Alberta's fiscal update confirms $13.2 billion surplus, income tax reindexed but not AISH

The government estimates resuming indexation will save Albertans $304 million in 2022-23, $680 million in 2023-24 and $980 million in 2024-25

Author of the article: Ashley Joannou

POSTMEDIA
Publishing date: Aug 31, 2022 • 

NO PRIOR EXPERIENCE REQUIRED

Finance Minister Jason Nixon speaks at a news conference 

in Edmonton on Oct. 25, 2021.

 PHOTO BY ED KAISER /Postmedia, file

The Alberta government released its first quarter fiscal update on Wednesday, confirming that high resource revenues mean a jump in the expected surplus. But while the windfall means Alberta will go back to indexing personal income tax rates, similar changes are not on the books for supports for seniors or AISH.

Finance Minister Jason Nixon unveiled the official document at a news conference Wednesday. It shows that Alberta’s surplus increased to a forecasted $13.2 billion for 2022-23, money which the government plans to use to help repay $13.4 billion in debt that comes due this fiscal year, the largest single-year debt repayment in Alberta’s history.

As was first announced Tuesday by Premier Jason Kenney, Alberta is also reindexing income taxes to inflation, retroactive to the 2022 tax year after de-indexing the system in 2019. A recent study by the University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy says the move effectively forced Albertans to pay almost $647 million more in taxes from 2020 to 2022.

The basic personal tax amount is rising to $19,814. The government estimates resuming indexation will save Albertans $304 million in 2022-23, $680 million in 2023-24 and $980 million in 2024-25.


Alberta government commits to improving AISH appeals, while advocate calls separate rule change 'disturbing'

But Nixon confirmed Wednesday that supports for seniors and AISH, also de-indexed in 2019, will not be getting the same treatment. He said Alberta already has the most generous social services programs anywhere in the countr

“We remain utterly committed to having the strongest social service programs and AISH is extremely important to Albertans, and particularly to Albertans that are on AISH,” he said.

AISH was first indexed to inflation under the NDP government in late 2018. When the UCP government took power the next year that decision was reversed. At the time, the government said the move would save more than $300 million by 2023 and was necessary to keep the program sustainable.

The move has continued to draw heavy criticism because without indexation, payments do not go up with the rising cost of living.

At a news conference Wednesday, NDP MLA Kathleen Ganley said the government’s decision not to reindex AISH, the child tax benefit or the seniors benefit is “just plain cruel.”

“We have a situation in this province right now where we have record revenues coming in, where we have billions in surplus, and this government is allowing children and seniors and disabled Albertans to continue to struggle to pay for food,” she said.

Nixon said legislation will have to be passed in the fall to officially reindex personal income tax but that the government will be sending a letter to the federal government to make its intention clear.

AISH IS FUNDED BY BOTH THE FEDERAL AND PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENTS, THE ALBERTA CONSERVATIVE GOVTS HAVE ONLY TOPPED UP THE FED TRANSFER PAYMENT FOR AISH SINCE THE 1990'S UNDER KING RALPH

WTI projected to average US$92.50

According to the fiscal update, the province’s revenue forecast for 2022-23 is $75.9 billion, $13.3 billion higher than reported in the February budget. That’s due mainly to higher-than-expected oil and gas revenue. In the original budget, officials estimated that the cost of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude would average US$70 a barrel. Instead, the price of a barrel sat well beyond that, hitting US$120 a barrel in early June.

The new estimates project that WTI will average US$92.50 for the year.

The $28.4 billion expected to come in through resource revenue in 2022-23 is the highest on record, Nixon said.

The government is also making the largest ever single-year investment in the Heritage Savings Trust Fund — a total of just under $3 billion.

“By reducing the provincial debt Alberta’s government is taking the interest burden off of future generations,” he said.

“By Investing in the Alberta Heritage Saving Trust Fund Alberta’s government is growing a source of financial strength to increase our ability to deal with the inevitable economic ups and downs.”

Total expenses in the fiscal update are forecast at $62.7 billion, up slightly from the $62.1 billion estimated at budget.

The increase is caused in part by $279 million in federal funding for the Site Rehabilitation Program that is being spent this year instead of next year and an estimated $277 million needed to cover the cost of selling oil due to higher prices and volumes, according to the document.

