Alberta government decimates funding for parent council support organization


Some Alberta parents who serve on school councils say the provincial government is trying to circumvent and silence them.

In the past two years, the United Conservative Party government has all but eliminated nearly $650,000 annual grant funding to the Alberta School Councils' Association (ASCA) – an organization that trains and represents volunteers serving on councils.

The cutback comes after the organization's membership criticized government policies, including the proposed new draft curriculum, education funding and how the province has managed COVID-19 in schools.

"Many parents and many of our members are left wondering if it's because of their advocacy positions that the entirety of the association is being penalized," said ASCA president Brandi Rai.

The organization applied for a $170,000 grant this year. The education ministry turned them down, saying the government doesn't fund non-profit groups' operations.

Instead, they offered ASCA a $15,000 grant to do a project on learning loss during the pandemic. This, after government funding made up the bulk of ASCA's revenue for at least 15 years.

Rai isn't sure if the organization will accept the money offered. She said after laying off some staff, ASCA is already stretched thin with their existing work.

"Our organization refuses to be a check box," Rai said.

They have raised membership fees, and now charge parents for training courses that were once free.

In August, Education Minister Adriana LaGrange announced the government would spend $1 million to send $500 directly to every school council in Alberta. A news release at the time said it was to help prepare volunteers for the work, and to "strengthen engagement and the parental voice in their schools."

Although councils can spend the money on professional development, Rai says they can't spend it on ASCA membership fees or to attend their annual conference.

Last fall, LaGrange also created a new minister's parent advisory council, composed of 40 volunteers from across the province.

Rai said it shows the minister only wants to hear from hand-picked parents on topics she chooses.

Parents worry school councils will be diminished

Alberta's Education Act requires all public schools have a council.

It's not a fundraising group. Parents involved review the school budget, look at academic results, and consult on school goals and policies.

Last year, about 83 per cent of the province's 1,500 school councils were ASCA members. They include public, Catholic and charter schools.

Red Deer parent Wendy Fath has served on her youngest son's school councils for seven years.

She said, at first, most parents don't understand what councils do. She credits ASCA for training thousands of volunteers for the work and organizing networking events.

Fath said the $500 government grant to each council is a "small shiny thing to take away from the big thing that we're losing."

She worries parents won't get adequate training, and become disengaged and disempowered.

© Submitted by Meagan Parisian Meagan Parisian is a Red Deer parent of three children. She's the president of the school council at Ecole Barrie Wilson Elementary in Red Deer.

Meagan Parisian, a parent of three and president of the Ecole Barrie Wilson school council in Red Deer, said the government is cherry-picking parents to hear from.

"We don't need a parent advisory committee," she said. "We have ASCA."

Minister LaGrange's press secretary, Katherine Stavropoulos, says ASCA doesn't represent all parents.

"Alberta's government is proud to expand opportunities to engage directly with parents," she said.

Stavropoulos said the advisory council isn't a replacement for ASCA, but a way to reach different parents.

She said the $500 grants reinforce the government's commitment to parent councils.

Rai said the cuts have left ASCA in a "dire" position, but it's not dead yet.

"I think that they anticipated that we would go away," she said. "But we've been here for 90 years, and if we need to look different for a few years while we rally, and regroup, we will. But we will be here long past this sitting government."

Alberta announces advisory group to help roll out new K-6 curriculum subjects in fall

The Alberta government says work by its K-6 Curriculum Implementation Advisory Group is already underway to help shape how portions of a new K-6 curriculum will be rolled out in the fall.

© Provided by Edmonton Journal Adriana LaGrange, Minister of Education, speaks about the draft K-6 curriculum during a press conference at the McDougall Centre in Calgary on Monday, December 13, 2021.

In a news release Thursday, the government announced the group, meeting monthly until June, will provide recommendations to the government on timing, preparing the education system, and classroom supports.

It comes after Education Minister Adriana LaGrange announced in December the government would delay some of the most controversial subjects of its draft curriculum, including social studies, while new drafts, expected in the spring, could be developed.

