We asked Capital Ideas members for their thoughts on how their culture makes them stand out from the crowd. Here’s what members of our community of business owners helping business owners had to say:

Brandi Bartlett, chief culture officer at Quercus Solutions, photo by Marc-Julien Objois

“A defining feature of our corporate culture is showing that we want to take care and be champions of our company’s greatest resource — its people. We take action on things that matter and bring people together. We conduct regular ‘cultural temperature checks.’ We involve people in the decision making process, which builds high-performing teams. These all add to the overall social well-being of an individual, increasing your bottom line and creating a culture like no other.”
— Brandi Bartlett, chief culture officer at Quercus Solutions

“I handle my own company so company culture is not an issue at the moment. However, if I did have employees I would try to incorporate things that get us out of the office once in awhile during the day to recoup, or gather together after work hours to connect as people rather than associates. I would also insist that our employees relate to and express our brand as well as our core values to every single one of our clients or potential clients to make sure everybody involved is sharing ideas, involved and satisfied.”
— Brandon Saint, owner of Brand-On-Designs

“Satisfied and happy staff enjoy working with us and in turn reflect that in their service to our customers. Our structure to have well maintained, clean and up-to-date vehicles create a sense of pride for our staff and company. From the start we emphasize the need to be involved with the customer, from answering their request at booking to dropping them off at the final destination. We want them to feel welcomed and taken care of. Our company needs to stand out for luxury, professionalism and customer service. When we show up at your door you know you have the best!”
— Susan Burtic, president at Legends Limousine

“We are a team, from helping our clients in day-to-day tasks to five-alarm emergencies. That same group energy extends to our co-workers and our corporate vision and attitude. We exist to better our clients and staff’s lives.”
— Jon Sparks, senior technical analyst at Accurate Network Services Inc.

John Carter, administration manager/owner of RE/MAX River City

“The people. Hard work, results and fun! All of our staff and realtors are proud ambassadors of the RE/MAX Brand and enjoy being a part of the larger global network as much as they do the local Edmonton-area market. We’re the market share leaders in real estate and we often hear ‘I see RE/MAX everywhere’ even though it is a very targeted advertising medium. Not to quote Donald Trump, but winners like being around other winners. Build your business to attract similar-minded people to a place they are excited about and who are proud to be a member of something bigger than themselves.”
— John Carter, administration manager/owner of RE/MAX River City

“Our corporate mission is to protect the psychological and physical health of all employees. We teach about workplace psychological harassment, prevention, intervention and offer recovery options from the harm this abuse causes. The costs of this harm is in the multiple millions for employers. We are lobbying for an amendment to our Occupational Health and Safety act to include protection from psychological harassment in the workplace. Our workplace culture is about serving workers.”
— Linda Crockett, founder of Alberta Bullying Research, Resources, and Recovery Centre Inc.

“We’re tiny, with huge hearts! There are just three hired staff and two contractors and we’re building on the legacy started by Jerry Forbes in 1955 so we have big shoes to fill. Each of us is in this because the project speaks to us individually and that helps our team with cohesiveness.”
— Erin Prefontaine, communications and community animator at Jerry Forbes Centre

Wellington Holbrook, executive vice-president of ATB Business.

The above answers are in response to a question posed by Wellington Holbrook, executive vice-president of ATB Business. Here’s his take:

“I don’t know about you but I’ve worked at lots of different companies, small and large, and each one had a unique feel and something that made them special or different and — in fortunately few situations — disasters. The best corporate cultures have been the ones that inspire team members to focus on their customers, do the right thing and always reach for more. The worst were those that focused on the bottom dollar at the expense of everything else. When you’re building your corporate culture, a good question to ask yourself is what result you want your team members to achieve. From there, it gets a little easier to see what is unique and great about your culture, or where you want to see it go.”

Get Involved!

Answer our next question: How do you celebrate your relationship with customers and clients?

Submit your answers at the Capital Ideas website by Friday morning. We’ll publish the best answers, along with your business name and website.

This article was produced by Capital Ideas, a product of Postmedia Labs, in collaboration with ATB Business.

It is still not full-speed ahead for Edmonton’s Metro Line LRT extension which has hit more obstacles during its slow, troubled multi-year launch than a bumper car piloted by toddlers.

Council learned Tuesday a recent safety audit says, despite months of scrutiny on the line, that it remains unsafe to run trains through at-ground intersections at the planned 40-50 km/h speeds.

For passengers that means continuing to crawl through intersections at a 25 km/h pace that makes the trip barely faster than a bus ride. For Edmontonians as a collective, it means more months of frustration and annoyance that a project so important to this city could still — more than two years after it was originally supposed to open at full service — fail to meet basic expectations despite its hefty price tag. 

The saga of the Metro Line now measures in years. While the public only started hearing of problems two years ago when signalling issues repeatedly delayed its opening, a city auditor report last August found engineers warned in 2010 there would be problems if the current signal system was used. Taxpayers can only wish they’d issued those warnings with more force. 

This week, one city official said that maybe, just maybe, trains will be operating at the 40-50 km/h clip come August, just in time for students to return to NAIT and MacEwan University.

But no one can blame Edmonton residents for being skeptical of any timeline associated with the project. Councillors have used all kinds of language along the way to describe the situation, not that colourful outrage has made the trains move any faster.  

City manager Linda Cochrane nailed Edmonton’s mood when she said, in response to a council question, that this is not the kind of thing that should ever see a ribbon cutting given its tortured history. Getting a public works project to operate as billed well after deadline is hardly something to celebrate.

The only good thing that could come from this debacle — other than an LRT line that operates with the speed and frequency that was intended — is for someone to write it up a case study so other politicians, planners and project managers can learn from Edmonton’s LRT agony.

Considering that Edmonton still has its own massive LRT expansion ambitions, that report would have high local value. Council and city administration must be held to account on the upcoming Valley Line project and any future LRT plans. No one in Edmonton will ever again be able to play the card that they couldn’t have imagined something going so wrong with an LRT expansion. 

Local editorials are the consensus opinion of the Journal’s editorial board, comprising Lorne Motley, Kathy Kerr, Sarah O’Donnell and David.

Re. “The case for bus rapid transit,” David Staples, April 27

Edmonton became the first city in North America with a metropolitan population of less than one million to build a modern light rail system. That was 1978. 

In 2016, Edmonton will be one of the last cities in Canada to implement and plan for Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) to be a part of an integrated rapid transit planning, behind Ottawa, Calgary, Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Quebec City, Saint John, Waterloo, Brampton and Kelowna.

The new conventional wisdom for rapid transit planning: BRT is part of an integrated solution to the problem of a lack of funding for rapid transit. Outside of Edmonton, in Canada and the rest of the world, there is much public debate between LRT and BRT.

In Edmonton, our transportation master plan does not even mention BRT as a form a rapid transit. This is poor planning and a costly mistake. It’s time to go back to the drawing board; Edmonton needs to prioritize BRT and LRT.

Gary Davidson, Edmonton

Community not the target of environmental critiques 

Re. “The humanizing effect of the wildfire disaster,” Graham Thomson, May 21

Graham Thomson says Fort McMurray is “regularly pilloried by environmental groups.”

Some groups often critique, and sometimes pillory, the environmental impacts of the oilsands. But, if there are environmental groups who have pilloried “the city” it seems I’ve missed their news releases, websites, blog posts, etc. in the two decades plus of environmental news and commentary I’ve read.

Groups concerned with oilsands impacts focus on critiquing, and reporting the operations’ environmental impacts. Neither the city itself, nor its citizens, is their concern.

