Edmonton Briefs - December

Alberta cities gather to look at homelessness
The Seven Cities of Alberta hosted the Road Home Conference on Homelessness, Nov. 15 -17 in Edmonton. The conference featured two and a half days of sessions from leading experts and practitioners in the areas of homelessness and related services, including a half-day session about a national forum on homelessness. Keynote speakers included Mark Horvath, Founder of InvisiblePeople.TV, David Stroh and John McGah, “A Systems Approach to Ending Homelessness,” and Calvin Helin, author of The Economic Dependency Trap.

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New scholarship created for NorQuest
HSBC Bank Canada has donated $75,000 to NorQuest College to create an endowment fund for Aboriginal students at the college. The announcement of the gift, which establishes the HSBC Band Canada Aboriginal Award, was made early last month. The award will be presented annually. Beginning this month, December 2010, the award will provide eligible students with financial assistance in the form of an undergraduate scholarship of $3,750. Priority will be given to full-time students enrolled in career programs. NorQuest serves over 11,000 students, with campuses in Edmonton, Westaskiwin and Stony Plain. NorQuest also offers on-line learning.

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Environmental conference held at U of A
The annual Everyone’s Downstream conference was held Nov.25-28 at the University of Alberta. It brought together community members, activists and others fighting the global infrastructure of the tar sands gigaproject. This year’s themes included The Tar Sands go Global: reports from Madagascar, Trinidad and more; Environmental NGOs, secret deals, and how to build a democratic, transparent environmental movement; and, Ongoing resistance to pipelines, refineries, and other tar sands infrastructure.

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Visiting artist a local alumni
Tanya Harnett, an Assiniboine and member of the Carry the Kettle First Nation, presented a free lecture at Grant MacEwan on Nov. 19, as part of the Fine Art Program Visiting Artist series. Harnett received her bachelor and master of fine arts degrees from the University of Alberta. Much of her work is photo based and incorporates traces of her Aboriginal heritage. Harnett’s most recent 2009 solo exhibition, Personae Grata, was featured at the Southern Alberta Art Gallery in Lethbridge. Harnett is currently an assistant professor in the Native American Studies and Art Department at the University of Lethbridge.

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Tragic deaths on LRT track
Two teenagers who died Nov. 9 after being hit by an LRT train near 82 street were former students of Amiskwaciy Academy. Jamie Kootenay, 19, was pronounced dead at the scene, while Delia Papastesis, 19, died at the hospital. Papastesis was trapped under the second car and was lifted out after about an hour. The Edmonton Journal reported that homicide detectives had been called in to rule whether the deaths were accidental. Victim Services and the critical incident stress management team provided support to witnesses, family and emergency responders.

Compiled by Shari Narine