Southern Alberta Council on Public Affairs (SACPA)

Farming Smarter can be a Catch-Phrase, but does Sustainable Food Production depend on it? With Ken Coles

Farming Smarter is a policy governed, non-profit organization with by-laws under the Alberta Societies Act. It is also a Canadian Charity registered under the Canada Revenue Agency. Their farming related projects and programs access funds from numerous sources including research grants, foundations, industry, partners, and all levels of government.

The speaker will argue, and many people tend to agree, that applied agri-food research is very important. Yet, funding is a big issue. Rarely have significant government investments been made available and future funding is uncertain. The research Farming Smarter does may not be the most attractive, but it’s the type farmers at field level most value. The fact that Farming Smarter works for farmers and not corporate interests, increases the trust among producers that the information they are getting, is more than just an advertisement for the latest product available.

For the family farm to survive, research, innovation and funding of such will be a main challenge going forward. Among other issues facing farmers are, Canada’s Agricultural Climate Solutions Program, which aims to encourage farmers to reduce nitrogen fertilizer use 30 percent by 2030, first by incentives and later, some kind of regulations. For context, between 2005 and 2019, fertilizer application increased by 71 percent in Canada, primarily driven by more fertilizer use in Western Canada. Over the same period, N2O emissions from fertilizer use in Canada increased by 54 percent.

Speaker:  Ken Coles

Ken Coles leads Farming Smarter as Executive Director. Contact him if you want to know anything about anything, offer Farming Smarter money, suggest ways your organization can enter a win/win situation or develop mutually beneficial streams of income. Ken works closely with and listens to his staff. Therefore, yes, he knows what farming issues are.

Ken's passions include the practical application of science and critical thinking, effective leadership, communication and dialogue, strategic relationships and having a little fun along the way. He is focused on agriculture research and educated himself for the job with a Chemistry Degree from University of Lethbridge and a Master's of Science, Environment and Management from Royal Roads University.

Through Monsanto Canada Inc., Lethbridge Research Center, Alberta Pool Research and Development, Agriculture and Agri-food Canada, Ken became a research manager and organizational leader. He then joined Southern Applied Research Association and created Farming Smarter - Alberta's leading crop research institution. Ken is a 2022 Nuffield Canada Scholar and farms mixed grains on irrigated land near Coaldale, AB.

Red Alert: Our Public Medicare is at Risk! With Chris Gallaway

A coordinated effort of reactionary columnists, conservative politicians, right-wing think tanks and others are lining up to push the narrative that our public health care is “broken”; they predictably go on to conclude that the only solution is to privatize it. But the truth is our system isn’t broken, it’s being intentionally dismantled for the benefit of private profits. 

There is no doubt that our public health care system is struggling under a series of crises: the ongoing pandemic, a deadly drug poisoning crisis, chronic short staffing and burnout, bed and unit closures, chronic EMS red alerts, the impacts of years of austerity and cuts, and so much more. But rather than respond to this urgent situation with urgent action, our provincial government is using this to justify an aggressive spree of privatization - with recent announcements privatizing surgeries, community labs, ophthalmology, seniors care, home care, food services, and even a scheme to send Alberta surgeons along with their patients to private for-profit facilities out of province. 

Their agenda of privatization is clear. It is full steam ahead. And unless Albertans stand up and fight right now, we risk losing our treasured public health care system altogether.

 

Speaker:     Chris Gallaway, Executive Director Friends of Medicare

             

Chris Gallaway (he/him) is an experienced community organizer and advocate for public health care. Born and raised on a farm in rural Saskatchewan, he has since spent most of his adult life living on Treaty 6 territory, first in Saskatoon, and for the last decade living here in Edmonton. His past experience includes working for the Alberta Federation of Labour, in three provincial legislative assemblies, and for a variety of non-profit and community organizations. Outside of work Chris is an active volunteer and community member engaged in social justice and the arts.   

