Weekly News Recap: June 5, 2026

Weekly News Recap: June 5, 2026

A report from the University of Guelph found that women working in agriculture were scoring higher in stress, depression, anxiety and burn out. (CBC)

A woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle. -- Irina Dunn

SOME GOOD NEWS

  • VIDEO: SAIT launches mental-health toolkit for trade students (CTV) CALGARY STORY Smart move. "SAIT and the Calgary Construction Association have launched a new toolkit aimed at reducing stigma around mental health and addictions among trade students."

  • VIDEO: Here's what you get when you mix high school students, pro chefs and Sask.-sourced ingredients (CBC) SASKATOON STORY Love this. TRC at work. "Grade 11 and 12 students from Saskatoon's Mount Royal Collegiate collaborated with professional chefs to create an Indigenous-inspired menu item, to be featured at the clubhouse restaurant at Waskesiu Golf Course in Prince Albert National Park."

  • Serena Williams returning to professional tennis at 44 (CBC) The GOAT is back. "Serena Williams is returning to professional tennis at the age of 44 after nearly four years away from the sport. The 23-time Grand Slam singles champion has accepted a wild-card invitation to play doubles at the upcoming Queen's Club grass-court tournament in London, the WTA [Tour.]"

  • Idris Elba still isn't James Bond, but he's now a knight (CBC) Stringer Bell gets knighted -- how awesome is this? "Idris Elba might not be the new James Bond, but he is now one of the U.K.'s newest knights [...] Known for his roles in TV series such as The Wire and Luther, he was knighted for his services to young people. In 2022, he and his wife founded the Elba Hope Foundation, which aims to promote sustainable development in the U.K., U.S. and Africa, and expand opportunity and access for young people and offer support for community empowerment and education."

  • VIDEO: #TheMoment he recreated Bill Reid's famous print with Lego (CBC) SUDBURY STORY #Brilliant. "Grade 11 student Henry Campbell tells The National about the moment he recreated Bill Reid’s Haida Dog Salmon — Skaagi print out of Lego and had it displayed at Sunbury Shores Arts and Nature Centre in St. Andrews, N.B."

  • Blossoming among spoil heaps: how 1,000 years of lead mining gave birth to banks of pansies and pennycress (The Guardian) The earth is resilient. "At first, the small purple flowers are hard to spot in the weak May sunshine. Slowly the drifts of delicate mountain pansies, along with the white rosettes of alpine pennycress, begin to jump out, scattered across an area little bigger than a football pitch, on the banks of the River Allen in Northumberland. This is a pocket of calaminarian grassland, an increasingly rare habitat where specialist plants called metallophytes have adapted to live in soils deeply contaminated by heavy metals, the legacy of more than 1,000 years of lead mining."

  • VIDEO: #TheMoment a pilot honoured his co-pilot and childhood friend (CBC) We are all inspired by someone. "American Airlines pilot Andrew Anderson tells The National about the moment he delivered a tribute speech to his co-pilot and childhood friend Andre Turner before a flight to Toronto."

TOP TEN STORIES OF THE WEEK

  1. Alberta introducing integrated driver licences with health card number on July 2 (CBC) ALBERTA STORY Finally, we can toss those flimsy cards in the trash. "Alberta will start to roll out new driver's licences starting July 2 that will include an individual’s health card number, finally eliminating the paper cards that have been the bane of Albertans for decades."

  2. 1,000-pound butter sculpture takes centre stage at Contemporary Calgary (CityNews) CALGARY STORY Mmmm...butter. "Contemporary Calgary will unveil three new solo exhibitions new week, with a massive 1,000‑pound butter sculpture serving as the standout feature. The sculpture, created on-site for Ghazaleh Avarzamani’s Churn, Earn, Burn and then Return, is temporary and will last only for the duration of the show. The butter piece draws inspiration from a life‑size butter figure of the Prince of Wales displayed by Canada at the 1925 British Empire Exhibition. Avarzamani’s work connects Monopoly‑style gameplay to themes of land expansion, resource extraction, labour, and unstable markets, using butter both as a material and a symbol."

  3. Honorary doctorate celebrates Knud Petersen’s lifelong habit of showing up (Lethbridge Herald) LETHBRIDGE STORY Congrats. Well deserved. "For a man who has spent decades cheering from the sidelines, Thursday’s loudest applause was directed squarely at him. As hundreds of University of Lethbridge (U of L) graduates crossed the stage during spring convocation, the cheers, whoops and even a few air horns briefly shifted focus from the newest degree holders to one of southern Alberta’s most recognizable community champions."

  4. Lunchbox Theatre announces new venue for new season (CityNews) CALGARY STORY "Lunchbox Theatre is packing up and leaving the downtown core for cSPACE Marda Loop – a major shift for a company built in the heyday of Calgary’s office culture in the 1970s. Now heading into its 52nd season, Artistic Director Bronwyn Steinberg says the move reflects how Calgary has changed. 'Downtown office work culture is not what it was in the 70s, which led to the creation of Lunchbox. You know, I don’t think people really take a lunch break and go see a play very often anymore,' she says. 'I wish they did.' Instead of office workers dropping in over lunch, Steinberg says most of the audience is now travelling downtown specifically to see shows and many are frustrated by the experience."

  5. Chief Dr. Wilton Littlechild Honoured as a 2026 Trailblazer by Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame (SSB Crack News) CANADIAN STORY Nice! "Chief Dr. Wilton Littlechild of the Ermineskin Cree Nation has been recognized by Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame (CSHoF) as a Class of 2026 Trailblazer. This prestigious acknowledgment honors individuals who have made significant contributions to Canadian sports and will be celebrated during the ‘Order of Sport Awards: Legacy Edition’ on November 4, 2026, at the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau, Quebec."

