Stunning smooch signals serious snafu

Roughing it (less)

I hate camping.

I loathe the very idea of leaving the comfort and safety of home to sleep in a random field, where not only will I be exposed to the elements, but will also be at the mercy of all manner of creatures, from ursine to canine to insectan.

I do not want to hike up a hill just to share one outdoor tap with 12 others, standing alongside them as I brush my teeth.

I do not want to queue for 15 minutes, then part with a $2 coin to wedge myself into a shower stall just to stand under a piddly stream of lukewarm water while trying my best to swiftly soap up and sponge off lest I irk the rapidly growing line of campers outside.

Northern style

North of North is partnering with the Winnipeg Art Gallery-Qaumajuq to celebrate the way it has propelled authentic northern fashion into the global spotlight at the gallery’s special edition of Crafted on the Catwalk tonight, featuring fashion and design from Manitoba, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories, Nunatsiavut and Nunavik.

Arnaquq-Baril and series stars Anna Lambe and Zorga Qaunaq spoke to the Free Press ahead of tonight’s catwalk show.

Use it twice: a data centre we could support

In June, Premier Wab Kinew rejected a massive AI data centre planned near Île-des-Chênes. The project would have used 500 megawatts of power, which is about the same as the Grand Rapids generating station, and would have run on six natural gas turbines. Kinew said the environmental cost was too high and the long-term benefit for Manitobans was too low.

He made the right call. But simply saying no to data centres is not enough.

Winnipeg is a cold city. Data centres are basically huge electric heaters with computers inside. Almost every watt they use turns into heat, and most facilities pay to release it into the air. In a city that spends half the year paying to stay warm, that’s not just waste; it’s an opportunity. The idea is simple: use the energy twice. First for computing, then for heating our buildings.

The stakes are real. Manitoba Hydro’s new resource plan says peak demand will exceed our capacity as early as 2029 or 2030, and that the province will need about 1,760 additional megawatts of dependable capacity by 2035.

‘We’ll stand for the children’: crowds gather for Orange Shirt Day in Winnipeg

A sea of people clad in orange shirts and waving flags marched through downtown Winnipeg to honour those who survived and died in residential schools.

Wednesday marked National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, also known as Orange Shirt Day. It was first enshrined as a Manitoba statutory holiday on Sept. 30, 2024.

As part of the many organized events throughout the province, the Southern Chiefs Organization held the sixth annual Orange Shirt Day Healing Walk and Pow Wow.

The march began with Indigenous elders leading prayers and a pipe and smudging ceremony at Oodena Celebration Circle at The Forks.

State of the Nations event to highlight Indigenous mining plans

A first-ever conference aims to connect Indigenous leaders with businesses as local mining ambitions grow.

The Manitoba Prospectors and Developers Association expects to rally a half-dozen chiefs to present on their communities’ mineral development projects.

The Nov. 16 event — called the State of the Nations — comes as the province promises to triple critical mineral production.

“We want to see those minerals being developed and being able to be exported,” said Renée Greyeyes, the prospectors association’s chief executive.

Port of Churchill signs agreement with Dutch port

Arctic Gateway Group, operator of the Port of Churchill, has signed an agreement with the Port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands to attract business and strengthen supply chains linking Western Canada and Europe.

The agreement enables the two ports to work together to develop new trade in critical minerals and energy products, connect Canadian producers with European buyers, and identify opportunities to improve the supply chain from Western Canadian resource projects through Churchill and into European markets.

The Port of Rotterdam is Europe’s largest port and home to more than 3,000 businesses across its industrial complex, serving as a major gateway for critical raw materials and energy.

Meanwhile, the Port of Churchill has been identified as a transformative national strategy for Canada and is emerging as a northern trade corridor connecting Western Canada’s resources to global markets.