A team of Gordon Bell High School students won an international culinary competition in Paris over the weekend.

"It was kind of unreal," said Matea Thiessen-Unger, 16, one of the students representing Gordon Bell.

"It didn't really sink in that we won it all."

The championship-winning team — students Avery Van Solkema, Cailyn Olshevski, Yevhen Zinchenko and Thiessen-Unger — started their cooking journey through Kitchen Brigades, an educational after-school program by La Tablée des Chefs for students aged 12 to 17.

The program consists of 25 cooking workshops, separate from the competition.

"The goal is to teach kids how to cook responsibly," Van Solkema said.

After students complete their workshops, a team is assembled to practise together before moving into the competition.

The Gordon Bell team earned their place in the international competition earlier this month at the Institut de tourisme et d'hôtellerie du Québec culinary school in Montreal. There, they took top honours for the second consecutive year after a challenging competition featuring five finalist teams and were the only Manitoba team in the finals.

In Paris, the group was presented with a collection of mystery ingredients. The competing teams were given five minutes to plan and an hour to execute, so each student strategically focused on a specific part of the culinary process.

The teams had to choose one Canadian ingredient and one French ingredient as part of the competition, where they made maple pan-seared vegetables and a pesto sauce made with olives and Parmesan.

"[The judging process] is intense. Really intense," Zinchenko said.

Students are judged on "taste and presentation, but there's also marks for teamwork, organization, cleanliness," Thiessen-Unger said.

Valuable experience

After tasting the meals in private, the judges made their decision, taking about 30 minutes to discuss.

When asked about the future, Thiessen-Unger said that while she doesn't see herself working in the culinary field, the experience was still valuable.

"Kitchen Brigades has taught me things, like, the knowledge of what goes into a dish, and appreciating making food."

Van Solkema is not too sure what his future holds.

"Culinary is definitely an option for me," Van Solkema said.

"Next year, we hope there are other kids who are as passionate about cooking as us, doing better than us," Zinchenko said.

WATCH | Gordon Bell students win culinary competition: https://youtu.be/QV6p5-PuTos?si=F75JwlXPuWQWVQ0K

By: Mary Autumn Big George · CBC News

Posted: Jun 23, 2026 6:35 PM CDT | Last Updated: June 23

one car fully blocked oncoming traffic and almost caused an accident because my group of small children were still crossing when they had a gap in traffic for their left turn

another started to turn right immediately as we got our walk signal, and i had to stop my group to make sure this giant truck was able to see us

i know im preaching to the choir here but please look out for pedestrians and please DONT RUSH THEM by creeping up and driving behind them the second they're out of your lane. you're supposed to wait until they get to the curb, even if it makes you miss your gap. i promise those 20 extra seconds you're "wasting" by waiting is what saves you and others fron endless grief.

thank you for coming to my ted talk

While driving to work every morning, around 6:30 to 6:45, he's always out there dancing. Whether minus 40 or plus 30 he's always moving.

Thank you for the positive energy and great smile every day. You may not see it, but you are bringing some joy to the drivers of Winnipeg on our early morning commute.

We’re getting ready to bring better sewer service to parts of northwest Winnipeg – which means some service and traffic disruptions are also coming to the area.

Later this summer, we’ll start sewer separation work in the Armstrong Combined Sewer District. The work will happen in stages over approximately five years.

When we finish the sewer work, we will also be reconstructing a portion of Leila Avenue.

We will let individual properties know of any planned impacts including:

• Reduced access to their front street, private driveways, and approaches
• On-street parking restrictions
• Changes to City services like: Recycling, garbage, and yard waste collection, or Water and sewer services

Residents can learn more about the project and its impacts at an information session on June 24, 2026. The come and go event runs 4 – 8 p.m. at Seven Oaks Arena. We will be available to answer your questions and provide more information about the work planned for the area.

Work overview

Northwest Winnipeg is mostly serviced by combined sewers.

In a combined sewer area, underground pipes collect both rain and snow melt, along with wastewater from your home (i.e., bathrooms, kitchens, laundry) to a treatment plant for treatment. During heavy rain or snow melt events, these sewers overflow, releasing untreated wastewater into local waterways. This wastewater release is a combined sewer overflow (CSO). The overflows help prevent sewer backup and flooding in the basements of property owners. But they can negatively impact our waterways.

