The Pulse: June 8, 2023

An Edmonton dog daycare and training facility offers behavioural classes to help dogs and their owners prepare for a public realm that is increasingly open to their presence.

"We made the Community Ambassadors program so that it could be accessed by people who want to participate in the community more with their dogs," said Kristen McKenna, training manager for The Dog House Daycare & Training.

More and more businesses have opened their doors to pets since The Dog House started its Community Ambassadors class five years ago. Linda Hoang's running list of dog-friendly patios included 112 locations in the Edmonton area as of May 8. That large number came about in part because a policy change in May 2022 meant restaurants no longer require a permit from Alberta Health Services to allow dogs on patios.

Just because your dog is welcome doesn't mean it's ready, however.

"Socialization is interesting because a lot of people have an idea of what socialization is, and that's not necessarily what it is in dogs," McKenna said. "Socialization is the normalization of certain things … something that we focus on is dogs being able to exist in spaces without feeling the need to interact or play all of the time, being able to relax, and just being able to be there with their person."

More outdoor areas will allow dogs to be off-leash this summer. The City of Edmonton has launched both the Community League Temporary Dog Park Program and the Pop-Up Dog Park Program, allowing a combined 25 temporary off-leash areas in addition to the established ones. Again, dogs need to be prepared for such places, McKenna said.

"Off-leash spaces are for social dogs. They are not for socializing dogs," she said. "If you need help with socialization, talk to a trainer, get a little bit of help, maybe go to a class. But I would not dive right into an off-leash experience."

• The city's extreme weather response will be activated from June 8 to June 13 due to extreme heat and may be extended if conditions persist. Extreme heat response measures include water bottle filling stations across the city, which will be open until Sept. 30. Those needing a break from the heat can find relief in any open city facility or library, and peace officers will carry water bottles to distribute to Edmontonians in need.
• Const. Yi Yang of the Edmonton Police Service as well as former community peace officers Mathieu Labrie and Jeffrey Mullenix have been charged with failing to provide the necessaries of life following an internal investigation into a March 2020 incident in which a man was found dead of fentanyl toxicity inside a holding cell at a police detainee management unit. At the time, all three men were working as community peace officers in the unit. An earlier Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) report found officers noticed something was wrong with the detainee nearly five hours after he stopped moving and thus failed to comply with police service policy that officers conduct "arousal checks" every hour. EPS would not comment further as the matter is before the courts.
• Edmonton Public Schools has released data from its first-ever survey of student demographics. The data reflects responses from 55,800 students across 213 schools, who answered questions about their race, religion, ethnicity, gender, and Indigenous identity. In total, 33% identified as white, 16% as East Asian, 16% as South Asian, 11% as Black, 10% as First Nations, Métis, or Inuit, 8% as Middle Eastern, and 7% as Southeast Asian. About 22% of students in Grades 7 to 12 identified as Christian, 18% as Muslim, and 22% as having no religious affiliation. Among students in Grades 4 to 12, most identified as female or male, while about 3% identified as non-binary and 3% as a gender not listed on the survey. Students in Grades 7 to 12 also answered questions about sexual orientation, with 67% identifying as heterosexual, 8% as bisexual, 2% as lesbian, 1.4% as gay, and 7% preferring not to answer. In 2020, Edmonton Public Schools was the first Alberta school division to commit to collecting demographic information, although some Ontario school divisions have been doing similar surveys for years.
• Officials marked the start of construction on the new $38.6-million Edmonton-Strathcona County Footbridge on June 7. When finished, the footbridge will cross the North Saskatchewan River, connecting 167 Avenue in Edmonton to Township Road 540 in Strathcona County. Construction is expected to be complete in 2025. Half of the funding for the project came from the River Valley Alliance, while the City of Edmonton and Strathcona County are sharing the remaining costs evenly.
• The Archdiocese of Edmonton announced on June 7 it will donate $3.2 million to the national Indigenous Reconciliation Fund, a charity created in 2022 that accepts contributions from 73 Catholic entities across Canada and aims to fulfill a $30-million financial commitment made in 2021. The donation comes after the Pope's "penitential pilgrimage" to Canada last summer, during which he visited Maskwacis and Edmonton, and participated in an annual pilgrimage to Lac Ste. Anne.
• Alphonso Davies hosted a soccer camp for kids on June 7 at the Victoria Soccer Club, where Davies himself played many matches as a child. The camp drew 44 kids aged eight to 12, and tickets were sold out within five hours of going on sale. It is the first of many grassroots soccer programs planned to encourage the next generation of Canadian soccer players.
• Premier Danielle Smith is expected to announce her new government cabinet on June 9. The UCP will begin its mandate with 14 fewer seats than in 2019, after former cabinet ministers Kaycee Madu, Tyler Shandro, Jason Copping, Jeremy Nixon, Nicholas Milliken, and Jason Luan all lost their seats in the recent election. Former cabinet ministers Travis Toews and Sonya Savage decided not to run again.