My concern is that saying the environmental groups have targeted the city is feeding a stereotype that some in industry and politics have invented to de-legitimize the groups and their critique of the very real environmental impacts of oilsands mining.

In doing so, the column engaged in the famously civil Harper-style pillory of environmental groups. But, that’s just my opinion.

Sam Gunsch, Edmonton

Think accessible when rebuilding

For many people building or rebuilding their homes soon, such as Fort McMurray residents, this is a golden opportunity to plan your home for wheelchair accessibility before it is built. Create a front entry ramp as part of the step, make the entryway and door wider and consider doorways and space in main floor and bathrooms.

Many wheelchair riders, excited to have redone their homes so they may live at home, are quite disappointed to realize they cannot visit 99 per cent of their friends and neighbours. We have discovered condos that advertise a wheelchair accessible apartment, only to find that all the other apartments in the building are not accessible.

This is an exciting challenge for architects, designers and builders to work with — to use accessibility guidelines in a cost effective and innovative way, to create beautiful and practical results for everyone. Please accept this challenge.

Lorie J. Taylor-Leech, Edmonton

Nothing gradual about lot-splitting impact

City council has a taken very cavalier attitude to the issue of residential lot-splitting. This is illustrated by Ward 5 Coun. Michael Oshry who indicates that he is sympathetic to residents who say lot-splitting will change the character of a neighbourhood but says it will be a slow, gradual process.

This type of attitude is naive and doesn’t mean a thing to those residents who find out that a lot is being split next door to them. So what if there will only be one or two of these in a neighbourhood per year, once you start changing the character there is no turning back.

A number of neighbourhoods are now taking this issue into their own hands by registering restrictive covenants on individual properties to stop the proliferation of lot-splitting and development of skinny house properties where they don’t belong. 

Had council taken the time to think and plan before making the zoning changes for the entire area of the city bound by the Anthony Henday, this headache could have been prevented for thousands of hard working, tax paying residents of our great city.

Taras Nohas, Edmonton

Letters welcome

We invite you to write letters to the editor. A maximum of 150 words is preferred. Letters must carry a first and last name, or two initials and a last name, and include an address and daytime telephone number. All letters are subject to editing. We don’t publish letters addressed to others or sent to other publications. Email: letters@edmontonjournal.com.

Work continues on Rogers Place arena and the surrounding Ice District, seen from atop the 27-storey Edmonton Tower at 101 Street and 104 Avenue.

The City of Edmonton and the Katz Group held a “topping off” ceremony Wednesday on the tower’s roof to mark the completion of its structural phase.

The city is leasing about 65 per cent of the tower, with employees due to arrive in November. The arena is slated to open before the 2016-17 hockey season.

High school students displaced by the fires in Fort McMurray are losing out on internships and are at risk of falling behind on their apprenticeships, a non-profit organizations says.

Careers: The Next Generation, a Fort McMurray non-profit that raises awareness of career options for youth, is urging businesses to open their doors to high school students looking for internships, which is a requirement for many to complete their journeyperson certification.

Students from across the province planning a career in the trades often choose the Registered Apprenticeship Program (RAP). Careers also offers two training programs to allow students to get on-the-job training.

“Employers are needed throughout the province to support these youth and their continued apprenticeship training.  If you have never had a RAP intern or young apprentice before, now is the time,” Eric Newell, board chair for Careers and former CEO of Syncrude, said in a Thursday statement.

“We can’t rebuild Fort McMurray without skilled trades. Young apprentices need to keep building their skills and gaining experience in high-demand trades and industrial occupations.”

Ashley Gale, a Fort McMurray high school student enrolled in an apprenticeship program, was almost halfway through her heavy equipment technician apprenticeship when she was displaced by the fires and laid off.

“She is looking forward to getting back on track as soon as possible and will need our help,” the statement said. “Her future, and the future of other Fort McMurray youth, is on hold unless new internship opportunities are available.”

Careers team members from Fort McMurray have been temporarily relocated to Edmonton and Calgary and now reconnecting program participants and educators.

Employers willing to provide a four- to six-week internship in trades and industrial occupations are encouraged to connect the Careers provincial office at 780-426-3414 or toll-free at 1-888-757-7172.

Buses and trains will be sharing real estate in Edmonton come the end of the month.

Greyhound Canada says its new location will be in operation May 29, moving from the current location on 104 Avenue across from the new downtown arena.

“Greyhound is excited to move to our new location and to share the facility with Via Rail Canada,” Peter Hamel, regional vice president of Greyhound Canada, said in a news release Thursday. “Customers can now access Greyhound and Via Rail under the same roof, making it more convenient for travel.”

The rail connection aside, the new location at 12360 121 St. is about five kilometres north, near the future Blatchford site, and may prove less convenient for commuters wanting to access downtown.

Edmonton Transit does not serve the new location and the city has said there is not enough money in the budget to start a new route, estimated to cost roughly $660,000 a year.

Greyhound plans to balance that by providing passenger drop-offs and pick-ups twice daily at 7 a.m. and 1 p.m. to travel between the bus terminal and the welcome centre beside the Shaw Conference Centre. They’ll be providing Sky Shuttle service to the airport and the new location will also have a dedicated cab service provider.

dlazzarino@postmedia.com

Twitter.com/SUNDaveLazz

As a paramedic, Nadeen LaBoucane knew how to help others.

But when she found herself about to overdose on prescription pills on the side of the highway, it was a fellow paramedic who saved her life.

“The last thing I saw was Ben Penner on my phone,” said LaBoucane.

LaBoucane first became an emergency medical technician in 1996, and quickly rose through the ranks.

“I loved being out there. I loved helping people. I have to admit, I was a little bit of an adrenaline junkie, as well,” LaBoucane said.

But when she suffered a serious back injury, LaBoucane’s days racing to emergencies in the back of an ambulance were officially over and she was moved into a role in emergency dispatch.

It was there that years of repressed trauma began to catch up with her.

“It came with a whole different type of stress,” LaBoucane said.

When she was in an ambulance, she said, “you see it, you hear it, you fix it.” But as an emergency dispatch operator, she was living through other people’s trauma.

“You’re trying to talk somebody through CPR, you’re trying to get somebody to cut someone down from hanging, shootings, stabbings, assaults. I became very sensitive,” LaBoucane said.

For her, it was not knowing what happened after the caller hung up that left her wondering about their fate and taking their pain home.

LaBoucane was becoming increasingly impatient and angry, and reached out to Ben Penner, a clinical educator for Alberta Health Services Emergency Support Services and a chaplain with the Critical Incident Stress Management peer support team.

In February, as LaBoucane was on her way into work, her managers called her and told her to take the day off, concerned about her unusual behaviour the day before.

“I took that as an offence. I was upset,” said LaBoucane.

Dressed in her uniform with a lunch already packed, LaBoucane decided to head to Miquelon Lake to unwind, but in her agitated mental state got lost on the highway.

She pulled off the road outside of Tofield and called Penner.

“I was able to sense that she was really hurting, and really in crisis,” said Penner, who made her promise to call him again in 15 minutes.

“I didn’t care,” said LaBoucane, who then took an overdose of prescription pills. “I had had enough.”

When she didn’t call back, he did.

Penner then called the RCMP, who smashed through the side window of her truck to rescue her.

When she awoke in hospital, still in a haze, Penner was the first person she saw.

“I was upset at first. I was upset that I was still there,” LaBoucane admitted.

After two weeks in a mental health unit, where she reflected on her decision to take her life and the effect on her children, LaBoucane chose to live.

“I want to get better, that this is not going to be the end of my story,” she said, now back on the job and on the path to healing.

