Tacit tactics help keep granny somewhat sober

The week that was: Oct 17

In the news this week: new WestJet routes, Team Canada soccer, Royal Canadian Legions, specialty licence plates, and a high-school hoopster headed to the NCAA.

Indigenous theatre founder gets nod for prestigious prize

For her work as the founding artistic director of Oshkagoojin Indigenous Theatre for Youth, Winnipeg’s Nova Courchene has been named the recipient of one of Manitoba theatre’s highest honours for emerging arts leaders.

Since 2023, the Cherry Karpyshin Arts Management Prize has been given out by Prairie Theatre Exchange to early-career or aspiring arts managers. Named for PTE’s longtime general manager, for whom the company’s mainstage is also named, the Cherry Prize is accompanied by professional supports and a $2,500 cash award.

Meaning “new moon” in Anishinaabemowin, Oshkagoojin runs a variety of initiatives in Winnipeg, including the teen-focused Rising Voices, the middle years Growing Voices, and the early years Young Voices programs. Through storytelling, movement, narrative games and guided play, the Young Voices program introduces Indigenous children aged five through nine to the fundamentals of collaborative and co-operative theatre with a curriculum devised through a cultural lens.

“As I continue to grow Oshkagoojin Indigenous Theatre for Youth, I look forward to strengthening the organization’s capacity, sustainability, and national reach so that more Indigenous young people can access theatre, cultural learning, and artistic leadership opportunities in their own communities,” says Courchene in a release. “I believe that when Indigenous youth are empowered to tell their stories, entire communities benefit, and I am excited to continue building these pathways for future generations.

Condo plan draws ire on Wellington Crescent

Although the grand heritage mansion on Wellington Crescent was demolished more than a year ago, community opposition to its site redevelopment has not lost momentum.

A rezoning application to allow a four-storey, eight-unit condo at 514 Wellington Cres. — site of the former Gordon House, immediately north of St. Mary’s Academy — is set to be heard today by the city centre community committee.

City of Winnipeg planning, property and development staff are recommending the committee approve the rezoning to residential multifamily-small district from its previous designation of single family.

The proposed development would include eight condo units, about 3,100 square feet each in size (totalling 24,065 sq. ft.), with 17 underground parking stalls and three drive-in entrances. The former heritage structure — completed in 1909 for prominent businessman James Thomas Gordon (1858-1919) — was about 8,000 sq. ft.

Uncertainty bakes costs into CUSMA chain

Despite all the melodramatic hype and handwringing leading up to it, the July 1 timeline for renewing the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement on trade passed without a U.S. commitment to extend its 2036 sunset.

The sun still rose the next day. Trucks and trains are still crossing the border carrying Canadian commodities (albeit not on that new bridge named after a famous hockey player). Grocery stores still carry imported fruits and vegetables from the south, and Canadians in several provinces still can’t buy American liquor.

Nothing changed, except everything.

We must now accept the certainty of continued uncertainty as Canada, along with the rest of the world, considers how to deal with the increasingly erratic leadership at the helm of the world’s largest economy.

Fond memories, new adventures at Roseau River Bible Camp

Ruth Morris has fond memories of attending summer camp as a child.

The food. The fun activities. The fireside chats. And, most of all, the freedom she felt.

“I was able to kind of just figure out who I was as a person, right? What I wanted to do, just making all those connections without parents hovering. I felt like a mini-adult,” Morris recalls.

Naturally, she wants her own children to have a similar experience as they grow up. But as a single mother on long-term disability due to fibromyalgia, camp simply isn’t affordable on a fixed income.