Southern Alberta Council on Public Affairs (SACPA)

Informações:

Synopsis

Southern Alberta Council on Public Affairs (SACPA) was founded in 1968. It is an independent forum, moderated by volunteers, meeting Thursdays at noon some 40 weeks a year and at occasional special evening sessions, to debate local, provincial, national, and international issues of concern to the residents of Lethbridge and Southern Alberta.

Episodes

  • What is the difference between donating Blood and Plasma? With Brenna Scott Business Development Manager at Lethbridge’s Canadian Blood Services Plasma Centre

    29/09/2023 Duration: 54min

    While many have heard of donating blood, donating plasma is still a relatively next concept. Some people still believe that donating blood and plasma are one and the same, and while both have you sitting in a chair hooked up to a machine, they are different processes with different purposes. When people think of blood donation, they are typically thinking of whole blood donation. Whole blood donations include all four blood components–red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets, and plasma and are used to treat blood loss, typically due to injury or surgery. In contrast, when donating plasma, the straw-colored part of your blood, only that one part is collected with the other three parts of your blood returned to the donor. Plasma is used to create different therapies to help replace missing, deficient, or malfunctioning proteins in individuals with serious, often life-threatening diseases, such as hemophilia and primary immunodeficiency. The speaker will explain further and make clear that right now, there

  • Should Bison be restored to Eastern slope public Wildlands? with Mike Judd

    22/09/2023 Duration: 53min

    For more than 130,000 years, bison roamed the ecosystems of western Canada and US and while doing so, influenced the lives of Indigenous Peoples and every other species they shared space and time with, before they were hunted to near extinction in the late 1800s. The speaker will talk about his journey to the Bob Creek Wildlands in Alberta’s foothills and finding evidence of past bison existence there, which led a group of hikers to start investigating the possibility of returning bison to this part of the Eastern slopes. Reintroducing bison populations to some areas of their former range can arguably help re-establish relationships to that land and other species while improving ecological diversity. Speaker: Mike Judd Mike was born and raised on the East slope of the Alberta Rockies in the Foothills west of Pincher Creek. His education includes book learning and accompanying old Mountain men on their travels. For much of his life, Mike has been a guide and outfitter involved in hunting, trail riding along th

  • Whacky Alberta History

    15/09/2023 Duration: 58min

    Alberta has a lot of history, but no one has pulled it together. Some say we struggled against an unfriendly land, others say we struggled against eccentric governments, and others against an always evil East. Some say we are just misplaced Americans? But are these just old comfortable sawhorses. What are the alternatives? The speaker will offer one. Speaker: Frits Pannekoek Frits Pannekoek has been Director of Historic Sites for Alberta, for 25 years and involved in over a dozen of Alberta’s heritage centers. Today he is Professor of History at Athabasca University. He has published widely on Alberta’s heritage and on Alberta’s Indigenous history. He was awarded an Honorary doctorate from the University of South Africa and an Alberta Order of Excellence for his work in heritage preservation and online learning.

  • Parkrun – A Global Fitness and Well Being Phenomenon

    08/09/2023 Duration: 51min

    Back in 2004, in a London, England Park, a global fitness and well-being activity, named Parkrun, was born. Parkrun is a network of free and computer timed 5-kilometer runs and walks held every Saturday morning at 9am local time at over 2200 locations in 26 countries around the world. There are over 5 million Parkrunners registered worldwide. Parkruns are community-based events that encourage physical fitness, health and wellness, and socialization for people of all ages and abilities. Parkrun’s mission statement is to help create a “healthier and happier planet’’! The Henderson Lake Parkrun in Lethbridge is one of 43 Parkruns in Canada. It provides Lethbridge residents and tourists, an opportunity to participate as a runner, walker or volunteer in a free, outdoor activity on a weekly basis. The speaker will describe the many benefits of Parkrun participation, and will review the history of Parkrun and the process for participating in the weekly event. Speaker: Jim Carter Jim Carter is the Event Director for