Taxpayer-supported debt is forecast at $79.8 billion on March 31, 2023, which is $10.4 billion lower than estimated in the budget. By the end of the fiscal year the net debt-to-GDP ratio is estimated at 10.3 per cent.

ajoannou@postmedia.com
twitter.com/ashleyjoannou

Edmonton Journal - Friday
Friday's letters: Kenney is wrong; liberal art education has value

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney speaks at a press conference held at Executive Millwork where he outlined some of his governments' plans to address the changing needs of education for youth entering the workforce. Tuesday, September 6, 2022.

© Provided by Edmonton Journal

Re. “Industry heads to advise on post-secondary needs,” Sept. 7

At Tuesday’s announcement of the formation of the Premier’s Council on Skills, it is reported that Jason Kenney “railed against university liberal arts programs.” Perhaps if he had a broader education himself, he could understand the value of such programs. Even someone as conservative as Ronald Reagan considered that the liberal arts are “the foundation of education.” Alberta Einstein, one of the greatest scientists of all time, wrote that the value of liberal arts education, “is not the learning of many facts, but the training of the mind to think something that cannot be learned from textbooks.”

U.S. diplomat and educator Barbara White goes further, suggesting that such education “liberates the human being to exercise his or her potential to the fullest. And that means tearing down some of the walls of provincialism with which a person grows up.” Perhaps there are others in the UCP party as well as Kenney who could have used more liberal arts education!

Gayle Simonson, Edmonton

Employers value skills taught by liberal arts

The article states Premier Kenney railed against arts programs “which he said had modest or very poor employment outcomes, and said government funding for universities should align with labour market demands.” Where’s the evidence for such an outlandish claim? Just this past March, the Conference Board of Canada published a report “Lost Opportunities: Measuring the Unrealized Value of Skill Vacancies in Canada” in which they identified six of the most highly valued skills by employers as active listening, critical thinking, reading comprehension, speaking, monitoring, and co-ordination

That report was further supported by the federal government’s 2017 expert panel on youth employment which found that we are shifting away from manufacturing to service and knowledge economies with a greater emphasis on problem-solving, communication, interpersonal skills, and critical-thinking expertise. It’s precisely in the fields of thinking and people skills where universities excel — especially liberal arts programs — with the main benefit being that such skills are portable and may be applied in many different and ever-changing and evolving contexts.

Let’s not rob youth of these opportunities to work and to serve our communities and society on misguided falsehoods.

Marc Spooner, Regina


Invest budget surplus into education

The Alberta government is deliberating over what to do with the billions of dollars in surplus; they should invest in our children’s education. My granddaughter is in a Grade one class of 33! All the research indicates that investment in those early learning years is so critical for future success. Imagine the task that teacher has; how does she possibly address the individual needs of those 33 students?

After two years of COVID, our teachers have had a very tough job; let’s support them. Let’s fund more teachers, support staff and resources. These children are our future.

Sheron Jonzon, Edmonton

Black, Muslim women in Edmonton face multifaceted discrimination, senators told

Andrea Huncar - Thursday - CBC

Senators are hearing about the many ways Black, Muslim women in Edmonton face discrimination, as the Senate Committee on Human Rights stops in select Canadian cities most impacted by Islamophobia.

Dunia Nur, president of the African Canadian Civic Engagement Council, urged senators Thursday to look at Islamophobia from a multifaceted lens.

Black, Muslim women face Islamophobia, in addition to anti-Black racism, Afrophobia and gender-based discrimination and violence, Nur told senators.

"When you identify and you experience that pain on a daily basis, it is as if you are excluded and you feel a sense of isolation and you belong to no community," Nur told CBC News, after her presentation.

The committee hearings were born out of the alarming rise in Islamophobia in Canada, said Sen. Salma Ataullahjan, the chair of the committee.

Police-reported hate crime against Muslim people in Canada rose from 84 incidents in 2020, to 144 incidents in 2021, Statistics Canada data shows.



Sen. Salma Ataullahjan said the Senate Committee on Human Rights will look at gendered Islamophobia.

© Min Dhariwal/CBC News

"The one thing we're finding out: it's really bad for Muslim women," Ataullahjan said while on CBC Radio's Edmonton AM.

"We're going to be looking at gendered Islamophobia, and if you're Black and Muslim, then your experiences are worse."

Black, Muslim women have been the target of a string of verbal and physical attacks in Edmonton in recent years.

One of the victims said Edmonton police initially discouraged her from filing a report, an allegation Nur flagged to the committee Thursday.

Nur said Black, Muslim women need a hearing of their own because they have largely been left out of consultations to address the violence.

"Black Muslim women need a space where they can add and contribute," Nur said.

