The Pulse: Aug. 17, 2022

People who use drugs seldom have much sway in the studies they're the subject of, or the government policies they're subjected to. A peer-led, community-based research project in Alberta is working to change that while filling knowledge gaps in the relationship between cannabis use and mental health for in-risk people.

The Cannabis As Relief in Mental Health and Addiction (CARMHA) Project is coordinated by AAWEAR (Alberta Alliance Who Educate and Advocate Responsibly) and Habitus Collective, and has involved people with lived experience in every step of the project, from design to data analysis. The project team started with overarching questions around cannabis use, legalization, and stigma, with the aim of "bringing voice to a different community, a community that hasn't actually had a lot of say in the types of research that have come out around cannabis," said Lisa Elford, principal consultant with Habitus Collective.

"What we were interested in was not necessarily the causative link, but understanding the role that cannabis plays in people's lives. And the group that is naturally connected with AAWEAR is folks who are living rough, usually houseless populations, or who have used or have a history of concurrently using other substances," Elford said.

AAWEAR is an advocacy group made up of people with a history of hard drug use, and it is active in street outreach, education campaigns, and pushing for policy reform. The maxim "nothing about us without us" that guides the organization's daily work was also essential to the CARMHA Project's objectives.

"We wouldn't have applied, and we wouldn't have put this project together, if we couldn't have that level of peer support, peer interaction, and lived experience knitted throughout the whole project," said Elford.

Cody Stephen, a peer researcher with AAWEAR, said his own experience with addiction and as an outreach worker in Edmonton made participants more comfortable completing their survey.

"It takes me back to when I was in their shoes, when someone came up to me and asked me if I want to do a survey. I'm like, 'Oh, yeah, for sure. Is there money involved?'" Stephen laughed. "But that was not always the pitch when we were out there. It was about if they want to help with policies and practices in the future. And a majority of them were all about it."

• The average attendance at Rogers Place for the 20 preliminary round matches of the world junior hockey championship was just 1,319. Hockey Canada blames the summer schedule and "understandable scrutiny" of the organization for its handling of sexual assault allegations as reasons that people have stayed home. Sponsors such as TELUS and Canadian Tire have also bailed on the tournament, leaving the boards unusually ad-free.
• Despite being the only "yes" vote for the Prairie Sky Gondola at city council this week, Coun. Karen Principe now says she had concerns about the lack of "meaningful Indigenous consultation" and suggested that if done better it might have led to a different outcome. "It was a very tough decision," Principe said. "I just thought that it was such a great, creative idea and something unique for Edmontonians."
• There have been 26 incidents between birds and planes at the Edmonton International Airport so far this year, up from 17 in 2021 and 15 in 2020, and on par with the rate seen pre-pandemic in 2019 when 52 bird strikes were reported. EIA uses drones, propane cannons, and pyrotechnics to scare away birds, and said increased flight volumes are behind the increase this year.
• Housing starts in Edmonton increased 35% year-over-year in July, according to new figures from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. The increase was 32% from June to July 2022, seasonally adjusted at annual rates, despite a 14% drop in the number of single-detached starts.
• Edmontonians are invited to a procession on Aug. 19 to pay tribute to Ben Stelter, the six-year-old Oilers fan who died of an aggressive glioblastoma brain tumour last week. The procession will leave Park Memorial Funeral Home at 10am and will drive south to Rogers Place. Fans are encouraged to gather under Ford Hall along 104 Avenue. The procession will also be streamed online.
• According to Alberta Wildfire, there have been 819 wildfires this year, compared to 1,123 by the same point in 2021, but the area burned is nearly twice as large, at 107,517 hectares compared to 53,920 hectares last year. Heat waves like the one currently underway across Western Canada elevate the risk of fires starting and make them harder to control.
• The UCP government is continuing to make its case for a provincial police force to replace the RCMP in rural communities, saying its plan would add 275 officers to Alberta's 42 smallest detachments. Rural Municipalities of Alberta has said it supports keeping the RCMP. Alberta Municipalities said it will need time to digest the government's deployment plan but expressed some outstanding concerns about a lack of consultation. "Fundamentally, we believe the creation of an Alberta provincial police service should be driven by the real public safety needs of the communities it will serve rather than by political motivations," the organization said.