  • Will Danielle Smith Heed the Election Message Urban Voters in Alberta Sent Her? With speaker Dr. Duane Bratt

    13/07/2023 Duration: 01h08min

    The 2023 Alberta provincial election is history and the UCP won a majority government. However, their majority was reduced from 63-24 to 49-38, which included several cabinet ministers losing their seat. As expected, the UCP almost swept the rural vote where they have 37 out of 41 seats. The NDP dominated Edmonton and made strong inroads in Calgary to the point where a few thousand total votes in six ridings could have changed who formed government. As a result of the election, Danielle Smith’s UCP is likely to have more rural representation in cabinet than it did in the 2019-2023 term. The speaker will analyze the key elements and results of Alberta’s 2023 provincial election as well as give his thoughts on what another four years of UCP rule means for Albertans. Speaker: Dr. Duane Bratt Duane Bratt is a political science Professor in the Department of Economics, Justice, and Policy Studies at Mount Royal University (Calgary, Alberta). He teaches in the area of international relations and Canadian public pol

  • The Bail Conundrum, with speakers Ingrid Hess and James Rouleau

    06/07/2023 Duration: 01h10min

    Our talk is meant to help people understand the Canadian Bail System better and to explain the newest changes to the system that the government is proposing. We also hope to provoke a discussion as to whether, when we tinker with these systems, we are really achieving the intended goals. Will the public really be safer? Are the proposed changes going to make a real difference in terms of public safety? Will there be other ramifications that might be unfortunate from a public policy perspective? Speaker: Ingrid Hess and James Rouleau Moderator: Violet Meekma Ingrid Hess is a Lethbridge lawyer. She grew up on a farm in the Sunnyside area, between Lethbridge and Coaldale. She is a first generation Canadian born to a mother from the Netherlands and a father from Germany. She left the area at 19 to study at UBC and later to go on adventures around the world, living in Germany, Japan, Toronto and Montreal during her twenties. Ingrid came home to Canada to study law at the University of Calgary with the dream of doi

  • What are the likely impacts of Lethbridge & District Exhibition’s new $75 million Agri-Food Hub & Trade Centre on our local economy? With Mike Warkentin

    22/06/2023 Duration: 56min

    Lethbridge & District Exhibition is a pillar in the Lethbridge community. As a not-for-profit corporation founded in 1897, it operates and maintains seventy-two acres of land on the east bank of Henderson Lake and exists to ensure that the people of Lethbridge and district have a community gathering place now and in the future at which to participate in events, conduct business, learn, and be entertained. The new 268,000 square foot Agri-food Hub & Trade Centre, one of the largest development projects in the history of Lethbridge, will serve as an economic driver of growth for Alberta’s agriculture, tourism and agri-food sectors. Once completed this Spring, the Agri-food Hub & Trade Centre is expected to contribute more than $90 million annually to the regional economy. Southern Alberta is uniquely situated in Canada’s agriculture community, with an abundance of producers, processors, commercial enterprises, and researchers in the region, which makes Lethbridge an ideal agri-tourism destination. T

  • In addressing Lethbridge’s Homelessness and Addiction crises, what role does the SAGE Clan Patrol play? With Mark Brave Rock

    16/06/2023 Duration: 01h01min

    Secure, Assist, Guard and Engage (SAGE) Clan is a grassroots organization that specializes in engaging those who need it the most in our community. Founded by community member Mark Brave Rock, the SAGE Clan is based upon the successful community patrol based in Winnipeg, the BEAR Clan.  SAGE Clan patrols nightly on Mondays at 7 pm, and Wednesdays and Thursdays at 9 pm to provide snacks, lunches, water and most importantly, someone to talk to. SAGE participates in various community events and has helped addicts get help and find treatment, as well as, helping family members find their loved ones on the streets. SAGE is not a police force, nor are they addiction experts, but they seek to provide a sense of community and support to those in need.  Many of the patrollers have good relationships with the community members that are on the streets and suffering from addiction. SAGE Clan patrols year-round and is an essential part of the bigger fight against both homelessness and addiction. The speakers will illustra