"I don't see anybody here that is directly from that community."

Senator 'shocked'

B.C. Sen. Mobina Jaffer was shocked by what she heard about Edmonton police, and said the committee will follow up.

"To hear from the community they had very little support from the police, that has shocked me," Jaffer said. "That's not the image I have of our police."

CBC News contacted the Edmonton Police Service for comment, but it did not immediately respond.

Senate committee members heard from Muslims and academics in Vancouver on Wednesday. They will be visiting Quebec City and Toronto in the coming weeks.

Their findings will be the basis of a report that will provide recommendations to the federal government about how to address Islamophobia.

Edmonton's Muslim community testifies to Senate human rights committee on Islamophobia

Anna Junker - Thursday-Edmonton Journal


“Violent Islamophobia is here in Alberta” a Senate human rights committee studying Islamophobia heard Thursday morning.


Farha Shariff speaks to the Senate human rights committee hearing examining the sources of Islamophobia, its effect on individuals, and incidents of discrimination, physical violence and online hate against Muslims, in Edmonton Thursday Sept. 8, 2022. 

Photo By David Bloom

Members of Edmonton’s Muslim community testified in front of the committee at the Signature Sandman Hotel in Downtown Edmonton. The study began in mid-June with an aim to examine the sources of Islamophobia, its effect on individuals, and incidents of discrimination, physical violence and online hate against Muslims.

Senator Salma Ataullahjan, the chair of the human rights committee, proposed the study on Islamophobia.

“When I was looking at the stats and I found out that the most Muslims killed in a G7 country, were in Canada, I was shocked to find that out, because we don’t think of Canada as a place where you have so much violence,” she said. “I realized that there’s a bigger issue here.”

The morning session heard from a number of witnesses, including Said Omar, the Alberta Advocacy Officer for the National Council of Canadian Muslims. He described to the committee recent attacks against Black and Muslim women over the past two years .

“The problem of violent Islamophobia is here in Alberta,” Omar said. “Violent Islamophobia is a prominent threat that looms over our community.”

He detailed the most recent reported incident in the city, when on Jan. 1, a woman and her children were attacked outside a mosque by a man . The man punched and spat on the vehicle while uttering Islamophobic threats, then left the mosque and returned with a shovel. He was sentenced to 90 days in jail.

Related
Why are Muslim women in Edmonton being attacked? Details reveal a complicated history

Edmonton's Muslim community asks for urgency in wake of latest attack

Farha Shariff, senior advisor for equity diversity, inclusion and decolonization at the University of Alberta, told the committee she has been a target of Islamophobia and so have her loved ones.

“My parents have been the targets of Islamophobia,” she said. “My three children, girls, have been the targets of Islamophobia. My husband has been the target of Islamophobia. The living stories of Islamophobia exist in this room.”

She said Islamophobia is an example of systemic racism in Canada.

“However, Muslims and other racialized groups will always bear the collective guilt and responsibility for actions committed or alleged,” she said.

Witnesses also talked about trying to report instances of Islamophobic attacks, but being turned away by police or not being taken seriously.

“We have no mechanisms of reporting Islamophobia,” said Dunia Nur, president and CEO of the African Canadian Civic Engagement Council.

She stressed to committee members that Black Muslim women need to have a seat at a table when trying to address the issue of Islamophobia and other hate crimes.

“We have been left out of recommendations, we have been left out of consultations, we have been left out of our own communities,” Nur said. “We have been left out of legislative recommendations in terms of what a path of moving forward means.

“We have a lot of rich knowledge we can share.”

Ataullahjan said the speakers were very powerful, and there are now many aspects of the study that need to be looked at, including potentially renaming “Islamophobia.”

“We’ve had speakers express concern that to have a phobia means you’re just scared of someone, but it doesn’t address the issues of the Muslims,” she said. “We need to look at the fear that the Muslims live in, the discrimination that they face.”

After an abrupt adjournment due to the death of Queen Elizabeth II, the committee resumed in the afternoon and heard from eight more witnesses. The committee plans to hear from more witnesses in Quebec City and Toronto and will ultimately publish a report with recommendations.

ajunker@postmedia.com

Antigua and Barbuda’s prime minister announces a referendum on the monarchy within three years

Daniel Stewart - Yesterday 

Antigua and Barbuda's Prime Minister Gaston Browne said Saturday that he will call a referendum in the country to become a republic within the next three years on the passing of Queen Elizabeth II.