While LaBoucane’s story is an emotional tale of the trauma suffered by first responders, it’s not unique.

Already in 2016, 20 Canadian first responders have taken their own lives, 10 of whom were paramedics.

For LaBoucane, having a fellow paramedic to talk to through the peer support program literally meant the difference between life and death.

“There is only so much you can tell your family,” LaBoucane said.

While impressive steps have been taken in addressing mental health issues among Alberta’s paramedics in the last few years, said Mike Carson, team lead of the Edmonton area peer support team, the fight for better mental health care is far from over.

“We need to keep struggling ahead for each other,” Carson said, adding local paramedics will soon be adopting an altered version of Road to Mental Readiness training, developed to help address post-traumatic stress disorder in the Canadian military.

For every story like LaBoucane, countless others continue to suffer in silence.

twitter.com/ClaireTheobald

ctheobald@postmedia.com

 All this weeping and wailing about the carbon tax is very annoying. Oooh, the costs. Oooh, the knock-on costs. People seem to have forgotten that oil prices are at historic lows, and therefore the savings, and the knock-on savings, of that low price dwarf the little five per cent carbon tax.

Bill Beard, Edmonton

Carbon tax a mistake

The Notley government’s move to impose a carbon tax on Albertans is a bad decision. Yes, protection of the environment from global warming is an important matter requiring action. However, as has been stated by those who study the problem, Alberta is an insignificant contributor to the global carbon dioxide level.

In these difficult economic times, the last thing we need is the imposition of additional costs on Albertans. Many have lost their jobs and others have had to take lower paying jobs to put food on the table. Somebody has forgotten that we have cold winters in Alberta and heating our homes is a must. 

Hopefully more Albertans will speak up against the carbon tax and the government will reverse its position. It’s never too late to admit one’s mistake, as recently shown by our prime minister.

C.L. Dmytruk, Edmonton

Dog walking etiquette makes lasting impression

On Monday afternoon of the May long weekend in the cold and rain, I witnessed a most touching scene. An elderly man with a white cane and an even more elderly dog were walking along the boulevard on Ellerslie Road and 111th Street. The man got down on his hands and knees to pick up after his dog then proceeded home.  

I could have offered to make his walk easier that day by offering to walk with him, but I didn’t. Shame on me. And shame on the young and healthy dog owners who don’t pick up after their dogs. A truly Norman Rockwell picture as they made their way slowly home.

Maxine Paton, Ma-Me-O-Beach

Strict rules for parking permits

Re. “Don’t rush to judgment,” Letters, May 24

The letter writer is quite incorrect when she maintains, ‘There’s a huge range of abilities and disabilities that are accommodated with disabled parking permits.”

The last time I completed the application (as a polio veteran) the form quite clearly said, “For those who have difficulty walking more than 50 metres. That is the only criterion for granting the placard. More attention to the giving out of placards would also ease the crowding.

Jim Rasmussen, Camrose

Letters welcome

We invite you to write letters to the editor. A maximum of 150 words is preferred. Letters must carry a first and last name, or two initials and a last name, and include an address and daytime telephone number. All letters are subject to editing. We don’t publish letters addressed to others or sent to other publications. Email: letters@edmontonjournal.com.

For Suzie Bad Eagle, Edwardson Place is a “gift from God.”

After suffering through years of abuse, addiction and homelessness, Bad Eagle will celebrate two years of sobriety in June — in her own apartment.

Edwardson Place is a new, 17-unit transitional housing complex for women run by Hope Mission, a non-profit organization that provides support for people in poverty.

Since walking into the Hope Mission in November 2015, Bad Eagle, a First Nation woman from southern Alberta, has reconnected with her family, including her daughter, and now holds a steady job at Walmart, where’s she moved from cashier to manager in less than six months.

“The gifts of recovery are amazing,” Bad Eagle said.

Edwardson Place is the Hope Mission’s third transitional housing facility in Edmonton and their first devoted specifically to women.

The facility is named after Harold and Hillie Edwardson, who started the Hope Mission in 1929 as a soup kitchen in Edmonton.

Several community and political leaders spoke to the importance of safe and stable housing at the facility’s official opening Thursday.

“Edwardson Place offers stability, it offers security, it offers the promise of a new life,” said Human Services Minister Irfan Sabir.

Coun. Scott McKeen added that addressing homelessness and affordable housing is “absolutely key to ending poverty.”

“The need for clean, safe, affordable housing is great, especially for those recovering from addiction,” he said.

Suzie Bad Eagle looks out the window of her new home at Edwardson Place, a home in downtown Edmonton that offers supportive housing for women struggling with addictions and homelessness.

The $3-million project was jointly funded by Hope Mission and Homeward Trust Edmonton, which receives funding from both the federal and provincial governments. Beulah Alliance Church furnished the apartments through donations.

Susan McGee, the CEO of Homeward Trust Edmonton, said Edwardson Place is further proof that their housing first strategy is working — since 2001 they’ve helped fund 84 housing developments — but more projects such as Edwardson Place are still needed.

Bad Eagle and the other women who live at Edwardson Place have successfully completed Hope Mission’s one-year recovery program, said Bruce Reith, the director of the mission.

The transitional facility provides a safe and supportive environment for these women to take their next steps, whether that’s entering the workforce, like Bad Eagle, or possibly returning to school.

Residents pay $500 in rent for the furnished units and continue to receive support from a Hope Mission caseworker, Reith said.

With a steady income and a home, Bad Eagle said she hopes to eventually return to school for accounting or business. Her ultimate goal is to have her daughter live with her.

“The world is in front of me and I’m thankful that God’s in my life today,” she said.

Alberta’s struggling oil-fired economy has prompted ATB Financial to dramatically hike its loan loss provisions, resulting in a big drop in the bank’s annual profits.

Net earnings for the fiscal year ended March 31 plunged more than 70 per cent to $108.1 million, the provincially owned bank reported Friday. That’s down from a record profit of $328.7 million for fiscal 2015.

The decline mainly reflects a sharp spike in loan loss provisions — an amount set aside in preparation for possible loan defaults by customers — to $387.6 million from just $72.6 million a year ago, an increase of some 430 per cent.

“There’s no doubt a lot of individuals and businesses in Alberta are hurting right now,” said Dave Mowat, ATB’s CEO, in a release. “And that pain is now being felt more than ever in Fort McMurray as the community recovers from the devastating wildfire.”

Not surprisingly, most of ATB’s potential problem loans are with firms that rely wholly or in part on securing new business with the struggling oil and gas industry.

“The people who are directly involved in energy comprise the major part of that (potential loan loss) number,” said Mowat, in an interview.

“We have 85,000 business customers in Alberta and they have been amazingly resilient. They have quite a bit of equity in their businesses so that portfolio has done pretty well. It’s the guys that are directly affected (by the energy downturn) that are hurting. Their revenues didn’t go down by 10 or 20 per cent. In some cases it went down by 100 per cent.”

While ATB’s year-end profits shrunk significantly, Mowat noted that the bank’s underlying business remains strong, with loans, deposits, assets and operating revenue all climbing higher for the year.

ATB’s $1.5 billion operating revenue rose 5.8 per cent over the previous year, bank loans grew by 7.1 per cent and deposits increased by nearly one per cent, despite the province’s ongoing economic downturn.

Mowat emphasized that ATB’s loan loss provisions are just that: an estimate of potential bad loans, not actual loan losses. The latter totalled $75.8 million for the year, or less than 20 per cent of the amount set aside under the bank’s loan loss provisions.

