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Crowsnest Pass
Herald
Vol. 94 No. 42
November 6, 2024 $1.25
Serving our communities since 1930
Pumpkins in the Park
John Kinnear photos
Hundreds of people enjoyed a festive evening at the Coleman Community Society’s annual Pumpkins in the Park on November 1, walking the Miners’ Path illuminated by donated, intricately carved pumpkins. Hot chocolate and coffee awaited guests in the shelter, adding warmth to the popular community event. More photos on page 12.
14 - CROWSNEST PASS HERALD - Wednesday, November 6, 2024
That’s a wrap at Horace Allen LISA SYGUTEK Pass Herald Editor The Horace Allen School’s Garden Harvest Veggie Wrap Buffet on October 22, 2024, was a vibrant celebration of healthy eating and hands-on learning. Students from Early Learning and Kindergarten to grade 3 got to enjoy a colorful selection of vegetables, including peas, carrots, peppers, kohlrabi, and tomatoes grown in the school’s own garden, as well as some local produce. The Eco Club planted these vegetables in the spring, and the tomatoes were a unique addition— grown from seeds provided by the Tomatosphere project, with half having traveled to space on the International Space Station! The event featured 12 bowls of fresh vegetables for the students to mix and match in their lettuce wraps, along with rice noodles and shredded cheese for extra flavor and texture. The volunteer moms and grandmoms enjoyed seeing the students’ enthusiasm as they tried new veggies. It was a delightful harvest celebration, showing how different-colored vegetables contribute to a healthy body and fostering excitement around fresh, local food!
Lesley Margetak photo
Students savor fresh, colorful veggies from the Horace Allen School garden at the Garden Harvest Veggie Wrap Buffet, October 22, 2024.
More Letters to the Editor Dark times, troubled water and two surviving trout DAVID MCINTYRE Crowsnest Pass When a 2023 midsummer surge of mud and water transformed Rock Creek into a brown, muddy mess, I, living on the stream’s cascading outer edge, was one of the first people to witness the disturbing event. Days passed before I learned of TC Energy’s ensuing “incident report” defining its role in the muddy outcome of its over-the-Livingstone-Range pipeline construction. The pipeline, created through critical habitat for cutthroat trout in the headwaters of Rock Creek, trans-
Provincial update cont’d from page 11 In an opening statement to the press, Schow broached controversial topics around the increasing profile of transgender Albertans. The government plans to protect children from “potentially making life-altering and often irreversible adult decisions involving alteration of their biological sex,” he said. Legislation will “support students’ success and well-being in school by strengthening the ties between parents and their children’s education.” It will make sports fairer by ensuring that biologically born women and girls can compete in biological-female-only cate-
formed the creek into a mucky mess in August of 2023, and did this during a protracted regional drought. Recently, on October 29, 2024, following 14 months of futile, near-daily creekside searches for any surviving trout, I saw what I’d come to believe was impossible: two surviving trout. Rock Creek, a long year ago, was documented as one of Alberta’s relatively few streams still harbouring pure-strain westslope cutthroat trout. Whenever I’d take a break from yard work, I’d toss grasshoppers into the creek’s many pools and watch as the “hoppers” were consumed in swirls of competing trout. Several years ago, my wife and I welcomed fisheries biologists to the creek at our doorstep so they could conduct DNA sampling of the stream’s abundant and conspicuous trout. These recent pictures of cutthroat abundance no longer exist. But my recent discovery of two trout offers a glimmer of hope that cutthroats may rise to their former numbers. My wife made the initial discovery of the two trout, almost certainly the same two I saw later that same
day. My observations included a glimpse of one darting trout and an unforgettable face-to-face encounter with the second trout. I watched the trout with binoculars as it, facing me and the late day sun, finned slowly in clear shallow water. Sunlight showcased the trout’s black-spotted back, its richly spotted flanks, its pelvic fins, its dorsal fin, even its tiny adipose fin. That moment of discovery, showcased in living colour following a 14-month, labour intensive—no sign of any surviving trout—search, was euphoric … until the sudden gravity of “only two” hit me. Can the two trout survive predation and the coming winter? Is there sufficient invertebrate life in the stillmud-covered, oxygen-deprived stream bed to support trout? I don’t know the answers to these questions. The cutthroats’ future in Rock Creek and the creek’s potential to return to its former biological integrity remain unknown, but as the sun sets on autumn, two trout, each roughly 15 cm in length, offer hope for Alberta’s threatened cutthroats and their future in Rock Creek, a tributary of the Crowsnest River.
