The Pulse: Feb. 17, 2021

The Alberta Urban Municipality Association and Rural Municipalities of Alberta will meet for the second day of a policing summit on Feb. 17. 

On the agenda for the two-day virtual event, the first held earlier in February, is the provincial Police Act review, the Alberta Police Advisory Board, and the feasability of establishing a provincial police force.

But the concept of a provincial police force has received a cool reception from some mayors. 

“My concern is we would pay more for no better service,” AUMA president Barry Morshita told the St. Albert Gazette last week.

The proposed provincial police force came out of the recommendations presented last year from the Fair Deal Panel. The province commissioned a $2-million report due in April on the topic.

RCMP police most Alberta communities, including St. Albert. Mayor Cathy Heron said the service has served the city well.

“I don’t see a lot of positives to a provincial police force," she said.

• A Mill Woods restaurant has handed out thousands of free meals since the pandemic began, according to CBC. Dil-E-Punjab is able to keep providing the meals through community contributions and some support from the provincial government, and the restaurant plans to continue as long as possible.
• A "hate-filled" Instagram account is being condemned by the Edmonton Public School Board after it appeared online last weekend. The board has reported the "white alliance" account that is linked to Strathcona High School to the Edmonton police.
• Mayor Don Iveson and a local gun shop owner reacted to the federal government's new gun legislation on Feb. 16. The new law would allow municipalities to "ban handguns through bylaws restricting their possession, storage and transportation." Iveson said a network approach would be preferable: "While symbolically the delegation of authority is consistent with what we’d usually ask for, a much more robust and networked response to combatting the proliferation of guns and holding people accountable for their violent uses is ultimately what’s going to be needed here.”
• The leader of an Indigenous community watch group is speaking out after a video of Edmonton police officers ordering people out of a downtown LRT station in frigid temperatures came to light. "This is inhumane," Judith Gale, local patrol leader with Bear Clan Patrol, told CBC.
• Council's urban planning committee heard from more than 30 people who spoke in favour of Prairie Sky's proposed gondola on Tuesday. An initial framework to enable the project to move forward will be considered at the full city council meeting on Monday, Feb. 22.

Edmonton-based medical device startup, Tevosol, is expanding its global footprint after it struck a deal to merge with Bridge to Life, a leading global supplier of organ preservation solutions.

Under the new alliance, Bridge to Life has made a "significant financial commitment" to manufacture, trial, and launch Tevosol's portable ex-vivo lung perfusion (EVLP) machine and normothermic organ preservation platform.

"Partnering with Bridge to Life, with their extensive global reach, robust technical support coverage, and clinical education programs, will allow Tevosol to reach more patients with this lifesaving technology," said Tevosol's co-founder Dr. Darren Freed, who will now be the chief scientific officer at Bridge to Life.

This week's word is "nohtawiy" which means "my father" in Cree. Here's how to pronounce it.

The Cree word of the week was featured by local strategic communications agency Naheyawin in 2018. Republished with permission!