  • Vaccines, Evolution, Trust and Progress. Speaker Bryson Brown

    10/06/2023 Duration: 01h03min

    Histories of vaccination often begin in the late 18th century, with Dr. Edward Jenner and a milkmaid.  But there was an earlier practice (variolation) in which samples of smallpox from (what were believed to be) less deadly outbreaks were used to protect patients against more severe versions of the disease.  It involved either scratching material from smallpox ‘pustules’ onto the skin or inhaling it.  The speaker will talk about the history of vaccination, the history of resistance to vaccination and the emergence of biological/ biochemical knowledge that has built powerful new tools for building vaccines.  Dr. Brown is particularly interested in the ebb and flow of vaccine mandates and quarantine laws often strengthened during outbreaks only to be overturned when the danger of the disease seems to have passed—and argues this history reveals a lot about human psychology, and especially the power of fear and the limits of rationality and trust. Speaker: Bryson Brown (Martin) Bryson Brown began life as a rollin

  • “The Dirty Old Indian” MY CANADIAN HERO with Tom Sindlinger

    02/06/2023 Duration: 55min

    A tribute to a World War I Warrior. The presentation will provide an example of racism that was wrong then and continues to be wrong today …… high and unequivocal praise for Mike Mountain Horse, an inspiring and courageous Warrior who was buried for four days and wounded three times in World War I. After his service, he was elected a minor chief of his tribal Nation and elected a president of a Lethbridge railway union. Speaker: Tom Sindlinger Moderator: Bob Campbell Tom Sindlinger spent twenty-three years with his sociological grandfather Mike Mountain Horse, and his biological grandmother Mary Mountain Horse, in the displaced persons’ neighborhood of Lethbridge, to teepees just inside the Calgary Stampede main gate, to the Sun Dance at Belly Flats. He served as a Select Committee Member of the Alberta Heritage Savings Trust Fund and was the only Member of the Alberta Legislative Assembly to vocally support the patriation of the Canadian Constitution and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. He is an Internati

  • The City of Lethbridge Spring 2023 Update. Speaker Mayor Hyggen

    27/05/2023 Duration: 01h02min

    In January 2023, I presented the State of The City at the Chamber of Commerce breakfast. At the upcoming SACPA meeting I would like to provide you updates on many of the key topics we identified. There have been great strides forward in some areas, work to be done in others. Topics highlighted will range from homelessness to green bins. We will touch on issues like community safety, the electoral system, third bridge, physician recruitment, taxes, addictions, the intergovernmental health table and much more. Speaker: Mayor Blaine Hyggen Moderator: Violet Meekma Blaine Hyggen was first elected to City Council in 2013 and was elected Mayor in 2021. He has owned and operated various businesses throughout the community for the past 28 years. He studied Business Law and Accounting at Lethbridge Community College. Some of Blaine’s past and current volunteer experience includes: School Councils, Lethbridge Figure Skating Club, Lethbridge Volleyball Association, Lethbridge Oldtimers Sports Association and The Lethbri

  • Where will Progressive Conservative Albertans find Refuge? With Drs. Yale Belanger and Richard Mueller

    19/05/2023 Duration: 58min

    Following the 2019 provincial election win by the United Conservative Party (UCP), leader Jason Kenney, became Premier of Alberta. Since then, the province has arguably been in some kind of crisis mode ranging from financial woes to COVID 19 controversy (“Best Summer Ever”) to fights with doctors, nurses and Ottawa to name a few. Adding fuel to the fire, Alberta went through a leadership change in October 2022, when Danielle Smith won the race to replace Kenney as Premier. Alberta is now on the verge of yet another very important election featuring an even more to the right-populist UCP led by Premier Danielle Smith, versus Rachel Notley’s New Democratic Party (NDP). The speakers will relate to the book they helped write, Anger and Angst: Jason Kenney’s Legacy and Alberta’s Right, which examines the chaos of the current UCP Alberta government leading up to the likely May 29, 2023 election date. This talk should leave the audience with a better understanding of current politics, ideology, and the “Take Back Al

