Sweetgrass and CFWE news briefs - Nov. 20, 2015

Bill strengthens human rights legislation

November 19, 2015.

Bill 7, the Alberta Human Rights Amendment Act, is getting full support from opposition parties. The bill would add gender identity and gender expression as expressly prohibited grounds of discrimination. “The aim of this legislation, to ensure that everyone has clarity over what rights are protected under the Alberta Human Rights Act, should be applauded,” said Wildrose leader Brian Jean. Liberal leader David Swann called passage of the bill “the right thing to do…. When I participated in Pride celebrations across the province this past summer, I promised members of the LGBTQ community that I would do everything I could to get these legislative protections put in place.” Kathleen Ganley, minister of justice and solicitor general, said the bill would empower trans and gender variant people to confront stereotypes and discrimination. “All Albertans deserve to be treated with equal dignity and respect,” she said.

November 19, 2015.

Aboriginal groups and the public will be receiving more funding from the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency in order to participate in the environmental assessment phases of the proposed Frontier Oil Sands Mine project. The funding will also assist with reviewing and commenting on the potential conditions relating to possible mitigation measures and follow-up requirements, if the project is allowed to proceed. Aboriginal groups will also receive funding to review the panel report. Jan. 8 is the deadline to apply for funding.

The updated Frontier Oil Sands Mine Project, proposed by Teck Resources Ltd., would be a new 260,000 barrel per day oil sands mining operation located approximately 110 kilometres north of Fort McMurray. The project is a truck and shovel mine which includes an open pit, ore preparation plant, bitumen processing plant, tailings facilities, cogeneration facilities, support utilities, disposal and storage areas, river water intake, fish habitat compensation lake, bridge, roads, airfield and camp. The proposed project would operate for 41 years.

Increase in domestic violence calls in Calgary

November 19, 2015.

Figures released by the Calgary Police Service during the third week of Family Violence Prevention Month show a 16 per cent increase in the total number of domestic conflict calls this year compared to the same time last year. The trend shows that domestic conflict is a “very real issue” in Calgary and impacts families in all areas of the city, says CPS in a news release. While almost 81 per cent of the calls were verbal altercations that escalated to the point that police were called or situations where police were asked to be present so someone could move out of their home due to domestic conflict, 19 per cent of calls involved some form of physical domestic violence against a person or damage/theft of a person’s property. The physical domestic violence calls increased nine per cent over last year.

CPS Domestic Conflict Unit, consisting of 34 police officers and four civilian staff, works closely with partner agencies to intervene in families experiencing frequent domestic conflict, investigate cases of domestic violence, prevent further domestic violence from habitual offenders, and intervene in situations of elder abuse. The unit and agencies work with approximately 2,400 families each year. “We work very hard as a police service to prevent domestic conflicts from escalating to violence, but because this is often such a private problem we really cannot solve it without the community getting involved and families in crisis reaching out for help,” said Staff Sergeant Rob Davidson, with the Domestic Conflict Unit