The Pulse: April 9, 2021

Edmontonians want future city councils to make significant changes to the Edmonton Police Service (EPS), but are divided on what those reforms should be — and whether defunding the police should be on the table.

In Taproot's fifth of eight listening sessions, more than a dozen Edmonton residents came together to discuss police budgets, and whether future councils should cut police funding.

The event was prompted by Taproot’s People's Agenda, a document that’s being compiled based on the responses to this question: What key issue do you want the candidates to talk about as they compete for votes in the 2021 municipal election, and why?

Participants in the session discussed issues of police brutality and a lack of accountability in law enforcement, as well as the recently released report from the community safety and well-being task force, which included 14 recommendations for police reform. On April 6, city council decided to adopt 13 of those recommendations.

Some Edmontonians said that council's actions haven’t been sufficient, while others agreed with the idea of focusing on reforms that do not involve defunding or freezing funding for the police.

Overall, participants at the session said that Edmonton police need greater oversight, more transparency, and that there needs to be more disciplinary measures for officers that abuse their power.

• TEC Edmonton, which is jointly run by the city and the University of Alberta, is set to cease operations on June 30. "TEC Edmonton was a very successful endeavor, but the Edmonton metro region's tech startup ecosystem has evolved in such a way that both the university and city agreed it was time to reimagine this partnership," said Deborah James, the Univerity of Alberta's associate vice-president of innovation and commercialization.
• A rapid flow-through vaccination site will be established at the Edmonton Expo Centre, city manager Andre Corbould told council's emergency advisory committee on April 7. He said the site will allow thousands of Edmontonians to be vaccinated daily.
• CBC News wrote an article about "what you need to know about the P1 variant in Alberta," which has the potential to spread rapidly.
• Mayor Don Iveson tabled a motion at the Edmonton Metropolitan Region Board meeting on April 8 to initiate preliminary discussions about climate change cooperation in the region. He said a shared carbon budget would "unlock the economic opportunities that come with having a region that’s really aligned to what the world is asking for in terms of a low carbon future." The motion was referred to the board's June meeting.
• A new poll by the Angus Reid Institute found that Albertans "are the most miserable of people in any province when it comes to housing." Join our People's Agenda listening session on April 15 to discuss concerns related to housing in Edmonton.
• A project by CBC examining issues affecting neighborhoods around the Anthony Henday ring road looked at what it would take to calm traffic in car-oriented communities.

BioNeutra is receiving an injection of $2.94 million from Western Economic Diversification Canada (WD) to accelerate the company's manufacturing capacity. The funding for the Edmonton-based company will be provided over three years.

"This partnership with WD will allow BioNeutra to produce more products and sell to more companies in Canada and around the world. We're a Canadian flag carrier which also helps with Canada’s export reputation," BioNeutra chief operating officer Dr. Steve Jakeway told Taproot. 

BioNeutra is an award-winning organic plant-based food manufacturer, focusing on converting starch molecules to healthier food ingredients without chemical modification. BioNeutra's lead product VitaFiber® IMO was recently named the world's top beverage ingredient by industry publisher FoodBev.

In addition to expanding BioNeutra's production line capacity, WD's investment will help the company grow on a variety of fronts.

"(The funding) will intensify our sales and marketing activities to promote our products in new markets, research and development activities in our labs as well as adding to our administration and support functions," said Jakeway. "One of the first impacts will be the installation of new equipment over the summer months that will significantly increase our output."

Translating Criminal Law allows you to learn about how criminal law works while eavesdropping on a delightful father-daughter relationship. Every two weeks, University of Alberta law professor Peter Sankoff explains various concepts to his daughter Penny, who was 11 when they started the podcast in January.

It's pointedly "rated G" given the age of Sankoff's co-host and presumably some of the audience, so you won't hear any true crime gore. Instead, you'll hear an age-appropriate but intelligent exploration of what a jury does, the presumption of innocence, or the stages of a criminal trial. They even brought in Supreme Court of Canada justice Rosalie Abella to explain the judge's role.

Most episodes define a "big word of the day" and a "Latin word of the day" related to the episode's theme. Once he delivers the explanation, Sankoff quizzes Penny (and you, the listener) on the concepts, so it really is a learning experience. Penny also gets a chance to school her dad on her areas of expertise, which include Ariana Grande and horseback riding.

The podcast has been written up by Folio and The Gateway and is getting good reviews. The co-hosts do a TikTok dance in celebration of download milestones, so there's another incentive to give it a spin.