Two organizations dedicated to increasing the diversity of voices heard in politics are holding a virtual policy competition to help get historically underrepresented women and gender-diverse people involved in the municipal decision-making process.

Parity YEG is collaborating with Women's Advocacy Voice of Edmonton (WAVE) to host the three-day competition, running from Aug. 26 to 28. It invites women and gender-diverse people from anywhere in the Edmonton region to write a one-page policy brief related to public safety, democratic participation, climate resilience, or inclusive communities. Twelve winners will be selected by a panel of judges and matched with city councillors for a paid internship, where they can further develop their policy chops and make valuable political connections.

"All we want is for gender-diverse folks and racialized women to just take a stab at it," said Cindy Caturao, vice-chair of governance for Parity YEG.

Such people often feel they don't have the right credentials to enter politics, said Caturao. Similar doubts have also been expressed by people who are interested in the policy competition but question whether they are "good enough to enter," she said. "That's the point. We want your views, your lens, to navigate you while writing these policy briefs."

Applications are open until Aug. 23 to adult women and gender-diverse people who live in Edmonton or the surrounding municipalities, First Nations reserves, and rural communities.

"It's just being realistic (about) the fact that Edmonton is more of a metropolitan area, and people at the City of Edmonton aren't just from Edmonton," said organizer and Parity board member Dolly Cepeda Montufar. "And also, trying to be allies to people in the rural areas, to be open and to remember that it's not just us."

On this day in 1979, the Edmonton Symphony Society was preparing for an annual general meeting in its 27th year, continuing a history of orchestral music in Edmonton that dates back much farther.

While smaller groups played in Edmonton's earlier years, November 1920 saw the first group to perform under the banner of the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra — 52 amateur musicians assembled at the grand Pantages Theatre downtown. The orchestra proved popular, and that first performance soon grew into fairly regular concerts, primarily held at the Empire Theatre.

The music continued to be a draw for the next 12 years, but the Great Depression took its toll, and the group disbanded in 1932 due to a lack of funds. Over the years, there were attempts to get the music playing again: The Edmonton Philharmonic Orchestra was founded in 1941, and in 1947, the city government pulled together the Edmonton Pops Orchestra.

Five years later, Marion Mills held the first meeting to discuss the merging of the two groups. The Edmonton Symphony Society was founded, with Mills as its first president. The modern ESO was born and held its first concert on Nov. 30, 1952, at the Capitol Theatre, conducted by Lee Hepner.

In those early years, the ESO frequently moved, even finding a home at Victoria Composite High School for a spell. Then, in 1957, it found a more permanent place at the Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium, where it would stay for the next 40 years. In 1997, the ESO moved into its current home at the Francis Winspear Centre for Music.

While obviously based in Edmonton, the ESO has also reached ears beyond the city limits. Seven years after its founding, it became the first orchestra to play in the Northwest Territories, and it would tour Yellowknife, Inuvik, and Whitehorse decades later. In 2012, it played outside of Canada for the first time with a performance at Carnegie Hall. Aside from live performances, recordings of the ESO have reached massive audiences. The 1972 live album of ESO's collaboration with English rockers Procol Harum went platinum internationally. And the orchestra won a Gemini for its 1992 performance with k.d. lang, conducted by Tommy Banks.

The orchestra has been sure to take advantage of the beautiful, if brief, summer months in Edmonton with an ongoing series of outdoor performances throughout August, leading up to the return of its annual Symphony Under the Sky during the Labour Day weekend.

This is based on a clipping found on Vintage Edmonton, a daily look at Edmonton's history from armchair archivist @revRecluse — follow @VintageEdmonton for daily ephemera via Twitter.