- McCauley residents, the chair of the Chinatown and Area Business Association, and a representative of the Edmonton branch of the Ukrainian National Federation have signed a news release voicing concern over Boyle Street Community Services' move a few blocks north from its current location near Rogers Place to 10010 107A Avenue. "McCauley is renowned for its inclusiveness and compassion towards vulnerable individuals," the release says. "But it is beyond McCauley's capacity to host any additional social agencies ... particularly within one block of the city's largest K to 12 school." Elliott Tanti with BSCS said there's work to do with the community but highlighted common goals. "We all want the same things. We want safer, more inclusive communities," he said. Renovation of the building is scheduled to begin soon, Global News reports.
- Deportation orders have been halted for two Edmonton families facing major risks in their home countries. A family of four previously denied refugee status has had their order paused after meeting Tourism Minister Randy Boissonnault, who is also MP for Edmonton Centre, and a Filipino mother was permitted to stay after becoming undocumented following alleged employer abuse while she was here as a temporary foreign worker. The mother, Evangeline Cayanan, is also a volunteer with the advocacy organization Migrante Alberta, which supported the two families. Both have now applied to remain in Canada on humanitarian and compassionate grounds.
- Several sheets of glass fell off the side of the 29th floor of the Stantec Tower on the evening of July 4, which shattered on the street and two parked cars. A representative of ICE District, which owns the building, said scaffolding has been installed to shelter uncovered walkways around the tower while the organization applies protective film to some windows. No one was injured in the event. A single sheet also fell from the 29th floor last summer, CTV News reports.
- City council passed first reading of a bylaw to prohibit businesses from giving out single-use plastic items and to require a minimum fee for reusable bags. Edmontonians will be invited to comment on the bylaw at a public hearing in September. If passed, the bylaw would take effect on July 1, 2023. Last month, the federal government also passed regulations banning the manufacturing and importing of some plastics by December, with the aim of phasing out single-use plastics by 2030.
- Swoop Flight WO 264, a Boeing 737-800 bound from Edmonton to Halifax on July 4, had its landing gear damaged during takeoff and spent two hours circling Edmonton to burn off excess fuel before landing safely. Six crew members and 189 passengers were on board. Swoop said its pilots made the call to divert the flight back to Edmonton "[out] of an abundance of caution."
- Alberta Health Services announced that five new ambulances are now operating in Edmonton, along with four new Non-Ambulance Transport vehicles. "We continue to see a large increase in call volume that is keeping EMS crews busy, and these new ambulances and their paramedic crews are already hard at work serving Albertans," said Darren Sandbeck, chief paramedic and senior provincial director of AHS EMS.
- The province has relaunched the Community Revitalization Levy program, which lets municipalities borrow against future property tax income to finance the redevelopment of areas where existing infrastructure and land is unappealing to the private sector. The program was paused in 2013 to undergo review. Three of Alberta's five CRLs are located in Edmonton — in The Quarters, Belvedere, and Downtown.
Headlines
By Kevin Holowack and Mack Male