The Pulse: Feb. 28, 2024

A new dance festival that takes place on March 2 is just one way La Connexional celebrates Black and Latin cultures beyond the confines of February.

"We don't necessarily want to tie it to a month, but it kind of fits that it's right after Black History Month," La Connexional's CEO and strategic partnership manager, Ivan Ngandjui Touko, told Taproot about the new festival. "For me and for my team, we are now in a phase where we just want to normalize Black history or Black futures events … How do we just keep having these events? No matter the time of the year, not just in February."

Black futures is a term that describes history in the making, Touko said, in addition to emphasizing pluralism. "The shift that has happened around Black Futures Month is very recent, like the idea of Afrofuturism," he said. "When you put the 'E-S' (in Black histories), it really emphasizes that the Black experience is not a monolith."

The Annual Inter-generational Afrikan Diaspora Music and Dance Festival will be spread across 9910 (open to all ages from 5pm to 9pm) and Double Dragon (open to adults only from 9pm to 2am). It entails dance performances and tutorials, live and DJ music, and family activities. The event showcases new and traditional styles from Touko's birthplace of Cameroon, plus Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Congo, Kenya, Jamaica, and different parts of Latin America.

"There's actually a lot of deep connections between a lot of African, Black, Caribbean, and Latin cultures," Touko said. "When people think of the Caribbean and Latin America, they forget that Brazil is actually the biggest diaspora of people of African descent."

An example of cross-generational artistry is the inclusion in the festival of both Afrobeat (jazz-influenced music that erupted in the '70s) and Afrobeats (a wide-ranging label for West African, pop-inspired music made after the year 2000).

"The saxophone is actually an instrument that was very much present in Afrobeat — without the S — that was created by Fela Kuti," Touko said, acknowledging sax is also present in Afrobeats, plural. "We are bringing together all the different generations. The only age group that we don't have in the lineup, that I'm really hoping to add in the future, is a group under 18."

Touko said part of La Connexional's work is to foster unity. "There's lots of different heritages … lots of connections between these two cultures," he said. "That's the primary way we bring those people under one umbrella, but also inviting other people to join us in celebrating these cultures."

• Edmonton is on track to surpass its 2021 record of 626 opioid-related deaths, with 608 deaths recorded as of November 2023, according to the latest provincial data. At a Feb. 26 community and public services committee meeting, councillors reviewed a report highlighting the need for improved mental health and addiction services as opioid poisonings are among the top concerns in hospital emergency departments. The province as a whole has recorded a new high in 2023 of 1,706 opioid-related deaths, surpassing the 2021 record of 1,634.
• The Alberta government announced a pause on the South Edmonton Hospital to instead focus on funding the standalone Stollery Children's Hospital project. Health Minister Adriana LaGrange said the province intends to increase capacity by more than 200 beds by moving children out of the University of Alberta Hospital, where the Stollery is located. The province didn't say how long it would pause work on the South Edmonton Hospital, which had been previously delayed by the UCP government after its election in 2019. The Opposition NDP criticized the move, arguing that the delay will exacerbate stress on the healthcare system.
• The City of Edmonton published an article on its Transforming Edmonton blog examining the city's affordable housing strategy as the homelessness crisis continues. The city invested $133 million between 2019 and 2022 to create more than 2,800 new affordable housing units, including supportive housing, to address the critical lack of options for the nearly one in eight households in core housing need. The city also aims to add 2,700 new or renewed units by 2026.
• A fatality inquiry into the death of Timothy James McConnell, who died by suicide in January 2021 at the Edmonton Remand Centre, heard about issues accessing mental health and medical supports in Canada's largest jail. The inquiry heard that the remand centre's mental health services were overwhelmed while McConnell was an inmate and requesting treatment for his addiction. McConnell's family and advocates say his death was preventable and are calling for improved medical and mental health services in Alberta jails. Fatality inquiries do not assign blame, but can make recommendations to prevent similar future deaths.
• Firefighters in Edmonton are camping on the roof of Station No. 2 to raise money for Muscular Dystrophy Canada. The fundraiser began as temperatures in Edmonton dropped significantly. "We're making the best of it, and we're trying our best to keep warm," said firefighter Liam Troy. Firefighters have been holding their rooftop camping fundraiser for more than 20 years, he said. Supporters can donate online.
• Edify Edmonton released its 2024 list of the best restaurants in Edmonton and surrounding areas, including its best overall picks. Among those highlighted were the late-night dim sum restaurant Fu's Repair Shop, Italian eatery Uccellino, Chef Andrew Fung's XIX Nineteen, the farm-focused RGE RD, and Chef Scot Downey's The Butternut Tree.
• TransPod is pursuing its plans for a 1,000 km/h train in Alberta by developing a 75-metre-long test bench in Edmonton. This development, which is expected to be completed by the end of 2025, is a precursor to constructing a full-scale test track. The company says the train would allow travel between Calgary and Edmonton in just 45 minutes, with construction of the full line anticipated to start in 2027.

