- Edmonton Public Schools is launching a voluntary student demographic survey in November that will ask personal questions about gender identity, race, and for older kids, sexual orientation. The information collected will help identify "barriers and inequities," the division said. The survey is not anonymous and results will be correlated with student data already collected. "If we want every child to walk through the door every day and feel welcomed and feel a sense of belonging, we need to have a better sense of who students are," said Nancy Petersen, a managing director with Edmonton Public Schools.
- Amalgamated Transit Union Local 569, which represents Dedicated Accessible Transit Service (DATS) drivers, has launched a public awareness campaign aimed at securing wage parity with other bus drivers. President Steve Bradshaw said there are about 130 DATS drivers in Edmonton who make about $5,000 less per year than drivers of conventional buses. "It's not so much about the money, it's about the equality," said union representative Daryn Kreutzer, who has been a DATS driver for 13 years.
- EPCOR announced on Oct. 28 that it has installed 24 new electric vehicle charging stations at eight sites around the city. The EV chargers are free for public use. Natural Resources Canada provided $210,000 to cover the installation costs.
- Curiocity has put together a trick-or-treat map for Edmonton showing special decorations, events, and candy locations. You can add your own information to the map, too. Follow the #yegkidcount hashtag to see trick-or-treat hotspots throughout the evening.
- More than half of respondents to a new Leger poll obtained by Postmedia think the state of downtown has either somewhat or significantly declined in the last year. Edmonton Downtown Business Association executive director Puneeta McBryan said the results are not surprising. "It's a really tough thing to talk about because I don't want anyone to be thinking that downtown is unsafe, because it's not, but I also can't talk about downtown without … recognizing the very real concerns people have," she told Postmedia.
- Coun. Michael Janz says making Edmonton's zoning bylaw more permissible to cannabis could help position the city as "the future cannabis capital of the world." In a blog post published on Oct. 28, Janz said he intends to ask for the inclusion of more cannabis uses as part of the Zoning Bylaw Renewal project. "I think we already have all the ingredients here in Edmonton and Alberta," he told CityNews. "We already have people innovating in this space … but we as a city can get out of the way."
- Premier Danielle Smith said her government "will not permit" any future mask mandates for students in K-12 schools and has instructed her ministers to investigate "any legislative or regulatory changes that may be necessary to reaffirm or clarify our government's full authority with respect to this and other health and education matters." On Oct. 27, a Court of King's Bench judge ruled that schools could create their own rules for masking, despite a previous statement from Education Minister Adriana LaGrange to the contrary.