Beginning in September, sections on K-6 English language arts and literature, physical education and wellness, and mathematics will be taught in classrooms, while remaining subjects will undergo updates and be piloted in classrooms beginning in fall 2022, before being rolled out province-wide for the 2023 school year.

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Education Minister Adriana LaGrange said in a statement the government aims to make piloting and implementation manageable for teachers and students.

“Alberta’s government has been listening to all input from Albertans about the draft K-6 curriculum review process,” LaGrange said.

Members of the 17-member panel, some of whom remain anonymous so they “do not become targets of online harassment,” include Education Ministry officials, representatives from the Alberta School Boards Association and College of Alberta School Superintendents, and three teacher representatives.

The group’s work will be confidential, and won’t involve reviewing the content of the curriculum or making recommendations about funding.

At a Thursday virtual news conference, Alberta Teachers’ Association president Jason Schilling said teacher involvement on the panel is woefully inadequate, even though teachers will be the ones responsible for implementing the curriculum and delivering lessons — not school boards or superintendents.

“There are more members of government than there are people working in classrooms today,” said Schilling, who added he would have liked to see at least 50 per cent of the group made up of teachers.

He repeated calls for the government to halt implementing the curriculum until its content is significantly improved, noting there are still outstanding questions and concerns from teachers about content and resources for subject areas moving ahead in the fall.

“To implement this during this time when the system is already so stressed, just seems to be a huge mistake to do it this quickly,” said Schilling.

Schilling noted the ATA has not seen transparency from the government about feedback it’s received on curriculum development.

“This government is quick to say they’ve consulted with teachers, but the engagement that has been done so far lacks authenticity, and the advice is routinely ignored.”

lijohnson@postmedia.com

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Industrial development giving coyotes an edge in wolverine habitat: study


EDMONTON — Industrial development is helping coyotes move into wolverine country and edge out the rare carnivore despite its fierce reputation, newly published research suggests

.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

"Roads and seismic lines were actually driving competition between wolverines and coyotes," said Gillian Chow-Fraser of the University of Victoria, lead author of the paper published in the journal Biological Conservation.

Chow-Fraser said it's another example of how human activities on a landscape have far-reaching consequences for all the animals living on it.

"We see them changing the animal community in all sorts of ways."

Chow-Fraser, her university colleagues, and the Alberta government examined data from 154 camera traps collected in 2006-08 and 2011-13 from two areas of the province — the relatively untouched Willmore Wilderness Area and Kananaskis Country, which is heavily laced by roads and cutlines from forestry, energy and recreational development.

Altogether, the study analyzes data from 2,790 weeks of camera deployment.

Coyotes and wolverines have different habitats and wouldn't normally interact, Chow-Fraser said.

But, as development clears pathways into the boreal forest and foothills of the Rockies, now they do.

"It was increasing the odds they co-occur in an area," Chow-Fraser said.

The data showed that on a road or cutline, the two animals were three times more likely to show up at the same spot within a week of each other than elsewhere.

Wolverines are fierce beasts and Chow-Fraser doesn't suggest coyotes are beating them fang-to-fang. It's more a case of coyotes, with their superior numbers, using up resources wolverines could once count on for themselves and their kits.

"We're talking about a competition for resources or space," she said. "There's a lot of coyotes and they're outcompeting wolverines in these places where there's high density of linear features."

Other predators such as wolves, cougars or bears aren't the problem, Chow-Fraser said. Those animals feed differently and don't compete with wolverines.

Wolverines are considered a "data deficient" animal in Alberta. The province's most recent population estimate — now 20 years old — is fewer than 1,000 animals.

"The Alberta population is considered to be declining at an unknown rate," says Alberta's fact sheet on wolverines.

A 2020 study by the Alberta Conservation Association for the provincial government concludes there are no "robust" population estimates for wolverines across the vast majority of its habitat.

"In 2022, Environment and Parks will be reviewing new information and data available on wolverines to determine if an updated status evaluation should be conducted," said department spokesman Jason Penner.

Federally, wolverines have been listed as a species of special concern since 2014. That status under the Species At Risk Act doesn't compel governments to develop a recovery plan for the animal.