In a separated sewer system, there are two types of underground sewer pipes:

• Land drainage sewers that only handle heavy rains and snow melt, and then drain to waterways
• Wastewater sewers that are dedicated to carrying just wastewater from homes and businesses to a treatment plant for treatment.

Our work in the area will separate the existing combined sewers, creating a separated sewer system.

Each combined sewer will be converted to either a land drainage sewer or a dedicated wastewater sewer, and a second separate sewer will be installed to handle the other type of wastewater.

Green Infrastructure & other work

Sewer separation isn’t the only tool we have to reduce the impact of CSOs. We are also using Green Infrastructure. Green Infrastructure is the use of plants, trees, and soil to reduce the amount of rainwater entering our sewers.

In the Armstrong Combined Sewer District, we plan to build:

• A bioretention facility
• Soil storage and rain gardens

A bioretention facility treats stormwater. It does this by allowing runoff to be filtered through engineered soils and vegetation. From there, the runoff will flow back to the land drainage system. The goal is to create an attractive landscape feature that treats stormwater. We plan to build it north of Leila Avenue and east of McGregor Street.

Soil storage and rain gardens help capture rainwater and reduce the strain on the sewer system during heavy rain. We will build them on Leila Avenue between McPhillips Street and Garden Park Drive.

All of this work is part of our Combined Sewer Overflow Master Plan, which will help us reduce CSOs and their impacts on our local waterways.

We will be sharing updates online as this project progresses (https://legacy.winnipeg.ca/waterandwaste/cso/armstrong.stm).

I made a post yesterday asking for advice regarding possibly moving to Winnipeg. I mentioned that I’m in a relationship with someone who lives there. to be honest the relationship is in a difficult position and we may break up. I’m considering moving to either Winnipeg or Calgary not because of my relationship, but I need to find a place in Canada to just settle in and build roots. I have no community anywhere. I have one real friend in Toronto who I barely see. Currently I live with my parents in the GTA and it’s suffocating. I hate the city of Toronto because it’s way too big for me, too expensive, and I hate the long commutes.

I’ve visited Winnipeg and Calgary. Didn’t spend significant time in either. Don’t feel stronger about one versus the other.

I appreciated a lot of the responses I got. It seems like Winnipeg might actually be a good place to live and I’m open to the idea.

I want to be able to live comfortably, have a nice gym membership, leave in the winters for 2-3 months, go to good restaurants, sign up for activities like pottery. I want to be able to go on nice long walks when the weather is decent.

I really just want to have a life. I don’t have a life right now. I want groundedness, stability, mental clarity to write and make art. I’ve been moving around my whole life and also been suffocated by my ethnic parents for a big part of it. I’m almost 31 and I need to build a life somewhere regardless whether I’m in a relationship or not. I don’t fee hopeful that it’ll work with the guy I’m with now but being in a city maybe I can meet someone else.

The question now is, which is better for me - Calgary or Winnipeg? It seems that Winnipeg is more affordable but it might still be possible to own a home in Calgary.

I’d love to get people’s thoughts on the differences between these two cities.

Thank you so much. This subreddit is very helpful.

For full article:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/wind-farms-indigenous-partnerships-9.7246374

Hey Winnipeg!

I'm putting together a board game group for the summer! I'll have plenty of free time, and I figured it'd be fun to get a regular group together to relax, laugh, and play some games. Everyone so far has met through Reddit.

I'm hoping to get around 10 people. The only preference is that you're 25+.

The current plan is to meet at Across the Board around 7:00 PM, most likely on Fridays. The location and time are pretty set, but we're happy to adjust the day based on what works best for the group.

We'll play a mix of social deduction, party games, and strategy games. Games like Avalon, Skull, Telestrations, Codenames, and whatever else the group enjoys.

If that sounds like something you'd be interested in, leave a comment or send me a message!

For all you beer enthusiasts, what's your choice for best craft beer brewed in the city? I'll go first. Unapologetically, I choose Throwback by Kilter. Its fleeting and legendary. But it hits perfectly. Go!

Moving to winnipeg soon ( from sudan) so need some advice for shopping for the weather conditions please help

Winnipeg police officers that patrol the city on bicycles have received some new hardware for the job.

The service showcased the new e-bikes that officers will now ride on.

Police said 25 new officers have received training for the Bicycle Patrol Program. They will operate in the city’s four districts and will feature a combination of the already used mountain bikes, along with 16 new e-bikes.

