Moms’ liaison doesn’t spell friendship’s end

Ashley Cain-Gribble and Timothy LeDuc have been added to the U.S. team for the World Figure Skating Championships, replacing Jessica Calalang and Brian Johnson.

Calalang and Johnson have withdrawn from the competition for personal reasons unrelated to COVID-19.

Cain-Gribble and LeDuc earned the bronze medal at nationals in January. After winning the U.S. pairs title in 2019, they finished ninth at worlds, earning the United States two pairs entries at the next world championships. That event was cancelled last March due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.

American champions Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier also will represent the United States at worlds in Stockholm from March 22-28.

An off-duty RCMP officer “displayed questionable judgment” but will not face charges for chasing down a group of teenagers who pranked his home last fall, handcuffing and traumatizing a 13-year-old girl.

“Despite the fact that (the officer’s) actions displayed questionable judgment and seem to be extreme, considering the entirety of the evidence, I am not in a position to say that his actions are criminal,” Bruce Sychuk, acting civilian director of the Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba, wrote in his final report on the incident, released Monday.

“What is clear is that (the girl) continues to suffer trauma from the incident.”

Manitoba’s police watchdog was tapped to review the Oct. 19, 2025, incident after the unnamed officer was arrested by members of the Brandon Police Service, who responded to a 911 call at a home in the western Manitoba city.

Artificial intelligence is accelerating faster than the governance structures meant to contain it. Canada now faces a structural test — whether our institutions can protect autonomy, dignity, and continuity in an era when decision-making is increasingly mediated by systems we did not design, cannot fully audit, and do not yet constitutionally constrain.

This is not a technological problem. It is a governance problem.

AI systems influence how information flows, how institutions behave, and how decisions are made. They shape the conditions under which harm becomes predictable. They amplify both the strengths and weaknesses of the systems into which they are deployed. And they do all of this at a scale and speed that outpaces traditional regulatory tools.

Canada’s current approach to AI governance relies heavily on policy, guidelines, and sector-specific regulation. These are important, but they are not sufficient. What is missing is structural clarity — a constitutional-grade framework that defines authority, responsibility, accountability, and the minimum conditions under which AI systems may operate without undermining human dignity or institutional credibility.

DEAR MISS LONELYHEARTS: I’m an emotional mess. My lesbian girlfriend and I broke up in August, and now I hold the lease on the apartment we shared. It’s a great big old place with two spacious balconies.

I just got new roommates — two younger friends who really love it here — but secretly I’m still feeling lonely. Every minute of living here reminds me of my girlfriend because we decorated the place together and hung out on the balconies to sunbathe in the summer.

Would it help to move out of my beloved old block with its memory triggers? Maybe, but what if I died of loneliness in a new place? I need people around me, and no one but my ex-girlfriend has really been the right person. Please help. I feel sick about this.

— Love-Nest Sadness, Winnipeg

A Manitoba nurse has been disciplined for inappropriate behaviour towards students including what is being described as unwanted touching.

The College of Registered Nurses of Manitoba listed three recent censures of Manitoba nurses. The most recent details a supervising nurse’s unprofessional conduct while he worked as a clinical education facilitator at the University of Manitoba in 2023.

The behaviour, examined by a college complaints committee, included reports from several students of unwanted touching, violating the confidentiality of students in a group chat and failing to properly report a needlestick injury.

The committee made the decision of censure — a discipline record applied to a nurse’s license — on April 9.