The Pulse: Dec. 15, 2023

Edmonton startup FentaGone has developed a syringe that detects fentanyl and allows a user to test their drugs wherever they take them to avoid an overdose.

"What we've seen is a lot of changes in regards to harm reduction across the province and across the city, whether that comes to safe consumption sites opening, closing, moving — there's been a lot of unknowns in this sphere," FentaGone co-founder and CEO Simran Dhillon told Taproot. "What we see as a result of that, too, is overdose rates are increasing every single year, and it's getting exceptionally worse. And B.C., Alberta, and Ontario are the hardest hit."

FentaGone was a participant in Cohort 4 of the TELUS Community Safety and Wellness Accelerator, an Alberta-focused business accelerator focusing on entrepreneurial solutions to social and safety challenges in communities. The cohort closed and demonstrations took place on Dec. 6. The program introduces participants to community agencies and government partners like the Edmonton Police Service.

In all of 2022, emergency teams in Edmonton responded to 3,503 opioid-related events. By just the end of October 2023 (November and December data are not yet available) emergency teams have responded to 4,450 such events, according to Alberta's substance use surveillance data. For further context, Canada's Health InfoBase reports that fentanyl was involved in 81% of "all accidental apparent opioid toxicity deaths" from January to March of 2023.

While mass spectrometry machines at supervised consumption sites and test strips both test for fentanyl, each has challenges. The strips have reliability and context challenges, while the machines are relatively inaccessible due to the time and materials they require, as well as the user needing to go to the few locations where they are located.

FentaGone has worked to eliminate these significant barriers by creating a tool called FentaGone that is within the very syringe a user can employ to inject a drug. This allows a user to test wherever they intend to use a drug.

"Nothing changes in the ritual behaviour: there's no additional steps, no additional education, and we have embedded a unique functional detection technology into the plastic of the syringe and as it binds to fentanyl, it will change colour," Dhillon said. If a lethal fentanyl concentration is present, the substance within will become intensely red. If fentanyl is present but not in a lethal concentration, it will be a muted yellow, Dhillon said.

This provides more context to users than test strips, which indicate only whether fentanyl is present or not.

Test strips give you a response that isn't really assessing your risk of an overdose, Dhillon said. "It just assesses if fentanyl is present or not and fentanyl is very concentrated in the drug sphere at the moment. So, knowing if there's fentanyl present or not isn't as valuable as knowing how much fentanyl is potentially present."

• Edmonton Police Service Staff Sgt. Michael Dreilich sent an email on behalf of the Encampment Response Team to outreach agencies, informing them that eight "high risk encampments" containing 134 structures will be closed and cleaned beginning Dec. 18. The email said occupants "may need/seek immediate assistance from your respective agencies" and asks outreach workers to remain out of the encampment areas for safety reasons. Progress Report, which shared a screenshot of the emails online, said police are planning "what is likely the largest coordinated encampment eviction in Edmonton history." In recent months, police Chief Dale McFee has called for a stronger approach to encampments, while the Coalition for Justice and Human Rights has launched legal action to try to pause the city's dismantling of encampments.
• Alberta Health Services has added 17 adult ICU beds in Edmonton hospitals and five in Calgary hospitals amid rising rates of respiratory virus cases. According to AHS, ICUs across Alberta were treating 76 people with influenza, 37 with COVID-19, and 11 with RSV as of Dec. 13. With the added beds, Alberta's overall ICU capacity was at 89% on Dec. 12, compared to 95% on Dec. 5. Influenza has been driving ICU admissions recently, with "quite a bit" of it among 40-60 year olds as well as the elderly, said Shelley Duggan, an Edmonton-based critical care physician and president-elect of the Alberta Medical Association.
• The Graduate Students' Association at the University of Alberta released a report on the financial realities of graduate students based on an August online survey of 640 masters and PhD students. It found 40% of respondents have considered leaving their programs due to financial pressure, which is 10% higher than what a Canada-wide survey found in 2021. The report also raises concerns over the rising cost of housing, tuition, and food. Last month, the Campus Food Bank reported seeing unprecedented demand. The university approved a 5.5% tuition increase for the 2023-2024 academic year.
• The city's On Demand Transit service has provided Edmontonians one million rides since it launched in April 2021. In a release, the city said On Demand Transit services 61 communities, 19 seniors residences, and 15 transit centres, and is Edmonton Transit Service's "first-kilometre/last-kilometre" solution in more than 50 communities that are below the threshold for conventional bus services or difficult for conventional buses to access. It is the largest On Demand transit service in Canada and the first with child-friendly seats.
• Royal LePage forecasts that the aggregate home price across Canada will increase 5.5% between the fourth quarter of 2023 to the fourth quarter of 2024, a trend driven by anticipated minor interest rate cuts by the Bank of Canada. Edmonton's aggregate home price is forecast to increase 4% in the same period, while the median price of a single-family detached property will rise 7% and the median price of a condominium will rise 2%. Tom Shearer with Royal LePage Noralta Real Estate said Edmonton should expect similar activity as in 2023, but there will likely be a rise in home values due to a supply-demand imbalance and large numbers of people moving to the city.
• Edmontonians are invited to nominate their own or someone else's winterscape for the city's annual Winterscapes photo contest. Winners will be randomly selected from all eligible nominations, and all photos submitted will be featured on the city's Facebook page. Nominations open Dec. 16. This winter, city teams will also give winterscape workshops at neighbourhood parks.
• Air Canada is increasing its service frequency from Edmonton to Montreal and Calgary next year. During peak summer 2024 service times, Air Canada will offer three daily flights to Montreal, up from two, and four daily flights to Calgary, up from three.
• The Edmonton Elks shared its 2024 schedule. The team will start the season with a home opener on June 8 against the Saskatchewan Roughriders with their new starting quarterback Tre Ford. The Elks will be celebrating its 75th regular season in the CFL.
• Effective Jan. 1, the province is raising the threshold for reporting collision damage to law enforcement to $5,000. The threshold was previously $2,000. In a release, the province said the change better reflects current vehicle repair costs and will free up law enforcement, reduce the need to report minor collisions, and make fraud more difficult. Alberta Municipalities president Tyler Gandam said the association is pleased with the province's action, which aligns with a resolution its members passed at their 2023 convention.