"There really needs to be a reassessment of wolverine numbers in Alberta," Chow-Fraser said. "We definitely need to start taking the status of wolverines more seriously."

The study shows how human intervention on a landscape creates new circumstances that change how species have interacted for millennia. Chow-Fraser compares the wolverine situation to that of caribou, now suffering from wolf predation because roads and cutlines have opened the way into the deep forest.

"We need to think about how industrial development is fundamentally changing the wildlife community."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 19, 2022.

— Follow Bob Weber on Twitter at @row1960Bob Weber, The Canadian Press

COPS ARE PART OF THE DRUG PROBLEM
Alberta police chiefs oppose talks of decriminalizing personal possession of drugs before more supports available

Stephanie Babych 

 Provided by Calgary Herald Calgary Police Chief Constable Mark Neufeld was photographed on Monday, December 6, 2021.

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Alberta police chiefs are taking a stand against decriminalizing the personal possession of drugs.

The Alberta Association of Chiefs of Police (AACP) said Thursday they will not support the decriminalization of minor drug offences before supports are improved and public policy is modernized.

The announcement comes as Edmonton city council is poised to discuss a motion on Monday that would lay the groundwork for the city to request an exemption from the federal government to decriminalize the personal possession of drugs, similar to exemptions being pursued by officials in Vancouver and Toronto.

Edmonton Coun. Michael Janz said on Twitter that council’s discussion will be an opportunity to take the first step toward a public health approach to the ongoing drug poisoning epidemic.

During a news conference Thursday, Calgary police Chief Mark Neufeld, the chair of the AACP, said Alberta communities are not ready for the effects of decriminalization.

While Neufeld acknowledged that decriminalizing minor drug offences could be part of an integrated approach to redirect drug users away from the criminal justice system and toward appropriate health supports and care, he said Alberta chiefs don’t believe those supports are currently available — including quickly accessible treatment services.

“Drug decriminalization triggers an immediate need for structural and societal changes in areas that do not currently exist,” Neufeld said. “Jurisdictions that have implemented decriminalization have added a range of administrative sanctions in replacement of criminal justice outcomes.”

All levels of government and stakeholders would have to establish regulations for issues such as the use of drugs in public spaces, the use of drugs in areas near minors, discarded needles or other debris, and public complaints, Neufeld said. And it would be essential to include input from rural and Indigenous communities, he added.

“These must be established prior to decriminalization so that individuals who want access to treatment can be connected to those services and supports without unreasonable delay.”

Blood Tribe Police Service Chief Brice Iron Shirt said at the news conference that he does not recommend decriminalization of drug possession for Indigenous policing in Alberta, though he said Blood Tribe Police Service is taking a holistic approach to the opioid crisis that’s specific to Blackfoot culture and beliefs.

Elaine Hyshka, assistant professor and Canada research chair in health systems innovation at the University of Alberta, said charging people with minor possession of drugs does not deter substance use but contributes to significant harm to people’s health, well-being and economic chances.

In Alberta, nearly 1,400 people died from substance-related overdoses between January and October 2021.

Hyshka said she’s glad to see Edmonton council open discussions in the province, and hopes other communities — including Calgary — follow in their footsteps. The cities would be pursuing a Section 56 exemption under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, which would be reviewed by Health Canada and the federal minister of Health.

Hyshka said the exemption would make it so police could no longer charge people caught in possession of small amounts of drugs with a criminal offence. Officers would still be able to lay charges in cases of drug trafficking and organized crime.

“I don’t think we need a new policy framework. I think it’s actually quite feasible to move forward with the existing policy framework and I think, frankly, it’s long overdue,” she said. “I think municipal councils are recognizing that the status quo is not acceptable.”

Calgary Coun. Courtney Walcott said he took notice of Edmonton’s motion.

“It’s setting a roadmap,” said Walcott. “This action on behalf of Edmonton, it’s going to have a trickle-down effect because we’ll be able to take a look at it, see the response, see the response from the public and, honestly, plan accordingly.”

Coun. Gian-Carlo Carra said decriminalization is something a number of Calgary councillors are looking into, in an effort to understand the best role the municipal government can play in a heavily interjurisdictional issue.