“So it ($387.6 million) is a big number but we haven’t lost that money by any stretch of the imagination,” Mowat said in an interview. “We’re working with those companies to try and keep them afloat. Not all of them will but we’re trying to be conservative.”

Despite the challenges, ATB’s business and agriculture unit generated net earnings of $110.5 million for the year, up 10.8 per cent from the previous year, and the bank’s investor services unit posted net income of $31.4 million, up 37.1 per cent.

glamphier@postmedia.com

Going home.

Fort McMurray’s displaced people have been waiting what seems like an eternity to use those words.

For nearly a month they have lived the life of evacuees, forced to sleep on strange beds and depend on the charity of others.

Starting June 1, according to a phased re-entry schedule, residents will finally get their chance to return to a city they were forced to flee a month ago amid the flames of a massive wildfire.

A range of emotions will wash over the 80,000 people making the long drive up Highway 63: Happiness and relief to be sure, but also trepidation as to what awaits them when they return.

Provincial officials have already warned that evacuees will not be coming back to life as they knew it.

Though Fort McMurray’s largest neighbourhoods and essential infrastructure were largely spared, close to 10 per cent of the city’s structures were burned to ash.

For those whose homes were destroyed, it’s unclear whether their return will be met with a security fence around their property, or whether they can walk onto the yards to search for anything that may have survived.

For those whose homes are still standing, there will be concerns about remediating water and smoke damage, which can cause health issues.

Many wonder about insurance coverage, and whether anyone has broken in during the month they were away.

Gas appliances will have to be re-lit; spoiled food thrown out, potentially along with the fridges and freezers containing it.

Officials recommend residents bring with them a supply of non-perishable food. Essential services such as grocery stores, pharmacies and banks are expected to be open, but it is unclear how well stocked they will be and what kind of lineups they will face.

The water treatment plant is likely to be out of service for another few weeks, meaning residents will have to boil their water or use bottled water.

The hospital will be up and running for basic care, but specialized services, including acute in-patient care, obstetrics, dialysis, in-patient psychiatry and long-term care may not be restored until June 15. People with breathing difficulties, late term pregnancies or undergoing cancer or dialysis treatment have been told to stay away for now, as air quality may continue to be a problem.

As if that wasn’t enough, bears have been spotted in town, attracted to the scent of rotting food.

Officials are also worried about the emotional and psychological wounds residents have suffered, wounds that may reopen when they return. It’s possible some may relive the trauma of the mass evacuation of May 3. Some will be hit hard by their first view of the destruction.

And for many others, it will be the anxiety of wondering how long it will take to get life back to some semblance of normal, if ever.

Provincial officials say they are readying for all of it with mental health supports, but note the wildfire is a tragedy that will be felt for years to come.

— Keith Gerein

Despite  loss of house, there’s hope to start fresh

Fort McMurray evacuee Paul Trenholm holds a photo of his daughter, now 27 years old, in Edmonton. The photos he had in his wallet when he fled Fort McMurray are some of the only physical photos he has left.

Paul Trenholm’s Fort McMurray home is gone. He knows that. But his job remains and that’s enough to convince him to return.

“I’ve gone on the before-and-after satellite photos and it’s been burned up,” said the manager of the Rosenau Transport terminal just outside of Fort McMurray. “We were in Waterways and it just came across from Beacon Hill and destroyed everything.”

He said he feels worst for his wife and others like her who lost irreplaceable keepsakes to the fire that spread through the city in early May and sent more than 80,000 people from their homes.

Trenholm has received an email from the Canadian Red Cross saying he can return on June 4.

“I don’t know what to expect. Until it hits you, I guess, after you go and you see, dealing with that loss,” he said.

So far, he’s heard his company is going to be using the terminal as a place for the local Red Cross volunteers to offer services from and a place where he can get his bearings while the rebuild happens.

“We’ll probably go down and survey, because we had a mobile home, to see if anything is left (that’s) salvageable, anything that we can kind of dig through the ashes and see if there’s anything of value in the way of memorabilia,” he said.

A decade spent as a minister in the late 80s and early 90s exposed him to loss second-hand and he feels it’s grounded him enough to deal with the return to a city he still feels is home.

“I was meditating on it and I was looking at it kind of in three ways,” he said.

If people’s homes are still there, he said, they can simply return to their old life. If their homes are gone they can try and rebuild, doing what they can to return to normal life.

The third option is to start fresh and either change the way they live in Fort McMurray or look for a new one elsewhere. That’s what Trenholm is opting for.

He’ll be 55 in September and wants to figure out his retirement in about five years.

“It’s easier to do in Fort Mac where you’re established than it is to start over in another province or another city,” he said.

Others he’s spoken with believe several people won’t be going back but after discussing it with his wife he feels the idea of relocating would have been more feasible if he were in his 20s or 30s.

“I always thought of Fort Mac as the last place to make a decent living, even though you’re miles from Edmonton or other major cities,” he said, adding a good paying job allows him to reach that retirement goal despite recent events.

Besides, he said, the small community reminds him of Moncton, N.B., where he grew up.

“I like this city, I like the people,” he said.

— Dave Lazzarino

‘Family’ of close friends lure jobless hotel employee back

Fort McMurray evacuee Joel Alvarado in the hallway of his hotel, will be going home with just the clothes on his back.

Joel Alvarado has been desperately waiting to be allowed back into Fort McMurray since he was evacuated on May 2.

“There’s a lot of people just waiting,” he says. “I’m just thinking to go back home, get back to my bed.”

The 31-year-old hotel employee fled the Fort McMurray Chateau Nova near the airport with little other than the clothes on his back, his downtown house spared but his truck burned to a crisp.

The hotel didn’t fare well, either. It burned down shortly after all the workers were evacuated.

After reaching the shelter of the Edmonton evacuee reception centre, he registered with the Red Cross and got a room at the Chateau Nova Yellowhead on Yellowhead Trail, and has been counting the days until he gets to go back.

“When you get a little older you realize your friends are part of your family,” Alvarado said. “I feel like my friends are my family, and I want to go see my family back.”

In the weeks following the evacuation, one-by-one, his cousins started leaving Edmonton to visit concerned relatives in Ontario.

“I don’t have an ID,” Alvarado says, “So I can’t even take the plane to go back home, to go back to see my family.”

Born in Montreal, Alvarado left his hometown for Kingston, Ont., as a teenager. Around five years ago, he, like so many other Canadians lured by better job prospects, decided to head to Fort McMurray.

The northern Alberta oil and gas town quickly became home, his close-knit circle of friends became family, and he was working two well-paying jobs.

That’s the life he wants to return to.

When Premier Rachel Notley announced an optional re-entry plan for displaced residents on May 18, Alvarado immediately marked his calendar, intending to return on June 4.

“There are going to be some changes, for sure,” he says. “But the people are still the same people, like, some people are leaving, some people are going to stay, and the people that are going to stay are the people that care about Fort Mac.”

Although he intends to help with the rebuilding process, he is planning to come back to Edmonton while critical services and infrastructure are restored to the city. After assessing the damage — if any — to his home, he plans to return to the Yellowhead Trail hotel and remotely apply for jobs in Fort McMurray.

“Nova is offering us jobs; they’re like ‘If you guys want to stay you guys can be relocated to different places and different hotels,’ ” Alvarado says. “I don’t want to be relocated. I want to go back to Fort Mac.”

But he’s well aware of the challenges that lie ahead.

“It’s probably going to be horrible to walk around all the houses burned but, you know, we got to do it,” he says. “Fort Mac is my home. That’s it.”

