Edmonton Briefs - October

SHINE hosts community barbecue

The SHINE Youth Clinic, located in the Boyle McCauley Health Centre, added one more service to their long list of help given to inner-city residents, when they hosted a barbecue at the beginning of September.  The SHINE Youth Clinic is run by student volunteers and supervised by practicing physicians and trained health professionals every Saturday afternoon. SHINE provides an alternative to the traditional health care system that many inner-city youth feel uncomfortable accessing. Youth drop-in to use a variety of services without having to answer unnerving questions or provide identification or an Alberta Health number. Some of the services include medical exams, dental, health and nutrition information and psychological counselling. Youth also have access to hot coffee, food, socks, toques, and temporary refuge from the cold. Patients are seen for as much time as required to provide complete care, including time for treating multiple symptoms and answering questions.

Aboriginal women recognized by U of A

Three University of Alberta graduates were recently recognized by their alma mater for outstanding contributions to their communities. Claire Clark, co-founder and executive director of the Aboriginal Women’s Professional Association and founding member of the Edmonton Aboriginal Business Association, received the 2011 Alumni Horizon Award, which recognizes the outstanding achievements of University of Alberta alumni early in their careers. Cora Weber-Pillwax and Linda R. Gadwa received the Alumni Honour Award, which recognizes the significant contributions made by alumni over a number of years in their local communities and beyond. Weber-Pillwax, whose teaching career began in 1968, has devoted her life’s work to supporting community-based and community-driven initiatives to advance the aspirations and goals of Aboriginal communities. Gadwa is an educator highly respected for her innovative leadership at Kehewin Community Education Centre, where she served.

Charter school joins APPLE program

Mother Earth’s Children’s Charter School is one of the newest additions to the First Nations, Métis and Inuit APPLE Schools program, which is a partnership with the University of Alberta. The Alberta Project Promoting active Living & healthy Eating in Schools (APPLE Schools) has expanded to 40 schools, which includes urban, rural, and FNMI schools. Since 2008, APPLE Schools has been operating in 10 Edmonton-area schools to create environments that support lifelong health and learning. Under the direction of Paul Veugelers, a professor in the School of Public Health whose research on health-promoting school programs has received international attention, the program has been instrumental in creating healthy school communities in Alberta. MECCS is the only Indigenous Charter School in Canada serving both on and off reserve families from neighbouring communities.

Homeless pregnant women focus of new project

Boyle Street Community Services has received a $900,000 grant through Alberta’s Safe Communities to fund Streetworks’ Supports for Homeless Pregnant Women project. Women targeted by the project may be exposed to risk factors such as addictions, poverty, victimization, communicable diseases, criminal activity and family violence. The project aims to reduce these factors, ultimately resulting in healthy births. “Women who are street-involved and pregnant face multiple barriers in staying healthy throughout their pregnancy. Often survival issues have a higher priority than pregnancy issues for this group of women. This can lead to negative judgments by people who don’t understand the struggles they face,” said Marliss Taylor, Streetworks project manager, in a news release. “This program will work with women where they are at, in a harm reduction context, building upon their strengths and enabling moms to meet their full potential. It has a large outreach component and will work with other agencies that provide services to this population.” Funding will be distributed over three years.

Laboucan indicted on another murder charge

It took 45 minutes into the trial of Joseph Laboucan for the judge to issue a guilty verdict in the death of Ellie May Meyer, 33, who was found in a field near Fort Saskatchewan on May 7, 2005. Laboucan is already serving a life sentence for the murder of teenager Nina Courtepatte. RCMP believed he committed the second murder just days after killing Meyer. Michael Briscoe was also charged in the deaths of both Meyer and Courtepatte. His trial is separate from Laboucan’s.

Drilling to begin on Alexander First Nation

Canadian Quantum, with operating partner Sundance Energy Corporation, is preparing to drill an initial test well, on the recently acquired jointly held permit comprised of approximately 27 sections of land underlying the Alexander First Nations reserve. The First Nation lands have the potential for multi-zone light oil and natural gas production at relatively shallow depths with existing infrastructure in the area. Drilling operations are scheduled to begin late November.

Compiled by Shari Narine