“We’ve committed to a trauma-informed harm-reduction approach to better take care of our most vulnerable citizens, and we’ve committed to anti-racism. This work is right in that wheelhouse,” said Carra.

He said he’s pleased to see Edmonton move forward with the motion, and said Calgary councillors will continue seeking to examine what this could look like for Calgary.

— With files from Madeline Smith

sbabych@postmedia.com

Twitter: @BabychStephanie

'DARK MONEY'

Washington justices uphold $18M fine in GMO-labeling case

SEATTLE (AP) — The Washington Supreme Court has narrowly upheld an $18 million fine levied against an association of large food brands that funneled dark money into a state political campaign.

 Provided by The Canadian Press

The 5-4 decision Thursday found that the penalty against the Grocery Manufacturers Association — now known as the Consumer Brands Association — did not violate the U.S. Constitution's ban on excessive fines. The association said it would petition the U.S. Supreme Court to review the case.

The group, which included companies like Coca-Cola and Nestle, in 2013 collected $14 million from its members. It then contributed $11 million of that to help defeat a Washington state ballot initiative that would have required labeling of genetically engineered ingredients on food packaging.

The association failed to register as a political committee in the state, did not disclose which companies contributed the campaign money and filed no campaign-finance reports until after Attorney General Bob Ferguson sued.

As part of the lawsuit, the state uncovered evidence that one association executive noted during a meeting that having a pooled campaign account would “shield individual companies from public disclosure and possible criticism.”

“The GMA’s offense struck at the core of open elections,” Chief Justice Steven González wrote for the state supreme court's majority. “The grave nature and broad extent of GMA’s offense suggests the penalty is not grossly disproportional.”

The dissenting justices, led by Justice Sheryl Gordon McCloud, said that the association’s failure to file campaign disclosure reports was serious for a reporting violation but that it was only a reporting violation. She called the $18 million penalty “grossly disproportionate” to that offense.

The justices previously found that the Grocery Manufacturers Association's violations were intentional, but sent the case back to a lower court to determine whether the fine was excessive. The 8th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibits excessive fines.

“This is a victory for fair and transparent elections in Washington, and a defeat of special interest dark money,” Ferguson said in a statement.

Consumer Brands general counsel Stacy Papadopoulos said in an email that the association was disappointed in the ruling.

“The state’s legal process has been tainted by partisan politics, and the ruling in this case will chill core political speech by legitimate organizations based on their viewpoints,” the statement read. “The only winner in this decision is politics – not the law, the facts or the American public.”

The GMO-labeling measure, known as Initiative 522, failed by a vote of 51% to 49%.

Gene Johnson, The Associated Press

Doctors Transplant Two Pig Kidneys at Once Into a Human

This week, a team at the University of Alabama said they were able to transplant two kidneys from a genetically modified pig into a brain-dead patient, a step beyond previous experiments that transplanted only one pig kidney. The Alabama doctors say the kidneys were able to function as expected and weren’t immediately rejected by the body.

 Photo: Tim Graham (Getty Images) Photo: Tim Graham (Getty Images)

In October 2021, doctors at New York University Langone Health reported that they had, for the first time, successfully transplanted a kidney from a genetically modified pig that was then able to function normally without rejection from the human body for two days. By December, the same team reported a second working transplant.


Both of these experiments were only meant to test the short-term feasibility of the procedure. They involved recipients who were deemed to be functionally dead and whose bodies were only being kept alive through life support. But earlier this month, a team at the University of Maryland Medical Center transplanted a pig heart into a living patient named David Bennett. Bennett had a terminal heart disease but was medically ineligible for a standard transplant or heart pump. And with both his consent and the permission of the Food and Drug Administration, the doctors were allowed to carry out the one-off experimental surgery.

This latest feat comes from doctors at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine. It’s the first such transplant to be detailed in a peer-reviewed journal, an important step for validating any research. And it appears to be the first to transplant two of these modified kidneys into a single human.

