Southern Alberta Council on Public Affairs (SACPA)

Growing a City presents Challenges and Opportunities - How is Lethbridge Managing? with Mayor Hyggen

Recently, Mayor Hyggen presented his annual State of the City address for the Lethbridge Chamber of Commerce and he highlighted our rapid population growth and the challenges and opportunities. What are our current needs? What do we foresee in the near future and beyond? How do we pay for it? Who should pay for it? The speaker will talk about the issues, costs, priorities and realities.

Speaker: Blaine Hyggen, Mayor of Lethbridge

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 Lethbridge Hurricanes Hockey Club, to name a few.

Blaine’s family is his number one priority. His wife Jennifer is a Registered Nurse and they have two daughters: Jayden and Jelayna. Blaine enjoys attending local theatre and staying active by running, biking and playing hockey.

As a proud parent and successful business owner, Blaine loves Lethbridge and wants to see it remain the best city for families while ensuring it is a great place to do business.

The disappearing Alberta Advantage – what can be done to reverse Alberta’s collapsing standard of living? With Gil McGowan

Overwhelmed hospitals. Overcrowded schools. Threats from Donald Trump. Coal mines that could contaminate our water supply. If all that wasn’t enough for Albertans to worry about, Alberta wages and living standards are also falling. Alberta Federation of Labour president Gil McGowan will explain what’s behind the disappearance of the Alberta Advantage – and what we can do about it.

Speaker: Gil McGowan

Gil McGowan is a passionate labour leader, advocate for workers’ rights, and dedicated champion of social and economic justice. Since 2005, he has served as the president of the Alberta Federation of Labour (AFL), Alberta’s largest labor organization, representing more than 175,000 unionized workers from diverse industries across the province.

Under McGowan’s leadership, the AFL has been a powerful voice for workers, spearheading campaigns to improve workplace safety, secure fair wages, and protect public services. His leadership has been pivotal during times of economic and political change in Alberta, particularly in advocating for workers affected by the province’s shifting energy and economic landscapes.

With decades of experience in labor activism, McGowan continues to inspire and lead efforts to build a more equitable and inclusive Alberta, ensuring that workers have a strong voice in shaping the province’s future.

What are the Roles and Rules of Community Television? With Ryan Cradduck

Community television programming is considered an important source for information and provides a reflection of local realities that few other television services currently showcase. All programming on Rogers TV must be “Community Programming”, which is defined by CRTC regulations as programming that refers directly to the community, which could be defined as the station’s contours, broadcasting distribution undertakings service area, municipality, census metropolitan area or census agglomeration; and is produced by the personnel of the local station, independent local producers or members of the community for the local station.

The CRTC oversees broadcasters and television service providers and has determined that the role of the community channel should be primarily of a public service nature, facilitating self-expression through free and open access by members of the community. The speaker will delve into more of the details, but among other policy goals, the Community Television Policy states that the community channel should engender a high level of citizen participation and community involvement in community programming and provide a reasonable, balanced opportunity for the expression of differing views on matters of public concern.

Speaker: Ryan Cradduck

Ryan is an experienced producer with a demonstrated history of working in the telecommunications and retail industries. Skilled in Management, Customer Service, Voiceovers, Creativity Skills, and Knowledge Sharing. Strong arts and design professional with a Diploma focused in Broadcast Journalism from Lethbridge College.

How can we make a difference in our community with evidence-based public safety projects? With Dr. Kirsten Fantazir

Lethbridge Polytechnics’s Centre for Public Safety Applied Research (CPSAR) has been embracing Klose’s (2024) re-definition of evidence-based policing approach that entails decision-making, “which integrates the best available evidence, professional judgement and community values, preferences and circumstances”. CPSAR currently supports over 14 different research projects, 15 researchers, 14 student researchers that involve meaningful collaborations with over 28 Canadian policing, public safety, academic, and community partners across five provinces. We hope to share the benefits and potential of using “research-informed, practitioner-centred, and community-oriented” (Klose, 2024) evidence-based policing practices overall.

We will share the research questions, objectives, methods, and initial data collected and analyzed for a 3-year project based in Lethbridge, which is currently SSHRC/NSERC funded (Community Integration Through Art – Pissatsinaskssini), that has emerged from this redefinition of evidence-based approaches in public safety in Canada. Findings regarding policing, community, and academic partnerships will be shared including current trends, challenges, and opportunities shared by police services. These findings have served to inform current research projects, collaborations, and grant applications.

Key findings from our CITAP project, which aims to reduce recidivism and facilitate reconciliation, will be shared about our priority population, including their self-reported preferences and input from service providers on the social-recreational gatherings we are implementing. Practically, we aim to show how co-created, multi-disciplinary, research-informed applied research projects that reflect community values and circumstances can result in meaningful societal benefits.

