Canada

Healthy food is hard to come by in northern Manitoba. Food shipped from the south is prohibitively expensive and is often stale, and the climate and soil in the region don’t support much traditional outdoor farming.

This issue disproportionately impacts northern Indigenous communities, many of which have moved away from traditional food practices, creating a supply problem with far-reaching health consequences.

The Opaskwayak Cree Nation (OCN), located south of Flin Flon near the Saskatchewan border, has taken bold steps to address diabetes and other health challenges facing its residents.

According to the OCN Health Authority, more than 40 per cent of adults in the community live with hypertension and diabetes. The implications of this epidemic are profound: not only are health-care costs soaring, but resources that could be allocated to other critical areas, such as infrastructure and education, are being diverted to manage the growing health crisis. In response, OCN has made improved access to nutritious foods a priority.

In 2016, the community launched a smart vertical farm (SVF), a cutting-edge indoor facility designed to grow fresh fruits, vegetables and herbs year-round. The SVF employs computer-controlled smart technology that optimizes growing conditions by adjusting factors such as light, humidity and CO2 levels, and nutrient delivery. This advanced system ensures that the farm produces high-quality produce, despite the harsh northern climate.

Additional links:

• https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/smart-farm-veggies-diabetes-research-1.7299870
• https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0889157520314824?via=ihub

CBC - Ticks are showing up in places where they didn’t use to

Manitoba's police watchdog is not pressing charges against a Brandon police officer who was accused of throwing a person onto the ground, punching her face and referring to her with derogatory language during an arrest.

In October 2023, the chair of Community Mobilization Westman, a Brandon-based initiative for community safety, met with Brandon police after a Child and Family Services case worker told her a police officer called a person a "rez dog" and a "neechie" several times during an arrest.

The officer was also accused of slamming the person against a wall of the house, throwing her to the ground and hitting her face several times during the interaction.

See this link for details about the recall: https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/public-health-notices/2025/outbreak-salmonella-infections-genoa-rea-genova-bona-salami.html

Some salami products under the Rea and Bona brands are being recalled from three provinces over concerns of potential salmonella contamination, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency says.

The CFIA says the products were distributed to Alberta, Manitoba and Ontario and have been recalled specifically by Marini Foods Limited.

The Public Health Agency of Canada released a notice Wednesday stating that at least 57 people – 44 in Alberta and 13 in Ontario – got sick after eating the salami and seven people have been hospitalized.

From the link:

Do not consume, use, sell, serve or distribute recalled:

• Rea brand Genoa Salami Sweet (Lots: 5035 226 and 5049 226)
• Rea brand Genoa Salami Hot (Lots: 5020 228 and 5035 228)
• Bona brand Mild Genova Salami (Lot: 5035 226)

Gift article

For the Heiltsuk, stories explain everything from the shape of a local mountain to the distinct red fur fringes on the sea wolves stalking shores. They tell of the flesh-eating monster baxbakwa’lanuxusiwe, whose entire body was covered with snapping mouths before it was destroyed by a shaman and became a cloud of mosquitoes.

Passed down over generations, in ceremonies forbidden by Canada’s government, the stories weave together the physical world, the supernatural and the liminal space that binds the two.

Such stories are also the bedrock of the Heiltsuk’s newly created constitution (PDF download), a document recently ratified through ceremony that asserts the nation’s long-held convictions that they are the original inhabitants and rightful stewards of the region’s future.

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