Latest news with #Driedger
Winnipeg Free Press
2 days ago
- Politics
- Winnipeg Free Press
Author urges resisting efforts to clean up ‘image routes'
Last month, city Coun. Jeff Browaty proposed banning encampments along what he called 'image routes' like the Disraeli Freeway just before Main Street, along with Pembina Highway, McPhillips Street, St. Mary's and St. Anne's roads, Kenaston Boulevard and Regent Avenue. The reason he gave for the proposal was safety, and also for esthetics — they make Winnipeg look bad. The question left hanging seemed clear: Who wants to see encampments on the side of the road on their way to work, shopping or to see a movie? David Driedger, lead minister at First Mennonite Church in Winnipeg (Mikaela MacKenzie / Free Press files) An editorial in this newspaper discounted Browaty's proposal, suggesting it was more about optics than addressing the issue of safety — out of sight, out of mind. And, if applied, all it would do is move encampments to another part of the city and make it someone else's problem. Like the editorial writer, David Driedger isn't in favour of the councillor's idea. When it comes to encampments, Driedger, lead minister at First Mennonite Church in Winnipeg's West End, doesn't think moving them to less visible locations is the solution. Instead, those tents and tarps and shopping carts should be seen because they might be showing us a way to salvation. That's the argument he makes in his new book Nothing Will Save Us: A Theology of Immeasurable Life (Pandora Press). According to Driedger, the 'nothing' he refers to in the title are those people and places often seen as being of no importance. Yet these 'nothings' in the eyes of society are people loved by God. Not only that, they can hold the key to spiritual well being for people of faith — if they only pay attention. 'I want to call us to pay attention to those who are regarded as nothing in the eyes of the world,' said Driedger, adding that he isn't trying to romanticize the poor or poverty. 'Everyone is created by God, and we can see God in everyone and everything.' Through the book, which is aimed at Christians, Driedger argues that these 'nothing' places are where people can encounter God, discover truth and see how some structures of society are set up in such a way that some people, despite their best efforts, simply can't move forward or get ahead. Citing the Old Testament prophets who 'proclaimed that every king, regardless of his actions, caused the people to sin,' Driedger says structural sins like the old regulations that required Indigenous children to be sent to residential schools continue to have consequences that can be seen on the streets of Canadian cities today. Driedger's challenge to Christians is to not only support charities like food banks and soup kitchens, but to also think about how laws and structures that disadvantage and oppress certain segments of society can be changed. This includes laws that impact sex workers. When Driedger asked to meet with some, they were at first surprised a pastor wanted to talk with them. During the meeting, they spoke about the dangers of criminalizing their work, the lack of police protection and the Church's tendency to either 'rescue' or condemn them, instead of listening to them. In the book, Driedger compares their experiences to the women in the Gospel of Matthew's genealogy of Jesus. They were also women who transgressed social and sexual norms — people like Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba — in order to survive, but who are not discounted when it comes to telling the story of Jesus. Driedger goes on to wonder if Christians today can find ways to not discount women caught up in sex work, but to hear their voices and stories instead of judging them. The book is rooted in Winnipeg, using Winnipeg examples. For Driedger, that's also a good illustration of what he means about being overlooked and underestimated. 'Winnipeg seems neither small town nor big city, often discounted as nothing by insiders and outsiders alike,' he said. Weekly A weekly look at what's happening in Winnipeg's arts and entertainment scene. The same goes for the West End, where he lives and which he loves. 'Like many discounted neighbourhoods and their real challenges, there remains something welcoming and inclusive about the West End, resisting the measures of the upwardly mobile,' he said. Overall, the book is a reminder to Christians to take seriously what the Apostle Paul writes in the second chapter of Philippians. That's where he says that although Jesus was in the very nature of God, he did not use that to his advantage but rather 'made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant.' (New International Version.) Similarly, Driedger said, Christians should also 'empty themselves' of their preconceived ideas and stereotypes about people who are poor and marginalized in order to truly see and hear those who are seen as 'nothing' in this world. And, for him, that would include resisting efforts to clean up 'image routes' in the city of Winnipeg. faith@ The Free Press is committed to covering faith in Manitoba. If you appreciate that coverage, help us do more! Your contribution of $10, $25 or more will allow us to deepen our reporting about faith in the province. Thanks! BECOME A FAITH JOURNALISM SUPPORTER John LonghurstFaith reporter John Longhurst has been writing for Winnipeg's faith pages since 2003. He also writes for Religion News Service in the U.S., and blogs about the media, marketing and communications at Making the News. Read full biography Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
Global News
17-06-2025
- Sport
- Global News
Winnipeg's Chris Driedger headed to KHL after short stint with hometown Jets
Another Winnipeg Jets player is headed across the pond to continue their hockey career. Russia's Traktor Chelyabinsk of the Kontinental Hockey League announced the signing of Jets goalie Chris Driedger to a one-year contract. The Winnipeg product was set to become an unrestricted free agent next month after being acquired at the trade deadline from the Florida Panthers for fellow netminder Kaapo Kahkonen. The 31-year-old Driedger just completed a one-year contract for $795,000. Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy Driedger did not appear in a single game for the Jets, but served as their emergency third stringer during the Stanley Cup Playoffs. He played five games for the AHL's Manitoba Moose before joining the Jets at the conclusion of the Moose season. Driedger has played 12 pro seasons, but he's only appeared in two NHL games since the end of the 2021-2022 campaign. He's also played for the Ottawa Senators and Seattle Kraken at the NHL level. Story continues below advertisement Rasmus Kupari (Switzerland) and Axel Jonsson-Fjallby (Sweden) have also signed with teams overseas since the Jets were knocked out of the playoffs.