gories, he said. To make sure transgender athletes can also “meaningfully participate in sports,” the government will support the creation of divisions for more than one gender, Schow said. The government will continue to work with smaller municipalities in the creation of new legislation, the house leader said in response to a question about high-profile clashes with the Rural Municipalities of Alberta. The association representing 69 counties and municipal districts in Alberta, the RMA has criticized the government on issues like the regionalization of victim services and increased control of municipal decision-making. “It’s important for us to make sure that we can con-
tinue to work (with municipalities) in a seamless way, but also understanding that sometimes our interests don’t always align,” Schow said. “So when it comes to the RMA, they do good work on behalf of their members. And I personally interact with counties and municipalities all the time by constituency. But I know at a much higher level, (Minister of Municipal Affairs Ric) McIver is doing a tremendous job reaching out, consulting with the RMA and other municipalities, as they encounter challenges in our ever-evolving province.” Absorbing 200,000 new Albertans last year is putting pressure on rural and urban municipalities alike, Schow said. “I do applaud Mr. McIver. He’s done a great job consulting municipalities, to work with them and address their concerns.”
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Rural Albertans deserve clarity on policy planning GEORGE LEE The Macleod Gazette - LJI
Conflicting messages hide province’s policing plans from rural Albertans — NDP Albertans —“especially rural Albertans” — deserve clarity about the province’s policing plans after contradictory UCP statements, the NDP’s public safety and emergency services critic told the legislative assembly Oct. 28. David Shepherd said his ministerial counterpart and the premier are muddying up an issue that could have major funding implications and doesn’t reflect what the UCP campaigned on during the last election. Premier Danielle Smith has said Alberta municipalities will be able to choose between Alberta sheriffs and the RCMP, Shepherd said. Yet Minister Mike Ellis has said the existing sheriffs, buttressed by new legislation, “will not replace, undermine or destabilize the RCMP,” he added. “Can (the minister) clarify who got it wrong?” Ellis responded that the NDP’s position is clouded by an urban bias that doesn’t understand the crime and policing challenges rural Albertans face. He said that “this is how out of touch the members opposite are here with their urban privilege when it comes to safety within rural Alberta. We have said time and time again that the new independent police agency will augment and support the RCMP.” In the spring portion of the current session, the legislature passed the Public Safety Statutes Amendment Act, 2024. The legislation enables the government to create a new independent agency. The agency would place the police-like functions of the Alberta Sheriffs under the same kind of legislative framework and civilian oversight that exists for other police services, the province’s website says.
