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CFWE Radio News - August 31 - 2015

Article Origin

Author

By Hazel Martial, CFWE News

Volume

22

Issue

10

Year

2015

A 25-year-old from Alberta's Enoch Cree Nation has become the first Canadian and the first First Nations woman to win the Mrs. Universe pageant.

Ashley Callingbull, whose married name is Burnham, was crowned the winner in Belarus Saturday night.

The Mrs. Universe competition, which started in 2007, is an international beauty pageant that focuses on married contestants.

Callingbull said winning the Mrs. Universe crown is a blow against the stereotypes surrounding First Nations people. When competing in previous pageants, she said, she was judged for coming from the Enoch reserve, west of Edmonton, and told that she wasn't expected to place well in the competitions.

That made her only more determined to showcase her culture. During the competition, she wore a jingle dress, often worn during pow-wow dances. For the talent competition, Callingbull chose to sing a traditional song while wearing a white buckskin dress.

Callingbull, who is a trained dancer and professional actress, has taken part in several pageants in the past. But she said she was particularly drawn to the 2015 Mrs. Universe competition because of its theme: battling domestic violence and child abuse.

As a survivor of sexual and physical abuse, she wanted the chance to help others dealing with the same pain.



A body was found on the street Monday morning; police say it’s suspicious.

The call came in at around 3:30am about a man in his 20s, unresponsive on 95th Street between 117th And 118th Avenues.

He was confirmed dead, and now homicide detectives have taken over.

An autopsy has been scheduled for Tuesday.

95th Street was blocked for at time as officers searched for more evidence.



The Alberta government has dropped its attempt to bar an Edmonton-area mother from treating her child's epilepsy with marijuana.

The government had applied for a supervision order to stop the treatment, but will not proceed with that. It was attempting to stop Lita Pawliw from giving cannabidiol to her daughter, Natalya Lundeen.

Pawliw said the treatment, which comes in the form of a pill, helped quell the four-year-old daughter's debilitating epileptic seizures.

The government has not indicated why the application was dropped.
 
 


Thursday, August 27th at approximately 5 in the evening, the Stony Plain/ Spruce Grove RCMP responded to the call of a stabbing at Spruce Grove Skate Board Park.

It was reported that two youths had been arguing about a stolen bicycle, when the 14 year old male pulled out a hunting style knife with a 5 inch blade and cut another male youth in the hand.

The suspect was located almost immediately by police and arrested.  The victim is 15 years old he received a 2 - 3 inch cut to his left palm and was treated for his injuries.

The accused is known to police and is now facing seven charges including; Assault with Weapon, Assault Causing Bodily Harm, Possess Weapon Dangerous and 4 breaches of Condition charges.

Due to the age of both the victim and the suspect the names will not be released.