Normal for dreams to peruse novel experiences

Airport to delay capital projects as coronavirus shuts down travel

Like airports around the world, the global pandemic is gradually emptying out Winnipeg’s Richardson International Airport.

WestJet had announced it would suspend international and domestic flights as of Sunday night while Air Canada said it would gradually suspend the majority of its international and U.S. transborder flights by March 31.

As governments called for people to stop non-essential domestic travel, airlines slashed their schedules.

“It’s like slow rolling into quicksand,” said Barry Rempel, the CEO of Winnipeg Airports Authority, the not-for-profit entity that owns and operates the airport.

Helping families break bread

One turkey, five pounds of potatoes, a box of stuffing mix, two packages gravy mix, one baked pie, one bag frozen mixed vegetables, and of course, cranberry sauce.

As Thanksgiving approached, volunteers at the new food bank in Thompson, which is run by Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak, were busy packing food boxes for families in the north.

It marked their first major holiday since opening; after a long period of research, searching for space and digging up funding, MKO launched the food bank on Sept. 24. By that time, there was a long list of applicants.

“Our mandate above and beyond anything is that we’re going to try to feed people and help them out during these trying times, especially in recovery after the pandemic,” said Shyanna Lynxleg, urban initiatives manager at MKO.

240 WestJet flight attendants picket in Winnipeg

Winnipeg’s WestJet flight attendants took to the picket line outside of Richardson airport on the first day of nationwide strikes Sunday, while inside, frustrated flyers scrambled to re-route cancelled long-weekend flights.

The Canadian Union of Public Employees’ Ontario arm and the airline announced the strike would commence after the strike deadline was passed without a deal early Sunday morning. WestJet attendants have been without a contract since Dec. 31, 2025.

Hours later, the 240 WestJet flight attendants based in Winnipeg had walked off the job and were marching outside of the airport terminal, some carrying signs with slogans including “Tired with WestJet? So are We!” and “Unpaid Work Won’t Fly.”

Key issues causing the stalemate are wages and pay for work on the ground: the union says flight attendants are not being paid for some of that work, while the company says they pay for the work through a “credit hour” system rather than an hourly rate.

Housing-first initiative aims to offer city’s homeless dignity, understanding

Ken St. George has dedicated the last 20 years to taking care of people in the community-health sector. Now he will enact the Housing First model in Winnipeg for the first time.

Projecting ghost signs in new light

The existence of ghosts is uncertain. Ghost signs? Those are real. In Winnipeg’s Exchange District, they’re easy to spot: fading advertisements for faded firms, splashed across century-old buildings in paint that isn’t quite ready to disappear just yet — unfinished business for finished businesses.

At 281 McDermot Ave., three ghost signs refuse to go to the grave, and Matt Cohen and Craig Winslow refuse to let them.

On Friday night, the duo will flick on a set of projectors to illuminate the huge ads in what they call the world’s first permanent ghost sign installation, overlooking Old Market Square each night from sunset until midnight. Grim reaper be damned.

Cohen, a Winnipeg marketing professional, has been obsessively cataloguing the city’s surviving wall-based advertisements for a decade. In 2016, he first heard of Winslow, who was working on reviving ghost signs across the United States using light projection. The two connected, and a few months later, Winslow was in Winnipeg to breathe new life into five ghost signs for a single night.