Edmonton News Briefs - April 2013

Artist-in-residence shares gifts

Holly Rae Yuzicapi, from the Standing Buffalo Dakota Nation in Southern Saskatchewan, worked with 24 junior high students from several Edmonton Public Schools as part of an Aboriginal Art workshop themed Share Your Story. Yuzicapi is the EPS artist-in-residence. The workshop allowed Aboriginal students to have an enriching artistic experience guided by a recognized Aboriginal artist. The students’ work, which was created with acrylic paint, mixed media and traditional arts, will be displayed at the Stanley A. Milner Art Gallery in June.

TRC hears stories from Edmonton’s inner-city

Commissioner Wilton Littlechild, of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, was at the Boyle Street Community Services on March 23, listening to residential school survivors. The commission’s visit to Edmonton’s inner city is part of the TRC’s mandate to gather stories from residential school survivors and their descendants as part of a comprehensive historical record on the policies and operations of the schools. Sharing circles and private statements occurred throughout the day. The TRC’s final national event will take place in Edmonton in the spring of 2014. A closing ceremony will follow in Ottawa.

Historical sexual exploitation examined

The underlying historical context of the Aboriginal peoples will be one of the topics covered in a two-day conference hosted by the Edmonton Sexual Exploitation Working Group. Other topics to be examined will be youth involvement in sexual exploitation, the invisibility of boys/men involved in sexual exploitation, and the use of the internet as an exploitation vehicle. Lewis Cardinal is one of the keynote speakers and will be joined by Dr. Sue McIntyre, Crown Prosecutor Craig Krieger and Trauma Counsellor John Walker. The conference, which takes place April 25 and 26, corresponds with the Edmonton Sexual Exploitation Week of Awareness April 22-26.

ACWS receives funding for program

The Alberta Council of Women’s Shelters recently received $200,000 for a 24-month project to engage young men and boys in ending violence against women and girls. The target population is male youth in the Edmonton area. Through the project, the council will work with its member shelters, youth mentoring programs and leaders in engaging men to develop processes and tools for involving young men in ending gender-based violence. This project is being supported under Status of Women Canada’s recent Call for Proposals Working Together: Engaging communities to end violence against women and girls. It aligns with the specific theme of engaging men and boys in ending violence against women and girls. “This groundbreaking approach has led our government to support innovative projects like this one, which will engage young men and boys in our community in ending violence against women and girls,” said Minister for Status of Women Rona Ambrose in a news release.

Boyle Renaissance addresses homing issues

The first phase of the Boyle Renaissance, part of the Quarters Downtown redevelopment effort, is complete and work is underway on Phase II. The Métis Capital Housing Corporation’s new facility, Renaissance Tower, will offer 90 residential units catering to the needs of Aboriginal people, seniors and people with disabilities. The facility is a partnership with the City of Edmonton, the Canadian Paraplegic Association, and the Boyle Street Community League. The $22 million project will receive $5.6 million in capital funding from the City’s Cornerstones Affordable Housing Program, as well as a capital contribution of $6 million from the Métis Capital Housing Corporation. Both the provincial and federal governments are also contributing.

Renewed federal dollars to help Aboriginal homelessness

Homeward Trust Edmonton will distribute Homelessness Partnering Strategy funding of more than $19.4 million to local organizations. This funding will help provide stable and affordable housing, as well as support services, to vulnerable Aboriginal people and people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness in Edmonton. Funding was announced for the federal program in mid-March. “By partnering with local organizations to provide essential services to people in need, we are doing our part to prevent and address homelessness in Alberta,” said Minister of State (Democratic Reform) Tim Uppal, in a news release. The government has renewed the HPS until March 2014.

Compiled by Shari Narine