  • Medical Assistance In Dying (MAID) - Track 2: A Daughter’s Perspective with Tania Stilson

    11/05/2023 Duration: 57min

    In February 2015, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in Carter v. Canada that parts of the Criminal Code would need to change to satisfy the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The parts that prohibited medical assistance in dying would no longer be valid. The Supreme Court gave the government until June 6, 2016, to create a new law. In June 2016, the Parliament of Canada passed federal legislation, known as Bill C-14, that allows eligible Canadian adults to request medical assistance in dying. On March 17, 2021, changes to Canada’s MAiD law came into force with Bill C-7. The new law responds to feedback from over 300,000 Canadians, experts, practitioners, stakeholders, indigenous groups and provinces and territories. These changes to the criminal code now allow MAID for eligible persons who wish to pursue a medically assisted death whether their natural death is foreseeable or not. It also introduced a new two-track approach to procedural safeguards based on whether or not a person’s natural death is rea

  • The Blackfoot Perspective of the 153-year-old Battle of the Belly River. with speakers Camina Weasel Moccasin and Kris Hodgson-Bright

    30/04/2023 Duration: 55min

    The Galt Museum & Archives | Akaisamitohkanao’pa, in partnership with Lethbridge College, Reconciliation Lethbridge, Lethbridge Historical Society and the City of Lethbridge Indigenous Relations Office, are embarking on a project that will focus on and highlight Niitsitapi knowledge and perspectives of the event. We believe this project will continue efforts toward reconciliation and relationship building by informing residents of the impact the battle had on the development of the Lethbridge. In order to focus on the Niitsitapi voices that have been ignored in the past, the Galt has engaged with Elders and Knowledge Keepers from the Blackfoot communities about this specific event. Speaker: Camina Weasel Moccasin and Kris Hodgson-Bright Moderator: Marni Hope Camina Weasel Moccasin is a member of the Kainai nation and part of the Many Children clan. She is currently one of the curators at the Galt Museum and Archives | Akaisamitohkanao’pa and has been in her role for the past year. In addition to her museu

  • Who is Minding Alberta’s Fish and Wildlife? With speaker Lorne Fitch

    24/04/2023 Duration: 56min

    Concerns have been raised about the fragmentation of the management of Alberta’s fish and wildlife resources to separate departments and non-government agencies. Questions will be raised on how effective fish and wildlife management and conservation will happen, in such a fractured way. Risks to an important resource, a provincial treasure, will be explored. What is happening, how might these changes influence a public resource like fish and wildlife, and why should you care? Speaker: Lorne Fitch, P. Biol. Moderator: Mark Goettel Lorne has been a biologist for over 50 years and is a certified professional biologist, a retired provincial Fish and Wildlife biologist, was one of the co-founders of the stewardship initiative Cows and Fish, and a former Adjunct Professor with the University of Calgary. Lethbridge is home, where he pens articles and essays on issues related to Alberta’s landscape and critters. This includes a recent book, Streams of Consequence- Dispatches from the Conservation World.

  • Can Social Prescribing help improve our health and well-being challenges? With Heather Bursaw and Rob Miyashiro

    20/04/2023 Duration: 01h01min

    Social prescribing is a means for health-care providers to connect patients to a range of non-clinical services in the community, in order to improve their health and well-being. As opposed to simply treating symptoms, social prescribing may help to address the underlying causes of patients’ health and well-being challenges. Ideally, social prescribing is a more holistic approach to health care, which promotes community-based integrated care, and helps to de-medicalize health service provision. Seniors Community Services Partnership (SCSP) is a partnership between four local service organizations that support seniors 60+ to navigate health care and social resources, access financial benefits and housing, and provide emotional support for those with various psychosocial needs. The needs of older adults are assessed by an intake worker, who then assigns individuals to a Senior System Navigator (SSN) who builds a trust-based relationship and creates a collaborative service plan targeting improved outcomes inclus