— Ameya Charnalia

Longing for home outweighs insurance worries

Rose Gray is staying with her dog Donnette and her son Dontue in the Yellowhead Inn. She still has a home and job to go home to but there are many other uncertainties.

Rose Gray answers the phone in her Edmonton hotel room, hopeful that it’s the insurance adjuster. It’s not.

Going three weeks, and counting, without hearing back from the insurance company is high on the list of her worries — but there are plenty of others.

Gray, a heavy equipment operator for oilsands mining company Syncrude, plans to drive back up to Fort McMurray on June 3, the designated day for residents evacuated from the Thickwood neighbourhood to return, with her son Dontue and her dog Donnette, a Yorkie-Maltese-Chihuahua mix.

But stuck for now in her hotel room, there’s too much spare time to think about the anxieties swirling around her homecoming, like insurance coverage and adjusters who don’t return calls. And refrigerators full of rotting food after sitting for weeks without electricity.

“I’ve been lying here worrying so much,” Gray said. “I was watching the news yesterday evening. I’ve been hearing that our refrigerators — we’re not supposed to open them. We’re just supposed to tape them and put them at the curb.

“I just went and bought stuff a couple of days before. My refrigerator is full and I have two refrigerators in my home and I don’t even know how I’m going to get those out to the curb without being able to open them to take some of the stuff out.”

Fretting about her livelihood was eased during a recent Syncrude town hall meeting in Edmonton, when company CEO Mark Ward assured employees there will be no layoffs and no disruption in pay despite a temporary shutdown of operations forced by encroaching wildfire.

What the air quality will be like in Fort McMurray also weighs on her mind because both she and her son sometimes use inhalers to help them breathe.

But all those worries still take a back seat to longing for home, Gray says. Her room at the Yellowhead Inn, provided at a discount, includes a kitchenette to prepare meals instead of eating fast food, but she’ll be driving up as soon as she’s allowed.

“I can’t wait to go home. I’m homesick. I’m so homesick.”

She believes her home still stands, but doesn’t know its exact condition. 

“I’m hoping and praying that it’s not as bad as it looks on the news.”

More certain, is her desire to stay in Fort McMurray once she’s back and help the city get back on its feet. “Fort McMurray is my home for a long time. I’m in there for the long term and I’m there to help rebuild my town to whatever is needed to get us back up and going. We’re going to have a lot of stumbling blocks, but I think we’ll get over it.”

Fort McMurray is also where the oilsands industry is based and moving is out of the question. “I have a really good job. I love what I do.”

There’s been no word from her employer on when she will be called back to work at the Aurora mine site. 

“I have so much nothing to do. I watch the news and my son goes to the gym because he has to stay active and I actually went to The Brick yesterday just looking at refrigerators, just to try to keep myself up.”

— Bill Mah

‘We’ve all been through something; it’s hard to compare,’ says former MLA

Don Scott is a lawyer in Fort McMurray and was holding a meeting at this office when the evacuation order came down.

As a former elected official, Don Scott has seen first-hand the resilience of Fort McMurray residents.

The 49-year-old former Progressive Conservative MLA for Fort McMurray-Conklin also sat on the municipal council and runs a law firm in Fort McMurray.

“I carry a strong sense of optimism for the region,” he says. “People want to go back and make it an even stronger community.”

In the days following the evacuation, Scott was offered office space by an Edmonton law firm, and a former colleague offered his family a home to stay in Stony Plain, 41 kilometres west of Edmonton.

Although his wife and two daughters flew to Taiwan to spend time with his in-laws, he has been busy preparing for his return to Fort McMurray, his shopping list not exactly consisting of your run-of-the-mill groceries.

In the past few days, Scott has bought 10 cases of water, a jerry can of gas and a face mask as he prepares to head back once the phased re-entry begins in June.

“I’m looking forward to going back,” he says. “There’s no place like home.”

Around three-quarters of Scott’s law firm staff have indicated they will not be immediately returning to Fort McMurray. Most want to see a boil water advisory, which has been in effect since the mandatory evacuation order issued on May 2, lifted, and all medical services reinstated, before heading back.

Although it’s good that a re-entry plan has been announced, according to Scott, residents need to be assured that the “best medical people are assessing the situation.”

“People want to have a strong sense of security for their health,” he says. “People want to hear they can live in that environment in a safe way.”

Originally from New Brunswick, Scott met his wife while attending Cambridge University in England. The two moved to Fort McMurray and started a family there in 2000.

“It’s just been an incredible place of opportunities,” Scott says. “People have come there from all over the world.”

Impressed by the “get-it-done” attitude of the residents, Scott was inspired to run for office, and was elected as an MLA in 2012. He served as Associate Minister of Transparency and Transformation and Minister of Innovation and Advanced Education until 2015.

“I’ve never felt such a strong sense of community as I do now,” Scott says. “It took the community being threatened in this way, I think, to bring an even stronger sense of community to the region.”

Scott has also witnessed the kindness of other Albertans during the challenging weeks following his displacement. Strangers have offered to pay for his purchases at stores and he’s received countless hugs from well-wishers around town.

Looking ahead to rebuilding, he understands the challenges, but believes his city will emerge stronger as a consequence of the ordeal.

“We’ve all been through something; it’s hard to compare,” he says. “There’s going to be a lot of work ahead.”

— Ameya Charnalia

Flare ups and air quality are worries, but Fort McMurray is still home

Eileen Drover looks at family photos in the RV where her and her family are staying, at the Glowing Embers RV Park, in Acheson

A return to Fort McMurray means a break from the waiting game for Eileen and Rick Drover but it comes with a dose of hope and a few fears as well.

The couple left town along with a wave of evacuees from the Timberlea neighbourhood and picked up their motor home along the way, a decision that has proved to be a good one.

“We’re still out in our RV so that still seems to be working out fine,” said Eileen, her east coast accent lingering despite being in Fort McMurray for the past 40 years.

A need for more regular connections to power, water and sewer meant a move from Lac La Biche to Acheson, just west of Edmonton.

Since then, waiting for funds to arrive from the Red Cross has been frustrating, a feeling that is slowly starting to be replaced by concerns for the conditions when they go back.

Eileen said her brother was called back to work in Fort McMurray and, though their house is still standing, he told them the city is still very smokey.

“Then they heard that there was another flare up,” she said. “It still puts up an alarm wondering if it’s safe to go back.”

“There are concerns, wondering whether or not we’re going back too soon,” she added. She also wonders what is causing the flare ups and if someone is responsible for it or if it’s just remnants of the fire coming back.

Having her elderly parents living with them, the smoke also prompts worries.

“My parents, they’re eager to go back. There is a concern, they’re older than me and I can probably handle a lot more health-wise but there is that concern wondering how they will do once we get back,” she said.

The family is planning to follow directions they’ve been given, including loading up the RV fridges with a few weeks of groceries and getting their hands on some good masks in case the smoke is too much to handle.

Her feelings for the city as a future home, however, are unshaken.

“Fort McMurray has always been our home,” she said. “I’ve been there for 40 years now. That is home, it will always be home. It may be half gone, it may be just a quarter of it could be gone. Either way, we will make it our home.”

The experience has also given them something to strive for.

“It may take years to rebuild what we lost, but we are looking forward to getting back there and starting what we have to to rebuild and help out our community and help out neighbours who are in need,” Eileen said.

A starting point will be their church, the Tabernacle of Praise Church in Waterways, which they have learned has been destroyed.

Congregation members have already had meetings to assemble photos for insurance companies and they plan to rebuild as soon as possible.

“It’s a sad time,” she said, “but at the same time we’re looking forward to a new change and building something stronger.”

