Edmonton Briefs - February 2012

New housing for those in need

Edward Street opened its doors to the community on Jan. 23 with a ribbon cutting done by (from left) Homeward Trust Edmonton executive director Susan McGee, MP Laurie Hawn, vice-president of the Canadian Mental Health Association board of directors Linda Padgham, executive director of Canadian Mental Health Association Edmonton Ione Challborn’ and Mayor Stephen Mandel. The facility, which is managed by the CMHA, will house 27 mentally ill people in need. Six of the units are available for Housing First support program clients.

NorQuest to present Honorary Diploma

NorQuest College’s Board of Governors will be awarding its first Honorary Diploma during the college’s Convocation ceremony at the Winspear Centre on May 10. “The Honorary Diploma enables NorQuest to honour and celebrate individuals who have provided their invaluable support to either the college or our community,” said Dr. Jodi L. Abbott, NorQuest’s president and CEO, in a news release. Eligible nominees will come from NorQuest’s community which includes the geographic regions of the college as well as the social, economic, educational and political reaches of the institution be they local, national or international.

Parkland County to strengthen relationship with First Nations

Parkland County is continuing to strengthen its ties with local First Nations, a priority the county set in its 2011 strategic plan. “Our desire is to establish a stronger working relationship and see if there are areas of mutual benefit for both parties and how we can assist them with that,” Mayor Rod Shaigec told the Spruce Grove Examiner. The signing of the new emergency services agreement last summer with Paul First Nation was one of the first significant steps toward taking action in achieving this goal. “This has been a long time coming. The mutual aid agreement we have is one way of showing that we are building a bond with them and trying to work with them,” said Paul First Nation Chief Casey Bird. As well, Paul and Alexis First Nations were recently given voting member status on the West Interlake District Regional Water Services Commission in which the county is a major partner. County administration is also working on setting up meetings with Enoch First Nation to discuss installing a broadband tower to include them in the Intelligent Community initiative.

Five-year housing plan for Edmonton and area

The Edmonton and Area Community Plan on Housing and Supports: 2011-2015 was released at the end of January by Homeward Trust Edmonton. It is the third community plan over the past decade but is the first to address housing and support needs in the broader Edmonton area. There are important shifts occurring in the region’s demographics that affect housing and support needs in the community including an influx of Aboriginal people to the city. The plan outlines what the community intends to do to respond to priority housing and support needs, and strengthen the information base upon which funding, implementation and future planning decisions are made. This plan is the product of a collaborative, community-driven process, guided by a Community Plan Committee made up of representatives of a diverse group of public, non-profit, industry and community organizations. There are five key areas of focus: housing supply; short-term and permanent supportive housing; support services; prevention and early intervention; and, capacity building and evidence-based practice. This plan will play an important role in supporting and complementing many municipal, regional, provincial, and federal plans, initiatives, and policy objectives. Adjustments to the plan will occur if circumstances change or new information becomes available.

FNMI priorities for Parkland school division

The Parkland School Division Education Committee recently met with members of Alberta Education to take further steps toward achieving the province-wide educational goal of success for First Nations, Métis and Inuit students. “PSD has a fairly significant number of FNMI students and we need to focus on their needs as a group,” board chair Richard Gilchrist told the Spruce Grove Examiner. “The more collaborative we are in this process, the more I feel we can achieve which is why we invited our presenters here. We are well above the provincial average in regards to FNMI students but there is always room for improvement.”

Compiled by Shari Narine