Seventeen months of collaboration between Portage College and Devon Canada has resulted in the creation of the first Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage Operator program. The program begins this fall at the Lac La Biche campus. The SAGD Operator program produces fourth class power engineers who are specially trained to work in oil and gas water processing and treatment facilities. “Since no industrial water treatment course existed we decided to address the need directly,” said Cal Watson, Vice President Thermal Heavy Oil Operations for Devon Canada, in a news release.

The Energy Resources Conservation Board has approved Enbridge Inc. applications to construct and operate two pump stations and a pipeline that would transport diluted bitumen from Fort McMurray to Sherwood Park. The proposed pipeline route generally parallels several existing pipelines and is approximately 385 km in length. It is proposed to transport an initial capacity of 400,000 barrels per day of diluted bitumen containing no hydrogen sulphide.

A study by Roland Dyck and fellow University of Saskatchewan researcher Nathaniel Osgood from the Indigenous People’s Health Research Centre reveals that pre-adolescent and adolescent First Nations girls face higher rates of diabetes than other children in Saskatchewan. Using data gathered from the Saskatchewan Ministry of Health, Dyck and Osgood tracked the rates of diabetes in both First Nations and non-First Nations populations in Saskatchewan over 25 years from 1980 to 2005. This groundbreaking work covers a longer time period than any other childhood diabetes study done in Canada.

Dr. Lynn Wells is the Vice-President Academic for the First Nations University of Canada. Her five-year term began July 1. Wells has been seconded to the VP role from the University of Regina since June 1, 2011. “It is more than an honour for me to be asked to take on this role for the FNUniv community. All of my work here has been a labour of love, an act of passion and commitment. We are doing exciting things at this university and I feel very privileged to have the opportunity to contribute to building the future of First Nations people,” Wells said in a news release.

Charmaine Gamble from Prince Albert is one of 30 students chosen as a finalist for her video about the culture and history of the Cree Nation. Said Charmaine, “I have a real connection and pride between my cultural roots and the person I am today.” Two hundred students from coast to coast had their videos viewed and then 30 finalists were chosen through online voting.

July 17-20 marked the last memorial run for University of Saskatchewan student Daleen Bosse, the 26-year-old who went missing from Jax Night Club in Saskatoon in 2004. A lengthy police investigation led to the discovery of Bosse’s remains in a secluded area near Martensville in August 2008. Douglas Hales, a bouncer at the downtown nightclub, was arrested and charged with first degree murder. His trial was to begin in October, but a delay regarding his legal representation has postponed the start date to April 15, 2013.

Johns receives CTF award

Michel Paul seemed like any other reluctant 15-year-old boy when his mother, Helene Paul, suggested he join Air Cadets. Originally from Kuujjuaq, a remote community in northern Quebec, the Inuit youth moved to Cold Lake at the age of seven when his mother was posted to the base there. She had seen the value and discipline that could be gained from military training, and so she encouraged her only son to get involved.

CFWE Radio’s Bingo Manager Anna Giles has an elegant,  needle-point sign hanging on her office door that reads “Happiness is yelling “Bingo”!

Is this true? I wondered, keeping the question in mind as I set off with her this past July on a junket across northern Alberta to touch base with bingo players and card sellers. On this trip, Anna focused on the Peace River and High Level areas, and I was along for the ride as a writer for Alberta Sweetgrass and radio reporter for CFWE – both subsidiaries of the Aboriginal Multi-Media Society of Alberta.