Rich, spicy hot chocolate a decadent treat

Five to Know: Hamelin golden once again

Olympic men’s hockey without NHLers is often a dour affair. Canada gathered this squad, worked really hard and they weren’t very good. But they tried.

Four areas eyed for lower speed limits

Four Winnipeg neighbourhoods have been recommended for a project to assess the effect of reduced speed limits on residential streets.

After an extensive debate, city staff pinpointed places where the standard 50 km/h residential speed limit should be reduced.

Pending approval by the public works committee, the limit would drop to 30 km/h in two neighbourhoods and 40 km/h in two others. A consultant would decide where each exact limit should apply.

The one-year trials are proposed for the Worthington, Richmond West, Tyndall Park South and Bourkevale neighbourhoods, though locations could change depending on feedback from city hall.

Dynacare workers provide essential services that must be maintained during strike, labour board rules

The Manitoba Labour Board has ruled Dynacare workers are essential employees and their services must be maintained during a labour dispute.

The ruling, issued Thursday afternoon, said the board was satisfied that essential services “must be maintained in the event of job action involving Dynacare and the (Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals) in order to prevent a threat to the health, safety and welfare of residents of Manitoba.”

The private company’s 350 lab technicians and technologists in Winnipeg, Brandon and other communities went on strike briefly Sept. 8 before the labour board issued an interim order forcing them back to work while it decided the essential-services question.

The dispute is over a significant wage gap between Dynacare employees and people doing the same work in the public health-care sector. The Dynacare workers have been without a contract since March 31.

Man armed with ‘edged weapon’ dies after dispute in Linden Woods home

The family of a 42-year-old Winnipeg man shot and killed by police in Linden Woods on Monday night says the incident raises troubling questions about how officers respond to people in mental-health crisis.

“Their reaction to mental health is my concern,” said the man’s sister-in-law, Erica Smith, who spoke outside her brother-in-law’s Avon Gate home on Tuesday. She said her brother-in-law struggled with his mental health.

“It didn’t have to end like this,” she said, fighting back tears. “It could have ended differently.”

Police said officers encountered the man armed with an “edged weapon” at the home when they arrived shortly before 10:30 p.m.

Who has been invited to the table?

Last Friday, I spoke at Booth University College’s inaugural Honour and Hope Harvest Dinner in support of Shelter U. I had been asked to speak about the power of art in the community, a subject I have spent much of my professional life thinking about — as a museum director, writer and teacher, and now through my consulting work with Civic Muse.

What continues to interest me is not simply what museums, universities and other public institutions do, but whether their work actually matters — whether they make a difference in the lives of the people and communities around them.

Preparing for the evening brought me back to an even more fundamental question: Who has been invited in?

One of my museum mentors used to remind me that institutions often begin the conversation about public engagement too late. Before engagement comes the welcome, and before the welcome comes the invitation. We can create extraordinary buildings, exhibitions and programs and say that everyone is welcome. But unless people believe that these places are also meant for them, many will never cross the threshold.