Hat’s off to Nathan Cullen, Member of Parliament for Skeena-Bulkley Valley, who has tabled a private members bill in the House of Commons called An Act to Defend the Pacific Northwest. It’s a piece of proposed legislation that will ban supertankers from transporting oil across the North Coast of British Columbia, a rugged and infinitely beautiful part of the world that could be left dripping in bitumen and chemicals if even one of these transports bursts a seam, runs ashore or afoul of the jagged rocks in a storm.

Actor Leonardo DiCaprio was in Fort McMurray for a few days to tour the oilsands for an environmental documentary he is working on, reports CBC News. DiCaprio wanted to see the oilsands first-hand and learn more about their impact. He currently serves on the board of the World Wildlife Fund and Natural Resources Defence Council and started his own environmental charity foundation in 1998. DiCaprio narrates the recently released video Carbon, which warns about climate change and depicts the fossil-fuel industry as a robotic monster stomping over the Earth.

Alberta signed a Memorandum of Understanding via videoconference with Child Protection for Western Australia to formalize a partnership to exchange knowledge, research collaboration and a potential caseworker job exchange. Australia has been leading the implementation of the Signs of Safety model. It focuses on tools to help workers determine a family’s strengths and resources to reduce the risk to the child and to create a safer healthier environment. Currently, five Delegated First Nations Agencies and all Child and Family Services regions are using Signs of Safety.

Tuberculosis rates are highest among First Nations residents, and immigrants and refugees who arrive in Alberta from countries where tuberculosis is widespread. Cases of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis are on the rise in the province, according to a new surveillance report, which examined the cases between 2010 and 2012. However, the office of the province’s chief medical officer of health, says the figures are no cause for alarm.

A two-day fatality inquiry into the suicide death of Billy Joe Crowshoe, 32, at the Drumheller Institution has resulted in no recommendations. Crowshoe hanged himself on Sept. 21, 2010, in his prison cell while serving his sentence. He made a noose out of his bed sheet, attaching the sheet to the wall 10 feet above the ground. Presiding over the inquiry was Provincial Court Judge Michael C. Dinkel.

The provincial government’s new Family and Community Safety program has $20 million to deliver to local agencies to help end child abuse, family violence, sexual assault and bullying, and to support children’s mental health. The fund will build on the work that is ongoing in communities and strengthen it by supporting new and innovative programs. “This funding will be instrumental in ending and preventing the root causes of social issues.

The Alberta government has directed the panel reviewing the Lower Athabasca Regional Plan to not consider concerns raised by the Athabasca Chipewyan, Fort McKay, Onion Lake, Cold Lake Cree, Mikisew Cree, and Chipewyan Prairie Dene First Nations, and Fort McKay Métis as they are not directly harmed by LARP. The province has also said that treaty rights do not fall within the purview of the panel. Alberta argues Aboriginal consultation will take place on frameworks within the plan dealing specifically with everything from biodiversity to air and water quality.

Ermineskin Cree Nation lawyer Danika Billie Littlechild has been named vice president of the Canadian Commission for UNESCO. Littlechild practices law with Indigenous peoples in several areas of expertise: governance, Indigenous legal systems, environment and international law. She has been a member of the CCU for more than a decade, serving as chair and vice-chair in various positions between 2003 and 2012.