Meet our new Steinbach reporter, Christopher Gareau
As a part of CBC's ongoing goal of better serving more Manitobans, we are excited to be opening a news bureau in Steinbach. This will be one of the over twenty new bureaus opening in markets across the country. Stationed in Steinbach and serving southeastern Manitoba, we are excited to welcome Christopher Gareau to the CBC Manitoba team. We chatted with Christopher about riding his bike in AD Penner Park, growing up in small town Manitoba, and what he loves about living in Steinbach.
Tell us about yourself, where are you from, what's your background in journalism?
I grew up a farm boy in Manitoba's Interlake before moving to a small town. I made the move to the big city to attend the University of Winnipeg and Red River College's Creative Communications to learn the craft of journalism. I got my first full-time reporter job in Steinbach before working as a reporter and editor in print and radio in northern B.C. and southwestern Ontario. I came back to Steinbach to work at the newspaper before becoming CBC Manitoba's first full-time reporter based in Steinbach!
What are you excited to explore in southern Manitoba, from a storytelling perspective?
I'm excited to share all the stories from people I've met and will meet living and working in Steinbach. There are so many cultures, perspectives, growth, and just plain news in the Southeast! This is a chance to share such an interesting and newsworthy part of the province with a wider audience.
What about life in southern Manitoba appeals to you?
I love that I can explore the continuing history of the Mennonite, French, Ukrainian and Indigenous cultures while learning more about the newer arrivals from around the world!
There are also so many cultural and recreation opportunities, from cross-country skiing and berry picking in the Sandilands Forest, to checking out a play or concert put on by the Steinbach Arts Council.
What is the most quintessentially Steinbach thing you do in your off hours?
Riding my bike down the paths through AD Penner Park in the very bike-friendly 'automobile city' to the Mennonite Heritage Village's Livery Barn Restaurant for some locally made Foarma Worscht and Vereniki smothered in Schmauntfatt.
When people have a story to tell, what's the best way to reach out to you?
Email me at christopher.gareau@cbc.ca with what you'd like to share and leave your phone number so I can get back to you as quick as I can.
We really wanted to get to know Christopher, so we asked him some tough questions (like whether he prefers cookies or cake), check that out here:
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Globe and Mail
an hour ago
- Globe and Mail
Air Canada's flight attendant strike disrupts travel for thousands of people, at home and abroad
Near the Easter Seals Camp in Squamish, B.C., dozens of children from as far away as Toronto and Montreal passed the time on Monday kicking a soccer ball around a field and singing Ukrainian songs around a fire. These are some of the summer activities the camp's staff were using to distract the young campers – a group that includes Ukrainian refugees – from the fact that they couldn't return home. About 150 scouts are stuck at the camp owing to the strike by flight attendants at Air Canada, which has grounded the airline's flights and disrupted travel for an estimated 130,000 passengers a day. The children, part of a larger group mostly aged 12 to 17, were in the region for a national camping jamboree organized by Plast Ukrainian Youth Association of Canada. The 10-day-long event at Camp Byng on B.C.'s Sunshine Coast was supposed to end Sunday. Instead, as they prepared to leave, they learned that the flights meant to bring more than half of them home to their families had been cancelled. Marianna MacMillan, a 15-year-old from Toronto attending the jamboree, said she comforted other campers, some of whom she considers her younger siblings, when they were told the news. 'They didn't expect to be trapped this far.' About 700 flights a day have been grounded since Saturday when flight attendants walked off the job. Ottawa directed a federal tribunal to order about 10,000 Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge flight attendants, represented by the Air Canada Component of CUPE, back to work, but the union has defied the order and it's not clear when flights will resume. Stuck at home or stranded abroad? What your options are if you have Air Canada travel plans Julia Metelitsa, co-director for the Plast Canada National Jamboree, said about one-third of the scouts at the jamboree are Ukrainian newcomers to Canada who fled from the Russia-Ukraine war. The remaining scouts and dozens of adult volunteers are tenting at the Squamish campground for now. She said camp directors will have to find a way to care for the preteens and teenagers as they search for flights home ahead of an expected departure on Saturday. Ms. Metelitsa said the scouts are being given mixed signals from Air Canada, worsened by their group size, which is leading to further delays. She first believed they would leave within 48 hours of the cancellation but now expects the group will depart on Saturday. 'It's sad, scary, people want to be back to their families, they want to know what's going on,' she said. In an e-mail, Air Canada said it has been in contact with the tour leader about alternate plans for the group. About 40 scouts from Winnipeg opted to take a chartered bus home, according to camp directors. About 500,000 passengers will have their travel plans disrupted as of late Monday afternoon, with stories emerging from across Canada and around the world from people who've had their plans upended and, in some cases, have been stranded abroad with what they say is inadequate help from the airline. After a week-long camping trip in Yoho National Park in British Columbia, Andrew Lim and his family returned to cell service on Friday. A notification lit up his phone screen: Air Canada had cancelled their flights back home to Toronto from Calgary. Mr. Lim, his wife and two children – aged 13 and 8 – spent the night in Calgary and then much of the next morning on hold with Air Canada. No one answered. He said it became obvious they wouldn't be quickly rebooked and travelling back on other airlines or by train would have been 'outrageously expensive.' So, the family decided to rent a car and drive roughly 3,400 kilometres through four different provinces. Speaking over the phone near Sault Ste. Marie on Monday, Mr. Lim said he was hopeful they would pull into their driveway later that evening. 