More than 200 people gathered on June 7 to remember 156 Edmontonians who died due to homelessness in 2022.

"The stark reality is the numbers have been increasing since our first memorial in 2006," said Susan Watson, chair of the Homeless Memorial Committee.

When the Edmonton Coalition on Housing and Homelessness (ECOHH) started holding this annual ceremony in 2006, it commemorated 32 people whose lives had been shortened by homelessness. The numbers have trended upwards since then, reaching a record high of 222 last year.

"Each of these men and women had a story," Watson said. "They did not have a place where they could go to be warm and comfortable, to go to at the end of the day and not be afraid...."

David Johnson, who has experienced homelessness himself, encouraged Edmontonians to be empathetic. "There's a common view that homeless people are shiftless, lazy, undeserving," he said. "This is not the case. Everyone is an individual, they all have their own stories... we have to meet people where they are."

This year's memorial included an Honour Song performed by an Indigenous drumming circle, as well as a performance by Stephanie Burlie.

"We are here as lights, as beacons, as voices for the voiceless," said Burlie, before singing This Little Light of Mine.

By Homeward Trust's count, more than 3,000 people in Edmonton were without housing in May.

Attendees at the Homeless Memorial Service on June 7, 2023, took turns laying flowers on the monument, which has stood at 103A Avenue and 99 Street since 2011. (Ashley Lavallee-Koenig)

Here are some opportunities to offer your input on various civic issues in Edmonton, including neighbourhood renewal in Hillview, Overlanders, and Homesteader, and the Zoning Bylaw Renewal Initiative.

• Hillview Neighbourhood and Alley Renewal and Overlanders and Homesteader Neighbourhood Renewal — The City of Edmonton is inviting residents to help confirm the vision and guiding principles for its renewal of Hillview, Overlanders, and Homesteader. Feedback will help determine what to maintain and what residents are flexible on as the city refines its design. Hillview residents can complete an online survey until June 23, and Overlanders and Homesteader residents can complete an online survey until June 28.
• Zoning Bylaw Renewal Initiative (advise-level engagement) — The City of Edmonton has extended the opportunity for residents to provide feedback on its draft zoning bylaw as part of the ongoing Zoning Bylaw Renewal Initiative. Refine-level engagement took place from May 1 to 31, and the city has added a two-month advise-level engagement period during which residents can complete an online survey, email the Zoning Bylaw Renewal team, or post an idea to the city's website. The advise-level engagement period ends on July 30.

Upcoming events

• June 12, 3pm: Business Drop-In Event on Yellowhead Trail project from St. Albert Trail to 97 Street
• June 13, 5pm: Overlanders/Homesteader Neighbourhood Renewal Drop-in Session
• June 14, 6pm: Hillview Neighbourhood and Alley Renewal: Options and Tradeoffs
• June 14, 6:30pm: Online Public Session on Yellowhead Trail project from St. Albert Trail to 97 Street
• June 14, 6:30pm: Problem Property Initiative Neighbourhood Meet & Greet in McCauley

More input opportunities

• By June 21: Yellowhead Trail: St. Albert Trail to 97 Street (Preliminary Design Survey)
• By June 22: Agriculture and Food Sector Development Strategy in Strathcona County
• By July 9: Community Standards Bylaw, Hens, and Beekeeping in Spruce Grove
• By Aug. 31: Edmonton Business Census
• By Oct. 1: Pop-up Dog Parks Program Evaluation
• By Dec. 31: Public Engagement Survey

Image: A conceptual diagram of what incremental infill development could look like in a neighbourhood in a redeveloping area. (City of Edmonton/Residential Zone Modelling)