Crisis response can expose one’s true character

Longtime advertising firm rebrands as Show and Tell Agency

Show and tell isn’t only for preschool.

It’s a big part of Canada’s oldest advertising agency. So much so, the company has rebranded and is now called the Show and Tell Agency.

“This was the second-most challenging brand exercise that I’ve ever been through,” Peter George said.

George, the agency’s co-CEO, would not divulge what the most-challenging experience was.

Portage residential school named national historic site; First Nation plans museum

A former Manitoba residential school has been deemed a national historic site, which local First Nations plan to use to educate the world about the system's impact on generations of Indigenous children.

“The story needs to be told through Indigenous eyes,” said Chief Dennis Meeches of Long Plain First Nation.

He was speaking Tuesday, moments before Parks Canada deemed the Portage la Prairie Indian Residential School a national historic site, along with a similar site in Nova Scotia, called Shubenacadie.

The federal agency has also designated residential schools a “national historical event,” joining a list of hundreds that includes the 1919 General Strike and the construction of the Hudson Bay Railway to Churchill.

Trudeau urges 'peaceful' end to blockades

OTTAWA - The spirit of reconciliation requires a "peaceful resolution" to the blockades that have kept rail traffic from operating across the country, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Monday, hours after Ontario Provincial Police began dismantling one in eastern Ontario.

Trudeau convened an early morning meeting of his cabinet's incident-response group about an hour after the police moved in to take down barriers across the rail line on Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory in eastern Ontario, arresting several people in the process.

That meeting also came about 12 hours after Teck Resources Ltd. announced it was withdrawing its application to build a massive new oilsands mine in northern Alberta, a decision Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer said is entirely a result of Trudeau's doing "literally nothing" to end the blockades for almost three weeks.

The blockades have gripped the government's attention as Trudeau has tried to find a path forward that respects Indigenous rights as he has also called for the rule of law to be followed. The one at Tyendinaga was the most economically damaging but others have gone up intermittently on rail lines, roads and bridges from coast to coast.

Student of the Prairie

In Andrian Makhnachov’s first nine days as a Winnipegger, he immersed himself in the city’s most distinctive delights. He went to the Goldeyes’ Ukrainian Night, toured the Manitoba Museum and cheered the Sea Bears at Canada Life Centre.

He sampled boxes of treats from local institutions such as Baked Expectations and Oh Doughnuts. He tried pickerel for the first time, and even a Jeanne’s Cake. (His diplomatic verdict on the city’s most intensely debated dessert: “I think it’s a very interesting experience … maybe there’s some special way I should eat it and it’s going to be better.”)

Still, the rising social media star encountered a few challenges. When Makhnachov first planned his move here from Regina, he’d picked an apartment in the Exchange District, not realizing there were few grocery stores within walking distance. For now, he’s making do with Giant Tiger.

For all the ups and downs, there is no doubt in the Ukrainian-Canadian’s mind that he made the right decision to move his life, and his burgeoning influencer career, to Winnipeg.

Gilles and Poirier lead at Skate Canada

The more you consider the team’s request to have disgraced staffer Brad Aldrich’s name scratched from the Cup, the more it seems like a pure public relations gesture and less like trying to do the right thing, Damien Cox writes.

Drug treatment court leads to success

The criminal justice system has long been very good at punishing people for the consequences of addiction. It has been considerably less successful at addressing addiction itself.

That is why the success of Manitoba’s drug treatment courts deserves far more attention.

The Westman drug treatment court, which began in 2019, is built around a simple but important premise: If substance abuse is driving criminal behaviour, the best way to protect the public may not always be to put someone in jail for two years or less.

Sometimes, the more effective response is an intensive, closely supervised effort to help that person break the cycle.