www.crowsnestpassherald.ca • 403-562-2248 •passherald@shaw.ca
March 25, 2020 ~ Vol. 90 No. 12 $1.00
Crowsnest pass
herald Serving the CnP SinCe 1930
A new world David Selles photo
The sign outside Crowsnest Consolidated High School shows a message from the staff to the students during the current school closure. Staff of all local schools are currently finding solutions to provide online learning for students for the remainder of the year.
business help
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looking baCk
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spring Care
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2 – CRowSnESt PASS HERALD – Wednesday, March 25, 2020
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Fantin’s Funeral Chapel doing what they can as Essential Service david SelleS Pass Herald Reporter
Fur Babies (Puppies)
These Puppies are 7 weeks old and need loving forever homes. They eat puppy kibble and drink water on their own and in the process of using P Pads. Mom is a Border Collie X with a Blue Heeler. If Interested please contact Hope, Duane or Rico Truant for more info. 403-562-7882 Serious Inquiries only PLEASE.
As an essential service that must stay open, Darrel Sydora is doing everything he can to ensure Fantin’s Funeral Chapel are doing everything in their power to ensure the safety of clients. Sydora says keeping on top of the many daily updates is a top priority. “First and foremost, we have to stay abreast of all the new information that's been placed out there. We need to be in contact with Alberta Health Services and the Chief Medical Officer. We need to be educated on new information as much as possible. For precautions, we've been reaching out and networking with other organizations and preparing for what we need to do in that facet. Things like what are the symptoms, what are the things that we can do to keep ourselves safe and our customer families safe as well.” Sydora says they’ve been going over procedures to ensure they are being as safe as possible. “We've been doing things with finding out our procedures and going over those as to how we need to perform. Everything from fluid resist-
Thank You
ance to our personal protective equipment, respirators, transfer pouches, disposable gloves, sanitization and cleaning service contacts.” According to Sydora, Fantin’s is following more guidelines than just what the Alberta Government and Chief Medical Officer are asking for. “We're more thorough than that actually. We're dealing with the Medical Examiner's Office as well so we do something a little bit further. For example, when transferring people in a body pouch, we should be doubling that in case there are any tears or things like that. We want to make sure there aren’t fluid transfers at all and also minimize airborne risks. When transferring a person we have to be very careful and make sure there are those barriers in place and disinfection is done. It's quite a technical process for us to transfer a deceased person from point a to point b. There are things that need to be done and I think most of the public aren't aware or don't want to be aware of how that's done.” Sydora says he understands the importance of the service he provides. “We know that we need to always honour
and memorialize a person. We still have to keep in mind that this is a difficult and emotional time for people and they need a forum or an outlet to handle and express their grief. We need to be there for them more so now than ever.” Services are still being held at Fantin’s, but Sydora says the guidelines are being followed. “We do still offer services but we contain them in a way that is moderated by the Chief Medical Officer as well. For example, no more than 50 people in a venue. Trying to keep the distance between people. Having the large chapel that we do, we're allowed to space people out for their preference. Family units will always be together anyway because they live together at home. We also have the ability to place a better ventilation system inside our chapel, we have sanitizers everywhere and of course funeral homes have stocks of Kleenex. Just keeping things very sanitized. We have to understand the microbiology of it all and how transferring it is so easy.” To limit personal contact, Sydora says arrangements can be made over
the phone. “If families are so inclined we can do arrangements just by the phone and the Internet. We can easily send documents back and forth. We of course can minimize the contact that families are having with the public.” Sydora is also asking for some help from the community to ensure he has everything that’s needed to stay open as an essential service. “Since we do need to remain open and we have to go on day to day, it would be nice if the community would also cooperate because we don't want to see a continuance of the hoarding that is going on. Services like ours, they do need to stay open and for example, toilet paper, sanitizers and things like that, aren't to be found. If we didn't always keep a fair amount of those we'd be in a hurting situation and who knows what's going to take place a month from now. I can go to the store almost every day and I'm reluctant to see any hand sanitizers and things like that. It won't help us if people are buying everything up and hoarding it.”