Wildfire season in Alberta: a look back GEORGE LEE The Macleod Gazette - LJI
UCP highlights strength and charity Albertans showed during wildfire season Albertans stepped up during a wildfire season that put provincial resources to the test but nonetheless decimated Jasper municipality, the legislature heard Oct. 28. The destruction of about a third of the townsite and about 32,000 hectares of the park that surrounds it broke hearts around the world, said Martin Long, the UCP member for West Yellowhead. “Seeing this destruction occur in Jasper, a place where families from across Alberta, Canada and the world have made cherished memories, was heart wrenching,” Long said. “In this challenging time we saw our province come together, united in support of Jasper.” Long, whose riding includes the Municipality of Jasper and the national park itself, continued: “Thanks to the tireless efforts of our brave first responders and the collective action of our communities, all residents were evacuated safely, and many are now able to return home as we focus on recovery and rebuilding. To consider,
Shepherd, the member for Edmonton-City Centre, said it doesn’t appear that the government can afford to create a new agency, given a shortage of spending on health care, education, workers, housing and more. “How much is all of this going to cost? Where is the money going to come from? Does (Ellis) intend to defund the RCMP, or is the premier’s mouth writing cheques his department can’t cash?” Responded Ellis, the member for Calgary-West: “I know it’s tough for the NDP to go outside of the bubble of Edmonton, but if you looked at the sheriff automobiles, they are police cars. If you see their uniforms, those are police uniforms. If you see the utility belts that they have, those are use-of-force weapons. “We have the infrastructure in place. It really is a matter of designation . . .Despite what the NDP wants, we are going to continue to support rural Albertans because they have rights as well.” The Court and Prisoner Service was renamed Alberta Sheriffs in the early 2000s, later expanding into the forerunner of today’s Sheriff Highway Patrol. Alberta Sheriffs are responsible for courthouse security and prisoner transport, traffic and commercial vehicle enforcement on provincial highways, and conservation law enforcement for Fish and Wildlife Services. They provide personal protection for senior provincial government officials, along with security at the legislature and other provincial facilities. Rural Albertans benefit through surveillance of criminal targets provided by the Sheriff Investigative Support Unit. SISU supports police agencies across Alberta, with a primary mandate to work with the RCMP. Surveillance got an extra boost in July when the province announced the creation of two eight-member teams, one for the north and the other for the south. Geared at preventing criminals from targeting farms and rural businesses, the teams activate at the request of local police. Also under the sheriff umbrella is a unit called Safer Communities and Neighbourhood. SCAN uses legal sanctions and court orders to hold owners responsible for illegal activities on their properties. And the Fugitive Apprehension Sheriffs Support Team, or FASST, helps other police services find and arrest wanted criminals. About 1,160 positions make up the Alberta Sheriffs, and about 1,000 of those are peace officers, said a statement over the summer break from Ellis’s ministry. The RCMP needs the support, Ellis said, because “on any given day” Alberta is 17 to 20 per cent short it’s authorized complement. Albertans beyond the bright lights have “a right to feel safe in this province,” Ellis said.
on that horrific night in July, the bravery, fortitude and selflessness of the first responders, is overwhelming.” He honoured “the incredible spirit of Albertans in the face of adversity.” The UCP’s Scott Sinclair said he’s seen first-hand Alberta’s response to wildfires in Slave Lake, particularly in 2011 when one damaged or destroyed about a third of his hometown. “While this last wildfire season has been challenging for Albertans, we’ve also witnessed Alberta’s remarkable resilience and community spirit,” said Sinclair, the member for Lesser Slave Lake. “In the face of tragedy the province united to support affected communities, with Albertans from all corners coming together to help displaced residents and to help combat the fires.” Todd Loewen, minister of forestry and parks, said Alberta was able to limit the total area burned in Alberta to about 700,000 hectares, down 1.5 million hectares from 2.2 million the year before. Through a $155 million boost in wildfire preparation, Alberta added frontline responders, air tankers, heavy equipment, and helicopters equipped with night-vision technology. At the season’s peak in July, Alberta had 1,900 personnel, over 150 helicopters and 23 air tankers ready to act, said Loewen, the member for Central Peace-Notley. Alberta also implemented a unified command approach with municipalities across the province, thanks to the Emergency Statutes Amendment Act passed earlier this year, he said. The UCP government put $14 million into a community fireguard program to help 21 communities with fire prevention. It paid a share of 75 FireSmart projects throughout the province worth $7.1 million, “and these are only some of the things we’re doing,” Loewen said. When it comes to wildfire fighting command in Alberta, published reports identify the Jasper wildfire — actually a complex of fires including two that converged on the municipality in late July — as an outlier. The province’s decision-making was limited because it wasn’t part of a unified command set up the federal government, the UCP has said.