Yahoo
17-06-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Manitoba Moose Goaltender Chris Driedger Signs One-Year Deal With KHL's Traktor Chelyabinsk
Manitoba Moose goaltender Chris Driedger has signed a one-year contract with the KHL's Traktor Chelyabinsk, the team announced. Driedger had a record of 11-9-6, a .875 SP, and 3.13 GAA in 20 appearances with the Charlotte Checkers and five appearances with the Manitoba Moose this season. He was dealt to Manitoba at the NHL's trade deadline in exchange for Kaapo Kahkonen. Advertisement In 217 career AHL appearances over 10 season Driedger had a record of 106-78-19 with a .910 SP and 2.74 GAA. A third round pick of the Ottawa Senators in 2012, Driedger has a 31-24-5 record, .917 SP, and 2.45 GAA in 67 career NHL appearances with the Senators, Florida Panthers, and Seattle Kraken. The 31-year-old backstopped the Coachella Valley Firebirds to the 2024 Calder Cup Finals, was an AHL All-Star in 2019-20, and led the league in save percentage (.924) in 2018-19. He appeared in six games and won a silver medal with Team Canada at the 2022 World Championship. Make sure you bookmark The Hockey News' AHL Page for the latest news, exclusive interviews, breakdowns and so much more. Photo Credit: © Andy Abeyta/The Desert Sun / USA TODAY NETWORK
Global News
25-04-2025
- Health
- Global News
Manitoba measles cases climb as vaccination rates fall
The province's two latest measles cases are both concerning and expected, a Southern Health region official says. 'With measles occurring in such high numbers in all of these nearby jurisdictions, it unfortunately was very likely that we were going to get more cases,' said Dr. Davinder Singh, Southern Health's Medical Officer of Health. Those jurisdictions include Ontario, which has seen more than 1,000 cases since October 2024. In the U.S., at least two children died after contracting the disease. Typical symptoms include a fever and rash, but in some cases, patients can experience seizures, pneumonia, and brain damage. According to Manitoba Health, there have been eight confirmed and four probable cases in the province in 2025. Dr. Singh says these are the first cases in the province since 2019, adding the two most recent cases resulted in a school exposure. Story continues below advertisement 'A number of the children that were present during the time that we're worried about for exposure were or are unimmunized,' he said, 'so… there's a higher likelihood that some of them may go on to develop measles. So that is an additional risk that we haven't had in the other cases in Manitoba so far. Get weekly health news Receive the latest medical news and health information delivered to you every Sunday. Sign up for weekly health newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy 'If it happens to be introduced in a population that is significantly under-immunized, then just because of how contagious measles is, there's quite a high likelihood that it could go on to spread as we see in Ontario and elsewhere.' Manitoba's Southern Health region has Manitoba's lowest measles vaccination rate among seven-year-olds, at 53.3 per cent in 2023, the last year data is available. The measles vaccination rate in that cohort declined steadily between 2020 and 2023, as did the province-wide rate for the same age group: from 74.3 per cent in 2020, to 65.4 per cent in 2023. University of Manitoba Professor of Community Health Sciences Dr. Michelle Driedger says a number of factors are at play. 'We do know that [with] COVID-19 and the pandemic… there were a lot of disruptions to people accessing vaccines,' she said. 'I think conflated within that is a lot of the COVID-19 vaccines and… a lot of the discourse around that also started to shift peoples' attitudes to vaccines more generally.' Story continues below advertisement Dr. Driedger adds some people who haven't gotten their or their children's vaccinations up to date aren't necessarily opposed to vaccines, but are 'vaccine lazy,' having put off getting their shots as it wasn't convenient. Driedger says public health messaging that is specific to each type of vaccine is more effective in helping vaccine-hesitant people make a decision. 'If they don't feel they have enough information or they don't have enough confidence in that decision, sometimes they'll choose not to vaccinate their kid… not always recognizing that that also is a choice,' she said, adding messaging should be tailored to specific audiences and regions. 'When we look at vaccine hesitancy, it's often more important to talk about very specific vaccine hesitancies, and even to help provide understanding of what are the complications of actual exposure to the disease compared to exposure to the vaccine.' A list of exposure sites in Manitoba can be found on Manitoba Health's website.