Riversdale update Sidney Stella Communications Coordinator
The team at Riversdale is thinking of our fellow community members during this time of uncertainty that we’re in together. We have closed our offices until further notice to ensure the ongoing protection of our staff and community. We’re just a phone call away so if you have questions or need to contact a team member, please call 403.753.5160 and you will be directed to the appropriate individual. In terms of the regulatory process, review of the Grassy Mountain Coal Project continues with the Joint Review Panel (JRP) announcing the start of the public comment period on Addendum 11 on Friday, March 19. From the JRP: “Indigenous groups, government bodies, the public and other participants are invited to provide comments on the sufficiency and technical merit of the Eleventh Addendum to the EIA available on the Canadian Impact Assessment Registry (the Registry) at canada.ca/iaac, reference number 80101. Participants are also invited to make recommendations to the Joint Review Panel on additional information that it should receive prior to proceeding to a public hearing for the project. A resource document, including template, to assist participants in the preparation of their submissions is now available on the Registry. The Joint Review Panel will consider all submissions, including those that have been sent by participants in relation to the environmental assessment of the project and are already posted on the Registry. The Panel requests that participants not submit duplicate comments or recommendations. Please forward submissions in either official language to the Joint Review Panel at IAAC.GrassyMountain.AEIC@canada.ca by May 4, 2020. Documents submitted or generated as part of the environmental assessment will be considered public and will be posted on the Registry.” Until we see you again, stay safe, stay healthy, wash your hands and please practice social distancing!
Wednesday, March 25, 2020 - Crowsnest PAss herAlD - 3
In the lIne of fIre Theft On March 16th, 2020, there was a complaint of theft of gas from a vehicle parked on 22nd Avenue in Blairmore. The theft occurred sometime over the previous few days. Between March 16 and March 23, Crowsnest Pass RCMP responded to a total of 36 calls for service including the following reported incidents. Two (2) assaults, one (1) break and enter (residential), one (1) fraud/forgery, three (3) threats/harassments, two (2) mischief (vandalism), one (1) theft, three (3) disturbing the peace, five (5) driving complaints, two (2) motor vehicle collisions, four (4) assistance to general public, four (4) suspicious occurrence, three (3) assistance to other agencies, one (1) 911 call (invalid) and two (2) false alarms.
Court News A 23-year-old male received 270 days in jail in Lethbridge Court for numerous charges including assault, assault causing bodily harm, breach of probation, breach of condition, theft of vehicle and driving while suspended. The offences occurred in December of 2019. Found Found bikes turned into Crowsnest Pass Bylaw Be aware of a new scam. Victims get phone calls from someone pretending to be from Service Canada or another government agency, say-
~ rCMP news ~
ing their social insurance number (SIN) has been blocked, compromised or suspended. The call might be one of the latest variations on caller ID in which fraudsters disguises the number seen on the ID display in order to trick victims into answering phone. The person will ask for SIN and other personal info, such as date of birth, address, etc. Victims who provide personal info are at risk of identity fraud. Also, do not say yes to any questions if you are unsure of who is calling as people can use voice recognition to access other information. Anyone with information regarding any crime is urged to contact the Crowsnest Pass RCMP Detachment at 403-562-2867, or Crimestoppers to remain anonymous at 1-800-422TIPS. Reminder to resi-
The Simple Raven’s Post by Avner Perl
Hope during a Corona invasion Last week I predicted that my next column may be full of hope. I truly want it to be, but I am now a suspicious person and not without good reasons. I have been cheated so many times. I watched the news this morning. It was an American station. I saw the President who just two weeks ago said repeatedly that there is nothing to worry about, now saying that he knew for a long time that the pandemic was coming. Did he? Well, four senators are being accused of selling their stocks just before the market crashed. They knew. Also, we don’t know how many in the US are infected since they don’t have enough test kits to check. Back to Canada. Here the Prime Minister is in isolation, leading by “good example.” He is announcing some very helpful measures to keep the population alive and the economy going. I agree with pumping money into the economy. Preventing chaos and ensuring that everyone will have some money to keep commerce going is necessary. I don’t think he has another choice. I do question when governments give billions in grants or even tax cuts to industries or corporations that are failing. This is too much socialism for me. Why Mr. Prime-minister, don’t you prepay our gas and oil bills for six months instead of giving 15 billion of our tax money to the oil and gas companies who will soon lay off a quarter of Albertans? Give the money to the oil workers, I would say. I have a good friend who believes that solutions to problems always come from big business. Now we have a major crisis and I don’t see people begging big business for solutions. I see people turning to governments demanding action. If I was the government, I would help small businesses who employ most Canadians. Instead, they are taxing small businesses and their employees and giving money to the big ones. I watched a CBC special “Market Place Coronavirus (COVID-19)”. It’s a good show which compared our readiness for the pandemic with that of Taiwan. On that Island kids still go to school, families eat in restaurants functioning normally with a few exceptions. Per capita, they have fewer COVID 19 cases than us, and we are much better than most. How come? The Taiwan government has done its job. Onwards, I go to review our Premier’s address from yesterday. He outlined several new measures that would make any lefty politician elated. Daycares for essential workers, expanding homeless shelters, 113 million dollars to clean orphan oil wells, paying people for self-isolation, relaxing restrictions on Unemployment Insurance, paying people’s utilities, you name it.
