- Boyle Street Community Services will relocate its services across four locations in central Edmonton after it moves out of its current building just north of Rogers Place on Sept. 30. The new locations will include Bissell East, at 105 Avenue and 96 Street, where the bulk of the agency's daily services will be offered. Four Directions Financial and Hiregood will be delivered out of temporary trailers on 101 Street and 107A Avenue, where the agency's new permanent facility, King Thunderbird Centre, will be located once construction is completed by the end of next year. Two community spaces will be offered at the Mercer Warehouse, and a smaller community space that can serve up to 20 people will operate out of Co*Lab. Boyle Street spokesman Elliott Tanti said the agency worked with the city to ensure each location was zoned appropriately.
- The Stollery Children's Hospital has opened a new mental health walk-in clinic and a new outpatient psychiatry clinic to help a growing number of children and youth with mental health concerns. The hospital has been seeing a growing demand for mental health services, in part due to the pandemic's effect on children, said Angela Bennett with the Stollery Children's Hospital Foundation. A study from the Alberta Medical Association found that about 60% of parents reported at least one child experienced deteriorating mental health because of the pandemic.
- The Alberta government announced $12.4 million in funding for an additional 2,000 apprenticeships across the province to help meet the demand for skilled labourers, particularly in the construction industry. The funding is in addition to $15 million announced earlier this year, bringing the total funding for apprenticeship training in 2023-24 to $54.4 million. There are 47 apprenticeship education programs across Alberta.
- The Lebanese Burger Mafia, a documentary film exploring the history of fast food restaurant Burger Baron and the cultural contributions of the Lebanese and Arab community, played at the Calgary International Film Festival on Sept. 23. Edmonton-based filmmaker Omar Mouallem said he was inspired to investigate the burger chain's mysterious history in part because of a family connection, adding the documentary has been surprisingly successful, playing to sold-out audiences at film festivals across Canada. Mouallem said he hopes the film helps audiences "appreciate the cultural influence that immigrants, refugees, and foreign workers have had, not just in Alberta, but especially in rural Alberta."
- June 2023 had the highest number of drug poisoning deaths of any June on record. Alberta Substance Use Surveillance Data shows that 161 people died of drug poisoning in June, an increase of 39 deaths over June 2022. The total number of deaths in the first half of 2023 reached 990, compared to 894 during the same period in 2022. Provincial data also shows that the majority of opioid-poisoning deaths in the Edmonton Zone happened in the person's own home.
- The Alberta NDP launched its own survey to ask Albertans whether they want the provincial government to withdraw from the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) and create a provincial pension plan in its place. NDP finance critic Shannon Phillips said the UCP government's online survey, which is open until Dec. 10, doesn't ask whether the public is in favour of leaving the CPP for an Alberta version. "We will ask the questions Albertans need to consider when determining the future of their retirement," Phillips said. Last week, the UCP released a long-awaited report from consultant LifeWorks that calculated the province should get $334 billion from the CPP's asset pool if it starts its own pension plan by 2027.
Headlines: Sept. 26, 2023
By Mariam Ibrahim