Hep A outbreak in province’s North makes its way to Winnipeg, officials scrambling to vaccinate people at high risk

Nurses call for national strategy on seniors’ health care

Canada’s nurses are calling for a national strategy that ensures seniors have access to care while reducing the impact on the public health system.

“Nurses and health-care workers are stretched too thinly, and Canada’s population is aging,” Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions (CFNU) president Linda Silas said in a news release Friday after meeting with provincial and territorial health ministers in Winnipeg.

“It’s time to act.”

The federation called for a national human resources plan to help address staffing challenges, pointing to a Canadian Institute for Health Information report showing more than three million overtime hours clocked by long-term care workers over a one-year period — the equivalent of 1,500 full-time providers.

Database issues cloud city homeless numbers

The head of End Homelessness Winnipeg says she has no confidence in data about the city’s homeless population due to problems with the federal system that tracks those numbers.

Jennifer Rattray, the organization’s chief executive officer, told the Free Press Thursday it continues to work with the federal government to resolve problems with the Homeless Individuals and Families Information System, which keeps tabs on people who access homelessness services.

CBC has reported it obtained an internal memo from EHW that shows that as of the end of March, the number of chronically homeless Winnipeggers had fallen to 436 from about 4,400, as a result of efforts to correct the database.

Earlier this year, the organization had reported more than 8,000 people were accessing services.

Heated Rivalry scores on so many levels

Heated Rivalry’s current cultural moment looks improbable on paper: how did a little six-episode Canadian show with no stars, from a Canadian director, based on a Canadian gay hockey romance series, released on a Canadian streaming platform set the world on fire?

Jacob Tierney’s (Letterkenny) sports romance, based on Rachel Reid’s Game Changers novels, about the long-simmering — and secret — love between on-ice hockey rivals Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams) and Ilya Rozanov (Conner Storrie, who is Patrick Swayze incarnate) more than lives up to the hype.

It does so much so well: the white-hot chemistry between two charismatic leads, the storytelling (you will weep), the cinematography, the tension, the payoff.

But lots of shows are excellent and even era-defining. What is it about this show that has led to a frenzied fandom that rivals Swifties in obsession and intensity, specifically among women? Some of my friends are on their third rewatch of the first season (it’s been picked up by HBO, of course) which was released in November and ended late last month.

Temporary foreign worker at crossroads without job, alleges immigration consultant misconduct

A temporary foreign worker says he was ensnared in an illegal system fraught with under-the-table payments, fake credentials and a firing.

“I was participating in a illegal process,” Liang Fang said. “But actually, I (didn’t) know it’s illegal before.”

Fang, 43, travelled to Winnipeg from Beijing in March. He came with a job offer to work at a Winnipeg restaurant as a marketing specialist.

However, by his account, he became a waiter. It was the latest change in a lengthy immigration process.

Grade 3 finds us… in the middle of the maze

Carolin Vesely has kept in touch with Windsor School's class of 2017 since they started kindergarten. When she and photographer Ruth Bonneville recently dropped in on the students, they were nearing the end of Grade 3.

Kindergarten is the baby trying to get its bearings, the scene-stealer whose every "first" is greeted with fanfare and applause.

Grade 6 is the eldest sibling who's expected to uphold the rights and responsibilities that come with being the biggest and the strongest.

Hep A outbreak in province’s North makes its way to Winnipeg, officials scrambling to vaccinate people at high risk

Manitoba public health officials say an outbreak of hepatitis A that began in the province’s North last year has led to an increasing number of cases in Winnipeg in recent weeks.

The outbreak, declared in April 2025, was at first affecting communities in northern Manitoba, including several remote First Nations, but has evolved in recent months and spread to other places in the province, provincial health officials said Friday.

The outbreak has spread to Winnipeg, particularly the homeless community, and people with connections to other places where the virus was already spreading.

As of April 26, 601 cases of hepatitis A virus associated with the outbreak have been identified in Manitoba, 131 of which are in Winnipeg.