Archive - Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, greets the guard of honor at Bird VC Airport in Antigua and Barbuda as he visits the Caribbean for Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee. - Joe Giddens/PA Wire/dpa© Provided by News 360

The Caribbean country is one of 14 nations that retains the British monarchy as its head of state. In fact, Browne has signed a document confirming Charles III's status as the new king.

However, the prime minister has assured that he will work for a republican referendum, as he indicated earlier this year during a visit of the royal family to the islands.

"This is not an act of hostility or any difference between Antigua and Barbuda and the monarchy, but it is the final step to complete that circle of independence, to ensure that we are truly a sovereign nation," he told British television network ITV.

"I would say probably within the next three years," he has added, when asked about a timeframe for the referendum.

The islands became independent in 1981 and Browne sees a republic as the natural progression. If the prime minister is re-elected next year, he will introduce the referendum in his new term.

In Quebec, the Queen's death raises questions about future of the monarchy in Canada

MONTREAL — The mixed reactions in Quebec to the death of Queen Elizabeth II highlight the province’s complex relationship with the monarchy.


In Quebec, the Queen's death raises questions about future of the monarchy in Canada

© Provided by The Canadian Press

In the days after the Queen’s death, incumbent Premier Francois Legault — who is currently on the campaign trail ahead of an Oct. 3 election — has faced questions about whether the province should now eliminate the position of lieutenant governor, as well as criticism from the Parti Québécois for lowering the Quebec flag to half mast in honour of the late queen.

Quebec media outlets ran both tributes to the monarch and retrospectives about a riot during her 1964 visit to Quebec City that has become known as "Truncheon Saturday."

The majority of Quebecers don't look kindly on the monarchy for historical reasons as well as their support for democracy, said Gérard Bouchard, a historian and sociologist who teaches at the Université du Québec à Chicoutimi.

"In Quebec, this appears to be a vestige of a colonialist era that we thought had disappeared," he said in an interview. "In Quebec, the majority of people would say, 'we don't know why this continues in Canada and we don't know why this has been imposed on us in Quebec.'"

While Quebecers may respect the late queen as an individual, the monarchy brings up memories of the British conquest of New France and British colonial rule over French-speaking Canada, said Bouchard, who studies national myths.

The idea that the head of state is a European monarch also runs counter to Quebecers ideas of democracy, he said, adding opposition to the monarchy is stronger in Quebec among federalists and English-speakers than it is in other parts of Canada.

It was the history of colonialism that Parti Québécois Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon seized on as he defended his criticism of Legault’s decision to lower the Quebec flag.

The monarchy was imposed on the people of Quebec by conquest, he said, while the provincial flag, known as the fleurdelisé, represents both the right of Quebecers to exist as a people and the province's democracy.

"We cannot overlook that she represented an in institution, the British crown, that has caused significant harm to Quebecers and Indigenous nations," he told reporters.

The deportation of the Acadians, the execution of the leaders of the Patriot Rebellion in 1839 and, more recently, the repatriation of the constitution without the consent of Quebec were all done in the name of the British crown, he said.


Related video: Commonwealth: Following the death of Elizabeth, 'the future of the monarchy is very much at stake'
Duration 6:38  View on Watch

'Our queen for half of Canada's existence': Canadians mourn Queen Elizabeth

France 24


Queen Elizabeth death: Emotional Trudeau says 'Canada is in mourning'

Global News


Legault, who accused St-Pierre Plamondon of "petty politics," faced questions from journalists who wondered if Quebec would use the opportunity to get rid of the office of lieutenant-governor.

Legault said he knows there have been calls to replace the lieutenant-governor, but noted it's not one of his priorities if he's re-elected.

Quebec has already reduced the prominence of the lieutenant-governor. Unlike the other provinces and the federal government, where legislative sessions open with a speech from the throne delivered by the monarch’s representative, in Quebec the inaugural speech is delivered by the premier.

But it's not just in Quebec where the popularity of the monarchy has been slipping, said Benoît Pelletier, a professor of constitutional law at the University of Ottawa and a former cabinet minister in the Quebec Liberal government of Jean Charest.

In English-speaking Canada, he argued, support for the monarchy is also on the decline.

"I think that over the coming months there will be a debate on the future of the constitutional monarchy," he said, adding that he expects it will eventually lead to a referendum on the issue.

Pelletier said he thinks changing the Canadian constitution to abolish the monarchy would be possible, as long as the negotiations don't attempt to address any other constitutional issues.

