Southern Alberta Council on Public Affairs (SACPA)

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.

After 106 years, how do diversification and self-sufficiency keep the Wilson Hutterite Colony viable? With Paul Wurz

The Wilson Hutterite Colony has been in existence in its present location since 1918 when the original settlers arrived from North Dakota. Originally they came from Europe where people in parts of Austria speak a language similar to theirs even now. Today there are 128 people residing on the colony, located south of Coaldale.

The successful farming operation includes livestock and poultry production as well as beautifully crafted goods for colony use sold both locally and even internationally. Some of their products include broiler chickens, fertile eggs and dairy milk. They manufacture custom made western saddles, saddle pads, chaps, gloves, handmade shoes and boots for men as well as furniture, kitchen cabinets, grandfather clocks. From the wool of their Merino sheep they made in-soles.

Our presenters will discuss life on the Colony as well as the farming operation and variety of agricultural-based industries. This presentation will be a panel format and out of respect for our speakers, please do not take photos at this session.

Speaker: Paul Wurz

Paul Wurz has been financial and supervising manager of the Wilson Hutterite Colony for 8 years. He was born in the colony and held the positions of carpenter and shepherd before becoming manager. He and his wife have seven children, six girls and a boy.

What are the Dangers of Slogans and Populism? With James Moore

logans and populism cliches can become dangerously powerful when not critically examined. Does their persistence, despite lack of merit, speak to their utility for some dominant power? Two examples are: ” There is no such thing as society.” and “The government has no money of its own.”

The speaker will explore these examples on their own lack of merit, while touching more broadly on human responsibility for our world today and tomorrow.

Speaker: James Moore

James Moore has been an instructor in Justice Studies at Lethbridge College, a Registered Canadian Immigration Consultant, and a contributing writer to the Manitoba Keewaitinowi Okimakanak . He is a self-motivated philosopher with interest in the possibilities of positive social change.

What Does It Mean to Be Charitable When We Argue? With Dr. Katharina Stevens

The argumentative exchange of reasons is often seen as the most equality-affirming, respectful way in which parties can engage with each other’s minds. But for argumentation to fulfill this promise, we often have to invest extra effort.

One of the places where such extra effort may be required is when we try to understand the reasons that the person we are arguing with is trying to communicate to us. This can be difficult, especially when they are not very good speakers, or when we strongly disagree with their worldview. To capture this, we often say that arguing requires us to interpret the other charitably. But what does that mean? And is charity always helpful, or can it even be harmful to the person we are trying to understand? In this talk, we will explore all the ways that charity can go wrong … and what is required for it to go right.

Speaker: Dr. Katharina Stevens

Katharina Stevens has worked in the Ethics of Argument for seven years. She is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Lethbridge, where she holds a Board of Governors Research Chair on the Ethics of Argumentation. She is also a co-editor of the Argumentation journal Informal Logic. She is developing a non-ideal role-ethics for argumentation and a textbook on ethical arguing and has published in virtues of argumentation and the role of adversariality in argument.