First Nation
3 minute read Preview Monday, Sep. 15, 2025Province accuses mining company of negligence in Lynn Lake wildfire
3 minute read Preview Monday, Sep. 15, 2025Equatorial Guinea enforces yearlong internet outage for island that protested construction company
6 minute read Preview Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025Local engineer was a real game changer
5 minute read Preview Saturday, Sep. 13, 2025Canadian farmers facing harvest cash-flow crunch, talking support
4 minute read Saturday, Sep. 13, 2025Canadian farmers are understandably disappointed the federal government’s response to China’s punishing import tariffs on canola, pork, peas and seafood hasn’t so far included direct compensation.
After all, the duties are widely seen as retaliation for Canadian tariffs effectively locking Chinese electric cars out of the local market — a policy decision that had nothing to do with agriculture. This is the second time in recent memory China has targeted Canadian farmers to score points on unrelated issues. It’s unlikely to be the last.
While the full impact remains unclear, when Canada’s second-largest canola customer imposes tariffs of 75.8 per cent on seed and 100 per cent on oil and meal, it’s a safe bet demand will be curbed and prices will be lower than they would have been otherwise. Industry estimates place the eventual costs in the range of $2 billion.
However, commodity prices this year are depressed across the board — for a host of reasons. Much of the new-crop canola has yet to be harvested and very little has been sold.
Nation building needs research — not just infrastructure
4 minute read Saturday, Sep. 13, 2025Living through the second Trump administration as a Canadian has been likened, by one commentator, to a teenager being kicked out of the house. We must grow up fast and deal with the fact that we can now only rely on ourselves. So, the federal government is moving fast on files related to security, sovereignty and connectivity. The Liberals passed Bill C-5 to expedite projects that will help Canadians live on our own. Wonderful.
But.
In our rush forward, we cannot overlook the power of nation-building research, which must go hand-in-glove with these infrastructure projects. Research and infrastructure are not competing priorities: they are essential partners in nation-building.
Bill C-5, the Building Canada Act, grants the federal government sweeping powers to quickly build large projects that help goods move faster and more easily. This act intends to strengthen our security, autonomy, resilience and advance the interests of Indigenous Peoples. But there can be no nation-building without nation-building research.