- About 300 people gathered at City Hall on May 28 to call for more security in Chinatown in response to the violent deaths of Hung Trang and Ban Phuc Hoang. "Before these murders, everybody was afraid. We are angry now," Wen Wang of the Chinatown Business Improvement Area said at the "Rally for Safety in Chinatown." Michael Lee of the Chinese Benevolent Association said the community needs hope. "We see homelessness, we see food insecurity, we see health problems, and we see the degradation of poverty," he said. "But worst of all we see hopelessness, we see despair." Police Chief Dale McFee attended the rally and promised quick action. "We have a lot of resources now. We just need to align them," he said.
- A provincial court judge stayed charges against a man who was zapped with a Taser five times as he climbed a fence to get away. Judge Olugbenga Shoyele ruled that the Edmonton police officer broke policy when he deployed his stun gun on the fleeing man, saying "It appears to me that the Taser was deployed out of frustration." The man had been charged with being unlawfully in a dwelling house and obstructing a peace officer after the incident in June 2021 near Whyte Avenue and 110 Street. Staying the charges was necessary, Shoyele wrote, because the "state conduct here, as described, risks undermining the integrity of the judicial process."
- The daughter of a man who died with two friends in Kinistinâw Park a year ago is still waiting for the autopsy report to confirm what killed her father. Clifford Mitchell, Jason Bush, and Michael Dion were found in cardiac arrest at the park at 96 Street and 103 Avenue and could not be revived with Narcan. Naomi Johnson told Postmedia it was a surprise to hear carfentanil was found in Mitchell's system, since he was not known to use opioids.
- Edmonton Public Schools is planning to eliminate about 250 jobs while expecting 2,800 more students next year, resulting in larger class sizes and fewer supports for students with additional needs. Provincial funding has not kept up with enrolment growth, said board chair Trisha Estabrooks after trustees approved a $1.2 billion budget. Last week, Edmonton Catholic Schools approved a $528 million budget that adds 10 new teaching positions, with enrolment growth expected to be essentially flat, CBC reported.
- As the Edmonton Oilers prepare to meet the Colorado Avalanche in Round 3 of the Stanley Cup playoffs starting May 31, Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek will attend her June 7 council meeting in blue and orange, having lost her bet with Mayor Amarjeet Sohi. She and fellow councillors will also be donating to the Kids with Cancer Society. Tsuut'ina Nation Chief Roy Whitney and Canadian men's soccer player Sam Adekugbe will also be donating to charity after losing their respective bets with Enoch Cree Nation's Billy Morin and soccer star Alphonso Davies. Meanwhile, Los Lobos has offered to play La Bamba live if the Oilers go all the way, buoyed by Joey Moss's favourite song, which has become an anthem for the team.
- The Edmonton Oil Kings will play for the WHL Championship against either the Kamloops Blazers or the Seattle Thunderbirds. Unlike the Oilers, the Oil Kings will have home-ice advantage — Game 1 is at Rogers Place on June 3.
- The Wâposo-Wâti Park and Community Garden is coming to life again on some previously vacant lots at 107 Avenue and 110 Street. The sanctuary is the result of a partnership between Native Counselling Services of Alberta, which works with healing lodges to tend the garden; Alberta Retina Consultants, which owns the land and provides fencing and water; and the city, which has provided grants for landscaping and infrastructure. "It's gone from a really big eyesore to a beautiful location," Chad Bolster of the Stan Daniels Healing Centre told CBC.
- The federal and provincial governments will be spending $20 million to repair and reimagine the water features, walkways, and decking at the Alberta legislature. Construction is expected to be complete by summer of 2024. The fountains have been turned off for two summers because of leaks that threatened the safety of the pedway and tunnels below.
- Edmonton and Saskatoon are likely to be among the first Canadian cities to face the invasion of wild boars, warns a University of Saskatchewan researcher. The feral pigs have been spotted in at least 28 rural municipalities and counties, including Lamont in northeastern Alberta, and they are mobile enough to expand to urban areas, Ryan Brook of the Canada Wild Pig Research Project told CBC.
- A street in Beverly has been renamed Cheremosh Way in honour of Cheremosh, a Ukrainian dance company that has contributed to the local arts scene for more than 50 years.
Headlines: May 30, 2022
By Karen Unland