dents of computer scams, credit cards scams, Grandparent scams, Revenue Canada scams asking for money or cash cards and saying warrants out for arrest, do not give out personal information to persons you don't know. DO NOT OPEN EMAILS if you are suspicious of its origin. Do NOT purchase gift cards for payment to Revenue Canada. Do not send monies to person claiming you have won a prize and need to send money for delivery. Crime mapping is available online to residents who are interested can login online at Municipality of Crowsnest Pass website (RCMP crime map for Crowsnest Pass). Crime mapping shows property crimes that occurred within the past two weeks in our area.
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In his address, the Premier said that there will be more measures outlined in the days to come. This is also happening on the Federal level. There is help for small businesses, freezing taxes, injecting funds into the health care system which has been starved for years and much more. People my age all remember the horrible first and second world wars. Humankind has never seen such a devastating horror, and tens of millions died. The suffering was too horrible for today’s people to believe possible. The last who have seen it are quickly now joining their friends “who gave up their lives.” Out of the ashes of those horrible wars dawned a new world. Women received equality, non-white folks had a road for success and a new middle class was born. Countries were built up enhanced by new science, technology, and billions of people were educated. Monarchies all but disappeared and religious institutions declined. The Alberta premier gathered a group of business leaders, and a token union person, to be an Economic Recovery Council and get us back on our feet after the worst has passed. They will be inclined to save corporations and banks, but will have to keep the labour force and consumers alive. We are facing a tiny invisible alien human killer that multiplies fast. Until we discover a way to combat it, we will have to keep going with the existing economy impossible to sustain. We will use money for reasons other than hoarding riches away from the taxman. Now will be the time in which people will realize that the theory of austerity is faulty. The money that governments are injecting into the lower end of the economy, where it is immediately used, will create a robust economy and save us from the predicted recession. Soon the governments will begin to issue that money in exchange for public infrastructure, free education, and other socially beneficial projects. People took part in some experiments of guaranteed income in parts of the world. Unexpectedly, the results showed that folks found ways to be useful and productive. The money created jobs and started small businesses. Yes, this is a message of hope. From my isolated vantage point, I see God collecting all the cards from the table, shuffling the deck and redistributing it. I see humankind realizing that it doesn’t take much to cause devastating panic and by acting irrationally upset the apple cart. I see society doing exactly what it did after the great wars; rebuilding the social safety nets, investing in essential services, and building badly needed projects. By the time our bodies adjust to the new virus, some of us will be gone but the rest may be ahead. Some of the old corporations will diminish and there will be a new appreciation for the workers who keep society going. The Wall-Street and other Markets who produce nothing but wealth for a few will reconfigure to be more useful for most people. Trudeau stated that we trust in science. I trust in God, and science is a part of it. After churches will be closed for a while, people may discover the truth as stated in John 4, 22. The brave new world after COVID 19 may be all different and we will be around to see it. Here is a link to my blog: https://thesimpleravenspost.blogspot.ca/ Feel free to check other articles and comment.