  • Climate, Energy, Sustainability. Where are we? Where do we go? With speaker James Byrne

    02/04/2023 Duration: 01h01min

    Most of the global population recognizes we are in an accelerating transition to sustainable societies and environments. But what will that look like? Will life be more challenging; more comfortable; perhaps a combination? Dr. Byrne will discuss the society of the future. What do we have to do with energy and sustainability to achieve reasonably stable regional and global environments. Speaker: James Byrne James Byrne is Professor Emeritus, University of Lethbridge. He continues an active research program in climate, change solutions, renewable energy, transitions, and society scale sustainability.

  • Challenges of First Nation Policing with speakers Grant Buckskin and Rayan Najjar

    24/03/2023 Duration: 01h01min

    An on-reserve police service presents with many challenges, including funding, staffing, and retention. The First Nation members themselves face particular challenges as well as non-challenges. Non-First Nation officers have their own unique challenges, as well as the “culture shock” that accompanies policing a First Nation area. Our presenters will touch on all of these issues based on their own policing experience. Speakers: Police Chief Grant Buckskin and Inspector Rayan Najjar Grant Buckskin is Interim Chief of Police with the Blood Tribe Police Service, a position he has held since September, 2022. He is a member of the Blood Tribe and started his career with the Police Service in 1990. After 7 1/2 years, he left to serve with other police services in Central and Northern Alberta as well as Manitoba, before returning to the Blood Reserve in 2007 where he has since remained. Over the course of this extensive policing career, Chief Buckskin has served in many positions in the Community Policing Division an

  • Are Albertans ready to move on from Governance by the NDP and UCP? With speaker Barry Morishita

    20/03/2023 Duration: 01h01min

    A NDP majority was elected in 2015, and then in 2019 enough people voted for the UCP to give them a majority. Elections in different jurisdictions have shown that after each opposite direction election, many voters are left hanging with no home. Recent polls have shown that the UCP is having a hard time keeping voters, but not all are ready to vote NDP, so where do they go? The speaker will contend that at some point, Albertans may become tired of the instability of this back-and-forth undoing what the previous government did, only to have that repeat in the following election. The Alberta Party arguably occupies the center of Alberta politics, which is not far from the sentiment of most Albertans. Speaker: Barry Morishita, leader of the Alberta Party A long serving councilor and Mayor in the City of Brooks, Barry Morishita is well known in municipal government across the province having spent 7 years on the Board and Executive of the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association becoming the association’s longest

  • What changes have been made since the Blood Tribe took over the Lethbridge Shelter? with Taatsiikiipoyii, Charlie Weaselhead Jr.

    10/03/2023 Duration: 01h02min

    The City of Lethbridge and Blood Tribe Department of Health (BTDH) signed a Shelter lease agreement starting Jan 1, 2023 at the location of the former Lethbridge Shelter and Stabilization Centre on 2 Avenue North. The speaker will give some background info on how this agreement came to be, followed by an account of the current Shelter situation and the overall continuum of care plan and vision by BTDH on the issue of opioid addiction and recovery. Speaker: Taatsiikiipoyii, Charles (Charlie) Weaselhead Jr. Charles Weaselhead, former Blood Tribe Chief and Treaty 7 Grand Chief, was born on the Blood Indian Reserve in 1949. Since the early 1980’s, Charles Weaselhead has worked hard to advance many health initiatives to improve the health care outcomes for the People, as Director of the treatment Centre Napi Lodge and Poundmaker’s Lodge; Director of the Blood Indian Hospital in the early 90’s; and as Chief Executive Officer for the Blood Tribe Department of Health Inc., a post he held until his successful election

page 2 from 50