As with the NYU transplants, the recipient was a brain-dead patient, and the experimental procedure was not intended to save the person’s life. The doctors transplanted the kidneys into the recipient’s abdomen and monitored them for 77 hours. During that time, the kidneys filtered blood, produced urine, and avoided rejection from the host body. The team’s findings were published Thursday in the American Journal of Transplantation.

“This game-changing moment in the history of medicine represents a paradigm shift and a major milestone in the field of xenotransplantation, which is arguably the best solution to the organ shortage crisis,” said lead author, Jayme Locke, director of the Comprehensive Transplant Institute at UAB’s Department of Surgery, in a statement from the university.

There are some key differences between all of these transplants. Namely, the NYU team relied on pigs that had only a single gene edited—one responsible for producing a sugar in their muscles that humans don’t make. This incompatibility is thought to be a major reason why past attempts to use animal organs for human transplants haven’t worked, since most mammals produce the sugar. But the pigs used by the UAB and the Maryland team had 10 genes edited to make them more compatible with humans. In all of the procedures, though, the genetically engineered pigs were supplied through the company Revivicor.

With their findings today, the UAB team firmly believes that their methods are ready to be tested out in clinical trials sooner than later.

“We have bridged critical knowledge gaps and obtained the safety and feasibility data necessary to begin a clinical trial in living humans with end-stage kidney failure disease,” Locke said.

Alberta government and physicians set to get back to formal negotiations

Lisa Johnson 13 hrs ago

The Alberta government and Alberta Medical Association are looking to get back to formal negotiations over a new agreement with the province’s doctors.

© Provided by Edmonton Journal Health Minister Jason Copping.

Minister of Health Jason Copping and Alberta Medical Association (AMA) president Dr. Michelle Warren issued a joint statement Thursday announcing that before returning to the negotiating table, both parties have agreed to work on “high-priority health-care system issues that will support system stability,” including addressing the COVID-19 pandemic, delaying some changes to physician compensation, and increasing access to virtual care.

In a Thursday letter to members , Warren said discussions between the AMA and government “are entering a new stage.”

Last year, the government agreed to delay its planned changes in services stipends, fee reductions and AHS overhead policy after the AMA asked for the changes to be put off . Two virtual fee code changes bringing pay for virtual visits in line with in-person visits also came into effect Jan. 1.

Warren noted that progress on those and other issues paved the way for formal negotiations, which will take a different approach than in the past.

“There is still a difficult road ahead. I’m encouraged that we’ve set out in a spirit of collaboration and with hopes for a better relationship between government and the physicians of Alberta,” Warren wrote.

On Thursday, NDP Opposition health critic David Shepherd said in a statement he is pleased to see the potential return to formal negotiations almost two years after the UCP government tore up its agreement with doctors .

However, he added that as long as the government’s Bill 21 remains in effect, the government has the power to renege on any future contract.

“To enter these negotiations in good faith, the UCP must repeal these elements of Bill 21,” said Shepherd.

lijohnson@postmedia.com

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House Oversight Committee schedules 2nd Big Oil hearing on industry's role in climate disinformation

By Rene Marsh, CNN 

The House Oversight Committee on Thursday issued its second round of appearance requests to the oil and gas industry in an investigation into the role it has played in the spread of climate disinformation.

© Jacquelyn Martin/AP Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., chairwoman of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, speaks at a committee hearing on the role of fossil fuel companies in climate change disinformation, October 28, 2021, on Capitol Hill.

House Oversight Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney, a New York Democrat, and Subcommittee on the Environment Chairman Ro Khanna, a California Democrat, sent letters to board members of four major oil and gas companies -- ExxonMobil, Shell, BP and Chevron -- requesting their testimony at a hearing slated for February 8.

It will be the committee's second hearing since it launched the investigation in September. The first hearing included Big Oil executives from ExxonMobil, BP America, Chevron Corp., Shell Oil Co., the American Petroleum Institute and the US Chamber of Commerce.

The committee said it was calling these board of directors members to testify because of their "key governance role in addressing the climate crisis by overseeing and guiding companies' climate strategies, promoting transparency, and holding management accountable to meaningful emissions reductions." The panel, according to the letter, wants "to evaluate the current state of fossil fuel industry climate pledges and any progress that still needs to be made to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement and avert a climate catastrophe."

