The faculty of agricultural and food sciences is hosting its mentorship program for a fifth year. The program is run by Siobhan Maas, program coordinator, and Annemieke Farenhorst, professor in the department of soil science and the associate vice-president (research) for the University of Manitoba.

Joshua Lindal, an anthropology PhD student at the University of Manitoba, is part of a research team that has proposed a new species name for a human ancestor that lived half a million years ago. Unsatisfied with the monikers of Homo heidelbergensis and Homo rhodesiensis, Lindal’s research group has argued for their retirement.

Evelyn Forget, professor in the University of Manitoba department of community health sciences, and Hannah Owczar, writer and communications specialist in the department of community health sciences, have co-published Radical Trust: Basic Income for Complicated Lives.

A team of U of M researchers have been awarded a $202,005 grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) to study the effects of long COVID. Alan Katz, director of the Manitoba Centre for Health Policy and professor of community health sciences and family medicine, is one of the principal investigators for the project. 

Why attend the University of Manitoba? It’s a question that can be asked in two contexts: why does the U of M seemingly feel weighed down by political decisions of the provincial government? And why should a student come to the U of M despite these struggles?

Historically, Manitoba has treated Lake Winnipeg as a sink for resources, citing the lake’s economic value as motivation to maintain its ecological integrity. But this approach means sustaining the bare minimum of environmental standards to ensure its supposed value does not diminish. The result of this approach is a policy of perpetual catch-up — pollute as you go and fix the problem later. That is exactly what the PCs are doing when they blame the sustainability practices of fishers for the lake’s pollution and utter humble praises for Manitoba Hydro in the same speech.

The Liberal Party of Canada pitched itself as the progressive option on the campaign trail, but the speech from the throne on Nov. 23 lacked bold new ideas. Instead of emphasizing challenges of Canadians — such as the absence of universal pharmacare or ending fossil fuel subsidies — the new Liberal government presented a plan that lacks vision and heavily relies on past promises that have yet to be fulfilled.

A number of incidents have further eroded the relationship between UMFA, the university administration and the provincial government since then, and the effect is palpable. In 2016, as I remember it, the mood was determined but apologetic — the academic strike was a new and frightening concept to most students, and both UMFA and the university made significant efforts to explain what was happening and maintained an outwardly friendly relationship. But this disagreement has gone on for years now, and what seemed like a small fight has escalated to full-blown resentment.

The Good Will Social Club was lit purple on the night of Nov. 20 for the first live showcase of the House of Wonders roster.

The Bulldog Event Centre hosted the first ever Manitoba Loud Music Awards (MLMAs) to great success over the weekend of Nov. 19 to 21. Organized by Badlands Promotions of Portage la Prairie, Man. and Frozen Fire Studios, the awards ceremonies were accompanied by live performances from Manitoban bands in the loud music genres with three bands performing each night.

The saying goes that Canada has two main exports: hockey and comedy. Though a blatant generalization of our country, it’s not an understatement to acknowledge that one of the Canadian comedy giants — particularly one oozing of Canadiana — is Rick Mercer. As the pandemic brought comedy to a near standstill, Mercer took to a new project, writing Talking to Canadians: A Memoir.

This winter, Shakespeare in the Ruins (SIR) presents a remounted production of Shakespeare’s Will, written by Winnipeg-born playwright and two-time Governor General’s Award winner, Vern Thiessen. The play’s original run was in early 2020 during ShakespeareFest, the final iteration the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre’s Master Playwright Festival. It was filmed for the screen on the mainstage at Prairie Theatre Exchange with video direction by local filmmaker Sam Vint.

The popular phrase “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” is perhaps the best way to summarize the events that happened between July 2017 and May 2018 in Markham, Ont. On a July morning that fateful year, the residents of Cathedraltown — a residential neighbourhood of Markham — awoke to find a giant chrome cow on 25-foot tall stilts in the parkette that acts as a front lawn to some houses on Charity Crescent.

Arranged in a fairly straightforward manner around the perimeter of the gallery, the works in Traces begin to the left of the entrance, leading viewers clockwise around the space. There is a natural order and flow to the works and their relatively small scale invites patrons to come closer and inspect them, rather than forcing themselves into view.

The University of Manitoba Bisons women’s hockey team split a two-game series against the University of Alberta Pandas Nov. 26 and 27, winning game one 2-1 and losing game two 2-0.

The University of Manitoba Bisons took to the pool this past weekend for the 2021 Canada West swimming championships. The event headlined a three-day meet with races staggered throughout the weekend. The Bisons were well represented all three days by swimmers in the men’s and the women’s categories.

UManitoba motionball, an initiative to raise money for Special Olympics, is holding its first fundraiser on Nov. 25 in lead-up to the main motionball event on Jan. 16.

The University of Manitoba Bisons football team faced off against the University of Saskatchewan Huskies in the Hardy Cup final on Saturday, losing 17-45 to the Huskies in a disappointing ending to an otherwise successful season for the Bisons.

The Bisons basketball teams each played a two-game series at home against the University of Regina Cougars Nov. 12 and 13. The women’s team lost both games and the men’s team finished 1-1 on the weekend.

In 2018, the Mississauga, Ont. native became the first female athlete ever to be named to a U-Sports football roster when she was named to the University of Manitoba Bisons football team, a monumental moment for sports in Canada. For Iizuka, attending the U of M was a choice made easy after meeting Bison head coach Brian Dobie.