On this day in 1959, volunteers at the University of Alberta's Radio Society were spinning records for their fellow students.

At that time, the Varsity Radio Society was made up of 23 student volunteers. But the group served as an important part of the history of university radio that stretches back almost a century.

The U of A first hit the airwaves back in 1927, when CKUA sent its first broadcast from the basement of the Powerplant building on campus. The station was an experiment in using radio as an educational tool, and its programming was a mix of academic lectures, music, and radio drama.

When ownership of CKUA moved to the provincial government in 1945, much of the station's equipment and infrastructure was left behind. Rather than let it go to waste, volunteers formed the Radio Society. They moved the operation to the second floor of the Student Union Building (SUB) on campus. Despite calling itself a "radio society," the group didn't actually broadcast at first. Instead, they piped music, news, and talk shows through the public address system in SUB, all run from a homemade control board.

But their work wasn't confined to the walls of SUB. The society produced around 400 minutes of programming daily, including a weekly show that aired on CKUA, as well as other shows and event recordings that were broadcast from other stations across Alberta. Eventually, the society's extended its reach — first to the PA system in other buildings on campus, then to the actual airwaves. In the 1970s, the society installed an AM antenna, which allowed it to broadcast across most of the university grounds. The new station was first given the call letters CKSR. But in 1978, they were switched to CJSR.

In 1983, CJSR gained the licence and the equipment to broadcast on the FM radio frequency. This allowed the station to reach beyond the U of A (although with only a 44-watt transmitter, not too far.) Joni Mitchell's You Turn Me On, I'm a Radio became the first song to mark this stage of the university's broadcast history.

The volunteer-run CJSR fully embraced the idea of alternative radio, playing a mix of eclectic and emerging music, alternative news shows, and coverage of campus issues. That ethos continues to this day, with the station offering a listening experience that's often eclectic, sometimes challenging, but always unique from other Edmonton stations. It has continued to grow from its humble history as a small student group. CJSR now has hundreds of volunteers and produces dozens of shows, some of which are broadcast nationally. In 1992, a 900-watt transmitter upgrade meant the station could be heard across Edmonton, as well as worldwide on the internet.

In addition to its continued focus on alternative music and programming, the station has served as a training ground for people in music and broadcasting (including, a very long time ago, the writer of this piece).

Today, in a time of increased consolidation in broadcasting, CJSR continues as an independent non-profit run from the basement of SUB. But the station's funding is less than certain. It is partially paid for by fees collected from U of A students. That fee is currently up for renewal and will be decided by a plebiscite during the Students' Union elections next month.

This clipping was found on Vintage Edmonton, a daily look at Edmonton's history from armchair archivist @revRecluse of @VintageEdmonton. ​

Here are some events happening today in the Edmonton area.

• Work Smarter with AI starting at 1:30pm online
• Citywide Revitalization through the Lens of Women's Leadership starting at 5:30pm at Invistec Consulting Ltd.
• AFROFACTS Game Night starting at 6pm at Edmonton Unlimited
• Lucas Chaisson & Booker Diduck & His Cribbage Club DOUBLE ALBUM Release starting at 7pm at The Aviary

And here are some upcoming events to keep in mind:

• March 3: The Thelma Johannes O'Neill Memorial Concert at the Winspear Centre
• March 6: Canadian Business Leader Award Dinner at the Edmonton Convention Centre
• April 23-25: Canadian Hydrogen Convention at the Edmonton Convention Centre

Visit the beta version of the Taproot Edmonton Calendar for many more events in the Edmonton region.