Reg Rygus
There are some who think that any publicity is good, but its doubtful that Edmonton Centre MP Randy Boissonnault would agree with them. Boissonnault's name has been in the news for over a year because of his past association with medical supply company Global Health Imports that he co-founded and most recently for conflicting claims about his family’s Indigenous heritage. Although Boissonnault denies his detractors allegations and insinuations of wrong doings and no charges have been laid against him calls mount for Liberal cabinet minister to resign.
for various reasons and although no charges have been laid calls mount for the Liberal cabinet minister to resign. Many of the probels
On Tuesday the Edmonton Elks announced that Ed Hervey will become the new Vice President of Football Operations and General Manager of the Edmonton Elks. Hervey and Elks President and CEO Chris Morris will address the media Wednesday morning at Commonwealth Stadium. Hervey played the entirety of his eight-year CFL career (1999-2006) and was on the team with Elks President and CEO Chris Morris when Edmonton won two Grey Cups (2003 and 2005). Hervey built an Edmonton team that went 14-4 in 2015 and captured the Grey Cup with a 26-20 win over the Ottawa Redblacks.
Hervey will now begin the process of hiring a head coach and assembling his football operations staff in preparation for the 2025 season, the team said.
Edmonton Police Service data shows that from January to the end of August this year more than 5,600 Edmontonians reported being scammed for a total of $37 million. Julie Matthews, a fraud prevention educator says new scams are coming out regularly and scammers are getting more clever all the time especially in using technology.
The two red panda cubs named Fred and George that were introduced to Edmonton on Friday were actually born about four months. Laura Castor, an animal care supervisor with the zoo, said Fred & George are adventurous and mischievous, like the red-headed Weasley twins in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series. Red pandas are an endangered species, with fewer than 2,500 remaining in the wild, including near the foothills of the Himalaya mountain range.
Edmonton's Sikh community makes an annual donation to Edmonton’s Food Bank, but because of the struggles the Food Bank is experiencing this year the Sikh community added an extra donation of both food and funds. The Sikh community just opened Gurdwara Dukh Nivaran Sahib the Sikh temple or community centre in south Edmonton. Sikh community leader Gursharan Buttar said Sikhism's fundamental teachings are working hard and sharing with the needy, and people are feeling that it’s time to share with the most vulnerable in our community.
- There is only one meeting at City Hall this week. The Agenda Review Committee will meet on Tuesday at 8:30 am. No agenda is available for this meeting yet.
- Councillors are working to manage a projected $34 million deficit while discussing options for a property tax increase in 2025. City Administration recommended an 8.1% increase, but some Councillors expressed dissatisfaction with this proposal. We think this is unacceptable. Council should be cutting taxes, not raising them, and they could absolutely afford to do so if they got wasteful spending under control. If you agree, please sign our petition calling on Council to get “Back To Basics”.
- Edmonton Transit numbers show a record-breaking 6.4 million rides in October - a 22% increase from the previous year. Factors such as affordability are driving more Edmontonians to choose transit over driving, with many citing the cost savings from avoiding car insurance and parking fees. The Valley Line Southeast also hit a milestone with 300,000 monthly riders, doubling since its opening. On-demand transit services reached a new high, with over 72,000 riders. The City is on track to surpass 60 million riders by the end of 2024.
- Alberta’s government is beginning consultations to draft new curriculums for junior high subjects, including math, social studies, physical education, and Career and Life Management (CALM). Feedback will focus on integrating career education, financial literacy, life skills, and home maintenance to prepare students for life beyond school. The drafts will align with the newly implemented elementary curriculum and are set to be introduced in the 2026-27 school year. Education partners, subject experts, and teachers will review and provide input on the content, with opportunities for schools to pilot the curriculum in the 2025-26 school year. Our friends at the Alberta Parents’ Union will have plenty more to say about this, so be sure to subscribe to their newsletter if you want to follow the discussion!