Lethbridge’s Drug Treatment Court: How will it Help the Addiction Crisis? With Chelsey De Groot and Brett Carlson

The Lethbridge Drug Treatment Court is contained within the criminal justice system and operates within the same legal framework that governs all adult criminal court proceedings in the Provincial Court of Alberta. The drug court operates based on a guilty plea with a delayed sentencing process (s.720 (2) of the Criminal Code) with entry being dependent on the consent of the Crown, Court, and the Accused. The Lethbridge Drug Treatment Court program is founded on national and international principles for drug treatment courts, is committed to community justice and restoration and are a support service program under the direction of McMan Youth, Family and Community Services Association. The speaker will talk about what the court is, how it operates, and the expectations and model of the program.

 

Speaker:   Chelsey De Groot and Brett Carlson          

My Blackfoot name is Naamiitaapii Aahkkoiyiiniimaki. I hold a Master of Arts in Leadership, Bachelor of Applied Arts in Justice Studies, and a Diploma in Child and Youth Care and General Studies. I have spent the past 15 years working with vulnerable populations in various capacities such as family preservation, youth mentorship, as well as with individuals experiencing homelessness. My career shifted to the Supervised Consumption Site where I created and lead a program called I’taamohkanoohsin, meaning “everyone comes together. This program was created in partnership with Blackfoot Elders and the Lethbridge Police to assist vulnerable, street involved individuals in re-connecting to their culture. This program also allowed us to travel to surrounding communities to share knowledge about the Blackfoot people. I’taamohkanoohsin expanded to our Hip Hop for Healing program which allowed vulnerable people to create, record and perform their music, creating a space for alternative healing through music. I am also an Instructor at the Lethbridge College, teaching inmates at the Lethbridge Correctional Centre and Medicine Hat Remand Centre and The Regional Director for Drug Treatment Courts in Southern Alberta.

 

Brett Carlson earned a BA from the University of Regina, later graduating with an LLB from the University of Victoria. Brett was called to the Bar in 1992 and has been with Legal Aid Alberta since 2008 as duty counsel in the Lethbridge Court House.  For just over a year, Brett has been duty counsel in the Lethbridge Drug Treatment Court (DTC).  He was a former President of the Interfaith Food Bank. Brett resides in Lethbridge with his spouse and two children. 

Sustainability: Is the Time Right for Lethbridge to Allow Urban Chickens? With Gilles Leclair & Kelti Baird

There are an increasing number of urban jurisdictions that are allowing egg-laying chickens/hens. Arguable, the reasons are clear - chickens provide protein, great fertilizer, pest control and are easy to maintain. But the bigger reason for keeping chickens may be for people to get more control of their food supply, just like growing vegetables etc.

Following the past few years of the Covid pandemic, we all know food security should not be taken for granted and urban planning to allow for small scale food production can help many people meet their basic needs. The speakers will argue that urban food production is sustainable and helpful for us to live in this world without depleting its resources.

Speakers:                    Gilles Leclair and Kelti Baird

Gilles is a founding member and past-president of the Lethbridge Sustainable Living Association. He created the Applefest (an event to promote local food sustainability) and was a long-time executive member of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Lethbridge. Gilles has participated in Toastmasters and is a student of the books Small Is Beautiful: Economics as If People Really Mattered, Nonviolent Communication and A Pattern Language (urban design). He is a self-described Social Entrepreneur with a passion for re-creating urban spaces within a sustainable context.

Kelti is a 2012 graduate of the University of Lethbridge with a Bachelor’s Degree in History. Her particular focus was architectural history specializing in settlement architecture in Western Canada. She is the founding co-owner of Theoretically Brewing Company, here in the city, as well as an environmental enthusiast.

Kelti’s short time working for Environment Lethbridge, along with interactions with the Lethbridge Sustainable Living Association and Homestead Show & Market in Fort MacLeod, sprouted an interest in urban agriculture and environmentalism. In September 2018, Kelti introduced a request to City Council for an Urban Hen Pilot project, and is pursuing a change to Bylaw 3383 to allow for the same.

What are the Possibilities and Challenges of Virtual and Augmented Reality?