He, however, personally supports the monarchy.

"I think that the system works well at this moment and as you say in English, if it ain't broke, don't fix it," he said.

But it is possible, he said, to integrate an elected head of state into a parliamentary system, as was done in Barbados when it became a republic in 2021.

While there have been expressions of republicanism in Quebec’s history, it would be a mistake to conclude that Quebec has always rejected the monarchy, said Marc Chevrier, a political science professor at the Université du Québec à Montréal.

After the conquest, Quebec's French-speaking elites rallied around British institutions, including the monarchy, he said.

There have also been efforts to associate British royalty with the glory of the old French monarchy, he said, noting the Quebec flag references French royal symbols.

Unlike independence movements in places like Ireland, which have been strongly associated with republicanism, the Parti Québécois never promoted such beliefs when it was in power, he said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2022.

Jacob Serebrin, The Canadian Press

NGO'S ARE ESSENTIAL TO THE CAPITALI$T STATE 
Black Lives Matter executive accused of 'syphoning' US$10M from BLM donors, suit says

In this July 13, 2020, file photo, a black lives matter mural is visible in the Shaw neighborhood in Washington. The Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, which grew out of the creation of the Black Lives Matter movement, is formally expanding a $3 million financial relief fund that it quietly launched in February 2021, to help people struggling to make ends meet during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)

Michelle Watson
CNN
Updated Sept. 5, 2022 

An executive at Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation (GNF), is accused of "syphoning" more than US$10 million from donors, the grassroots arm of the BLM organization said a court filing this week.

The suit is against executive Shalomyah Bowers, the foundation itself, Bowers' consulting firm and unnamed individuals.

Bowers was hired by BLM co-founder Patrisse Cullors in 2020 to help run the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation (GNF), an extension of the Black Lives Matter grassroots organization, the suit said.

Bowers denied the claims leveled in the suit, which BLM Grassroots presented in a news conference last week, saying in a statement posted on the BLM website that the accusations are "harmful, divisive, and false."

GNF was originally created by Cullors "as an administrative organization to raise funds to provide financial support for local-level community efforts of BLM Grassroots," the suit said, while the BLM Grassroots organization did the "on-the-ground" work.

Cullors initially oversaw the GNF, but in May 2021 "decided she could no longer lead GNF and that it should wind down and transition the entire organization to BLM Grassroots," the suit said.

In that same month, Cullors notified Bowers and Melina Abdullah of a "formal transition plan" of GNF's leadership, along with other internal leaders. Abdullah is a co-founder of the Los Angeles chapter of BLM.

Bowers took umbrage with this recollection of events in the statement posted on BLM's site. "BLMGR and Melina Abdullah read a press statement claiming that Patrisse Cullors created a transition plan giving all of BLMGNF's assets to BLM Grassroots. That is absolutely false," Bowers said.

"Mr. Bowers and the GNF Leadership Council agreed to execute the transition plan set forth by Ms. Cullors," the suit said. "However, Mr. Bowers, who made $2,167,894 million dollars from GNF in less than eight months, decided he wanted to keep the 'piggy bank' that GNF had become to him and his company."

Bowers was also supposed to disclose certain financial and organizing information other leaders within the group, but "refused" to so, the suit alleges.

"Within months, Bowers had run these well-respected advocates out of the organization," the suit alleges. "Through a series of misrepresentations and unauthorized backroom dealings, Mr. Bowers managed to steal control over GNF as the sole Board member and officer."

The suit also said Bowers changed social media account passwords for the grassroots organization and tried to "to register the trademark of BLM Grassroots using the logo and design of BLM Grassroots leader Angela Waters, in what appears to be an attempt to 'steal' the logo or prevent BLM Grassroots from utilizing."

The BLM grassroots organization said in the suit that Bowers has siphoned money.

"Mr. Bowers continues to fraudulently raise money from unsuspecting donors passing himself off as the organization that is doing the work of BLM, padding his own pockets at that of his associates at the cost of BLM's reputation," the suit said.

The grassroots organization arm of the organization is asking for a jury trial and accuses Bowers of unfair businesses practices, fraud and intentional misrepresentation, among other claims.

CNN reached out to Bowers through his consulting firm Sunday but did not receive a response.

GNF has since responded to the claims, in a statement saying:

"The BLMGNF Board requested -- on over ten occasions -- private mediation or meetings with Melina Abdullah and BLM Grassroots, including and regarding social media policies. We did so in order to stay true to principles of abolition -- resolving issues through conflict mediation rather than falling victim to the carceral logic and social violence that fuels the legal system.

