City bursts back into the film business

Assiniboine Park has long provided visitors the chance to commune with nature

Here’s what I observed on a perfect spring day in Assiniboine Park last week: I saw people biking, jogging and walking their dogs (so many good dogs).

I saw the Assiniboine River at low ebb and perennial plantings in the English Garden pushing up toward the April sun.

I saw birdwatchers with binoculars, a group of 20-somethings playing cards, a man tossing bread to some chipper little ground squirrels, and a guy on a tricked-out three-wheeled cycle with a speaker blasting Don’t Stop Believing. This being Winnipeg, I also ran into my husband’s aunt’s best friend.

During the last year of COVID-19, as so many indoor places where Winnipeggers would normally gather were shut down, outdoor public spaces became crucial for mental and physical health. When time seems to have stopped, it helps to see the natural world continue its cycles. When life feels isolated, it’s reassuring to realize you’re still part of a larger community.

From footnote to martyr: execution altered Scott’s place in history

When Thomas Scott was marched outside the walls of Upper Fort Garry and executed by firing squad, it forever changed how history would treat Louis Riel and the Red River Resistance. The killing of Scott, whether a misguided error by Riel or an unavoidable step to prevent further bloodshed, would turn out to be one of the most pivotal events of the resistance.

Only a month after the Irish-born Canadian was condemned to death in March 1870, Riel opponents in Ontario used Scott’s execution to whip up anti-Métis sentiment in an effort to sabotage negotiations between Ottawa and the Red River Settlement. It nearly worked. Two of three Red River delegates sent to Ottawa to negotiate the terms of Manitoba’s entry into confederation were arrested on arrival (but later released) for Scott’s death. At the same time, Prime Minister John A. Macdonald was under increasing political pressure to send military troops to quell the resistance in Red River, rather than engage in peaceful negotiations.

Scott’s death didn’t just complicate matters for the Red River delegates. It undermined their efforts to bargain with Ottawa.

Scott was tried and convicted by a “military council” on March 3 for rebelling against the provisional government and attacking a Métis guard at Upper Fort Garry, where he and other political prisoners were held. The trial wasn’t conducted under normal court rules, even by 1870 Red River standards. Scott had no defence counsel and wasn’t present for much of the proceedings, which were conducted in French (a language he didn’t understand). Riel, one of the chief witnesses in the case, had to act as translator. The military council was not unanimous in its decision to sentence Scott to death. Some felt the penalty was too harsh.

Province announces free daycare for low-income families

Eligible parents will have their child-care fees waived come Sept. 13.

The province announced Wednesday child care would be free for about 4,100 children from 3,000 families as part of a budget commitment to eliminate the $2-per-day fee for low-income families.

“This announcement that we’re making here today is going to be hugely, hugely impactful for the families that rely on this important, important service of child care,” Education and Early Childhood Learning Minister Tracy Schmidt said at a news conference at Panda Bear Day Care.

She said the program would save families between $520 and $2,600 per child per year.

Disturbing rise of the cult of hard-line anti-vaxxers

The serious long-term threat from this anti-vax cult is its ability to spread disinformation to their followers via social media and other outlets.

Politicians who harp on Klein’s history with Nygard do so at their own peril

It was probably the easiest prediction to make in Winnipeg politics this week: the moment Kevin Klein officially entered the mayoral race, someone would bring up Peter Nygard.

Sure enough, they did.

And it was led by Klein’s chief political opponent in this race, Mayor Scott Gillingham, who called Klein a “fixer” for the convicted sex offender.

None of this is particularly surprising.

Bisons look to bounce back against Dinos at Murray Field

Nathan Udoh has been around long enough to know how quickly things can change in the Canada West conference.

The fifth-year Manitoba Bisons receiver is one of the oldest players in a youthful locker room that is experiencing the ebbs and flows of a U Sports season for the first time, and to say his experience if being leaned on would be an understatement.

“I try to lean on that and help guys who haven’t been in these situations just to keep their heads and how hard you have to play,” Udoh said Wednesday. “I think that’s the biggest thing that there is no snap that you take off, and playing with that intensity is really where it starts.”

The Bisons have already endured a roller-coaster two games into the season. After shocking the country by steamrolling the reigning conference champion Saskatchewan Huskies 40-22 in their season-opener, the Bisons fell back to earth in a 22-8 road loss to the Regina Rams last weekend.