- Edmontonians observed the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on Thursday with rallies, tree planting and an Orange Shirt Day Run. A monument dedicated to residential school survivors was unveiled at Enoch Cree Nation School. But not everyone in Edmonton's Indigenous community is happy with the idea of a national holiday, reports CTV News.
- The former Grandin School has been renamed Holy Child Catholic Elementary School. Edmonton Catholic Schools trustees unanimously voted for the name in a special board meeting Wednesday. It was chosen to honour the memory of the children who were victims of the residential school system.
- Edmonton police handed out nearly 2,000 tickets as part of project TENSOR, also known as, Traffic Enforcement Noise/Speed Offence Reduction. Now in it's second year, the project aims to address noise and speeding complaints.
- The province announced that two new high schools in Edmonton would be built through a public-private partnership with Concert-Bird Partners. Construction on a public high school in southeast Edmonton is expected to begin this fall, while the company will break ground on the Catholic high school in Heritage Valley in summer 2022.
- Advocates are calling for the province to proactively distribute unused rapid tests to schools and parents to help curtail the spread of COVID-19. Alberta Health has a stockpile of 980,000 kits that schools or other organizations can request.
- Some Edmonton-area intensive care units are receiving harassing phone calls from people questioning patient numbers and capacity. The Edmonton zone is currently sitting at 87% capacity, said Alberta Health Services in a series of Twitter posts. The province is finalizing arrangements with the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) to bring eight to 10 ICU-trained staff members to Edmonton.
- The Alberta Teachers' Association is calling for an immediate halt to the pilot of the province's draft K to 6 curriculum. Of the 6,500 teachers and school leaders that provided feedback on the pilot, 95% did not support the curriculum. In the spring, Edmonton's public and Catholic school boards announced they would not be piloting the curriculum.
- Premier Jason Kenney announced a vaccination policy for provincial employees on Thursday. Alberta's 25,000 public servants will have to submit proof of full vaccination by Nov. 30 or produce a negative PCR test result every time they are in the office.
- The Canadian Medical Association is calling for lockdowns in Alberta and Saskatchewan. New projections show that hospital admissions will continue to rise for several weeks in Alberta.