"But Melina Abdullah and BLMGR ignored or refused our offers. To the contrary, they would rather take the same steps of our white oppressors and utilize the criminal legal system which is propped up by white supremacy (the same system they say they want to dismantle) to solve movement disputes.

"In particular, Melina Abdullah and BLMGR's storytelling concerning the current BLMGNF Board is harmful, divisive, and false. It only gives fodder to right-wing media's clear agenda of sowing distrust and division among Black folks, and it is in deep contrast to abolitionist values and the fight for Black liberation.

"Therefore, BLMGNF is forced to respond publicly to Melina and BLMGR's attacks against BLMGNF and its current leadership. So respond we will, with love, facts, and a spirit of transparency which has been our focus over the last six months, as noted by the release of our IRS Form 990 and our BLM Transparency Center."

Alberta Cree wrestler The Matriarch finds her peace inside the ring

Social Sharing

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Email
• Reddit
• LinkedIn

Sage Morin was introduced to wrestling after the death of

 her son, Geo Mounsef

Ishita Verma · CBC News · Posted: Sep 05, 2022 6:00 AM MT | Last Updated: September 5

Sage Morin began wrestling in April this year and started competing a month later. (Travis McEwan/CBC)

A storage space in north Edmonton opens up into a Monster Pro Wrestling training facility, complete with a wrestling ring. 

It's where, on a hot summer day, 36-year-old wrestler Sage Morin, The Matriarch, grapples with her opponent as he manages to twist out of a headlock.

Wrestling has generally been a male-dominated sport, which is why The Matriarch often finds herself facing men. 

"Doesn't matter if you're a man or a woman. If you need to be taught a lesson, the Matriarch's the one to do it," Morin says.

During her warm-up, Morin's passion for wrestling is clear to see. 

She somersaults and rolls with her male teammates, at one point executing a perfect handstand — toes pointed to the ceiling — and rolling forward back to her feet.

If you need to be taught a lesson, the Matriarch's the one to do it.- Sage Morin

"My goal is to just keep training as hard as I can, to be as best as I can, and to just really bring my game up another level," Morin said in an interview.

 

Saddle Lake Cree Nation wrestler Sage Morin, better known as The Matriarch in the Edmonton-based Monster Pro Wrestling world, wants to inspire more Indigenous wrestlers and hopes that one day there will be an all-Indigenous event. But just how she entered the world of amateur wrestling, is a story of grief, support and love.

Morin began her wrestling career earlier this year, in April, and started competing just one month later. 

During Monster Pro Wrestling tours to smaller communities across Alberta and British Columbia, she quickly became a fan favourite.

"It's something that I've really stepped into and I've really enjoyed it," she said.

Morin was introduced to Monster Pro after her two-year-old son, Geo Mounsef, was killed by an SUV on a south Edmonton restaurant patio in 2013.

The Edmonton-based organization was the first of many to hold a community event for Morin and her family.

At that event, Monster Pro gave Morin a belt with Geo's name on it and when she held it up, the crowd chanted his name.

"The honour always goes to Geo, first and foremost, and the strength always comes from that," she said. 

Watch The Matriarch in action:

Sean Dunster and Sage Morin stayed in touch after Monster Pro Wrestling held a community event following the death of Morin's two-year-old son. (Travis McEwan/CBC)

Morin's coach says she was born for wrestling.

"She's just got this bigger-than-life personality," said Sean Dunster, a.k.a. Massive.

"It's almost like she's come and wrapped her arms around the whole crew of Monster Pro wrestling."

Dunster reached out to Morin hoping to involve her in some matches as an MC or a referee. 

"She's like, 'I want to wrestle,'" he said. "And she was just all in, right from the beginning." 

Morin threw herself into the sport, finding family and support in the organization. 

She helps her teammates with their makeup and costumes — and Dunster said she brings in a different aspect of wrestling.

Listen here | 

Radio Active7:12The wrestling Matriarch

Sage Morin, also known as The Matriarch, entered the wrestling world earlier this year and found herself a new home. Tonight she'll compete in a Monster Pro Wrestling show at Alberta Avenue Community Hall.

Representation that's authentic, not exploitative

Morin is from the Saddle Lake Cree Nation in central Alberta, part of Treaty 6.

When she first joined wrestling, she was inspired to create a character that deeply resonated with her and reflected her Indigenous culture.

