OILPATCH TO LOSE $2.1B THIS YEAR
PAGE C4
PAGE B1
SENS SLIP PAST FLAMES IN SHOOTOUT
Red Deer Advocate THURSDAY, OCT. 29, 2015
www.reddeeradvocate.com
Your trusted local news authority SMASH HIT
RED DEER PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Lessons in gender identity BY SUSAN ZIELINSKI ADVOCATE STAFF Red Deer Public Schools staff are learning how to feel comfortable talking about sexual orientation and gender identity issues as the district works to put in place a Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity policy. Earlier this month, the school board approved a proposed policy that supports an environment where all members of the school community work and learn free from fear, discrimination, and harassment. It also promotes pro-active strategies and guidelines to ensure that sexual or gender minority students, employees and families are welcomed and included in all aspects of education and school life, and are treated with respect and dignity. Kristopher Wells, with the Institute for Sexual Minority Studies and Services at the Faculty of Education at the University of Alberta, said Red Deer public will likely be the 10th school jurisdiction out of 61 in Alberta to pass a policy to protect LGBTQ students and staff. “It’s part of a trend here in Alberta, but also a trend across Canada where school boards are understanding where their statutory and legal responsibilities are to provide discrimination-free environments,” said Wells who led professional development sessions for about 100 Red Deer public staff members on Wednesday.
Photo by JEFF STOKOE/Advocate staff
Notre Dame Cougar Kirsten Pinkey makes a shot over the net against Hunting Hills Lightning player Paige Hagel during high school girls volleyball action at Hunting Hills last week.
Please see POLICY on Page A2
Mom tried to help teen son before he was shot to death Year round market a possibility RED DEER
BY MARY-ANN BARR ADVOCATE STAFF
BY CRYSTAL RHYNO ADVOCATE STAFF A year round farmers market may soon be offering local seasonal produce in Red Deer. Garden City Market will open in November as a winter market on Wednesdays at Pioneer’s Lodge. But it could bring life to a farmers market that is open all year, said Daniel Chappell, owner of the Bowden-area Country Thyme Farm, and market president. “We think Red Deer is ready for it,” said Chappell, spokesperson for the market group. The group is working on the details to designate the market an official Alberta approved farmers market. Chappell said the studies have shown that residents would like the option in the city. The group has booked four dates (two Wednesdays in November and a Thursday and a Friday in December) to test the waters before investing a lot of money into the venture. “We are just easing into it and not jumping into it too hard,” he said. “It will definitely be something we will discuss in the new year.”
Please see MARKET on Page A2
INDEX
Cloudy. High 8. Low -2.
FORECAST ON A2
Four sections Alberta . . . . . . . . . . . . A5 Business . . . . . . . . . C4-5 Canada . . . . . . . . . . A6-7 Classified . . . . . . . . D1-2 Comics . . . . . . . . .C4-C5 Entertainment . . . . . . C6 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . B1-5
Please see TEEN on Page A2
Researchers finds fossilized feathers on dinosaur A University of Alberta researcher was surprised to find feathers on a fossil from 75-million years ago.
PLEASE RECYCLE
Story on PAGE A5
ual
n 1st An
2015 SHOW SPONSORS AND PARTNERS MEDIA SPONSOR (RADIO)
MEDIA SPONSOR (TELEVISION)
reddeerhomerenoshow.ca l Westerner Park
OVER
80 EXHIBITORS AT THE SHOW
DOOR PRIZE SPONSOR
Exhibitors include experts on roofing, flooring, bathroom and kitchen renovation, doors, windows and more, the 2015 Red Deer Home Renovation Show will offer attendees a variety of products, services, and ideas that will help with renovation and decor ideas for your fall and winter projects.
ACCOMODATION SPONSOR
MEDIA SPONSOR (PRINT)
7233902J24,29
WEATHER
A Red Deer mother said she tried desperately in numerous ways to get help for her troubled 15-yearold son, and was on the verge of bringing him home when he was shot to death in Saskatchewan. A 14-year-old Saskatoon boy has been charged with manslaughter and criminal negligence causing death, and a number of weapons charges. Now she is looking for answers to how her son slipped through the cracks of a system designed to help people like him. No one in this story is named because the Youth Criminal Justice Act prevents identifying the names of youth victims, accused and witnesses. She said she grew concerned about her son when he lived with her in Red Deer because he was having some problems and he had started experimenting with marijuana. She said she is totally against drugs and she became frightened for her son. She had raised him in a new family after she and his father split up when he was five years old. But to get him in a new environment, she sent her son to Saskatchewan to live with his father, who had agreed to take care of him. Her son did return later to Red Deer once and she agreed he could stay if he followed certain rules, but he started skipping school again so his mother sent him back to Saskatchewan and his father. She said she became aware though that he was
also doing street drugs and missing school there so she began to seek out help for him by contacting social agencies there. She said she doesn’t know what street drugs he was taking. She became deeply concerned when he went missing in June for several days. “I got really scared, and of course what normal people do, I phoned the police and filed a missing persons report … He was found about a week later. … Police did search for him and found him, and got him back home to his father.” She said she talked to police, the gang squad, social agencies and school authorities in Saskatchewan during various efforts to help her son. “I just feel like there’s so many … that failed him, including myself. I wished that I wouldn’t have been so afraid that I was going to do him wrong, so I thought that I was doing what was better for him (by letting him go to live with his father).” In July, the mother said that she decided to go to Saskatchewan and get a judge’s court order under the Youth Drug Detoxification and Stabilization Act to force her son to get help. But he evaded police and the order expired. She went back to Saskatchewan and got a second order, but again police could not find him, she said. Her son became angry with her and stopped talking to her, so she didn’t pursue it further, she said. “I just wanted to get back with contact with my son, because if he’s in trouble I didn’t want to lose that contact, and I was missing him so much.”