The decision by three municipalities in less than a month to leave Edmonton Global is disappointing but not fatal, says Edmonton Mayor Amarjeet Sohi.

"While I acknowledge that Strathcona County, Fort Saskatchewan, and Sturgeon County will no longer be a part of the important work of Edmonton Global as of December 2025, they are still active and important partners in the Edmonton region and make valuable contributions to our region's success," Sohi said in an emailed statement provided to Taproot.

He added that Edmonton Global has Edmonton's full support, and it "continues to generate returns on investment: for every dollar invested into Edmonton Global, more than $129 in investment has been attracted into the region, which amounts to over $2.6 billion worth of investment since they were established in 2017."

Sohi has highlighted regional collaboration as an economic win several times in recent years. In his state of the city speech in May, Sohi discussed it twice. "I have said before that when investment comes to our region they get 13 mayors working together," he said.

Nonetheless, in December 2022, Sohi and a majority of Edmonton's council voted to pull the city's funding for the Edmonton Metropolitan Transit Commission, effectively killing the body. By that point, the regional partners that the commission would have included had worked for a decade on a plan to amalgamate eight transit systems across the region into one. St. Albert Mayor Cathy Heron called the decision heartbreaking.

"What I voted against is the creation of a governance model that is very expensive," Sohi told Global News at the time.

Saving money was also on Strathcona County Mayor Rod Frank's mind when his council made the decision. "It's a comment on a tight budget," Frank told Taproot earlier this month. "Clearly capital costs have increased. So, we ended up going to every line of that budget, almost, justifying each cost."

Each of the three municipalities that have announced decisions to leave Edmonton Global did so during budget deliberations. Sturgeon County council approved a budget that will increase property taxes by 2.1%. In Strathcona County, the Nov. 30 budget set property tax increases for 2024 at 5.87%. Fort Saskatchewan's city council approved a budget this week but as of this writing has not publicly released details of any tax increases.

Taproot is taking a holiday break as of Dec. 20 and will return to your inbox on Jan. 4. There are many options to explore for recreation, winter activities, light displays, festive dining, or holiday entertainment in and around our city over the next few weeks. Let us be your guide to filling these coming weeks with memories.

Get moving

• Dec. 16, 4pm: Bright Light Skate Night at Sir Winston Churchill Square and City Hall Plaza
• Dec. 17, 1:30pm: Christmas Bird Count for Youth at Gold Bar Park
• Until Jan. 7: Enchanted Forest at various locations in Fort Saskatchewan
• Ongoing: Snowshoe Tours with River Valley Adventure Co.
• Ongoing: Outdoor skating on city ice rinks and the Victoria Park Iceway
• Ongoing: Cross-country skiing
• Ongoing: Tobogganing
• Ongoing: Downhill skiing, snowboarding, and tubing
• Ongoing: Winter Adventures at Elk Island Park
• Ongoing: Winter camping at Elk Island Park
• Ongoing: Winter activities in Strathcona County
• Ongoing: Edmonton Winterscapes Photo Contest

Lights

• Until Dec. 23: Celebrate the Season at the Legislative Grounds
• Until Dec. 26: Maisie's Magical Christmas House located on the corner of 97 Street and 144 Avenue
• Until Dec. 30: Carducci Christmas Show at 17616 78 Street NW Until Dec. 31: Leduc Country Lights in Calmar
• Until Jan. 1: Christmas Glow at the Edmonton Expo Centre
• Until Jan. 1: Candy Cane Lane
• Until Jan. 3: Zoominescence 2023 at the Edmonton Valley Zoo
• Until Jan. 6: Magic of Lights at Rad Torque Raceway
• Until Jan. 7: Christmas at Bob's at 7421 108 Street NW
• Until Jan. 7: Borealis Lights Christmas Drive-Thru Lighting Display at the St. Albert Kinsmen RV Park