The committee requested the appearance of Alexander Karsner and Susan Avery for ExxonMobil; Jane Holl Lute for Shell; Melody Meyer for BP; and Enrique Hernandez for Chevron.

CNN reached out to the oil and gas companies for comment.

In October, oil company CEOs and the trade group American Petroleum Institute testified in a high-profile hearing on Capitol Hill, facing tough questions from Democratic lawmakers about when they had understood the impact of burning fossil fuels on the environment and whether they were transparent with the public about the danger of climate change.

Thursday's letters focus on the boards of directors for those companies, who Democratic lawmakers noted have billed themselves as climate change advocates and reformers who joined their respective boards to change the way the oil and gas companies do business.

"As I made clear in our October 2021 Committee hearing, we've only begun our investigation into the fossil fuel industry's role in causing the climate crisis and spreading disinformation on global warming," Maloney said in a statement.

The House Oversight Committee launched its investigation after an undercover video appeared to show an ExxonMobil lobbyist admitting the company fought climate policy and the science behind it.

Khanna told CNN the upcoming hearing will be a big moment for the industry.

"One of the reasons we want the board of directors to testify is we want to ensure that they and the companies are being accurate about the climate pledges and they're actually taking action consistent with those pledges," Khanna told CNN.

Several of the world's largest oil and gas companies have pledged to cut operational emissions -- though many of those goals do not include emissions from the fossil fuels produced and sold.

The letters not only invite the board members to testify but also request documents the committee says it has not received following a subpoena issued in October.

The companies have been complying with document requests to a certain extent, Khanna said, but the committee has not received what it considers the most critical documents -- those that show what the companies' scientific knowledge was when the industry said science around climate change was uncertain.

The panel, Khanna told CNN, is about a third of the way through its investigation, and it plans to also call social media companies and advertising agencies to testify about their roles in spreading climate change misinformation.

New graphic novel looks to connect kids to Mi'kmaq language


Brandon Mitchell, the author of Giju’s Gift: Adventures of the Pugulatmu’j, a graphic novel aimed at elementary school readers, is eagerly awaiting the book’s official publication.

“I'm super excited for this to come out,” Mitchell said in an interview with Windspeaker.com. “It feels so surreal that it's fast approaching.”

The book, published by HighWater Press, hits shelves on Feb. 22.

In the 88-page book, a young Mi’kmaw girl named Mali meets Puug, a Pugulatmu’j (Little People, the traditional land guardians). Puug has stolen the hair clip that giju’, meaning grandmother, had given Mali.

Puug and Mali go on a series of adventures together, including battling a Jenu, a giant. All the while Mali is looking to have her special hair clip returned.

With delays due to the pandemic, Mitchell said he’d been working on the book for nearly three years.

“I kind of almost forgot how much goes into it,” Mitchell said. “I couldn’t even give you the version numbers I went through. But this has just been such a rewarding experience.”

Those three years writing the book pale in comparison to how long Mitchell had been contemplating the concept for the book.

“This has been an idea that's been germinating for at least 15 years,” Mitchell said. “It was one of those things where I always had it in my back pocket.”

Approached by HighWater to pitch a creative idea, Mitchell said he knew immediately what he wanted to frame the book around.

“I always came back to this idea of having an adventure or a story with the Pugulatmu’j and incorporating the same themes that I incorporated with my previous creative work,” Mitchell said.

“I was honoured to be asked — thankful to be asked — if I had my own creative idea, as opposed to something that was based off of something else. I'm really grateful to have that opportunity.”

At the back of Giju’s gift, Mitchell provides a glossary of terms in Mi'kmaq with their English translations.

“I’ve always tried to incorporate our Mi'kmaq language into my work,” Mitchell said. “l see it as fun and rewarding, because when the kids see our language in stories, they're placing value on our language.”

Mitchell hopes that works like his book can help push readers towards exploring the language further.

“My goal is that it's going to encourage kids to realize the value of our language and learn it and use it,” he said.