'We fully accept that we'll probably not be reimbursed for any of our expenses on the trip. I mean Air Canada is not going to pay for a car and our hotels and all that stuff for sure, but it was just a matter of getting back in time,' Mr. Lim said, adding that his family will be out a 'couple of thousands' but that driving was still the cheapest and fastest option they had. In a statement to The Globe and Mail, a spokesperson for Air Canada said it is 'deeply disappointed by CUPE's unlawful actions' and its impact on customers. 'We are working hard to assist our customers and have offered options including full refunds.' The union has, in turn, blamed Air Canada for failing to adequately respond to the flight attendants' concerns, with CUPE's national president Mark Hancock saying he was prepared to go to jail if necessary. While some affected passengers within Canada have turned to cars and buses to get where they need to, others don't have that option. A trip to Iceland has left Frank Richter and his daughter stranded in one of Europe's most expensive countries, paying for hotels and meals out of pocket. Looking at new flights, Mr. Richter said the cheapest options were $3,000 or more, with some tickets running between $5,000 and $8,000 a person, he said. 'They are trying to get away with paying as little to the customers as possible,' Mr. Richter said of Air Canada. He fears being on the hook for thousands of dollars while also running out of medication in a few days. 'At the end of the day, I'm stuck with the cost of somehow trying to get home,' he said. Under Canada's air passenger protection rules, passengers who experience flight cancellations because of a strike are owed a choice between getting a refund or being rebooked free of charge on the next available flight. The new flight can be from the same carrier or a carrier with which Air Canada has a commercial agreement, but it must depart within 48 hours. If these options aren't available, a large carrier such as Air Canada must rebook the passenger on the next available flight from any carrier, including a competitor. But given that he was supposed to fly out of Europe, Mr. Richter plans to file a claim under EU261 (also commonly known as EC261). In the European Union and Britain, air passenger rights are governed by EC261 and UK261, which are among the strongest consumer protection laws in the world, said Tomasz Pawliszyn, chief executive of AirHelp, an EU-based agency helping passengers navigate the region's air passenger rights. Air Canada strike focuses on flight attendants' unpaid work Air Canada strike puts Ottawa's favourite tool for quashing labour unrest in crosshairs Under EC261, strikes by airline staff are considered within the airline's control. This means Air Canada is not exempt from paying compensation in this case, Mr. Pawliszyn said. Passengers are owed a rebooking or a full refund of the unused portion of their ticket. They're also owed compensation between €250 and €600, depending on the distance of the flight and the length of delay to their final destination. While some are exploring their options to return home, others are desperate to leave. Loretta Masaro has, for many months, been training to run in the Sydney Marathon on Aug. 31 – what would be her seventh and final World Marathon Major, which are the world's most renowned marathons. But she said she's stuck in a 'grey zone,' not sure if her flights from Ottawa through Vancouver next week will be cancelled because of the Air Canada strike. Ms. Masaro said she will be out thousands of dollars if she can't make it to Australia having already paid for the race, accommodations and non-refundable excursions. She said it would be too expensive to book with another airline for her and her husband. Missing the race would also take an emotional toll on Ms. Masaro, who survived the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013. She said she made it her goal that day to complete every world major race in honour of the victims. 'We're losing hope,' she said during a phone interview from Ottawa. 'I was completely for them – I was for the flight attendants. But now they're defying the law. They think they're above the law and they've lost me now. I no longer care about their cause any more.' Some fliers, like Steve Glover, learned of the coming strike and looked for alternative plans to avoid the chaos. Mr. Glover and his family had already invested thousands of dollars in hotels and local flights when he learned that an Air Canada labour dispute could threaten a 50th wedding anniversary trip to Greece. He cancelled their Air Canada flights for Aug. 14 and sought alternatives through FlightHub. The travel company booked him on Delta, which then booked him onto Air France for the outbound flight. Air France proceeded to reschedule and cancel three times before finally rebooking his family on an Air Canada flight for Aug. 15. 'Then of course you know what happens? Cancelled by Air Canada.' With no way to leave, the family lost all their prepaid hotels and are out of pocket between $20,000 and $25,000. He said FlightHub told him to deal with the airline directly and did not provide any help beyond links to relevant websites for the airlines. Mr. Glover has now found himself juggling claims with multiple airlines while the trip itself is lost. 'The money is one thing, but it's the trip of a lifetime. This holiday that we were going to share together is done.' FlightHub did not respond to a request for comment by deadline.
CBC
an hour ago
- CBC
What travellers can do if they're booked on Air Canada
With Air Canada flight attendants still off the job, The National's Adrienne Arsnault asks aviation management professor John Gradek and travel specialist Mark Greenwood to break down where the strike could go next and how travellers can navigate cancellations.
CTV News
2 hours ago
- CTV News
Picket lines continue in Winnipeg
Winnipeg Watch Flight attendants continued walking the picket lines in Winnipeg as the Air Canada strike continues.