— Dave Lazzarino

Evacuee feels deeply grateful for help along the way

Fort McMurray evacuee Jesse Meyer outside the Edmonton home where he and his wife are staying with friends on Wednesday, May 25, 2016.

Jesse Meyer is full of praise for Alberta’s response to the mass emergency evacuation of Fort McMurray nearly a month ago.

“We’re taking it one day at a time and just being grateful for the positive aspects that we’ve encountered over the last little bit,” said Meyer, a senior manager with the Fort McMurray Airport Authority.

“Being in Edmonton, it’s been one of the greatest host experiences I think Alberta, and this city, has ever put on for the residents of Fort McMurray. Just being grateful for those big and small things right now is important.”

Meyer and his wife Stephanie, a nurse, were born and raised in Edmonton so they leaned on an existing support network in the city after evacuating Fort McMurray. “We were very lucky that we had some friends and family that have been able to take us in over the last couple of weeks.”

The hospitality even extended to the professional courtesy of Edmonton International Airport providing a temporary office for Meyer and other staff to administer the usually bustling northern airport from afar. The terminal buildings at the Fort McMurray airport were unscathed, but several structures on the north side of the airport were damaged.

With a date set for a return to their home in Fort McMurray, Meyer admits driving back into a mostly deserted, partly destroyed city will be surreal, but he’s focused on staying positive.

Meyer believes their home still stands. “We used the (Regional Muncipality of Wood Buffalo’s) tool, which is an excellent resource. It says that it’s undamaged, it’s habitable, but we won’t know until we get in and I think that’s the case for a lot of people.

“We’re just happy that we were able to get out, that our friends and family in Fort McMurray are safe. We’re very fortunate and we’re in a good situation. The house is still there and that’s great. If there’s smoke damage, there’s smoke damage and we’ll deal with it as the situation unfolds.”

If their home is OK, they hope to pay forward the kindness they and other evacuees received, Meyer says.

“I think it would be great if we’re able to get back to the community and have a place that we can move back into and help others that are displaced as well with a home, if it’s in a condition to be able to, we’d like to be able to offer that as well.”

With his job at the airport and Stephanie’s nursing position at the hospital, both will also be focused on getting those key services back online, he said. 

“Going back to the community, I hope that the community remains as strong as it’s ever been. I know for a fact that it will rebuild and there’s going to be a lot of people that will be very keen to get back and help out and that’s what’s made the community strong in the past.”

Despite the ordeal, moving out of Fort McMurray is not an option. 

“It’s home. It’s been a great community for me and my wife to live in over the last number of years, and the airport’s got a lot of work ahead of it and I intend to be part of it.”

— Bill Mah

Two Fort McMurray residents were killed in separate collisions over the Victoria Day long weekend, and RCMP were continuing to investigate whether charges will be laid in both instances. 

“Both of these people were real gems,” said Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo Coun. Keith McGrath, who knows the families of both victims. 

Natalie Anne Hawkins, 43, died following a collision in Fort Saskatchewan on May 20. RCMP said a Mazda SUV was struck by a Mercedes C240 around 9:50 p.m.

The Mazda’s driver was taken to hospital where she was pronounced dead. The 47-year-old driver of the Mercedes was arrested for impaired driving, but charges have yet to be laid. 

RCMP were also investigating a crash near Thorhild between an SUV, a car and tractor-trailer Sunday morning that killed an unidentified 47-year-old Fort McMurray man. 

A tractor-trailer unit was travelling westbound on Highway 656 when it entered the intersection and was struck by a SUV travelling southbound on Highway 63, the Mounties said.

The tractor-trailer then swung across into eastbound traffic and struck a stopped car. The SUV’s driver was pronounced dead at the scene, and his 12-year-old son was taken to hospital with serious injuries, but remained in stable condition as of Tuesday. 

The 40-year-old male driver of the car suffered minor injuries, while a 41-year-old female passenger was taken to hospital in Edmonton, where she remained in stable condition Tuesday.

The driver of the tractor-trailer unit was not injured. The cause of the collision was still under investigation. Thorhild is approximately 84 kilometres northeast of Edmonton.

 McGrath said tragedy striking in the midst of the wildfire evacuation makes the situation even more difficult, but he said it’s now up to the community to make sure the families get the kind of support they need to get through this difficult time.

“You’ve got to wonder sometimes, if we were living our lives normally, in the community, would this happen?” McGrath said. “Two wonderful people taken from us way too early. The best we can do now is support their families.”

While the community of Fort McMurray mourns the loss of two of its own, RCMP jurisdictions around and north of Edmonton continue to investigate both those collisions and others that resulted in five deaths over the long weekend.

Police have laid charges in connection with one of the fatal crashes, following the death of a cyclist in Strathcona County on May 20. RCMP said it appeared the cyclist was trying to cross Highway 14, near Highway 216, when the victim was struck by an eastbound 2004 Pontiac Sunfire. 

On Friday, a ghost bike was installed near the site of the collision. Ghost bikes are bicycles that have been painted white, and are meant to memorialize cyclists killed in collision with automobiles. 

Phillip Norman Wasman, 68, of Ryley is charged with dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing death and refusing to provide a breath sample. Wasman was taken into custody, but released on bail Wednesday. He is next expected to appear in court June 15 in Sherwood Park. 

pparsons@postmedia.com

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Stantec CEO Bob Gomes sits atop the Journal’s annual survey of the best-paid senior executives in the city, with a total compensation package of more than $3.56 million for 2015.

It was the second straight year that Gomes — who has headed the big Edmonton-based engineering and design consulting firm since 2009 — has led the local rankings. His overall pay last year was down 4.5 per cent from 2014.

The Journal’s review of executive pay is based on data compiled from the filings of publicly traded companies in the region, as well as government-owned firms such as Epcor Utilities and ATB Financial.

The survey doesn’t include major private companies such as PCL Construction or Katz Group, which don’t disclose their financial results or executive compensation levels.

Gomes’ 2015 remuneration package included a base salary of $850,000, an annual incentive bonus of $935,000 and $1.7 million in long-term compensation. The latter comprised share and stock option-based awards.

Under Gomes’ leadership, Stantec has completed dozens of acquisitions while successfully navigating one of the worst economic downturns in recent Alberta history.

The company’s recent $1-billion purchase of Colorado-based MWH Global is expected to boost the firm’s annual revenues by nearly 60 per cent, while vastly expanding its global footprint and giving it a major stake in the global water infrastructure business.

Capital Power CEO Brian Vaasjo, who ranked fourth last year, was the second best-paid executive in Edmonton for 2015, with a total pay package of nearly $2.8 million. That was down about $106,000, or four per cent, from the previous year.

Dave Mowat, CEO of ATB Financial, the provincially owned bank, ranked third with a 2015 compensation package of $2.68 million. That was down more than $450,000, or 14.5 per cent, from 2014 when the bank posted record profits.

The prolonged downturn in the oilpatch has squeezed many of ATB’s energy-focused clients, forcing the bank to boost its loan loss provisions more than five-fold as it braces for possible defaults over the next year or two.

Those provisions — which reflect an accounting charge, and not an actual cash loss — slashed ATB’s net earnings by more than 70 per cent for the latest fiscal year. Mowat expects ATB’s ultimate loan defaults to be lower than the $387.6 million it has booked to date in loan loss provisions.

Christopher Fowler, CEO of ATB rival Canadian Western Bank, holds down fourth spot in the local pay parade for 2015, with total compensation of just over $2.4 million. That’s up marginally from the previous year.

