Edmonton News Briefs - April 2014

Celebrating forgotten birthdays in style

The Métis fiddlers from Prince Charles school performed at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s birthday party on the final day of the seventh national event. The birthday celebrations recognize all those children who attended residential schools but never had their birthdays marked.

Blackstone, a series produced by Prairie Dog Film + Television, earned 13 nominations for the 2014 Alberta Film & Television Awards, also known as the Rosies. Blackstone, a gritty made-in-Edmonton television drama about power and politics on a fictional First Nations reserve, was also a finalist this year in five categories, including best dramatic series, at the prestigious Canadian Screen Awards. Prairie Dog, an Edmonton company, had the most nominations, with 16. The show will begin filming its fourth season this spring. Winners will be announced at the awards gala April 12 in Calgary.

Mark Holmgren, CEO of Bissell Centre, is one of 16 people named to Mayor Don Iveson’s task force to eliminate poverty. A member from the Aboriginal community will also be joining the task force. The task force includes members from the University of Alberta, the business sector, non-profit sector, and the clergy. The mandate of the task force is to prepare and present city council with a report on poverty in Edmonton which includes information on the nature, extent, and causes of poverty within the Edmonton region; a concrete plan for eliminating poverty in Edmonton within a generation; and recommendations on how to implement the plan.

MLA Pearl Calahasen, architect Douglas Cardinal, Chief Wilton Littlechild and Métis Nation of Alberta president Audrey Poitras were inducted into the Dreamspeakers Festival Society’s Aboriginal Walk of Honour on March 29. The four Aboriginal leaders placed their handprints into a concrete block. Calahasen, first Aboriginal woman elected to public office in Alberta, is the longest serving female MLA in Alberta history and was minister of a number of Cabinet portfolios. Cardinal’s architectural work is influenced by his Aboriginal heritage. His most notable designs are the Canadian Museum of Civilization, National Museum of the American Indian, and Edmonton Space and Science Centre. Littlechild is a member of the U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues and U.N. Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as well as commissioner for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Poitras is one of the highest profile Métis women in Canada, the first woman elected to lead the MNA and the person to hold that position the longest.

Former Edmonton Mayor Stephen Mandel, who established the Edmonton Committee to End Homelessness, was named the 2014 winner of the Larry Shaben Award for Outstanding Leadership in the Housing Sector. In 2009, Mandel and city council unanimously adopted A Place to Call Home – Edmonton’s 10 Year Plan to End Homelessness. Colleen Mustus, of the Bent Arrow Traditional Healing Society, won Outstanding Service for the Aboriginal Community. She has brought the education and practice of Culture and Spirituality to positively impact growth and stability for participants in the Nikihk Aboriginal Housing First Program. Other ROOPH winners are Capital Region Housing Corporation – Parkdale Residential for Excellence in Building Design; Miles Kohan and Annu Kaul for Exceptional Volunteerism in the Housing Sector; and Linda Hut, City Hall School – City of Edmonton and the Edmonton Public School Board for Partnerships for Success. Recognizing Outstanding Organizations and People in Housing (ROOPH) Awards are handed out annually by Homeward Trust Edmonton.

Compiled by Shari Narine