People increasingly spend a lot of time looking at screens and particularly so during these past two years of the Covid pandemic. Social media chatter and news on computers, phones and other devices have become a big part of our lives. Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) are two technologies that are changing the way we use screens, while creating new and exciting interactive experiences.

Virtual reality uses a headset to place you in a computer-generated world that you can explore. Rather than transporting you to a computer-generated world, augmented reality overlays digital content on top of the physical world using a wearable headset of mobile device. The speaker will explain the exciting world of VR/AR and discuss the consequences of this ever-expansive technology.

 

Speaker:  Michael McCready

 

Mike McCready is educator and researcher with a focus on immersive technologies such as virtual and augmented reality. He has over 20 years of development and is driven to explore new technologies and understand their application within business and society. He introduced one of the first VR development course at Lethbridge College in 2016 when he taught students to develop mobile VR games. One of Mike’s focuses is the social interactions made possible with VR and has planned and facilitated numerous social VR activities that have garnered national and international attention, included the world’s first full-day conference held in VR – Merging Realities.

Mike is also the Program Research Chair of the Spatial Technologies Applied Research and Training (START) centre at Lethbridge College. In this role he works with organizations to integrate immersive technologies to their workflow to improve organizational effectiveness.

Colonialism and COVID-19: The Effect of Public Health and Anti-maskers on Vulnerable Populations with Kathleen Mah

Kathleen hopes to illuminate the ongoing colonial agenda and its extension into COVID-19 and public health relations. Particularly, she will focus on how anti-mask groups- who refer to themselves as Freedom Fighters have interacted with formal institutions like public health, and vice versa, to create expendable populations during the COVID-19 pandemic. She hopes to demonstrate how Freedom Fighters and public health alike perpetuate colonialism through a new arena of the COVID-19 pandemic. This will provide a perspective critical of both public health and groups like Freedom Fighters’ role in the erasure of lives and ways of knowing. Most importantly, this presentation will ask viewers to reflect upon their positions in society and locate how they may contribute to colonialism knowingly or unknowingly.

Speaker:   Kathleen Mah                

Kathleen Mah is a recent graduate of the University of Lethbridge with her BA in Anthropology and a minor in Women and Gender Studies. She originally comes from Calgary Alberta, but has made a home in Lethbridge for the past five years. Her research is based around drawing attention to, and fostering conversations around structural violence. Her focus is on critical public health and anti-masking groups, known as Freedom Fighters. Kathleen plans on continuing her work within medical anthropology at Carleton University in the fall as she enters the masters of arts program there. Kathleen locates herself as a settler on Treaty 7 territory, Métis Nation Region III, and Blackfoot Confederacy. She wishes to pay respect to these peoples, past, present, and future and hopes to continue to learn from these peoples.

How are Albertans likely to be Affected by the recent UCP Leadership Review? Duane Bratt

The United Conservative Party (UCP) members voted by mail-in ballots from April 9 to May 11 whether or not they have confidence in their leader and on May 18, 2022, the result was scheduled to be announced. Originally, a special general meeting was planned to be an in-person voting event in Red Deer, but because of soaring attendee numbers, it was decided by the provincial UCP board to move the vote to a mail-in ballot over a five-week period.

Plenty of questions have surrounded the leadership of Premier Jason Kenney and his UCP government since being elected in 2019 and even before, in 2017, when Kenney won the UCP leadership race ahead of Brian Jean in a contest still being investigated by the RCMP. The speaker will look back on the past few years of notable controversies involving Kenney before the leadership review and as well, analyze how the result of such, may affect the UCP, Albertans and Alberta politics.        

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 was educated at the Universities of Windsor (BA 1991, MA 1992) and Alberta (Ph.D. 1996). He teaches in the area of international relations and Canadian public policy. His primary research interest is in the area of Canadian nuclear policy.