Stephen Bebis, who heads Liquor Stores N.A., the country’s largest publicly traded liquor, wine and beer retailer, pocketed total compensation of more than $2.35 million last year, good for fifth spot. His pay dipped slightly last year.

Other executives who were among the 10 best-paid executives in the city last year include: Martin Ferron, CEO of North American Energy ($2.07 million); Rich Allen, COO of Stantec ($2.05 million); Linda McCurdy, CEO of K-Bro Linen ($1.76 million); Stuart Lee, CEO of Epcor Utilities ($1.46 million); and Bogac (Bogie) Ozdemir, an executive vice-president at Canadian Western Bank ($1.34 million).

In all, 23 local executives earned $1 million or more in total pay last year. That compares with 33 last year.

At Stantec, five senior officers earned at least $1 million for 2015. Epcor had four senior executives in the $1 million-plus club, while Capital Power had three, the same as Canadian Western Bank.

AutoCanada, the country’s largest publicly traded auto dealership network, paid its two top executives more than $1.1 million apiece. Melcor Developments CEO Brian Baker, meanwhile, earned just under $1.1 million.

Alberta Investment Management Corp. (AIMCo) boss Kevin Uebelein, who oversees $90 billion in pension and endowment fund assets, is not included in this year’s executive compensation survey.

Although he succeeded former AIMCo boss Leo de Bever in January 2015, the Crown corporation has yet to release its annual report for the year. The report normally includes compensation levels for senior officers.

De Bever, who is now retired, earned over $3.4 million in his final year at AIMCo.

Although compensation levels for Edmonton’s best-paid senior executives are light years above median wage levels for regular workers, they are well below the levels paid to Canada’s top CEOs.

John Chen, CEO of Waterloo, Ont.-based smartphone maker BlackBerry, received total compensation of $89.7 million for 2014, making him by far the best-paid executive in Canada. Don Walker, CEO of auto parts giant Magna International, pocketed more than $23 million, and Suncor Energy boss Steve Williams earned more than $12 million.

The Toronto-based national newspapers, which conduct annual surveys of executive compensation levels across the country, are expected to soon release their results for 2015.

Pay levels for top executives in the U.S. are even higher. Expedia boss Dara Khosrowshahi earned a whopping $94.6 million US last year, according to a recent survey conducted by the Associated Press and Equilar, a firm that tracks executive compensation levels.

The top 10 best-paid U.S. executives earned at least $33.4 million last year, according to the survey, and the median pay level for all those included in the survey topped $10.5 million.

glamphier@postmedia.com

An Edmonton man was put behind bars Friday for repeatedly sexually abusing and impregnating a vulnerable teenaged girl he took in as his stepdaughter after her own father died.

The 57-year-old, who can only be named as K.B. under a court-ordered publication ban protecting the identity of the victim, was handed an 8-1/2-year sentence after earlier pleading guilty to sexual assault causing bodily harm and two counts of sexual exploitation.

“You turned an act of kindness into a continuing abomination,” said Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Sterling Sanderman.

“You committed a number of odious and degrading acts on a person placed in your care when her father died and her mother was in Africa and she became an orphan,” said Sanderman.

“On one hand you were holding yourself out as a Christian … and at the same time you were putting a young girl through years of abuse.”

The judge ruled it was aggravating that K.B. was in a position of trust over the victim, who was between 15 and 21 at the time of the offences, and she suffered psychological harm as a result.

He ruled it was especially aggravating that the victim became pregnant five times and he forced her to have abortions.

According to an agreed statement of facts, the victim came to Canada with her father and brother in 1999, but after their father passed away in 2001, K.B. became the legal guardian for the two children.

Court heard he sexually abused the girl between 2006 and 2013, forcing her into sex acts at both their home and at his business, and he gave her money and rides to the movies as an inducement.

Court also heard that the victim and her brother went to police after fleeing the home in 2013. K.B. was arrested in 2014.

In a victim impact statement, the now-22-year-old woman wrote she was in “distress and fear” while living with K.B. and said she was deprived of a childhood and rushed into adulthood by a man “who was supposed to be a father figure to me.”

The young woman said she has suffered depression and sleepless nights and continues to feel guilty over the abortions.

“I am broken, hurt and scarred for life,” she said.

Prosecutor Carole Godfrey said K.B. was supposed to be the victim’s caregiver and provide her with spiritual guidance and mentorship, but instead he broke the “sacred” father-daughter relationship.

Defence lawyer Ashok Gill called it a “difficult and tragic case” and said his client is “incredibly remorseful” for what he did.

Prior to being sentenced, K.B. apologized to the victim, as well as his wife and everyone else who was involved.

“I’m very, very sorry,” said K.B., adding that he hopes he has a second chance to prove himself once he is released from prison.

Headdresses, necklaces, robes and pipes are just some of hundreds of sacred ceremonial items returned to the Blackfoot First Nations since first-of-its-kind legislation was passed in 2000. Now, the Alberta government is looking to expand those regulations to include indigenous people across the province.

Introduced in the legislature Thursday, Bill 22, An Act to Provide for the Repatriation of Indigenous Peoples’ Sacred Ceremonial Objects, reinforces the validity of past repatriations by fixing a technical oversight related to the previous act and extending it to all First Nations, Métis and Inuit communities. 

The original legislation, the First Nations Sacred Ceremonial Objects Repatriation Act, was passed 16 years ago, making it the first in Canada dealing with the return of Crown-held objects used in sacred ceremonies to First Nations communities, including the Blood Tribe, Piikani Nation and Siksika Nation, which are mainly concentrated in southern Alberta. 

However, the section that outlined how to apply for repatriation and the culture and tourism minister’s powers over it was never officially proclaimed. 

Nevertheless, repatriation went on, with more than 250 objects immediately returned to the Blackfoot First Nations. A few years later, 40 additional agreements were struck with the Blackfoot involving hundreds more objects in the collections of the Glenbow Museum in Calgary and the Royal Alberta Museum in Edmonton. 

“That section, even though it wasn’t proclaimed, has never proven problematic. We all went on our merry way for a decade thinking that everything was going along just fine,” said Chris Robinson, executive director of the Royal Alberta Museum. 

“What we’re doing about it is ensuring that every repatriation that happened in the past is going to be validated. Everyone acted in good faith. These objects are out in the communities and we would never, ever think of retrieving them again,” he said. 

The Blackfoot people owned the “lion’s share” of sacred objects in the government’s collections, so that’s why the first regulation pertained to them, Robinson said. The next group to focus on will be the Cree people, the most populous aboriginal nation in the country. 

Those who are interested must apply to have an object repatriated and then a group of ceremonialists and elders review the application to provide advice to the minister, Robinson said. Only one request that Robinson is aware of has ever been denied because it was considered a familial item and not a sacred ceremonial object.

One of the application’s requirements is that the objects are put back into active ceremonial use. Robinson believes this is a valuable opportunity for people to reconnect with their culture. 

“I don’t consider these our collections. I consider us stewards of them until they can be returned. It is far better that they be used for their intended purpose in the communities than for us to retain them,” Robinson said. 

oellwand@postmedia.com

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Fort Saskatchewan RCMP are investigating after a man was shot while standing outside a home in Chipman on Friday afternoon.

The man suffered serious injuries and was taken to hospital in Edmonton where he is in stable condition.

RCMP say the investigation is in early stages but the shooting does not appear to be a random act. They are looking for anyone who has information on the incident.

Chipman is about 75 kilometres northeast of Edmonton.

One man is dead and another in hospital after an early morning crash Sunday northeast of Edmonton.

