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How a multicultural mariachi band is celebrating Canada’s diversity in song and spirit 

A battery charger is to blame for a house fire that damaged a North End home. 

The blaze broke out shortly after 10 p.m. Thursday in a one-and-a-half-storey home in the 400 block of Magnus Avenue. 

Smoke was billowing from the home when crews arrived, and an interior fire attack was launched. 

Crews were able to get the fire under control about half an hour later. 

All of the residents of the home escaped before crews arrived, and no injuries were reported. 

The group representing Manitoba physicians is warning people in northern and rural areas that they could see reduced hours and periodic closures in emergency rooms this summer.

Doctors Manitoba says based on the data and feedback it has received, 20 — or one quarter of rural hospitals — will have their emergency rooms open around the clock.

"This isn't a new problem. It's been building for many years, but the prolonged uncertainty and short staffing is taking a toll," group president Dr. Nichelle Desilets said Thursday.

For the first time in over four decades, Winnipeggers are now able to cross on foot at one of the city's most iconic intersections. 

Portage and Main has been closed to pedestrians since 1979, and at 10:30 a.m. on Friday, it officially opened to foot traffic again.

In March 2024, Mayor Scott Gillingham recommended reopening the intersection, as the costs to repair the Portage and Main underground infrastructure began to soar. 

The Federal Court has approved a multi-billion-dollar class-action settlement for people who suffered abuse at federally run 'Indian hospitals' following out-of-court negotiations between Ottawa and Indigenous survivors.

The federal government ran 33 such hospitals between 1936 and 1981. The total compensation amount is expected to be between $3 billion and $5.3 billion.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Thursday that a 49-year-old Canadian has died while in its custody.

A detainee death notice from the agency, commonly known as ICE, said that Johnny Noviello was pronounced dead by the Miami Fire Rescue Department at 1:36 p.m. on June 23.

The agency said he was found unresponsive at 12:54 p.m. at a federal detention centre where he was being held pending deportation proceedings. Medical staff attempted CPR and defibrillation but were unsuccessful, the agency said.

The Musica Singers are getting ready to start summer in style this weekend with their latest solo concert, Awitan. The concert promises a balance of traditional Filipino folk and classical music alongside newer pieces from the country’s evolving musical tradition.  

They make for an interesting concoction, these ever-evolving Winnipeg Blue Bombers now just three games into their 2025 Canadian Football League schedule.

Some, not all, of the familiar faces still remain in place from a crew that has appeared in five straight Grey Cup games, with championships in 2019 and 2021 and the early indicators are they have been mixed with a tasty crew of newcomers and second-year pros who are bringing their own magic to the potion.

Lalo Schifrin, the iconic Argentine-American composer celebrated for film and television masterpieces, has died at age 93 on June 26, 2025, from complications of pneumonia, confirmed by his son Ryan.

Born Boris Claudio Schifrin on June 21, 1932, in Buenos Aires, he combined classical training at the Paris Conservatory with jazz roots, later moving to the U.S. where he worked with Dizzy Gillespie before embarking on a film-scoring career in Hollywood. His accolades include four Grammy wins, six Oscar nominations, and an honorary Academy Award (2018) 

One of the most foundational programs at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity is opera, which has been around for the vast majority of the centre’s nine-decade history. Now, that legacy continues with new productions that seek to innovate, explore and imagine a distinctly Canadian iteration of the genre. 

The latest opera program at the Banff Centre is called Interplay, a cross-pollination between opera and chamber music that aims to tell stories on a smaller scale with just as much impact as its mainstage counterparts.