Sweetgrass and CFWE news - April 11, 2016

Mulcair to be replaced as NDP leader

April 10, 2016. Delegates voted on Sunday to replace Thomas Mulcair as leader of the federal New Democratic Party. Mulcair received only 48 per cent support of the vote from about 1,800 delegates in a leadership review held in Edmonton. “This weekend, in the best traditions of our party, we gathered for lively and respectful debate — and to chart a path forward together. The membership's desire for change and renewal has been heard,” said NDP National Director Karl Bélanger in a statement. The party has given itself up to two years to select a new leader, and Mulcair says he will stay on until then. Mulcair took over as leader in 2012, after the NDP won official opposition status under Jack Layton, who passed away shortly after the 2011 election. In the 2015 election, the NDP lost more than half its seats, dropping to third party status with 44 seats. In 2015, the NDP boasted the most Indigenous candidates of any party, at 22, with five of those running in Alberta. Alberta had seven Indigenous candidates.

Van Camp, Dumont shortlisted for Alberta writing awards

April 8, 2016. Indigenous writers Richard Van Camp and Marilyn Dumont have been announced as finalists for the 2016 Alberta Literary Awards. Van Camp, from the Dogrib Nation from Fort Smith, Northwest Territories, has been shortlisted for two awards: Georges Bugnet Award for Fiction for his novel Night Moves and Howard O’Hagan Award for Short Story for “Born a Girl.” Van Camp served as writer-in-residence at both the University of Alberta and MacEwan University. Dumont, of Cree-Metis ancestry, has been shortlisted for the Stephan G. Stephansson Award for Poetry for her work The Pemmican Eaters. Dumont has served as writer-in-residence at the UAlberta and MacEwan, as well as taught at UAlberta. Jurors deliberated on more than 200 submissions to select 25 finalists in eight categories. Winners will be announced and awards presented at the Alberta Literary Awards Gala on June 4 in Calgary.

Gleichen RCMP officers threatened

April 8, 2016. An individual has been arrested for making threatening phone calls to the Gleichen RCMP. At approximately 5 p.m. on Friday, the RCMP received phone calls threatening harm and death directed specifically at Gleichen RCMP police officers. A suspect was arrested without incident and subsequently transported to hospital under the Mental Health Act to receive professional psychiatric care.