New York Times
22-03-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
How an injury led Jets goalie Chris Driedger to create a documentary about roller hockey
Chris Driedger was 16 minutes away from winning the 2022 men's World Championships for Team Canada when disaster struck. A post-to-post push led to the complete tear of his ACL, ending his night and putting his professional hockey career in jeopardy. He watched Finland complete its comeback from the sidelines, feeling helpless, haunted by the 'click' sound his knee had made when he pushed into his right post. Advertisement Driedger was given a nine month recovery timeline. Back at home, it was six months before doctors let him skate. Instead of letting the monotony of daily rehab defeat him, he discovered a new passion and spent the next three years following it through. This is the story of how a Winnipeg-born goaltender — now part of the Jets organization, just down the road from where he grew up — found himself producing a documentary film about a California-based roller hockey league with one of the most unique backstories in hockey history. It's called 'Pro Beach Hockey: Sun, Surf and Slapshots' and Driedger says producing it helped change his mindset at one of the darkest times in his career. 'It was a lifesaver having something else going on to take my mind off the fact that I wasn't able to play hockey — which is, you know, my entire life.' By the late 1990s, Wayne Gretzky had come and gone from Los Angeles but his legacy remained. Interest in hockey was at an all-time high and businesspeople went looking for a way to capitalize. One of those people was David B. McLane, the wrestling promoter who started GLOW: The Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling. McLane wanted to take a run at roller hockey, taking his experience in the entertainment industry to brand new terrain, so he created a league called Pro Beach Hockey. Games were played on outdoor rinks with ramps behind the net, angled glass to keep the ball (not puck) in the play, and a two point line that worked similarly to the three point line in basketball. The league was populated with ex-roller-hockey stars, including a few NHL players, running for two months for three straight summers — turning roller hockey into an outsized spectacle. It was made for TV, with all three seasons airing on ESPN2, but developed a cult audience at Huntington Beach where it was filmed. Advertisement Driedger was four years old when the league launched. He didn't find out about it until partway through his first season with the Seattle Kraken, where he was reunited with longtime teammate and friend, Max McCormick. Over brunch, McCormick told Driedger about his friend Jake Cimperman and the idea for a 'roller hockey documentary.' McCormick was skeptical at first, Driedger says, but the moment McCormick showed him the league's teaser video, Driedger was hooked. A post shared by Pro Beach Hockey (@probeachhockey) 'It was this weird, interesting mix of the WWE and the NHL that I'd never seen before,' Driedger says. 'I just watched it and instantly thought, 'If I saw this teaser, I would want to watch the documentary.'' Driedger nudged McCormick to set up a call with Cimperman. That call and the ones that followed went well; eventually Driedger and McCormick helped send Cimperman to Los Angeles to start interviewing people for the film. The three of them held regular meetings to sort out the direction of the documentary, plan marketing, and strategize its release, creating a production company called Sin Bin Studios. Driedger says the biggest driving force for his involvement was his own curiosity. 'The league was just so wild and fast-paced and unique and aired on ESPN. That brought this level of intrigue and I wanted to know more. There were ramps behind the net and I wanted to know who thought of that. How did that play out in games? Did the players go up these ramps? I'm thinking in my head: Imagine there's ramps on the ice in hockey. That would be absurd. So there were a lot of questions I wanted answers to.' 'And the characters were really good. Mike Butters from Winnipeg was playing at 6-foot-3, 255 pounds or something like that and he was a fighter … All of it was before my time but it just seemed wild, like I wanted to know way more about it just from the teaser.' All of those questions took a backseat during Driedger's first season in Seattle — and again when Driedger got the call to play for Team Canada. But the curiosity remained. When Driedger tore his ACL, went home, and started what would become nine months of rehab, he needed a healthy place away from the rink to direct his ambitions. He'd already taken a personality aptitude test facilitated by former Jets defenceman Jay Harrison through the NHLPA. He'd spoken with personal strategists John Hierlihy and Duncan Fletcher, exploring business opportunities in real estate. Advertisement It was only after Driedger got hurt that he thought to mention the documentary to Hierlihy, who proved to be an invaluable resource. 