Speakers: Dr. Kirsten Fantazir, President’s Applied Research Chair in Public Safety and Dr. Jami Albright-Tolman, Principle Investigator, Researcher and Faculty, Lethbridge Polytechnic

Dr. Kirsten Fantazir is an experienced instructor, curriculum developer, researcher, chair, graduate supervisor and mentor at Lethbridge Polytechnic. Kirsten is currently researching the re-integration of marginalized populations through art, technology-facilitated gender-based violence in youth, and authentically assessing police applicants through virtual reality. In 2022, she was named the first President’s Applied Research Chair in Public Safety. Kirsten has since led the Centre for Public Safety Applied Research (CPSAR) which is supported by faculty researchers and student research assistants who currently oversee numerous applied research projects with public safety, community, technology, and academic partners.

Dr. Albright-Tolman is an instructor and researcher at Lethbridge Polytechnic in Lethbridge, Alberta. Her research focuses on enhancing public safety by improving social determinants of health in marginalized populations. Currently, she is researching the re-integration of marginalized populations through art and addressing technology-facilitated gender-based violence in youth. She has also designed, implemented, and evaluated an online gambling harm reduction program for offenders called Hedge Your Bets.

Can Alberta rice fields be engineered to supply us with novel proteins? With Illimar Altosaar

Our human body comprises 20,000 different essential proteins, each made up of a unique sequence of amino acids, unique in length, composition and three-dimensional structure. If our genome, or epigenome, fails to nourish us with one or more of our own proteins, say insulin, to whom do we turn in order to acquire such essential biomedical proteins or biologics? If our industries require biocatalysts like food processing enzymes or biomaterial proteins such as silk, how easily could our Prairies produce such otherwise expensive and exclusive proteins?

Plant Protein farming is developing green sustainable technology to lower the production costs and simplify purification processes to enable cereals like barley and rice to supply recombinant proteins on a global scale. Dry Phission technology tethers or “paints” specific proteins onto the surface of starch granules in seeds. From harvested grain the starch granules are isolated by milling and air-classification allowing for dry gas liberation and collection of the pharmed protein.

Speaker: Illimar Altosaar

Illimar is Founder and CEO of Proteins Easy Corp. He has been working with cereal genetic engineering and plant proteins at Macdonald College, the Quebec Provincial Seed Farm, the Central Experimental Farm in Ottawa and the Plant Breeding Institute in Cambridge. He has been innovating the molecular expression mechanisms and functional properties of proteins in genome-engineered plants. His diverse experience in genomics and biotechnology led him to envision PEC’s protein purification technology using dry flour streaming and dry fractionation.

Illimar was first to integrate a useful agronomic gene into the genome of the world’s number one cereal crop, rice. A strong believer in the potential of molecular farming, he is revolutionizing the production of commercial proteins. Current knowledge of genomics and protein production in rice is developing genome-engineered rice lines with high yields of Synthetic Spider Dragline Silk for athleisure textile applications.

Why the change from Lethbridge College to Lethbridge Polytechnic? With Dr. Brad Donaldson

What is the difference between a college and a polytechnic and how long has this change been in the works? How much will this change cost and will it change the funding the institution receives from the Government of Alberta?

Other changes at Lethbridge Polytechnic will be addressed by the speaker - among them, what does it mean for applied research and will programs be modified from present teaching methods? For example, will more programs be compatible - and or transferable with the University of Lethbridge?

Lethbridge Polytechnic is about to release its new Strategic Framework – The Road Ahead – which will also be discussed

Speaker: Dr. Brad Donaldson

Dr. Brad Donaldson was named Lethbridge Polytechnic’s ninth president and chief executive officer (CEO) in August 2022. With more than 19 years of senior leadership experience in Alberta’s post-secondary system, he specializes in shaping organizational strategies, fostering learning cultures and driving innovation through systems thinking. His work is supported by ongoing research in these areas, keeping him at the forefront of educational leadership.

Donaldson’s career in post-secondary began at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT) where he served as dean of the School of Manufacturing and Automation before moving to Red Deer Polytechnic, where he spent four years as vice-president – academic. He then returned to SAIT as vice-president – academic, a role he held for six years before joining Lethbridge Polytechnic. He has served on numerous academic and business committees and boards provincially, nationally and internationally. Donaldson is a current member of the Saskatchewan Higher Education Quality Assurance Board and has held positions with the Senior Academic Officers and Provosts Committee in Alberta, Alberta Association in Higher Education for Information Technology Committee, and the Chair Academy, a leadership development organization.

Prior to moving to academic leadership, Donaldson spent more than 20 years working in engineering and in senior leadership roles in the global manufacturing sector, enabling organizational transformation and responsiveness. His focus was on meeting the needs of those served through effective systems and engaged and enabled workforces.

Donaldson holds a Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership from the University of Calgary, a Master of Engineering focusing on workplace design, and a Bachelor of Applied Science in Chemical Engineering, both from the University of Toronto. At Lethbridge Polytechnic, Donaldson looks to continue developing the institution’s many strengths in student success and community support, enabling the polytechnic’s ongoing contribution to future prosperity.

