Forget ‘fate’ — focus on agency to move forward

Canada being side-swiped by Trump’s Cuba policy

Canada’s decades-long relationship with revolutionary Cuba has always been a three-country affair — with the United States frequently settling for the spurned third-wheel.

Since the early 1960s, successive U.S. governments have strenuously objected to Canadian trade and commercial engagement with the island. Officials in Washington have always believed that the Canadians were trying to make a “quick buck” at America’s expense, while simultaneously seeking to undermine the U.S. blockade of Cuba.

For almost 70 years now, Canada has had to negotiate the thorny issue of the U.S. trade embargo. Added to that was the anti-Cuba Cuban Democracy Act of 1992 and the still active 1996 Helms-Burton Law. Complicating matters further for Ottawa have been the various additions and subtractions to the unrelenting U.S. efforts to strangle the Cuban economy — particularly during the presidency of Barack Obama.

In January, U.S. President Donald Trump imposed a near-ironclad (some Russian oil is getting through), illegal fuel embargo against Cuba, using American naval vessels and U.S. Coast Guard ships. Additionally, he signed an executive order in early May to expand U.S. economic warfare, or what some call “secondary sanctions,” against those materially assisting the Cuban government.

A young Canadian women’s soccer team should have continued success, but for how long?

Canada is the only country currently ranked among FIFA’s top 10 that does not have its own women’s league.

RRC shelter support worker program grads seek to make difference in lives of province’s most vulnerable

Pauline Pollard didn’t hesitate when asked what advice she would give her teenage self, a pregnant young mother of one in an abusive relationship.

“Leave sooner,” she said, citing everything she’s learned over the last 25 years, including at Red River College Polytechnic’s shelter support worker program.

The 43-year-old said she has “a lot of compassion” for women of all ages who find themselves stuck in unsafe situations.

It’s far easier in retrospect to see the warning signs, noting that in her case, an ex-boyfriend started confiscating her clothes and makeup before his controlling behaviour escalated to physical violence.

St. B eatery puts diners to chili challenge

Open wide and say “ow.”

A restaurant that’s only been on the scene a few months is making a name for itself thanks to a dish that gives new meaning to the term “hot-n-ready.”

Not long after the Diner’s Grill opened for business on June 2, owner and head chef Joshua Mesojednik decided to spice things up a tad by adding a food challenge to the mix. The 24-year-old chef’s dare works like this: any customer willing — and able — to down a dozen chicken wings laced with a few grams of crushed Trinidad scorpion Butch T pepper — one of the most piquant chilies on the planet — wins a $50 gift card, redeemable at the cosy St. Boniface locale. But first, those who accept the challenge are required to sign a waiver, absolving Mesojednik of all blame in the event any of their body parts get scorched in the process.

“At the beginning, I tell them to be very careful because if they start tearing up and touch their eyes without washing their hands first — that’s gonna sting,” Mesojednik said with a chuckle.

O'Brien grateful for journey to Tokyo Paralympics

Kate O'Brien is taking more than a silver medal away from the Tokyo Paralympics.

The track cyclist says the Games have also showed her just how little separates elite Para athletes from their able-bodied counterparts.

“All athletes are the same. And all humans are the same," she told The Canadian Press in a phone interview from Tokyo on Tuesday. "There doesn’t need to be as much of this division between able-bodied and Para. Because having a knee injury is not different than being paraplegic and yet, somehow, we still put them into different categories.

"Being here with other Para athletes has shown me how friggin' fast they are at what they do.”