"I wanted to be a strong female. A powerful leader," she said. "The best leaders that we have in our culture are the matriarchs."

Sage Morin, The Matriarch, and her training partner Campbell Spencer, Mighty KC, watch teams practice. (Travis McEwan/CBC)

She's been careful in how she represents her culture.

"You'll never catch me in a headdress, you'll never catch me bringing my sacred ceremonial items, my feathers or anything like that," Morin said.

She wanted her representation to be authentic and not exploitative. 

"I've done that by bringing my powwow dancers out and bringing Indigenous performers, but also just bringing my own Indigenous flavour," she said.

Morin said her dream is to have an entire crew of Indigenous wrestlers behind her, and to one day be wearing the women's champion belt with pride.

• AUDIO
  Local pro wrestler

• How Indigenous pro wrestlers lock up with racial stereotypes inside the ring

A full-circle moment

Dealing with the loss of her son nearly destroyed her, Morin said. 

And almost a decade later, the pain doesn't get easier.

So it felt like a full circle moment for Morin when she stepped into the ring as a wrestler. 

Wrestling helped her heal and start to become alive again.

"Throughout everything that I've been through in my life," she said, "the thing I'm really grateful for is wrestling."

Alberta mural project illustrates Métis experience in residential schools

Social Sharing

• Facebook
• Twitte
• Email
• Reddit
• LinkedIn

The community-led project is now installed at the 

Canadian Museum of Human Rights

Clare Bonnyman · CBC News · Posted: Sep 03, 2022 7:00 AM MT | Last Updated: September 3

Métis Memories of Residential Schools is an interactive mural project that features the story of Métis children in the residential school system. The final artwork was painted by Albertan artist Lewis Lavoie. (Submitted by Billie-Jo Grant)

An Alberta-made mural has found a new home at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights (CMHR).

Métis Memories of Residential Schools is an interactive mural project that tells the distinct experiences of Métis youth in the residential school system. 

"Our project was an attempt to help people understand that the colonial experience is inclusive of the Métis," project creator Yvonne Poitras-Pratt told CBC's Radio Active.

"We have a unique story here."

Co-creators Pratt and Billie-Jo Grant often refer to it as "heart work".

The full mosaic shows the Métis sash in red and blue, and the larger image is made up of 24 smaller pictures illustrating the history of residential schools. 

Radio Active9:19Métis Memories, an Alberta mural project

A new piece of art depicting the Métis experience in residential schools is on display at the Canadian Museum of Human Rights.

What's on display at the museum is a physical mural, but as educators, both Grant and Pratt wanted this to become a tool that goes beyond the walls of a museum. The entire piece is available online, including free downloadable resources. 

"It demonstrates our collective strength," said Grant.

"As you click on each of the art cards, you'll be taken to another page where you get teaching resources, reflective questions and some foundational knowledge that it's really important for Canadians to have an understanding of."

The exhibit will be on display at the CMHR until Jan. 13 of next year, but the original copy lives at Métis Crossing, which is about 120 km north east of Edmonton. 

A version was also presented to the Pope as part of the Rome delegation in early 2022.

Billie-Jo Grant, left, and Yvonne Poitras-Pratt built a team to bring the artwork to life. 

Both see this as 'heart work.' (Submitted by Billie-Jo Grant and Yvonne Poitras-Pratt)

Pratt, an associate professor at the Werklund School of Education at the University of Calgary, said educating others on the Métis experience at residential schools is important.

"To a wider national audience, the Métis story is something that we often don't hear about. It tends to be either misunderstood, ignored or sort of erased from the regular curriculum," she said.

Grant, an Indigenous consultant with Greater St. Albert Catholic Schools, said the project brought her closer to her own family's experiences, while creating tools for use in classrooms across the province. 

"My mother was in a day school, my grandfather was in a residential school and it really is a missing piece of my history that I found," she said. 

"I want to support teachers and people not to shy away from it."

• Mural to honour residential school survivors while declaring 'We are still here'

A more inclusive story of residential schools

The mural is based on a 2004 book by author Jude D. Daniels, which transcribed interviews with Métis residential school survivors. 

Stories recall how the children were treated as an afterthought, or a different class. 

In her research, Grant even read that Métis children were treated as "half-civilized," so they received less education and spent more time working for the school. 

"I just felt that there was a lot of work to be done, and a lot of understanding," Grant said.

"These stories need to be heard so that people can heal."