Fort Saskatchewan RCMP were called to a collision between a pickup and a semi-tractor trailer at 3:15 a.m. on Highway 15 between Range Road 190 and 191, part way between Lamont and Chipman.

The driver of the semi, a 43-year-old man, was pronounced dead at the scene while the pickup’s driver was taken to hospital in Edmonton with undetermined but not life-threatening injuries.

Police re-routed traffic around the location while investigators looked into the cause of the collision. Chipman is about an hour northeast of Edmonton.

dlazzarino@postmedia.com

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A new 3D printer in Edmonton could transform the way people who are blind or have low vision learn.

For people with low vision, interacting with physical objects is critical. The printer creates three-dimensional solid objects from a digital file.

With that in mind, the Canadian National Institute for the Blind’s local office recently purchased the printer with funds donated by the Rotary Club of Edmonton.

Now, their office could print a heart — four chambers and braille labels included — for a student who’s interested in science, said Conor Pilz, CNIB Edmonton’s manager of major giving.

“They would be able to feel it and understand it … because they wouldn’t be able to look at a picture in a textbook,” he said.

For their younger clients, Laura Larson, the children’s department assistant, has already printed a model of the solar system and an aid to help with chopping.

The solar system can help students understand the space between the planets and the immense size differences.

“It just really shows how small (Earth is) in comparison,” Larson said.

She had some of her younger clients test out the chopping aid — a plastic piece that slips on top of a knife blade and helps stabilize it — Thursday night during a cooking event.

Kyra Tymchuk, 8, touches a scale model of the solar system made on a 3D printer at the CNIB, 12010 Jasper Ave., in Edmonton on Thursday May 26, 2016. 

Kyra Tymchuk, eight, said it made chopping a lot easier.

Usually, she ends up with a line in her hand from holding the knife steady.

While the circle from the aid still left an impression, “it just felt a little more comfortable than the line,” she said.

Pilz also sees potential for the 3D printer to help clients better navigate their surroundings.

People who are blind or have low vision often memorize a blueprint of their workspaces to help them get around, he said.

“So they know — 40 steps to the bathroom, take a left,” he said.

A printed model could make that process easier by giving them a rough idea of a space’s layout.

Kyra’s mom, Amy, sees a lot of possibility for the 3D printer.

Just last weekend she took Kyra and her younger sister, who also has low vision, to the zoo.

“When your kids are standing there and going ‘I can’t see the elephant’ that’s 20 feet away from you, it’s hard,” she said.

But a printed model of an elephant could help them understand the shape of its ears and trunk. Place it next to a scaled model of a person and it could help them understand the immense size difference.

While some of these items may be available for purchase by printing items themselves, CNIB staff can tailor them to suit a person’s particular needs, Pilz said.

Many items can also be printed at a lower cost — ranging between 40 cents to a few dollars per object.

The printer cost about $2,800 and the remainder of the $4,000 Rotary Club donation will be used to purchase printing supplies.

Though not entirely complete, the new Greyhound station in Edmonton’s north end welcomed its first travellers Sunday.

Aline Lesage was one of the passengers arriving after a more than 14-hour trip from Vancouver, and echoed some of the concerns about the new location and its accessibility to the downtown that have been expressed since the new location was announced.

“The old one was easier to reach,” said Lesage. “You have to know the place.”

She said even people who live in Edmonton might find it difficult to find at first and without public transit buses going there, it may be a tough place to get to know.

Peter Hamel, regional vice-president for Western Canada for Greyhound, admitted it will take some getting used to.

“What people know is Greyhound in downtown. This is going to be the biggest change,” Hamel said.

He said most people he met on the first day were being dropped off by friends or family or taking cabs to the new location. He added the two shuttles a day to and from the Welcome Centre next to the Shaw Conference Centre will help.

Added to that, passengers can get a cab to select downtown hotels for a flat rate of about $8.

Tynan Hilsabeck also arrived from Chilliwack on Sunday. He had done the trip before on a 21-hour-long bus ride to the downtown location and said he doesn’t entirely mind the new station’s locale.

“I feel like it’s less busy because to get through traffic to get to the downtown one it takes time,” Hilsabeck said.

He said he isn’t very bothered by the LRT not being near the new terminal, but hopes the city eventually develops routes for a bus to travel from the station and go downtown.

As it stands, the city has said there isn’t enough funds in the transit budget to provide service to the station.

The station itself still has some work ahead, as recent rains have delayed concrete pouring. Hamel said the terminal’s new canopy should be installed by the end of June.

In the meantime, it will have 17 buses a day come through most days, with 15 on Fridays and Sundays.

dlazzarino@postmedia.com

Twitter.com/SUNDaveLazz

I live in a mature neighbourhood south of the University of Alberta and east of the new South Campus that is expected to see a massive expansion in its student population. 

The Journal reported in a May 24 story that the “Splitting of residential lots spurs neighbours to revolt.” I absolutely accept that we need to realize that “times they are a changin’.” We need to look at our communities from the point of view of the present, but also the future, and be willing to embrace infill change that is smart and sustainable.

However, my community recently had its first subdivision and two skinny homes built on a 50-foot lot. Here is the real math. The lot with a small bungalow sold for around $400,000. Of the two skinny homes, still under construction, one sold recently for $799,999. (We also recently had a two-storey infill with a three-door garage and garage suite on a RF1 — single detached residential — lot above listed for $1.2 million.)

Has this achieved the goal of creating more affordable housing for young families? No, it has not. A once affordable property is now out of the reach of most young families. Does this keep our property taxes low? No, it does not. A property once worth $400,000 is now two properties worth $1.6 million. This will also inflate the property values of neighbouring properties.

Is the City of Edmonton an objective entity that is willing to look at both sides of the infill debate? No, it is not. The city has no objectivity on the infill debate because the tax base, in this case, has increased four times what it was previously.

Is this a smart way to practically achieve the goals of sustainable, affordable, density-increasing infill? Well, it does double the number of dwellings, so I will give it that as an accomplishment.

However, from a practical point of view, this kind of development has many hidden issues that are being permitted without variances being required.

One of these is that a side setback is required between the two skinny homes as well as between the skinny homes and their neighbours. Skinny homes “skinny” around that rule by adding the maximum-allowed cantilevers on both sides. This means that these houses are wider above grade than their actual footprint.

This creates additional problems with fire prevention safety, difficulties with back filling and grading to achieve a proper grade, massing effect and shadowing of neighbours. This is aside from the usual problems of slumping sidewalks, collapsed fences and cracked foundations.

I doubt any of the comments in support of infill are from people who bought homes they could afford in a neighbourhood they loved and now have damage to these homes resulting from infill development and no recourse after the fact because they can’t prove the damage didn’t previously exist or that it is because their homes are just old.

The city’s infill guidelines mention infill should complement the character of a neighbourhood. These homes do not do that.

I expect we will look back at this moment in urban planning history and say, “What on earth were we thinking back then?”

Give us semi-detached, duplex, or garage, garden or basement suites. Give us redevelopment of RA7 (low-rise apartments) and RF4 (semi-detached) units in our neighbourhood. Give me row housing on busy arterial roads. Give us construction guidelines and regulations that protect neighbouring homeowners and the city’s infrastructure from damage.

But don’t tell me that subdividing 50-foot lots creates smart infill. It does not.

Jan Hardstaff has lived in the neighbourhood of Parkallen for more than 30 years and is a member of the housing and development committee with the Parkallen Community League executive. She has been a liaison on behalf of the community with the City of Edmonton 109 ARP and Envision 109 streetscaping committees as well as the Edmonton Federation of Community Leagues infill construction committee.