Recent publications include: co-editor, Orange Chinook: Politics in the New Alberta (University of Calgary Press, 2018), co-editor, Readings in Canadian Foreign Policy: Classic Debates and New Ideas 3rd edition (Oxford University Press, 2015) and author of Canada, the Provinces, and the Global Nuclear Revival (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2012). Current projects include the risk assessment of Canada’s nuclear waste site selection process. Duane is also a regular commentator on political events.

The Difficult Journey out of Afghanistan after the Taliban Takeover with Mahdi and Jennel Taheri

Mahdi will share his journey crossing the gate as Afghanistan fell and the events leading up to it. He will also cover current events, what to believe and what not to believe as well as his process times and integration into first, the United States and now into Canada.  He still has a brother stuck in Abu Dhabi that has been left behind from the NGO that brought him out. There is lots to cover and much to be still resolved. Jennel will share her own journey of desperation in finding ways to get Mahdi out of the country via Canadian Politicians, as well as her involvement with the evacuation of other Afghans and their procurement of special immigrant visas.

Speakers:   Mahdi and Jennel Taheri                

Mahdi and Jennel Taheri met six years ago through a high school friend who deployed four times to Afghanistan for the United States Military.  It was through a friend of a friend on social media, that brought this unlikely pair together. Mahdi spent many years serving as a combat Interpreter and Cultural Linguist for the US Special Forces after serving 11 years in an Afghan Special Forces Unit referred to as Commandos for the Afghan National Army. After narrowly escaping the Taliban’s initial attempt to take over his hometown of Herat, Mahdi was able to secure a seat on the last flight out of his city for Kabul. Jennel worked in safety for the oil and gas industry for many years. She also owned a gym in a small town in BC. Mahdi and Jennel are now married, and he is in Canada having crossed the border on April 11th and learning to settle in life in northern BC with friends, family and a community that has pulled together to support him.  Jennel is in the process of hiring on with BC ambulance as a paramedic and Mahdi will be opening a small engine repair shop once all his paperwork goes through.

Canadian Red Cross – An Overview and Update on Current Responses with Mark Holzer

The Canadian Red Cross has played a significant role in Canadian society for over 120 years, helping people and communities in Canada and around the world in times of need and supporting communities in strengthening their resilience.   The speaker will provide an overview of the Canadian Red Cross’ membership in the IFRC (International Federation Red Cross), as well as discussing their mandate, mission and fundamental principles and how they work in Canada and around the world.  Additionally, the speaker will reflect on the Canadian Red Cross’ work and learnings from the Covid-19 pandemic; and provide an update on the Ukraine Humanitarian Crisis. 

 

Speaker:     Mark Holzer            

 

Mark began his career in Emergency Management with the American Red Cross, prior to returning to Canada and joining the Canadian Red Cross in 2018.

While in the U.S. Mark supported many local responses in Southwestern Pennsylvania, as well as Hurricane Sandy and the Haiti earthquake.

Now based in Edmonton, AB Mark supports the Alberta Emergency Management team to plan and prepare for all hazards...everything from single family house fires to community wide impact fire and flood events.

Why Did Russia Invade Ukraine in 2022? The Historical and Contemporary Causes of the War

On February 24, 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an invasion of Ukraine by Russian armed forces that for weeks had been gathering along their border. The invasion also included attacks across the Belarus-Ukraine border and was followed by targeted airstrikes on military and civilian buildings in Ukraine. Chris Burton will analyze the conflict in Ukraine in light of the development of Putin’s regime over the years  and the longer history of Ukrainian relations with Russia.

Speaker:  Dr. Chris Burton

Chris grew up in St. John’s, Newfoundland, taking his B.A. in History at Memorial University, followed by an M.A. from Carleton University. He worked in the Soviet Union during the glasnost’ years, then studied with Sheila Fitzpatrick in the 1990s at the University of Chicago for his PhD.  He is Associate Professor of History at the University of Lethbridge and has been teaching Russian History there, and Modern European History more generally, for the last twenty years.  His research interests include the medical profession under Stalin, social policy in the Soviet Union, and the Soviet science of environmental health, including their understanding of air and water pollution.