The mural was based off a book by Jude D. Daniels, and includes the story of Métis Elder Angie Crerar. The creators held a gathering in Grande Prairie, where Crerar lives to celebrate its creation. (Submitted by Billie-Jo Grant)

To create the mosaic, Grant and Pratt built a team that included Daniels and Métis Elder Angie Crerar, a residential school survivor whose story was included in the book. 

The artwork was even designed by Pratt's daughter, Samantha, before Albertan artist Lewis Lavoie painted the final mural. 

"It was community-led," said Grant. "It's not our story to tell. It's a collective experience and it's really important to honour those stories and those people."

"The arts provide this really powerful vehicle," said Pratt.

"It's a way of welcoming people into our stories in a very inviting way. Once we have their interest, then it's time to educate."

• T-shirt designed by Mi'kmaw artist to be worn across Canada

Opinion: Reconciliation in Edmonton should begin on the Rossdale Flats

Phillip Coutu 
Publishing date: Sep 03, 2022

Artist Ken Lum created The Buffalo and the Buffalo Fur Trader Bronze sculpture intended to be installed beside the new Walterdale Bridge in Edmonton. The city has decided not to install the art work. The Buffalo and the Buffalo Fur Trader features two 13-foot bronze sculptures intended to highlight the history and impact of the fur trade in Edmonton. The City's decision rests on the potential for the artwork to be misinterpreted as a celebration of colonization.
PHOTO BY SUPPLIED /City of Edmonton

THE CURRENT MEMORIAL ON THE SACRED GROUNDS


From 2000 to 2005, a small group of descendants of Fort Edmonton played an integral role in the preservation of the Fort Edmonton burial grounds.

It was a good start on a long road to reconciliation with Aboriginal peoples, but we were discarded in favour of a Wicihitowin process which was primarily led by Mr. Lewis Cardinal. Despite a lot of unfinished business, nothing has happened since that time. Consultations with a privileged few while avoiding the most knowledgeable, simply has not worked. As a Metis who has lived and worked with Indigenous people my whole life, I wish to say that reconciliation needs to be seen to be done and the Rossdale Flats is an ideal location to reimagine our relationship with First Peoples.

It begins with allowing Cree, Metis and others in the plains culture to talk to each other in a consultation process that honours its oratory nature. I am very saddened by the recent art installation debacle which featured a buffalo fur trader and a buffalo but excluded any acknowledgement that the Metis existed here for 100 years. Worse, it confuses our history. We are the children of the fur trade who hunted buffalo and viewed them as a gift from the creator. This art did not reflect our history. It reflected American history where buffalo herds were slaughtered for their pelts and their carcasses left to rot on the plains.

I believe the bronze buffalo belongs at the entrance of the burial grounds so all who drive down River Valley Road would be reminded of the power of our buffalo culture. The Metis often say we are like the buffalo, who stand to face the cold north winds. I believe other descendants would support this idea as this buffalo, like us, has been discarded from the flats.

A beautiful act of real reconciliation would be to create another bronze statue of a real fur trader being greeted by perhaps his Indigenous wife, holding their child and standing next to her father. The north end of the bridge is a very special place for us Metis. It is the historic landing where after months of travel with the brigade, voyageurs were reunited with their loved ones. This was the rendezvous — a celebration of culture.

A second step to reconciliation is to define the sacred grounds — our burial grounds. If not, the gondola debacle shows us that if it is all sacred, nothing becomes sacred and the flats will remain as abandoned lands. Hudson’s Bay Company diagrams and a documented history of desecrations confirm burials extended into the transformer yard but not much further. It must be removed as Epcor’s persistent repairs using a hydro-vac methods to dig, sends our ancestor’s remains to the sewer system. Spiritually, the above situation brings disharmony to us all and is an affront to our dignity.

A third step to reconciliation is to return the nearby baseball field to First Nation peoples to use for cultural purposes. These were their ancient sundance grounds which were taken from them to create a horse track and later the exhibition grounds. It’s time for the city to return what is not theirs.

A fourth step which might be considered is to use the large brick building as a venue to display large black and white pictures of the First Nation peoples and their trauma in the residential schools. Edmonton cannot be a great city until it finds the courage to embrace its past. It begins with allowing the Rossdale Flats to return to its rightful place as a great gathering place of all cultures.

Phillip Coutu is a retired psychologist, author and direct descendent of Marie Anne Gaboury and Jean Baptiste Lagimodiere who lived on the Rossdale site from 1808 to 1811. They are the grandparents of Louis Riel.

SEE LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for REBEL YELL