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Sweetgrass and CFWE - New Briefs - January 16, 2016

Article Origin

Author

Compiled by Shari Narine

Volume

23

Issue

3

Year

2016

Alberta health minister to push Indigenous health concerns 

January 18, 2016. Alberta Health Minister Sarah Hoffman says provincial and territorial health ministers need to address the gap in Indigenous health outcomes and share knowledge on how to fight the growing addiction to fentanyl. Those will be among the topics discussed Tuesday and Wednesday when the ministers gather in Vancouver. “The gap between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Albertans is something that we all are ashamed of. I think that being born Indigenous should not mean that you have a life expectancy 10 years shorter than any other person in Alberta,” said Hoffman. The province’s infant mortality rate, for example, shows 4.6 babies out of every 1,000 births die in infancy in the general population, compared to 9.6 babies in the First Nations population.

 

 


Man wanted for theft of donation box arrested

 

 

January 17, 2016. A man charged in the theft of $200 from a donation box and impersonating another man will remain in custody following a hearing before a Justice of the Peace on Sunday. Michael Daniels was located and arrested by Cold Lake RCMP on Saturday. He was charged in relation to the theft at the Cold Lake Bottle Depot on Dec. 22, 2015, of a donation box containing $200 that was to go to the Stollery Children's Hospital in Edmonton.  Daniels also faces charges of obstructing a peace officer, personation, as well as an unrelated charge of theft under $5,000. His next court appearance is Jan. 27 at Cold Lake Provincial Court.

 

 


Explosion at Long Lake plant claims one life 

 

 

January 15, 2016. An explosion at the Nexen Long Lake Project site last Friday afternoon claimed the life of one maintenance worker and sent a second worker to hospital in critical condition.  The explosion occurred in a hydrocracker at the oilsands facility at about 3:20 p.m. Friday. Investigators have said the workers were changing a valve on a natural gas compressor before the blast. The Alberta Energy Regulator and Occupational Health and Safety officials are on site. RCMP say the investigation is in its early stages, but does not appear to be suspicious and there is no further risk to public safety. Nexen Long Lake plant, located just outside of the hamlet of Anzac, was also the site last July of a ruptured pipeline that leaked more than 31,000 barrels of a mixture of oil, water and sand into the muskeg.