The Pulse: Aug. 9, 2022

Edmonton needs to stop relying on "band-aid solutions" to food insecurity and create the conditions to allow people to get enough to eat, says the City of Edmonton Youth Council.

Redirecting excess food is essential, but "gleaning alone will not be enough to reduce food waste and food insecurity," says the Food Waste and Insecurity Report: A Youth Perspective, which was presented to city council's community and public services committee on Aug. 8.

The report, based on research, interviews, and a survey of Edmontonians between the ages of 13 and 23, calls on the city to "create conditions that allow people to access food without needing to use charities or sacrifice their dignity, cultural roots, and nutrition." It recommends that Edmonton join Vancouver, Montreal, and Toronto in signing the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact, an international agreement between city mayors to develop sustainable food systems, improve education and awareness campaigns, and increase the diversion of food waste from businesses.

In its response to the report, administration said some of the youth council's recommendations are for actions that lack clear policy or council direction or "are beyond the jurisdiction of the municipal order of government." It notes that the Edmonton Food Council voted to use the Milan Pact in its strategic planning process to support the implementation of fresh, the food and urban agriculture strategy that was approved in 2012.

Meanwhile, the band-aid solutions are struggling to keep up with rising requests for help. The annual summer food drive for Edmonton's Food Bank fell far short of its intended goal, despite strong crowds at the Heritage Festival, which has been one of its biggest collectors.

"Cost of living, cost of food, cost of everything is going up, not only for Edmonton's Food Bank, but for everyone else, and so even our bulk orders, those prices are going up," Tamisan Bencz-Knight told CTV News.

Photo: Edmonton's Food Bank has been distributing food to those who need it for 41 years. (Mack Male/Flickr)

• City council's community and public services committee voted unanimously to recommend an increase to the operating budget for the C5 North East Community Hub, CTV News reports. The organization is seeking a $200,000 increase in annual city funding, to $500,000. "We are not recreating the wheel or duplicating services. We are really making every dollar stretch," said Hannah Storvold, the organization's director of strategy and advocacy.
• A new report from the Injury Prevention Centre at the University of Alberta's School of Public Health may be the first effort to analyze data concerning unhoused people in emergency rooms in Alberta. Drawing on Alberta Health Services records of more than 11,600 cases from 2019-2020, the report found that the leading reason for visiting the ER was "poisoning" including opioids (25%) followed by violence (19%) and fall-related injuries (13%). The report also found that 17% of instances (more than 2,000 cases) ended with the patient leaving the ER before their treatment was finished. Laurence Braun-Woodbury with the Bissell Centre said the report "confirmed so much of what we see year in and year out as service providers."
• The Edmonton Federation of Community Leagues has published an open letter to Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis to share concerns about the potential relocation of the Camrose Casino to 420 Parsons Road in Edmonton. EFCL suggests that if the relocation is approved and the casino retains its rural classification, there could be a loss of at least $6.7 million in charitable gaming revenue. "In the last year, 80 Community Leagues used $2.9M of casino funding to support their operations and projects," the organization said.
• The Robert Tegler Trust Outreach Service at the Edmonton Public Library is helping to get resources into the hands of at-risk Edmontonians. Outside the office is a phone that connects people to one of three social workers, who offer help in accessing housing, navigating the justice system, finding mental health supports, and more. "A lot of people have in their minds that a library is just a place to read or get books or maybe go on the computer, but the library is actually at the front lines have a lot of social issues," said outreach worker Hilary Kirkpatrick. The service saw 1,084 interactions in 2021 and 1,057 so far in 2022.
• As of Aug. 4, Edmonton taxpayers have paid $22,877 to cover photo radar fines for City of Edmonton drivers incurred since July 2021. Postmedia reports that drivers of city buses, garbage trucks, snow plows, "and even photo radar vehicles" are responsible for thousands of dollars in tickets.
• West Edmonton Mall and Cineplex Entertainment, which owns the Rec Room, are being sued for negligence in the death of a 16-year-old girl who died from hypothermia after being found unresponsive in the parking lot in 2019. The claim, filed by the girl's family, alleges mall security failed to adequately search for the girl even after someone filed a complaint about an unconscious female in the same area. It also accuses the defendants of serving alcohol to minors and employing poorly trained staff. Neither defendant has commented on the allegations.
• City council's community and public services committee heard from sixteen speakers concerning a potential ban on cosmetic pesticide use on private and public property. Half of the speakers, most representing the landscaping and lawn care industries, opposed the ban, citing the damage it would do to businesses and the potential neglect of public spaces that would result. The issue will be discussed again on Aug. 22.
• Apple is sending a team of map-makers to drive and walk across Edmonton and five other Canadian cities from Aug. 8 to Sept. 30. The company said it is doing ground surveys to collect data that will improve the "look around" feature of the Maps app.

The latest accelerator to join Alberta's suddenly crowded field is getting rave reviews from some of the entrepreneurs who participated in its first cohort.

The Alberta Innovates Revenue Accelerator (TAIRA), run by San Francisco's GrowthX, is billed as "the only accelerator in Alberta (that is) 100% focused on helping founders win customers and grow revenue." The revenue focus made it attractive to Jason Suriano of TIQ Software, one of 13 Edmonton-based companies in the first cohort of the program.

"I've been in a few of these programs over the years, where it's somewhat more abstract," he said in an interview for a forthcoming episode of Taproot's Bloom podcast. "This is very specific to what is best for TIQ and Jason."

Suriano said the program has helped TIQ shift from enterprise software to software-as-a-service, with a narrower but more accessible niche.

"The program has just helped me clearly identify what our customer is, what they need, and now it's just a matter of me going after the first five or 10," he said. "It doesn't seem like some crazy mountain that I have to climb now."

Anthea Sargeaunt of 2S Water was similarly positive in a testimonial video on the TAIRA webpage. "We've moved from a pre-revenue company into revenue," she said of her water-quality data business. "I have more orders than I have sensors."

The next information session on TAIRA is scheduled for Sept. 19. Applications are due Sept. 30 for the 16-week program, which starts on Oct. 17.