- The Alberta government is considering adding citizenship status to driver’s licences as part of an effort to enhance election security. Service Alberta Minister Dale Nally said it would help ensure voters are Canadian citizens. Premier Danielle Smith highlighted concerns over potential foreign interference, emphasizing the need to strengthen trust in elections. Although the proposal is still in the early stages, Nally’s office noted it is part of a broader plan to modernize registries.
- The Province says that its voluntary water-sharing agreements were a major success, bringing together municipalities, industries, and irrigation districts to reduce water usage during a challenging drought season. Covering the Red Deer, Bow, and Oldman river sub-basins, these agreements led municipalities like Lethbridge and Medicine Hat to surpass water reduction goals. The agreements will remain in place until the end of 2024.
The Alberta government’s policies on gender identity policies in schools were introduced to the Legislature on October 31st as Bill 27.
In short, we got both a little more and a little less than we were promised when the ideas were first introduced in January.
The Alberta Teachers’ Association and their front group, the Alberta School Councils Association, oppose the Bill.
They claim to speak for parents, yet in opposing the Bill they prove, again, that they fundamentally distrust parents.
Bill 27 includes parents more in their children’s education by including us more in the decisions that schools have been excluding parents from.
Here at the Alberta Parents’ Union, we think that’s a good thing.
If you’re already familiar with Bill 27, you can become a member of the Alberta Parents’ Union now, by clicking here.
Otherwise, read on as we explore what Bill 27 says, giving special attention to what is different from the January 31st announcement.
Rights In Emergencies
During the COVID-19 era, parents were prevented from having a say in their children’s education.
Schools were closed and COVID restrictions dramatically affected education, often against parents’ wishes.
Bill 27 enshrines a right to education (in-person or online), even in an emergency.
It also requires schools to seek a parent’s consent to other emergency health measures, like masking, for students younger than 16.
While this wasn’t part of the January 31st announcement, it is consistent with the communications parents have been giving to and receiving from this government.
Shifting expectations away from schools abandoning their most basic deal with parents - that they will be open and provide an education - is certainly a pro-parent policy.
Names And Pronouns
Exactly as announced in January, Bill 27 will require schools to inform parents if students begin to use a new name or pronouns in school.
For students age 15 and under, parents must also consent to this change.
You wouldn’t know it from the media attention this issue has received, but this is actually the current status quo policy at many school divisions.
And contrary to the gloom and doom predictions of some, there is no crisis emerging in the school divisions that have already adopted this policy.
Still, this Bill is necessary, because other school divisions, including the largest ones with the most students, have policies prohibiting disclosure of names or pronouns to parents and removing any discretion from teachers and principals to do so.
The lack of any discretion that is permitted in existing school policies is already leading to a large number of absurd policy results (and we’ll have more to say on this issue shortly), but the goal should be to reduce these kinds of unintended outcomes, not exacerbate them.
Notice And Consent
Also, as announced in January, parents will be given notice and the opportunity to affirmatively consent before their children are given formal instruction on sexual orientation, gender identity, or human sexuality.
Changing this notice and consent regime from an opt-out to an opt-in empowers parents and incentivizes schools to be more forthcoming with the content they intend to teach.
If the participation rate in these classes falls, as opponents of Bill 27 fear, that would be an indication that schools have not been honest with parents about what content they are teaching.
Encouraging schools to trust parents is bound to also help parents trust schools in return, and public schools should be worthy of the public trust.
Unfortunately, contrary to what was indicated in January, the opt-in notice only applies to lessons “primarily and explicitly” about sexual orientation, gender identity, or human sexuality.
This loophole is how the ATA’s “Prism Toolkit” is able to be used in K-12 classrooms.
The toolkit’s lesson plans are supposedly “primarily and explicitly” about math or social studies, but are written and actually compiled for their sexual content.
We are concerned that, if Prism Toolkit lessons can be used in K-12 classes without parental consent, this portion of this law will not deliver on its promise of parental inclusion in any substantial way.