  6. Philanthropy Needs Ambitious Projects Immediately (Bentham's Newsletter) Looks like a great opportunity. "Billions of dollars in philanthropic funding is coming down the pipeline, and we’re not ready for it. Nan Ransohoff recently released a hugely important piece titled The third wave of American philanthropy. In the relatively near future, three philanthropic behemoths will have a huge influx of liquid cash: the OpenAI foundation, Anthropic’s founders, and Anthropic employees. A fairly conservative estimate puts the amount of charitable spending this would open up at around 50 billion dollars per year. This is about 1/2000th the annual GDP of Earth. US charitable giving is about 600 billion dollars per year—so this will increase total US charitable giving by about 8%. Crucially, many of these donors are interested in sponsoring high-impact charitable projects."

  7. How to watch Jupiter and Venus as they join in the sky this week (CBC) "You may have noticed two bright 'stars' in the west after sunset. Those aren't stars, but two planets: Jupiter and Venus. And they're on their way to a beautiful meet-up in the days ahead. While they will look close together in the sky, they are still very far apart: they lie roughly 670 million kilometres from each other. Venus has been rising steadily in the sky since the beginning of May. Meanwhile, Jupiter has been sinking toward the west. You can find the pair in the west after sunset. Venus will be the brighter of the two and lower on the horizon."

  8. New Calgary festival acknowledges ube's Filipino roots (CBC) CALGARY STORY And, it is very tasty. "You might recognize it from viral social media posts. Or from the menu at Starbucks. Or even from your favourite local ice cream shop. Ube (pronounced oo-beh) is the latest food craze. It’s a purple yam native to the Philippines, now known globally for its sweet, nutty flavour. And, of course, its rich purple hue. On a busy stretch of 17th Avenue S.W. in Calgary, MIK (or Made in Korea) Coffee and Shop recently hopped on the trend. It’s been offering ube products — from lattes to cheesecake — for the past month."

  9. Women in farming more vulnerable to mental-health struggles and stress, Guelph study finds (CBC) CANADIAN STORY "Andria Jones and her team have released studies in the past about the vulnerability of farmer's mental health and found that women were scoring higher in stress, depression, anxiety and burn out. Through that work, Jones and her team conducted in-depth interviews with women farmers and found many felt undervalued and reported instances of disproportionate workloads. 'They tended to speak about something commonly known as the the triple shift,' Jones said. 'Even with supportive partners, the management of the household often falls to them, so all of that combined with on farm work, off-farm work, plus being the CEOs of the household makes for very full days and a lot of stress.' "

  10. VIDEO: Are community stores a thing of the past for Calgary — or is a renaissance around the corner? (CBC) CANADIAN STORY More please. "While nostalgia isn’t a business plan, small-format retail is having a moment across the country partially due, as some industry watchers suggest, to Canadians’ desire for retail close to home, a sense of community as the country densifies."

SEVEN LIFE AND CAREER HACKS

  1. Sitting on the Statin Fence? Here’s How to Decide (Read Or Die HQ) As someone who uses statins, this is very informative.

  2. The Art Movement That Changed How We See Creativity (Christopher Jones) A beautiful period and one that changed how we look at ourselves and our world.

  3. The 5 Traits That Predict Success Better Than Anything Else (Darius Foroux) I have had 'success' with many of these. I need to work better on #3.

  4. 11 of the Funniest Quotes From Some of the Greatest Women in History (Change Your Mind) All of these are great. My favourites are from Katherine Hepburn and Mother Teresa.

  5. How to Build a Personal Learning System (Better Advice) Focus is a key for me.

  6. 10 Best Book Reading Websites Every Reader Should Bookmark (Most Readers Don’t Know #4) (Readers Club) If you are are tired of DRM'd books or paying Amazon, these are great alternatives.

  7. The 4 Types of Hobbies Everyone Needs (Josiah Brown) I like the categories and...I need a hobby.

TOP THREE GIFTS OF THE WEEK

  1. $5M gift means more women in Southern Alberta will have access to specialized cardiovascular care (Business Insider) CALGARY STORY "Calgary Health Foundation is pleased to announce a significant contribution to women’s cardiovascular health in Calgary. Facilitated by a substantial $5 million gift, the new Harold and Betty Allsopp Women’s Cardiovascular Health Clinic at South Health Campus will offer more women in Southern Alberta improved access to specialized cardiovascular care services."

  2. Mosaic funding Moose Jaw organizations with new $1.5 million donation (CJME) MOOSE JAW STORY "The Mosaic Company has announced a donation of $1.5 million in funding after renewing its partnerships with community organizations in Moose Jaw. Moose Jaw Health Foundation, Moose Jaw & District Food bank, Hunger in Moose Jaw and Wakamow Valley’s Mosaic Community Food Farm are among the organizations who will be receiving a portion of the funding."

  3. Record $6.1M donation announced for Hamilton wetland restoration project (CHCH) HAMILTON STORY "Hamilton Conservation Foundation has announced a $6,075,000 donation from the Heritage Green Community Trust (HGCT) to support the Saltfleet Conservation Area Wetland Restoration Project. The initiative comprises of four wetlands across over 411 acres of conservation lands, making it one of the largest environmental restoration efforts in the Hamilton area."

LAST WEEK'S MOST POPULAR STORIES

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