'John immediately mentioned two or three people I should talk to. 'This buddy of mine actually played in the league. This buddy of mine is a lawyer in film, he works for Paramount Plus — talk to him.' It just opened up a treasure trove of contacts that I didn't even know was out there,' Driedger says.' As Driedger chased down those contacts and became even more invested in the process, his curiosity for Pro Beach Hockey continued to grow. He was fascinated by the league flying 60 professional hockey players to a luxurious California locale like Huntington Beach, where each team was given their own open bar with unlimited food and alcohol. 'Like, how does that play out?' he says, sounding fascinated. 'You find out in the documentary. It's complete chaos.' The chaos was part blessing, part filmmaking challenge. At first, it was difficult for Cimperman to get interviews with some of the key voices for the documentary. Driedger's theory is that Huntington Beach got a bit too wild for some athletes — not everybody wanted to revisit those days. But people he talked to about the documentary wanted to help. It turned out Bobby Ryan was a huge fan of Pro Beach Hockey when he was a kid, for example, and that Luc Robitaille and Pat Brisson — two of the biggest names in California hockey — played on the same roller hockey team back in the day. One by one, the pieces fell into place. 'We got Bobby on the documentary and he's great. He has a cool appearance where he had a crush on the host of Pro Beach Hockey … Luc Robitaille is a big part of the documentary. He was playing on rollerblades all summer on the beaches and he felt that was a bit of his edge. Same with Pat Brisson, the super agent. He and Luke were on the same roller hockey team in the summer … They bring a lot of firepower to the doc and they're both very well-spoken, very prominent people. I think it just adds a bit of legitimacy.' At this point, 'Pro Beach Hockey: Sun, Surf and Slapshots' is in its final stages of postproduction. Driedger, McCormick, and Cimperman are planning to release it later this year, capping off over three years of collaboration on a project that may not have come to fruition without Driedger's knee injury. He missed almost an entire NHL season for Seattle. He has only played two NHL games since, but continues to carve out an AHL career. Advertisement Driedger's on-ice career was in legitimate peril — ultimately leading him back to his hometown all of these years later. The Jets had been interested in Driedger for a while; it seems reasonable that they'll be interested in his AHL mentorship and NHL experience again when the 30-year-old's contract is up for renewal this summer. For his part, Driedger says he understands he has one shot to make an impression in Winnipeg, calling it a 'dream' to play for his hometown team. He's going to do everything he can to make the most of it, starting with his Winnipeg-themed mask. There will be tributes to all of his minor hockey teams: the Fort Garry Flyers, the AA Twins, and AAA Monarchs. He hopes to have another opportunity to design a Winnipeg-themed mask next season, but knows more than most that nothing is promised in the NHL. He says he's making the most of his time in Winnipeg, spending time with close family and friends, and continuing to push himself on the ice and off of it. 'There's so many ups and downs in hockey. Sometimes things are going great, you're playing fantastic, and you're moving up. You're playing in the minors and now you're in the NHL and things are exciting. But everyone has down years where things aren't going well. There's injuries. It's just a roller coaster ride, man, and I've found having something else going to keep me grounded is super, super helpful.' Driedger understands that nothing is promised in film, either. He's thrilled that athletes are starting to take media production into their own hands, but understands Sin Bin Studios won't likely start its next project with the kind of budget Michael Jordan had for 'The Last Dance' or David Beckham for 'Beckham.' 'Max and I, we learn by doing,' he says. 'The best way to learn is to go ahead, take the plunge, and go do it. It's been a blast.' (Top photo of Chris Driedger, Chris Cimperman and Max McCormick: Courtesy Jake Cimperman)