While Mitchell is now based in Fredericton, the book’s setting is the area around his home community of Listuguj, Que., a First Nation located north of the New Brunswick border.

Mitchell said he enjoyed making sure the book's setting was an accurate representation of Listuguj, and one that local readers could identify with.

“That was kind of the fun part for me, just to help see that realized in the script and seeing that realized in the visuals, too,” he said.

The book is illustrated by Veronika Barinova, who Mitchell says he has developed a “great “partnership” with.

“I feel really confident whenever I'm writing something that I can hand it off and trust that she knows how to interpret what I'm writing,” Mitchell said.

His own experience studying animation and subsequently working in the field helped build his rapport with Barinova.

“One of the big things that we learned in animation was to be as descriptive as you possibly can when you're writing a script and kind of trust the illustrator,” Mitchell added.

Mitchell said his longtime interest in animation has given him inspiration for his distinctive narrative style.

“I grew up on Disney movies. I grew up on Pixar films,” Mitchell said. “I still watch Pixar films and they are like the gold standard when it comes to storytelling. They write for a general audience, and that’s how I try to approach my storytelling.”

And while Giju’s Gift is yet to be released, Mitchell is already working away at what he hopes to make into a trilogy in the Adventures of the Pugulatmu’j series.

“I just submitted my first draft of the second part of the story,” he said. “If everything goes well, I do have a third part in the outline.”

Windspeaker.com

By Adam Laskaris, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Windspeaker.com, Windspeaker.com

B.C. study links low river flows with lower chinook salmon productivity

VANCOUVER — A study that links low summertime water flows in a British Columbia river with lower productivity across 22 generations of a struggling salmon population could help guide how rivers are managed to support fish, the authors say.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

The study published Friday in the journal Ecological Solutions and Evidence used data from 1992 to 2013 to examine changes in the productivity of early summer chinook in the Nicola River, a tributary of the Thompson River in B.C.'s southern Interior.


The modelling predicted fish that were spawned and later reared when the river's flows in August were 50 per cent below average had a 29 per cent lower productivity rate, referring to the number of offspring produced per spawning fish that survive to adulthood.

"The significance of this work is that we've been able to disentangle the influences of freshwater conditions from ocean conditions and really show that freshwater conditions are very important for this population," said lead author Luke Warkentin.

Adult chinook return to the river from the ocean to spawn, while their offspring spend a year in fresh water after hatching from eggs deposited in gravel nests.

"August is a really critical month, because you have low flows, you have fish coming in, holding and waiting to spawn, and you have high air and water temperatures," said Warkentin, who completed the research while studying at Simon Fraser University and now works as a biologist with Fisheries and Oceans Canada.

The lower flows combined with high air temperatures mean the water heats up more quickly, to the point that it can be harmful to salmon, while also reducing the availability of deeper, cooler pools where the fish take refuge, he said.

Overall, the Nicola's average August flows were about 26 per cent lower during the two-decade study period than in the early part of the 20th century, the study notes.

It attributes the decrease to the impacts of climate change, water withdrawal and land use, such as logging, farming and urban development.

Warkentin said he hopes the study's findings will support a more holistic understanding of water management for the Nicola, recognizing the impact of low flows on a salmon population that's been assessed as endangered by the Committee for the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada.

The province manages the Nicola River's flows, working with federal fisheries officials, First Nations and other local authorities, while considering snowpack, water levels in lakes and reservoirs, the severity of any drought and demand from nearby communities and agricultural operations.

There is no set amount of water to support a healthy salmon population, said Richard Bailey, a retired Fisheries and Oceans biologist who contributed to the study.

Rather, the right flow is the one that creates the best opportunities for the fish to survive while taking into account surrounding conditions, he said, including air temperatures and the effects of wildfires and different land use.

Changes in the mountainous upper reaches of a watershed significantly affect the timing and intensity of spring runoff and the duration of drought, Bailey noted.

Melting snow and rain run more quickly off slopes that have been logged or scorched by wildfire, bringing sediment that clogs spawning grounds, raising the risk of flooding and leaving little water to trickle down over the summer, he said.