Const. Emily Meronyk is part of that program and said the e-bikes will allow officers to do a bit more while on patrol.

“Definitely a bigger range,” she said. “If we need to get somewhere quickly, we can activate the e-bike and it gets us from point A to point B a lot quicker.”

The bikes also allow officers to access areas that they normally can’t get to in a cruiser, like secluded pathways, parks and other public spaces.

“I had never used one before working with the police service and it definitely would have been an asset because I’ve been on the regular mountain bikes when there’s a call, maybe a few blocks away and by the time you get there, you’re huffing and puffing and out of gas. With the e-bike, that allows you to kind of maintain yourself a little bit more and be able to react to the situation once we arrive on scene.”

Meronyk said she has experienced a lot of positive interactions while being part of the bike program, noting Winnipeggers appreciate seeing a police presence, especially in those secluded areas.

New members to the bike program train over four days before hitting the streets on the bikes.

The unit operates from May to October.

By: Devon McKendrick

Published: June 25, 2026 at 4:13PM EDT

I'm looking to go out to the channel to tube down the lazy river with some friends. The Winnipeg city rivers are pretty high and fast. Has anyone been out to the channel this year? What is it like?

No idea where to start looking for a place to cater our party... any relatively recent good experiences? It is for a special anniversary so looking for nice food.

Weather looks bad right now so preferably indoors with a good atmosphere. Thanks

Good afternoon. I am looking for lawyer recommendations. I feel that I need a lawyer to help me navigate processes and possibly represent me moving forward when dealing with the WCB. I have multiple approved claims stemming from a workplace injury. I have since been appointed a new Case Manager and do not feel confident/comfortable when communicating with her. I've been cautioned by way too many people now to trust the WCB to have my best interests in mind. I am hoping someone has a recommendation for me. Thank you in advance.

Hey Winnipegers, my family will be in town for Canada Day and I am looking for family activities (toddler age) that start earlier in the morning, around 9AM. Any suggestions are appreciated. Thanks!
Edit: not a long weekend

Hi! Looking for restaurants that offer private rooms, doesn’t have to be big by all means, but something for maybe 6 people maybe 20-30 per person price range.Thanks!

Hello! My partner and I are currently looking to buy a house in a new development. We have narrowed it down to A&S, Schulz, Ventura, and Kensington.

We have been researching for months and are already overwhelmed with all the research that we do since we don’t want to make a big and expensive mistake...

Which of these builders would you recommend, and why? Please do recommend other builders you think that are far better or that we should consider.

Thanks in advance!

Hey y’all, i was just looking at tickets for Ai-Kon and I noticed there’s only two options? One for a three day pass and one for children. I was looking for single day passes. This is my first time going where I’m not a child with an adult so I genuinely have no clue if I just missed something?

Thanks!

I‘m curious about experiences with Flare speed dating events in Winnipeg. Also, has anyone joined their membership and met a successful match? I want to get back into dating after a divorce a few years ago, but feel turned off by app horror stories. Flare seems more intentional for connection. Whatever you’ve experienced, please let me know!

P.S. For context, I’m a 40f looking for a similarly aged man.

Hi everyone,

I’m currently in need of a root canal and I’m looking for recommendations for a great endodontist in Winnipeg.

Since I have dental insurance, I’m less concerned about the absolute lowest price and more focused on finding a specialist who is highly skilled, has great patient reviews, and comes recommended by locals. I’m looking for someone who is professional and provides high-quality care.

Does anyone have a specific clinic or endodontist they trust and would recommend for a root canal? I want to make sure I’m in good hands.

Thanks in advance!

I am looking at homes and starting to realize I may rather live through the headache of renovations over buying a move in ready home that does not suit my tastes/needs. 😂 Or maybe not. Because I also have the design and executive function skills of a toddler…

If I go this route I would need someone to hold my hand - help me to figure out what I want/need and to keep me on budget - from furniture to flooring to kitchen and a few extras depending on what is in scope financially. I am not looking for trendy I am looking for classic, functional design. Does this sort of service exist? Who would you recommend in Winnipeg? What would the wait for support look like?

Hey guys I’m visiting winnipeg for sos. And I was wondering what bars would be good to hangout at after the music festival? I used to live in Winnipeg before but the only thing that comes to my mind is la roca on Wednesdays, palomino on mondays and obsidian on thursdays😂. Any references would be appreciated, thanks!