Deciphering the Entrails of the 2024 US Presidential Election with speaker Dr. Trevor Harrison

This talk will focus on who voted and why. It will dispel several interpretations of the outcome. It concludes that the election is best seen as a reflection of a crisis facing the American political and party systems.

Speaker: Trevor Harrison

Trevor W. Harrison is a retired professor of Sociology at the University of Lethbridge. He was formerly Director of Parkland Institute (2011-2021) and a member of both the Canadian political science and sociology associations. He is best known for his studies in political sociology, political economy, and public policy. He is the author, co-author, or co-editor of twelve books, including the recently published Tales This Side of the Elysian Fields. He is a frequent and well-known contributor to public media, including radio and television.

How can we get Public Education back on track? With speakers Kevin McBeath, Danielle Gareau and Derek Resler

Nothing is more important to Albertans than our kids, but too many are struggling. Teachers and parents both know our schools don’t have the support kids need. Alberta’s per-student spending on education is the lowest in the country. Teachers are leaving the profession, kids are falling behind, and parents are worried. We can make things better, by investing in smaller classes, more support in classrooms, and manageable workloads to be able to recruit, retain, and respect professionals in public education.

Speakers: Kevin McBeath, Danielle Gareau and Derek Resler.

Kevin started teaching social studies at Winston Churchill High School in 2003, and has never stopped. Outside of the classroom he coaches basketball, coordinates the Interact Club at WCHS, and serves as the Political Engagement Officer for ATA Local 41. When he’s not working, Kevin spends his time with his wife and four children.

Danielle is a teacher at Lethbridge Collegiate Institute (LCI), where she teaches French immersion social studies, science, and legal studies. After graduating from Simon Fraser University, she began her teaching career in British Columbia before settling in Lethbridge seven years ago with her husband and children. In addition to her teaching role, Danielle runs the D&D club at LCI and serves as the Lethbridge ATA Local treasurer, where she also contributes to the political engagement, communications, and teacher welfare committees.

Derek has been a teacher in the Lethbridge School Division for 25 years, teaching in several schools as both a classroom teacher and learning support teacher, and is currently teaching Shop at Wilson Middle School. As well, Derek has been the President of the ATA Local 41, Lethbridge Public Schools, for the past 10 years.

Downtown fire safety and what is everyone's role in fire prevention? With Chief Fire Marshal Troy Hicks

There has been a recent spike in downtown fires. The speaker will discuss why fire prevention is essential, how we can minimize fire risks and hazards, and the importance of regular checks and maintenance.

Speaker: Troy Hicks, Chief Fire Marshal, Lethbridge Fire & Emergency Services

Mr Hicks has been with the Lethbridge Fire and Emergency Services Fire Prevention Bureau for 13 years and has been the Chief Fire Marshal since Feb of 2024. Originally from N.B. he has been in the fire service for 21 years, military fire fighter for 8 years, and with Lethbridge for 13. He is married with a 24-year-old son.

How important is independent mobility for children? With Dr. Richard Larouche

Parents today likely won’t be surprised to know their children have far less freedom to travel in their neighbourhoods than they did. But what they might not know is how that could affect their children’s physical activity and mental health.

Most children and adolescents worldwide are not active enough to obtain optimal benefits for health and development. Among the many factors associated with physical activity, children’s independent mobility (CIM), which is their freedom to roam and explore their neighbourhood without adult supervision, is gaining increasing attention. CIM has declined over the past 50 years in many countries at the same time as mental health problems such as anxiety, depression and suicide among children and adolescents increased.

In his previous research, the speaker found that children with greater CIM are more active. More recently, he explored how CIM related to parent-perceived child distress during the COVID-19 pandemic. When CIM was assessed as how far children could travel without adult supervision (home range), he observed that children with the highest home range had 39 per cent lower odds of having elevated distress. This is a notable difference given that just over half of the children met the threshold for elevated distress at the beginning of the study (December 2020).

The results suggest that supporting CIM may be a no-cost, equitable approach to promote physical activity and support child development and mental health. The speaker also investigated the factors associated with CIM at the beginning of the study and these results support the old adage that “it takes a village to raise a child”…

Speaker: Dr. Richard Larouche

Dr. Richard Larouche is an Associate Professor of Public Health at the U of L where he serves as the director of the Physical Activity, Transport & Health (PATH) Research Group. Dr. Larouche is committed to assisting students develop understanding of key concepts and issues in population health, health promotion and research methods. He encourages his students to develop an ethos of evidence-based practice and a desire to engage in knowledge translation activities to bridge the gap between research and practice.

In 2020, Dr. Larouche was nominated as Board of Governors Research Chair in Children’s Physical Activity. His research is focused on physical activity from a population health perspective, with a particular interest in active transportation, independent mobility, and outdoor play. He has published his first book, Children’s Active Transportation, in 2018 and has contributed to the development of the Position Statement on Active Outdoor Play – a document which has inspired many to encourage children to be active outdoors. He is currently leading an international study focusing on physical activity among children and adolescents.