Approval Of Resources
There’s also been a similar loophole introduced to the portion of the law that requires supplementary resources on sexual orientation, gender identity, or human sexuality to be approved by Alberta Education.
Approval will only be required when the material is “primarily and explicitly” about one of those topics.
While the rest of this portion of the Bill reflects what we were promised in January, we said then that we prefer disclosure to parents over approval by the Education Ministry.
We believe parents are better than politicians and families are better than functionaries at knowing what is age-appropriate for children.
Ministry approval also opens up the possibility that Catholic or independent schools that prefer more traditional materials on these topics could face roadblocks, especially with a different Education Minister.
We also believe disclosure to parents should be broader than simply the topics of sexual orientation, gender identity, or human sexuality.
We believe it shouldn’t be nearly so daunting, and sometimes impossible, for parents to find out what their child is learning, no matter the topic.
Alliances Are Exempt
Minister Nicolaides clarified immediately after the January 31st announcement that Gay Straight Alliances and Queer Straight Alliances would be exempt from the requirements of what we now know as Bill 27.
Yet, his rationale then was that GSAs and QSAs have no formal instruction or curriculum.
If GSAs and QSAs have no formal instruction, it is left for parents to wonder why Bill 27 exempts formal instruction in GSAs and QSAs from all its requirements.
What You Can Do
As always, we encourage you to speak up and have your voice heard.
If you have an opinion on this legislation, you can provide feedback to Premier Smith at premier@gov.ab.ca and Minister Nicolaides at education.minister@gov.ab.ca.
We suggest thanking them for following through with many of their promises from January 31st, but emphasize that the “primarily and explicitly” loophole must be closed, so that all formal classroom instruction on sexual orientation, gender identity, or human sexuality requires affirmative parental consent.
Still, overall, we're thrilled to see the Government of Alberta correct a series of provincial and school board policies that drifted into absurdity, without parent input.
This legislation is important.
It is a win for parents and children.
And, it could be even better with your help.
We don’t expect busy parents to read every Bill and understand how best to advocate for greater parental voice.
That’s why we’re here.
Our goal is to represent you, and advocate for your views.
A recliner fell off the back of a pickup truck and was hit by a car driven by a woman who sustained injuries from which she never recovered and a few days later took her life. The articles below cover the details of what happened but the reason I think its worth posting has to do with lessons to learn.
Firstly, if carrying any kind of a load on a truck/trailer make certain it is securely tied down. There are so many different objects being transported and it takes having the proper equipment (straps, cables, ropes, etc) and know how to safely secure them. Obviously the falling recliner was not secured properly.
Second, beware if you are driving or a passenger in a vehicle, especially a car that is behind a truck/trailer loaded with a visible object/s. Do not assume the load is safely secured and keep an exaggerated distance between the carrier and your vehicle.
Thirdly, there are limits on what objects can be safely transported in a car/van so don't make the mistake of using your vehicle when a truck or trailer should be used.
Restorative Justice: The Journey to Healing
Explore this article, written in recognition of National Restorative Justice Week, which examines Canada’s efforts to integrate restorative justice into the formal justice system, discusses ongoing challenges, and more.
Housing and Homelessness: Terminology and Word Choices
The realm of housing, shelters, and homelessness is complex and varied. Someone unfamiliar to the housing sector may understandably be confused by some of the terminology and the meaning behind it. We have created this glossary list to help readers better understand this topic.
Edmonton’s Living Wage
Next week, we'll be launching the Alberta Living Wage 2024. In the meantime, why not check out the report we created last year? It will give you a great opportunity to compare this year's data with that of last year.
Building Relationships to Shape Our City | Connecting with under-heard communities
Complete the survey, which takes 3-5 minutes, to let your voice be heard and contribute to decision-making by the City of Edmonton.
Housing Cures Homelessness
Come & wrap yourself in a blanket or tarp to show what life is like for the 4000+ homeless people in our city.
When November 23rd, 2024, at 1:00 pm.
Where: North Plaza, Legislature Grounds.