Re-establishing trees and vegetation higher in a watershed is crucial for rehabilitation work below, along riverbanks and floodplains, Bailey added.

The modelling also demonstrated that generations of Nicola chinook incubated during years with significant fall flooding had lower productivity, as floodwaters can crush or scour salmon eggs from the riverbed, Warkentin said.

The finding doesn't bode well for eggs that were incubating before last November, when a series of atmospheric rivers deluged southwestern B.C., causing widespread flooding. The Nicola River swelled and carved a new course, swallowing homes and chunks of the highway between Merritt and Spences Bridge.

"The flood in November was larger — based on the preliminary numbers I've seen — was larger than any of the floods on record in the fall that we looked at," Warkentin noted.

The Committee for the Status of Endangered Wildlife assessed Lower Thompson chinook as endangered in November 2020, including those that spawn in the Nicola. It recommended the population be listed under the Species at Risk Act, noting a "steep decline" in the number of mature fish from 2013 to 2018.

The chinook face numerous severe threats in their freshwater and marine habitats, including the effects of logging following an extensive outbreak of mountain pine beetle, wildfires, water withdrawal and climate change, the committee found.

It's up to federal cabinet to decide whether to list any species as threatened or endangered, designations that carry prohibitions against destroying critical habitat.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 21, 2022.

Brenna Owen, The Canadian Press

Ghana explosion: Almost entire town leveled after explosives delivery truck crash

By Nimi Princewill, AnneClaire Stapleton, Stephanie Busari and Martin Goillandeau, CNN 


At least 17 people were killed in a blast in western Ghana on Thursday after a motorcycle collided with a vehicle carrying explosives, according to officials.

© Prestea Huni-Valley Municipal Assembly People sift through debris from Thursday's explosion in Apiate, in western Ghana.

"The reports that I'm getting from the bureaus, hospitals, is that [there are] roughly about 17 people that have passed away," Isaac Dasmani, the municipal chief executive for the Prestea Huni-Valley Municipal Assembly, told local media.

An additional 59 people were injured in the explosion, according to AFP.

The blast appeared to have completely leveled Apiate, a small town in western Ghana. Kwadwo Bempah, who works in the area and heard the explosion, told CNN that nearly every building there had collapsed, trapping people and animals under rubble.

The dead, he said, were "all around."

"It is a real tragedy for Ghana," Bempah said.

Police said most of the victims have been rescued and admitted to various hospitals and clinics. No more details were released on their condition.

"The police and other emergency service providers have activated a full emergency recovery exercise," a police statement said. "We urge all to remain calm as we manage this unfortunate situation."

"The police have taken charge of the situation providing security to enable the emergency workers including the Ghana National Fire Service, NADMO and the Ambulance Service to manage the situation," another statement read.

"The public has been advised to move out of the area to nearby towns for their safety while recovery efforts are underway," it added.

The police statement urged nearby towns to open classrooms, churches and other buildings to accommodate surviving victims.

Apiate, Bempah said, is small and residential, with a population of no more than 10,000. "Most of the people are farmers and miners," he said.

In the initial aftermath of the accident, Bempah said the local community stepped in as first responders, pulling people and animals from collapsed debris and rushing the wounded to hospitals before ambulances arrived.

The explosives were being delivered to a nearby mine run by Chirano Gold Mines, according to a press officer for the company, Kwabena Owusu-Ampratwum.

"We are closely monitoring the situation and the rescue efforts," Owusu-Ampratwum said.

Ghana has witnessed a series of gas explosions in recent years, with one of the worst blasts killing more than 150 people in the capital Accra in 2015. The explosion occurred as hundreds of residents sought shelter at a gas station from heavy rains.

Last October, at least one person was killed and another injured in a gas-related explosion in Accra, local media reported.

In the same month, three people died in another blaze in the country's Ashanti region.

© Prestea Huni-Valley Municipal Assembly The aftermath of the devastating explosion is seen in Apiate on Thursday

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© Prestea Huni-Valley Municipal Assembly Rescue workers arrive at the scene of the explosion in Apiate on Thursday.