Suffragette sippy

Torque's latest brew a tea-infused tipple celebrating Nellie McClung

As a member of the temperance movement, Nellie McClung likely would not have drank a beer named in her honour. But you can bet she would have raised a tea cup to the spirit of collaboration among the women behind it.

In the spring, Kyla Dumanski, the business development manager at Winnipeg’s Torque Brewing reached out to Erica Campbell, the co-founder of Toronto’s Society Of Beer Drinking Ladies about doing a beer together. Dumanski had been admiring the Society’s work from afar, and decided to put the idea out there. “As soon as we got on the phone, I knew it was going to be fun and a great collaboration,” Dumanski says. “Right from the start, we hit it off. And we’ve been friends ever since.”

On Thursday, they launched Whoa Nellie, a new seasonal beer that, from the design and name on the can to the brew inside, is a celebration of collaboration.

The 5.5% amber ale is infused with a Manitoba rooibos tea blend from Cornelia Bean, a woman-owned Winnipeg business. “The tea really adds that extra something special to this beer,” Dumanski says. “The Manitoba rooibos itself is a unique one that they make at the store and they use all local ingredients in creating it, so it’s really a true Manitoba-made product.”

Valieva wins European figure skating title ahead of Olympics

Three years in, All Elite Wrestling has established itself as being the first viable alternative to WWE since the ‘Monday Night Wars’ of the mid-90s.

Supreme Court road show draws overcapacity crowd in Winnipeg

A historic Supreme Court hearing began Wednesday in Winnipeg by putting into focus the lack of resources in Manitoba’s court system — a reality felt deeply across the country, the Supreme Court justices were told.

As they presided over a case outside of the nation’s capital for the first time in the court’s 144-year history, the nine judges were tasked with considering whether court delays caused by judges are a systemic problem in Canada, and if so, what they can do to stop them.

The issue likely isn’t top of mind for most Canadians outside the legal system — or even the majority of those within it — but the public’s interest was piqued by the chance to see Canada’s highest court in action.

About 180 people showed up to watch Wednesday’s hearing at the downtown Law Courts building in a 60-seat courtroom usually reserved for Manitoba’s Court of Appeal. There was a little fanfare: people were issued free tickets to get into the hearing, and Supreme Court Chief Justice Richard Wagner gave a short welcome address (not the norm in Ottawa).

Biden chooses veteran diplomat Burns as CIA director

WASHINGTON - William Burns, a well-known figure in diplomatic circles around the world, is President-elect Joe Biden’s choice to lead the CIA, a selection likely to be embraced by the rank and file at the nation’s premier spy agency.

A former ambassador to Russia and Jordan, Burns, 64, had a 33-year career at the State Department under both Republican and Democratic presidents. He rose through the ranks of the diplomatic corps to become deputy secretary of state before retiring in 2014 to run the Carnegie Endowment of International Peace.

If confirmed, he would succeed Gina Haspel, the first female CIA director, who guided the agency under President Donald Trump. Trump expressed skepticism about intelligence and frequently disparaged the assessments of U.S. spy agencies, especially about Russia’s interference in the 2016 election to help his campaign.

Trump also fired several career intelligence professionals in favour of loyalists, including some with little to no experience in the field.

Faces of the aboriginal community

MatonabbeeBorn in 1737 at the Prince of Wales fort, he was taken in by the chief factor to live there after his father died. He became a "leading Indian" of Churchill and became the middleman between the Hudson's Bay Co. traders and the aboriginal people. He guided Samuel Hearne to the Coppermine River in the Northwest Territories from 1770 to 1772 and was credited with making the expedition a success because he helped the explorers live off the land. He committed suicide in 1782 after he witnessed the French destroy the fort.

Chief PeguisHe was born in 1774 near present-day Sault Ste. Marie before leading his people west to settle at Netley Creek. He was a friend to the Selkirk Settlers and warned Governor Semple about plans by the Nor'westers to destroy the Red River Settlement, advice that Semple ignored, costing him and 20 others their lives at the Battle of Seven Oaks. Peguis later helped Lord Selkirk make treaties with the Cree and Saulteaux and was presented with a treaty medal for his help. He later was given an annual pension from the Hudson's Bay Co. A missionary persuaded Peguis and some of his people to settle in the St. Peter's area north of present-day Selkirk. After being baptized into the Anglican Church, he took the name William King, and his children used the last name Prince. He died in 1864.

New chapter for Yellowquill University College

Sometimes, a milestone is about much more than a degree. It is about opportunity, recognition and the doors that open for the people who come next.

Yellowquill University College reached a historic milestone on Oct. 1, when new Manitoba legislation came into effect formally recognizing the institution within the province’s post-secondary education system and granting it authority to award degrees.

Established in 1984, Yellowquill is now Manitoba’s first fully recognized First Nations-owned and operated post-secondary institution with degree-granting authority.

It is an achievement worth celebrating, not only for Yellowquill and the communities it serves, but also for what it represents about education, career development and the future of Manitoba’s workforce.